In Gaza
Wed, 09 Apr 2025 07:14:40 +0000
1. How Israel hunts and executes Palestinian medics: Israeli Attacks on Palestinian medics are not new, they’re an old Israeli policy on steroids
Written April 2, 2025, published April 9 on RT.com
-by Eva Karene Bartlett
The Israeli army executed 15 Palestinian medics in Gaza, buried them and lied about them being "terrorists". For those paying attention, this barbarism is not new, only the latest war crime committed by Israel with its litany of war crimes over the decades.
The combination of the medics' hands being tied, executed and buried in a mass grave was so horrific that even usually indifferent global media reported on it, albeit without the outrage that would have accompanied such reports were the perpetrator an enemy of the West.
— Translating Falasteen (Palestine) (@translatingpal) April 1, 2025
Footage showing the Palestinian Civil Defense exhuming bodies of their colleagues that Israel had executed and buried in a mass grave along with Red Crescent workers.
Civil Defense members found
Fouad Al-Jammal
Yousef Khalifa
Anwar Al-Attar
Zuheir Al-Farra
Sameer… pic.twitter.com/Tu0gbUUzYB
On March 31, Jonathan Whittall, the Head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OCHA) posted on X, "First responders should never be a target. Yet today @UNOCHA supported @PalestineRCS and Civil Defense to retrieve colleagues from a mass grave in #Rafah #Gaza that was marked with the emergency light from one of their crushed ambulances."
His thread went on to detail how a week prior, on March 23, contact was lost with 10 Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) and 6 Civil Defense first responders, in five ambulances and one fire-truck, who'd been dispatched to collect injured, noting, "For days, OCHA coordinated to reach the site but our access was only granted 5 days later."
2/6 Seven days ago, as Israeli forces advanced on #Rafah, 10 PRCS and 6 Civil Defense first responders were dispatched to collect injured. All five ambulances and one fire-truck were struck, along with a UN vehicle that arrived later. Contact was lost with all pic.twitter.com/pwwSt5aqOY
— Jonathan Whittall (@_jwhittall) March 30, 2025
When they finally accessed the site, they recovered the buried bodies of 8 PRCS, 6 Civil Defense and 1 UN staff," he wrote, noting, "They were killed in their uniforms. Driving their clearly marked vehicles. Wearing their gloves. On their way to save lives. This should never have happened."
Palestinian Civil Defense spokesperson, Mahmoud Basal, separately said, "One of the Civil Defense crews had his feet tied, another had his clothes removed from his upper body, another was beheaded. Among all the martyrs, the least harmed had 20 bullets fired at him, in his chest."
According to the PRCS, a ninth EMT is missing and is believed to have been detained.
The UN, The Red Cross, and OCHA have all issued statements of outrage and condemnation of these murders. The FRC Secretary General Jagan Chapagain said: "They wore emblems that should have protected them; their ambulances were clearly marked. They should have returned to their families; they did not. These rules of International Humanitarian Law could not be clearer – civilians must be protected; humanitarians must be protected. Health services must be protected."
According to Chapagain, 30 PRCS volunteers and staff have been killed since October 2023 alone.
OCHA called the murders, "a huge blow to us" and that, "These abhorrent acts require accountability." According to the UN, "408 aid workers including more than 280 UNRWA staff have been killed in Gaza since the war began on 7 October 2023."
UNReliefChief, Tom Fletcher, wrote, "They were killed by Israeli forces while trying to save lives. We demand answers & justice."
The Guardian cites PRCS' Dr Bashar Murad, who spoke to one of the paramedics in the convoy:
"He informed us that he was injured and requested assistance, and that another person was also injured. A few minutes later, during the call, we heard the sound of Israeli soldiers arriving at the location, speaking in Hebrew. 'Gather them at the wall and bring some restraints to tie them.' This indicated that a large number of the medical staff were still alive."
The Israeli army media spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, predictably denied Israeli army wrong-doing and blamed Hamas, claiming the ambulances were "advancing suspiciously" toward Israeli forces. He declared the execution of medics (some of whose arms were bound) to be an elimination of "a Hamas military operative, along with 8 other terrorists from Hamas and the Islamic Jihad."
Observers on X rebuffed Shoshani, including pointing out the Israeli army has attacked ambulances for a very long time.
