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Recent Appearances... Rantburg

Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran-backed Palestinian terror groups said to leave Syria under pressure from Sharaa
2025-05-24
[IsraelTimes] Flight of pro-Assad factions comes amid Trump’s demand that the new regime crack down on Palestinian terrorism as a condition for sanctions relief

Leaders of Iran-backed Paleostinian terror groups in Syria close to former president Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Leveler of Latakia...
have left the country under pressure from the regime of Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led the ouster of the Iran-backed strongman in December, Paleostinian sources said Friday.

The armed factions’ flight comes amid a White House demand that Sharaa crack down on Paleostinian terror groups as a condition for the removal of Washington’s sanctions on Damascus. There have also been unconfirmed reports that Syria’s new regime has held indirect talks with Israel on potential normalization between the two countries, despite Israeli leaders’ deep suspicion of Sharaa due to his jihadi past.

The crackdown did not appear to affect the Syrian presence of Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
-based Hamas
..one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,...
, which is also backed by Iran, nor that of Fatah, the secularist faction that dominates the West Bank-based Paleostinian Authority.

The leader of one Iran-backed Paleostinian group, who left Syria after Assad’s overthrow, said on condition of anonymity that "most of the Paleostinian factional leadership that received support from Tehran has left Damascus" to countries including Leb
...an Iranian satrapy until recently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel...
. Another faction leader still in Damascus confirmed the development.

The first faction leader said "the factions have fully handed over weapons in their headquarters or with their cadres" to the authorities, who also received "lists of names of faction members possessing individual weapons" and demanded that those arms be handed over.

A third Paleostinian faction source in Damascus said that after Assad’s overthrow, "we gathered our members’ weapons ourselves and handed them over, but we have kept individual light weapons for protection... with the [authorities’] authorization."

In Yarmouk, a Paleostinian refugee camp in the Damascus suburbs that was devastated during Syria’s civil war, factional banners usually displayed at the entrance were gone and party buildings were closed and unguarded, AFP photographers said. Factional premises elsewhere in Damascus also appeared closed.

Many Paleostinians fled to Syria in 1948 following the creation of Israel, and from the mid-1960s Syria began hosting the leadership of armed Paleostinian factions. Iran-backed Paleostinian groups enjoyed considerable freedom of movement under Assad.

Washington, which designates some of the factions as terrorist organizations, last week announced it was lifting sanctions on Syria. The White House had earlier said the new Syrian regime would have to comply with demands, including suppressing terrorism and preventing "Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
and its proxies from exploiting Syrian territory."

According to the White House, during a meeting in Saudi Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
last week, US President Donald Trump
...Never got invited to a P.Diddy party...
gave Sharaa a list of demands that included deporting "Paleostinian terrorists."

The Iran-backed Paleostinian factions in Syria, along with other terror groups from Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
, are part of Iran’s so-called Axis of Resistance®, which is openly committed to Israel’s destruction. Some Axis members fought alongside Assad’s forces when civil war erupted in Syria in 2011.

In neighboring Lebanon, a government official told AFP that the disarmament of Paleostinian camps, where factions usually handle security, would begin next month based on an accord with visiting Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....>
, who also met with Sharaa in Damascus last month.

’UNWELCOME’
The Iran-backed Paleostinian groups in Syria "did not receive any official request from the authorities to leave Syrian territory" but instead faced restrictions, the first faction leader told AFP.

Some factions "were de facto prohibited from operating," or their members were arrested, he said, adding that the new authorities have seized property from "private homes, offices, vehicles and military training camps in the Damascus countryside and other provinces."

Syrian authorities did not immediately provide a comment to AFP when asked about the matter.

Earlier this month, officials from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine-General Command (PFLP-GC) said Syrian authorities briefly detained factional chief Talal Naji.

In April, Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
said Syrian official Khaled Khaled and organizing committee member Yasser al-Zafri were tossed into the calaboose "without explanation." A source from the group told AFP on Friday that they were still detained.