That's why they handcuffed them, executed them in cold blood and buried them in a hole They then didn't allow anyone to reach the site for a week
— The Seeds (@TheSeeds137594) March 31, 2025
Also this isn't the first time this has happened, attacking ambulances has happened for decades.
You must think we are stupid
Shoshani was indeed lying. Footage of the ambulances was found in one of the phones of the slaughtered medics, footage clearly showing marked ambulances with lights flashing, NOT moving "suspiciously" and coming under Israeli army fire.
"The ambulances had lights on & were clearly marked, refuting Israel's lies."https://t.co/6YKhtlhlwa
— Eva Karene Bartlett (@EvaKBartlett) April 5, 2025
With Palestinian medics under Israeli fire in Gaza in 2009
I can speak from personal experience. During the January 2009 Israeli war on Gaza (which began in late December), I was among a handful of international volunteers riding in PRCS ambulances, to document their work and the victims they rescued.
The first night of the Israeli land invasion, we were based in a PRCS centre in Ezbet abed Rabbo, east of Jabaliya, with Israeli shelling around us. By morning, we had to evacuate. By the end of the war, the centre was nearly destroyed.
But in terms of direct attacks on ambulances, and hospitals, I can attest they occurred against unarmed medics in ambulances not carrying any Palestinian resistance, but retrieving wounded or killed Palestinian civilians, including elderly.
In one instance, an Israeli sniper fired at least 14 shots at medics and the ambulance I was in, targeting the uniformed medics during supposed "ceasefire hours", shooting one medic in the leg and shooting our ambulance.
A week prior, a medic I had accompanied one dangerous evening [VIDEO] in the northwest of Gaza was killed the next day when the Israeli army fired a flechette shell (dart bomb) directly at his ambulance, shredding him with the razor sharp darts, killing him. Survivors from the scene corroborated there were no resistance, only medics and wounded and killed civilians.
A week later, the Israeli army repeatedly bombed al-Quds hospital, meaning medics had to evacuate to al-Shifa hospital, risking being shot by Israeli soldiers while doing so. I was with the medics and saw the damage and resulting fire from the Israeli bombing of the hospital. [VIDEO]
I later took testimonies from other PRCS medics who had been targeted by the Israeli army, some multiple times over the years.
Two medics told me how after getting permission from Israel via the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), to retrieve wounded and martyred, three ambulances and an ICRC jeep came under Israeli fire repeatedly in northern Gaza.
"We were driving to the area, speaking with the Israelis on the phone. They'd tell us which way to drive, what road to take. When we got near the wounded, Israeli soldiers started firing. I told them, 'We have coordination' and they said to wait. Then they began firing at us again."
According to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), that same day, Israeli soldiers fired on a convoy of 11 ambulances led by a clearly marked ICRC vehicle in central Gaza, injuring an ICRC staff member and damaging the vehicle.
Another medic was shot in his leg while on a mission for PRCS in May 2008, and was twice targeted by Israeli snipers during the 2009 war. He was also in a building that was being bombed while emergency workers tried to evacuate the victims.
"I was with Dr. Issa Saleh coming down the stairs from the sixth floor of an apartment building in Jabaliya, evacuating a martyr, when the Israelis again shelled the building. They knew there were medics inside. They could see our uniforms and the ambulances outside." Dr. Saleh was killed, his head decapitated by the bombing.
The testimonies I took then included many more cases of medics going to save injured Palestinians and coming under Israeli fire, preventing them from reaching those who needed help.
In that article, I cited an article by Israeli journalist Amira Hass, who reported finding a note in Gaza ordering Israeli soldiers to "open fire also upon rescue."
In 2007, in the West Bank, during an Israeli invasion of Nablus, I saw Israeli soldiers take a Palestinian Medical Relief (PRM) volunteer (who had been part of a group escorting civilians to their old city homes) hostage, blindfold and handcuff him and use him as a human shield.
Back then, I wrote, "The targeted arrest and detention of medics is common and is a form of collective punishment for these volunteers providing essential emergency services to wounded Palestinians. When not arrested, medics and ambulances are still routinely denied access to emergency areas, denying the wounded emergency attention, a tactic which can result in the deaths of the injured."
Fast forward to the 2023 and 2024, the over one year of Israel's ethnic cleansing of Gaza, renewed now. The Israeli army repeatedly bombed hospitals throughout Gaza, invaded them, occupied and destroyed them, along with repeatedly killing medics, doctors and emergency workers.
It is clear that for Israeli soldiers, killing medical workers is Israeli policy, whether in ambulances or hospitals. It's also clear that while words of condemnation will be uttered, sometimes, Israel is never held accountable for these crimes.
It is apt to note here that Israel's ally Ukraine likewise targets-to-kill Russian medics and emergency workers, something I've reported on after interviewing emergency workers in Donetsk.
Israel kills or abducts medics and doctors to prevent civilians from getting treatment
In January, I wrote about Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, a Palestinian doctor from norther Gaza abducted and imprisoned by the Israeli army last December, being tortured. In that article I noted that three doctors from Gaza in Israeli prisons had already been tortured to death in the last year plus, and that there is grave concern for Dr. Abu Safiya's life.
Since then, other Palestinian hostages released from Israeli detention have confirmed Dr. Abu Safiya is being tortured. More recently, the Israeli Beersheba Court has issued a six-month administrative detention order for Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, administrative detention being the means Israel uses to illegally imprison Palestinians without charge.
The abduction and torture of Palestinian doctors is another aspect of Israel's all-out attack on Gaza's health system. It is part of Israel's attacks on Palestinians themselves, depriving them of life-saving care, part of the decades long policy of killing Palestinians by every means possible, including by preventing the entry of medical equipment and food, starving Palestinians who escaped bombs and sniping.
All entry points into Gaza are closed. At the border, food is rotting. Medicine is expiring. Vital medical equipment is stuck.⁰⁰If the basic principles of humanitarian law still count, the international community must act to uphold them. pic.twitter.com/mQkyexZYvi
— Tom Fletcher (@UNReliefChief) March 28, 2025
I will pose the same rhetorical question I've posed ad nauseam: How would the international condemnation be if it was Russia point-blank assassinating uniformed, unarmed, medics? It would be non-stop 24/7 howling in corporate media, victims faces and stories spoken of, demands for more sanctions…
But Israel does this again and again over the decades and all Palestinians get are muted words of concern and calls for investigation, allowing Israel to continue slaughtering medics and emergency workers unabated. No justice.
Back in 2009, the night of the Israeli land invasion, I wrote, "Israel is bombarding Gaza once again and the world is standing idly by, sitting on a fence very different from the fortified border fence encaging Gaza, or the separation wall dividing and ghettoizing the West Bank. The politicians of the world sit on the fence, justifying Israel's massacre of a civilian population already dying from the siege."
The only change over 16 years later is the ferocity and speed of Israel's murder of Palestinians rescuers and the population at large.
RELATED LINKS:
–Israeli army kills Palestinian medic with dart bomb
–Palestinian medics targeted by Israel, one year on
–Where is Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya? Don't let Israel torture to death another Palestinian doctor
–Ukrainian Army War Crimes Include Shelling of Ambulences, Firetrucks, and Rescue Workers in the Donbass Republics—Similar to Israelis and U.S. Backed Terrorists in Syria [VIDEO]
Sun, 16 Mar 2025 09:05:48 +0000
2. Clayton Morris tells Tucker Carlson about the “Petal” mines Ukraine fired on the Donbass
Clayton Morris tells Tucker Carlson about the "Petal" mines Ukraine fired on the Donbass. He mentions my work.
I was in Donetsk when Ukraine fired rockets containing hundreds of the mines, in late July 2022, & went the next morning to see Donetsk streets & parks littered with them.
Since then, 173 civilians have been maimed by the insidious mines, 11 of whom are children, including the latest victim, a teen from Makeevka (east of Donetsk). Three of the injured civilians died of their injuries.
It's uncomfortable, but do take a look at this (graphic) photo from July 2022 of what a foot looks like after stepping on one of these tiny, hard to see, mines.
Ukraine was obliged to destroy its ~6 million stock of them, but didn't, & instead fired them on Donbass civilians. The West, ofc, looks away, so does HRW.