The second Paleostinian faction leader, from a group that has remained in Damascus with limited representation, said there was "no cooperation between most of the Paleostinian factions and the new Syrian administration."

"The response to our contact is mostly cold or delayed. We feel like unwelcome guests, though they don’t say that clearly," he added, also requesting anonymity.

A Hamas official in Gaza told AFP that it had "channels of communication with our brothers in Syria."

Hamas has minimal representation in Syria, having left the country after the civil war there began. Hamas’s ties with the Assad regime had deteriorated amid the terror group’s support for opposition demands.

Yarmouk camp resident Marwan Mnawar, a retiree, said that "nobody knows what happened to the factional leadership," adding that "people just want to live, they are exhausted" by the conflict and factional infighting.
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Terror group says senior operative killed in Israeli special forces op in south Gaza
2025-05-20
As of late Monday morning.
[IsraelTimes] Palestinian media says undercover troops apprehended wife and children of Popular Resistance Committees commander in Khan Younis; IDF rebuffs report of hostage rescue operation

A senior Paleostinian terror operative was killed in an Israeli operation in the southern Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
Strip early Monday morning, as the Israel Defense Forces denied that the effort was an attempt to rescue Israeli hostages.

The military wing of the Popular Resistance® Committees, a small terrorist organization operating in the Gaza Strip, announced the death of Ahmad Sarhan, following reports that the senior figure was killed in an Israeli commando raid this morning. The organization said Sarhan was responsible for the group’s "special operations." It claimed that Israeli commandos killed Sarhan after failing in an attempt to arrest him.

Media outlets in Gaza reported earlier in the morning that Israeli special forces entered Khan Younis and killed Sarhan. According to the reports, the force entered the heart of the Paleostinian city in disguise, including some troops dressed as women. During the operation, Sarhan’s wife and children were apprehended, the reports claimed.

The Popular Resistance® Committees is considered the third-largest terror organization operating in the Gaza Strip, after Hamas
..always the voice of sweet reason...
and Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
. In recent years, the group has operated under Hamas’s directives.

Amid the incident at dawn, a wave of heavy Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s was reported around the Khan Younis area, including Nasser Hospital. Videos from the Strip showed large strikes in quick succession in the area, followed by the sounds of helicopter gunships, shelling, small arms fire, and other explosions. There were unconfirmed Paleostinian media reports of casualties.

Initially, a report from Saudi news channel al-Arabiya, picked up by Hebrew-language media, claimed that the Israeli forces entered the area as part of an attempted hostage rescue operation. In response, the IDF issued a vague statement hinting that no such operation took place.

"The IDF is in the midst of Operation Gideon’s Chariots and is operating in all areas of the Gaza Strip," the military said, referring to its intensified offensive launched late last week.

"Following the reports, there is no change to the situational assessment," the statement added.

The special forces exited the city without taking on any casualties, according to Hebrew-language media.

Paleostinian media published images purportedly showing a wagon left behind by the Israeli forces. The photos showed what appeared to be a wagon of the kind usually pulled by a mule or cycle of violence, and often used by displaced Gazooks to move their belongings. Inside, however, was a secret hollow section where Israeli troops or equipment may have been hidden, or which possibly could be used to hold suspects.

IDF DECLARES ALL OF KHAN YOUNIS A COMBAT ZONE
The IDF announced Monday that all Paleostinians living in and around the large southern Gaza city of Khan Younis must leave their homes as it prepares to launch an "unprecedented attack" on the area. The evacuation order, covering all of Khan Younis as well as the suburbs of Bani Suheila and Abasan, marks the first major evacuation order since the IDF launched an expanded offensive in the Strip, with Israeli leaders warning they intend to conquer the whole territory to smash Hamas.

Media outlets in Gaza published footage showing large numbers of residents leaving the Khan Younis area on foot. According to Al Arabiya, thousands of residents have already begun evacuating. In recent weeks, there has been relatively low compliance with IDF evacuation orders in Gaza, according to both residents’ testimonies and UNRWA data on the number of evacuees.