My Related:
–Ukraine turns Donetsk into a minefield using banned 'Petal' mines [Rumble]
–Donetsk Emergency Services & Sappers Clear Residential Areas of Ukraine's Mines [Rumble]
–Ukrainian Terrorism: Firing Munitions Containing Petal Mines On Donbass Orphanage, Another War Crime [Rumble]
–14 Year Old Is One of 87 Donbass Civilians Maimed By Petal Mines Fired By Ukraine [Rumble]
–The West is silent as Ukraine targets civilians in Donetsk using banned 'Petal' mines, Aug 7, 2022, RT.com
–In Just Under Three Weeks, Ukrainian-Fired Prohibited "Petal" Mines Maim At Least 44 Civilians, Kill 2, in Donetsk Region, August 23, 2022, Covert Action Magazine
–Human Rights Watch deliberately only scratched the surface in exploring Ukraine's use of banned 'petal' mines, March 28, 2023, RT.com
Further:
–What I've seen of Ukraine's war crimes against civilians in the Donbass over the years
–JACQUES BAUD: NATO THREATENED RUSSIA DECADES BEFORE 2022 [Odysee] [Rumble]
–"She's exposing the TRUTH in Ukraine and they dont like it Redacted Conversation with Eva Bartlett", May 29, 2022, Redacted with Clayton Morris [Rumble]
–"NBC News just SMEARED real journalists in shameful hit piece, Redacted with Clayton Morris" (June 11, 2022) [Rumble]
–Eva Bartlett Describes Ukraine's Unspeakable Genocide of Donbass (graphic content warning), Redacted with Clayton Morris, September 2022 [Rumble]
Thu, 23 Jan 2025 07:31:02 +0000
3. Where is Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya? Don’t let Israel torture to death another Palestinian doctor
January 22, 2025, RT.com
-by Eva Karene Bartlett
*Blog version slightly updated*
As you read this, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, a Palestinian doctor from Gaza, is likely still in Israeli detention – and, according to mounting evidence, being tortured.
Despite the recent hostage swap with Hamas, multiple health professionals are still being held captive, with abundant reports of mistreatment, neglect and torture. One of these is Dr. Abu Safiya, arrested on December 27 and transferred to the notorious Sde Teyman prison camp (dubbed Israel's version of Guantanamo Bay).
As each day passes, and with reports from released prisoners who attest Dr. Abu Safiya was being tortured while they were in the same prison, fears of his death grow. At least three Palestinian doctors abducted from Gaza have died in Israeli prisons since October 2023.
Dr. Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, was abducted after the Israeli army had repeatedly attacked the hospital over the course of over three months, ultimately invading it, burning and severely damaging essential buildings, and detaining dozens of medical staff. By now the chilling scene of Dr. Hussam walking toward the Israeli tank has gone viral, as people around the world demand his release.
When Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya chose to confront an Israeli
— Howard Beckett (@BeckettUnite) January 4, 2025tank bombing (his) Kamal Adwan Hospital
he was standing for all humanity
History will celebrate his bravery
He is now kidnapped by Israel
Not a word from Starmer
History will condemn Starmeras complicit. pic.twitter.com/M1tjDCXY5m
According to Medical Aid for Palestinians, a British charity working in Palestine, when the Israeli army invaded the hospital, "an estimated 350 people, including patients, were forced to leave the hospital. Some patients arrived at the Indonesian Hospital, which was not able to provide any care after being forced out of service by the Israeli military on 24 December. The last remaining partially operational hospital in the North Gaza Governorate, al-Awda Hospital, is on the brink of collapse, struggling to function amid relentless attacks and resource shortages."
The non-profit Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor reports that after abducting him, "the Israeli army subsequently transferred Dr. Abu Safiya to a field interrogation site in the Al-Fakhura area of Jabalia Refugee Camp: where he was stripped and whipped with a thick wire commonly used for street electrical wiring."
The torture of Palestinians in Israeli prisons has been widely reported. Methods include electric shocks to genitals, stress positions, psychological torture, near-starvation, and rape resulting in serious internal damage, sometimes leading to death.
Following a request by the non-profit organization Physicians for Humans Rights-Israel (PHRI) for a legal visit to Abu Safiya, the Israeli military claimed that it had "found no indication of the arrest or detention of the individual in question."
https://twitter.com/PHRIsrael/status/1875906201206300999However, one report cites Palestinians released from Sde Teiman detention camp on December 29th 2024 saying Dr. Abu Safiya was being held at Sde Teiman. One of the released Palestinians said the doctor had given him the phone numbers of his sons, and requested that The Red Cross and media look into his situation.
On January 5, PHRI posted on X, "The Israeli military also continues to withhold information about Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya's detention location, despite retracting their earlier claim that he isn't being held in Israel."
A more recently-released detainee, Hazem Alwan, said he had been abducted from Jabalia by the Israeli army and used as a human shield before ultimately being taken to an Israeli prison, where he says he spent two days with Dr. Abu Safiya.
"It was clear the brutal methods of torture used by the occupation on him. Dr. Hussam is in danger, nobody is looking after him. His mental state is completely shattered, completely…"
https://twitter.com/EvaKBartlett/status/1877970695558189344In October 2024, when the Israeli army invaded Kamal Adwan Hospital, they killed Dr. Abu Safiya's son, Ibrahim. But Dr. Abu Safiya continued to work to help injured Palestinians in the dire conditions of northern Gaza.
In November 2024, he was injured in an Israeli quad-copter drone attack, believed to be, "an assassination attempt by Israel due to his unwavering commitment to providing medical care to patients in northern Gaza."
He continued his updates from the besieged hospital, on December 6, 2024, noting, "The situation inside and around the hospital is catastrophic. There are a large number of martyrs and wounded, including 4 martyrs from the hospital's medical staff, and there are no surgeons left."
He spoke of the series of Israeli airstrikes, just outside the hospital, and of being forced by Israeli soldiers to evacuate all patients, displaced persons and medical staff to the hospital yard and forcibly take them out to the checkpoint.
"In the morning, we were shocked to see hundreds of dead bodies and wounded people in the streets surrounding the hospital."
On January 9, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, , an NGO based in the Gaza Strip, noted that, Dr. Abu Safiya's detention was extended until February 13, 2025 by an Israeli Court" and that his legal counsel – which has been prevented from seeing him – will remain banned from visiting the doctor until January 22.
BREAKING: Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya's detention was extended until 13 February 2025 by an Israeli Court.
— Al-Mezan الميزان (@AlMezanCenter) January 9, 2025
Israeli authorities have also extended the ban on his access to legal counsel until 22 January 2025, marking the second such extension since his abduction.
Still another doctor, Dr. Akram Abu Ouda, head of Orthopedics at the Indonesian Hospital (also in northern Gaza) is missing. Ramy Abdu (of Euro-Med) noted, "He has been detained by Israel for over a year, and it is our duty to remind the world he is wrongfully imprisoned, suffering under torture, with his health deteriorating."
Israel tortured Palestinian doctors to death
In September 2024, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, Tlaleng Mofokeng, stated, "Dr. Ziad Eldalou is the third doctor confirmed to have died while being detained by Israel since 7 October 2023."
Eldalou was, the OHCHR notes, was an internal medicine physician at Gaza's Al Shifa Hospital, detained with other healthcare workers by invading Israeli soldiers on March 18, 2024, who died just three days later, while in detention.
In its report on Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, Euro-Med recalls the murders of Dr. Adnan Al-Bursh, head of the orthopedics department at Al-Shifa Hospital, who was "killed under torture at Ofer Detention Centre on April 19, 2024," and Dr. Iyad Al-Rantisi, head of the obstetrics department at Kamal Adwan Hospital, who was "killed due to torture at an Israeli Shin Bet interrogation center in Ashkelon, one week after his detention in November 2023. Israeli authorities concealed his death for more than seven months."
Dr. Adnan Al-Bursh was "likely raped to death," wrote United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese.
These murders, and the imprisonment and torture of numerous Palestinian doctors from Gaza, and the killing of over 1,000 Palestinian health and medical professionals, are part of Israel's systematic attack on every aspect of Gaza's health care system, as well as on the Palestinians' morale: seeing doctors who didn't abandon their patients be imprisoned, tortured and killed is a crushing blow.
Both Mofokeng and Albanese at the beginning of January, 2025, issued an urgent warning: "We are horrified and concerned by reports from northern Gaza and especially the attack on the healthcare workers including the last remaining of 22 now destroyed hospitals: Kamal Adwan Hospital."
https://twitter.com/drtlaleng/status/1872212664946250184"We are gravely concerned with the fate of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, yet another doctor to be harassed, kidnapped and arbitrarily detained by the occupation forces, in his case for defying evacuation orders to leave his patients and colleagues behind. This is part of a pattern by Israel to continuously bombard, destroy and fully annihilate the realisation of the right to health in Gaza."
The lack of information on Dr. Abu Safiya's well-being, the testimonies from released abductees that he was being tortured, and the prohibition on him accessing his lawyer have heightened fears that he could die in Israeli detention.
This must not be allowed to happen. As Euro-Med stated, immediate international intervention is needed for his release. What's even more tragic is that were he being held by one of the West's proclaimed 'adversaries', rather than its allies, such intervention would not be long in coming.
Wed, 08 Jan 2025 09:08:54 +0000
4. Under the new “freedom-bringing” “diverse” Syrian “government”, minorities are being hunted down, tortured and killed
*Warning: this post contains disturbing, violent, videos: the violence & terrorism of US/Turkish-backed terrorists against Syrian civilians.
The following is on the hell of the "new Syria" ruled by al-Qaeda/ISIS terrorist Joolani, where his co-terrorist thugs run around hunting down minorities, torturing & killing them.
There are countless such videos, and worse, being shared on Telegram & social media, from Syrians who film these terrorists' attacking civilians (because media in Syria is now under control of HTS/al-Qaeda, you won't see reports there…nor from the influencers chirping about how great & free Syria is now, and hey, ISIS are very helpful people…)
Following are just some examples of the lawlessness and pure terrorism that has been unleashed on Syria, on Syrian civilians. This is what the idiots who cheered the toppling of the former Syrian government have endorsed.
Read the rest on my Substack, along with numerous (disturbing) videos.
Wed, 04 Dec 2024 03:30:43 +0000
5. What are terrorists in Syria trying to achieve?
*Note: This was written on November 30 and published evening December 1. Since then, I've been on the road & unable to post here, much has changed, so the intro is less important that the rest, which remains an important reminder of the Western-backed & fomented terrorism in Syria.
December 1, 2024, RT.com
For the past few days, foreign-backed terrorists in Syria's northwest have been attacking Syrian army positions in the Aleppo and Idlib countryside, and shelling civilian districts of Aleppo.
While regional media have been giving updates on these attacks and counterattacks by Syria and Russia, what is less clear is what is happening in Aleppo itself. Terrorist-aligned media claim Tahrir al-Sham (al-Qaeda re-branded) and allied terrorists have taken numerous western districts and even the city center.
But their proof – short videos showing terrorists in various areas they claim to control – was countered by videos of Syrians walking in key districts, saying things are calm. More on this later.
The following is what is known in summary about the attacks.
On Wednesday, November 27, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and Turkish-backed National Army factions launched attacks in the Idlib and Aleppo countryside, in what they dubbed "Operation Deterrence of Aggression."
According to Al-Mayadeen, as related by Syrian journalist Wassim Issa, convoys of militants, equipment and ammunition entered from the Bab al-Salam crossing with Türkiye and headed to the fighting fronts in the western Aleppo and southern Idlib countryside.
Al Mayadeen reported Tahrir al-Sham used new weapons and equipment, including Ukrainian drones, "reportedly acquired from Kiev's intelligence services."
Since Thursday evening, terrorists have been shelling Aleppo University dormitories, as well as districts of western Aleppo. On Friday, terrorist shelling killed four students and injured dozens.
By Friday, the Syrian Arab Army had re-taken many points breached by terrorists, Al Mayadeen reported, noting that intense fighting continues on two fronts in rural Aleppo, and that on the Idlib front, "armed groups are attempting to open a new axis after their failure to advance further toward the M5 international highway for all traffic from the south to Aleppo, through Hama and SE Idlib."
The General Command of the Army and Armed Forces issued the following statement:
"Our armed forces were able to inflict heavy losses on the attacking organizations, inflicting hundreds of dead and wounded among their ranks, destroying dozens of vehicles and armored vehicles, and were able to shoot down and destroy seventeen drones.
…In a related context, terrorist organizations, through their platforms, publish misleading information, news and video clips aimed at terrorizing citizens. The General Command of the Army and Armed Forces warns our fellow citizens not to accept this news and misinformation, and to receive what is issued by the national media and its official platforms."
As of late Friday, citing the Russian Coordination Center in Syria, Al Mayadeen reported that more than 600 terrorists had been killed. This update went on to detail Syrian and Russian airstrikes on terrorists in the northern Aleppo and Idlib countryside.
These attacks, apparently supported by Türkiye, the US, and Israel, mark the latest effort to destabilize Syria and weaken the 'Axis of Resistance' against Israel. It is of course notable that these attacks commenced just after the so-called ceasefire between the Lebanese Resistance, Hezbollah, and Israel (which began violating the ceasefire almost immediately, as Israel has done with virtually every ceasefire in the past).
One possible reason for Türkiye's involvement could be to pressure Syrian President Bashar Assad into reconsidering his stance on normalization talks with Ankara. Assad previously rejected any such talks while Turkish forces remain in Syria, and according to some analysts. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan could have helped escalate military action to coerce Assad to change his mind.
Another motivation for the attack could be to cut Lebanese Hezbollah off from supply lines during the ceasefire with Israel. From Damascus, British journalist Vanessa Beeley wrote: "This attack has been spoken about and planned for since the beginning of the Israeli aggression against Lebanon… Now Syria will be the target to destroy weapons supply lines and manufacturing facilities that would rearm Hezbollah during the ceasefire. There will be attempts to destroy the land bridge infrastructure that brings materials from Iran, through Iraq and Syria to Lebanon. This includes essential humanitarian relief supply lines. Syria is the beating heart of the Resistance and must be protected at all costs."
Attempts to resuscitate the Syrian 'revolution'Unsurprisingly, there are calls on social media for President Assad to be removed; the same calls heard during the Western-orchestrated media psyop which saw ignorant people around the world supporting a very bloody "revolution" in 2011.
It was never a revolution, and it was never (for Syrians) about Assad (who is overwhelmingly supported). What kind of revolution destroys its own culture, heritage and civilians, and partners with the US and Israel, among others?
On one of my four trips to Aleppo in 2016 alone, in November, before Aleppo was liberated from terrorist forces, the head of forensic medicine at a local hospital, Dr. Zaher Hajo, told me that since the occupation of Aleppo in 2012, 10,750 civilians had been killed by terrorists, 40% of whom were women and children.
On that same visit, I met three prominent Sunni leaders who, according to the priest who introduced us, were considered 'infidels' by al-Nusra and company because they didn't follow their distorted terrorist ideology. One of them, Dr. Kukeh said: "Those who are killing the Sunnis are the same who claim that they are defending the Sunnis. The shells that hit us daily are sent by them."
Dr. Kukeh, who said he named his oldest son after Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, "because I love that man," explained that in 2012 he was living in eastern Aleppo when terrorists began to occupy districts there. He was targeted for assassination because he did not agree with the terrorists' ideology.
The Aleppo university dorms which were targeted recently were likewise routinely targeted in 2016. At the time, they had for four years been housing well over 10,000 internally displaced Syrians from areas of Aleppo and its countryside, including from areas occupied by the terrorists.
In subsequent visits in 2017 and years after, I saw the remnants of the terrorists' occupation of eastern regions of Aleppo (underground prisons with solitary confinement cells), took testimonies of Syrian civilians on life under terrorist rule, and later, saw the city begin to rebuild and flourish, with businesses reopening, ancient markets being restored, life bustling around the famous citadel (during the reign of the terrorists, walking near it meant almost certainly being sniped dead) and atop the citadel.
The city that Western and Gulf corporate media claimed "fell" when it was liberated from al-Qaeda, ISIS and their co-terrorists came back to life under the rule of the Syrian government.
Current chaos: Aleppo occupied?Throughout the fighting, there have been conflicting reports of terrorists taking parts of Aleppo. As I wrote at the beginning, photos and videos which appeared to show a terrorist presence in western Aleppo neighborhoods and even the city center aren't proof of terrorists having taken districts.
It isn't difficult for sleeper cell terrorists to pop up, take these photos and videos, and leave. Time will show which of their claims are true and which are part of psychological warfare to demoralize Syrians and turn them against their army and even against Russia.
Recall the General Command of the Army's warning regarding misinformation. Making definitive declarations about the condition of Aleppo and surrounding region, without proof, is irresponsible and unhelpful. In a clickbait age where everyone wants to be the first to post "BREAKING" followed by some unverified soundbite, discerning the truth is complicated.
If the unthinkable happens and parts of Aleppo are re-occupied by terrorists no different from and even including ISIS, they will ultimately be defeated by Syria, Russia, and their allies, just as they were before.
My Related:
–Overview of latest month-long visit to Syria (Aleppo and Damascus) (2016)
–Aleppo: How US & Saudi-Backed Rebels Target 'Every Syrian' (2016)
–Western corporate media 'disappears' over 1.5 million Syrians and 4,000 doctors in Aleppo (2016)
–What Life Is Like Under 'Moderate Rebel' Rule, Aleppo (2017)
-Life in Old Aleppo, around the historic Citadel (2018) [VIDEO]
-Tour of Aleppo Citadel, Where Peace Reigns… to Silence of Western Corporate Media (2019) [VIDEO]
–Deconstructing the NATO Narrative on Syria (2015)
–Syrians Flock to Vote in Lebanon (2014)
Fri, 29 Nov 2024 15:19:49 +0000
6. Lebanese journalist Marwa Osman on the ceasefire, Resistance achievements, and more
I spoke on November 27 night with courageous Marwa, who had just returned from visiting her village in southern Lebanon.
If you aren't familiar with Marwa, I highly recommend following her:
*We were going to do video, but the connection was weak & visual skippy, so I've made it audio only.
Listen HERE
Related Links:
-nature of missiles being used
The missiles deployed in the Israeli enemy airstrikes on Fathallah street in the heart of the capital #Beirut were advanced bunker-buster (seismic) bombs, highly toxic, generating an enormous blast that resonated as far as Sidon and the surrounding mountain regions.
— Marwa Osman || مروة عثمان (@Marwa__Osman) November 23, 2024
Notably,… pic.twitter.com/5hbA2BcywJ
-Statement from the Islamic Resistance Operations Room: The Islamic Resistance Operations Room announces that one of the sensitive military targets struck on November 18, 2024, in the city of Tel Aviv was the residence of the Israeli Air Force Commander, Major General Tomer Bar. The operation, carried out with a swarm of advanced attack drones, achieved its objectives with precision. The incident has been met with strict censorship by the Israeli military authorities.
#BREAKING:
— Marwa Osman || مروة عثمان (@Marwa__Osman) November 26, 2024
Statement from the Islamic Resistance Operations Room:
The Islamic Resistance Operations Room announces that one of the sensitive military targets struck on November 18, 2024, in the city of Tel Aviv was the residence of the Israeli Air Force Commander, Major General… pic.twitter.com/7ElCCG0x9s
Zionist Israeli Occupation soldiers from the Golani Brigade have desecrated a church in the southern Lebanese village of Deirmimas. Ironically, this comes after the mayor of Deirmimas refused to allow Hezbollah resistance to operate in his village to confront such aggressors. Perhaps now he understands the cost of that decision. Only the resistance has proven capable of standing against these vile creatures—ask the people of Maaloula and Sqailabyeh in Syria who protected their churches against ISIS, and they will gladly tell you.
https://twitter.com/Marwa__Osman/status/1861168164245017072A group of fellow journalists were exposed to gunfire while covering the return of the residents and the withdrawal, and some of them were injured in the town of Khiam by the enemy army that is still present in the town, and they were transferred to Hasbaya Hospital to receive treatment. Thank God you are safe.
https://twitter.com/BilaRakaba/status/1861753041801662663 https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/iof-strike-killing-al-mayadeen–al-manar-press-crew-possiblethe Khiam prison is now open
A massacre within a massacre: Israel is exterminating Palestinians in northern Gaza and killing Palestinian journalists reporting on it
Neglect, abuse, torture: The West is ignoring the fate of Palestinians stuck in Israeli jails
Ukraine's murder of 30 Russian journalists met with Western indifference…or grotesque gloating
Media Black-Out on Arab Journalists and Civilians Beheaded in Syria by Western-Backed Terrorists