Meanwhile,
...back at the argument, Jane reached into her purse for her .38...
Israeli warplanes struck over 160 targets in the Gaza Strip over the past day, the military said, after Paleostinian media outlets reported that dozens of aerial bombardments were conducted across the territory overnight. According to the IDF, the targets included cells of operatives, anti-tank missile launch sites, tunnels, a weapons depot, buildings used by terror groups, booby-trapped structures, and a command center. Strikes were reported in and near Khan Younis, in Gaza City in the north, and in the area of Deir al-Balah in the central Strip.

Hamas-run authorities in Gaza said Israeli attacks on Monday have killed at least 52 people. The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said 136 bodies were brought to Gaza hospitals over the past 24 hours, along with 364 maimed.

In one of the latest operations, the military said it demolished a tunnel in Rafah used by Hamas operatives in an attack that killed two soldiers earlier this month. In the attack on May 3, Hamas operatives set off a bomb in a tunnel shaft in Rafah, killing Cpt. Noam Ravid and and Staff Sgt. Yaly Seror, who served in the elite Yahalom combat engineering unit. After setting off the earth-shattering kaboom, the operatives fled through the tunnel, which was some 200 meters long, the army said. Troops mapped out the tunnel in recent days and demolished it. The IDF said that during the demolition of the tunnel, troops killed another cell of Hamas operatives, which was hiding inside the underground passage.

IDF front man Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said in a press statement from the Gaza border on Sunday evening that five divisions were now operating inside the Strip.

"We are entering a new stage in the fighting. During the operation, we will increase and expand our operational control in Gaza while bisecting the Strip and moving the population for its safety in all the areas where we operate," he said. "Unlike before, we are now focusing on the offensive effort in the Gaza Strip...until the defeat [of Hamas] in the areas where we operate."

Israeli officials had warned that the major offensive would be launched if no hostage deal was reached with Hamas by the end of US President Donald Trump
...Oh, noze! Not him!...
’s visit to the region on Friday. Hostage talks were still ongoing, and the military said it was only carrying out the preliminary stages of the offensive. IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said, "The IDF will allow flexibility for the political echelon to advance any hostage deal."

"A hostage deal — this is not a halt; it is an achievement," Zamir stressed during a visit to Gaza on Sunday. "We are working toward it."

According to Israeli officials, the offensive would see the IDF "conquer" Gaza, raze the vast majority of buildings and retain the territory for the foreseeable future; attack Hamas and prevent it from taking control of humanitarian aid supplies; and move Paleostinians from Gaza’s north to its south.
More from the Times of Israel about the deader:
The Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reports that Ahmad Sarhan was responsible for the abduction of Arbel Yehoud and for holding her captive in Gaza.

It was also reported that the IDF troops involved in the raid attempted to arrest Sarhan, but he confronted the soldiers, and was shot and killed.

There is no comment from the IDF.

All courtesy of Fred:
[X]

Zionist forces besiege Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza
[HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] Israeli occupation forces (IOF) laid siege to the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
Strip on Sunday evening, as military vehicles and bulldozers advanced amid heavy gunfire.

Eyewitnesses said that IOF tanks encircled the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza and began to fire directly at the building.

Sources reported that there were 55 people inside the hospital, including four doctors and eight nurses, in addition to dozens of patients who were unable to move and could not be evacuated during the morning attack. ''Communication with medical staff and the sick inside the hospital has been cut off,'' the sources said.

Meanwhile,
...back at the cheese factory, all the pieces finally fell together in Fluffy's mind...
the director general of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, Munir al-Bursh, said that ''Israeli tanks and bulldozers are surrounding the Indonesian Hospital in the town of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip.''

''A number of patients were maimed due to IOF shooting directly at the hospital. We appeal to the world to intervene immediately to protect the medical staff, patients and the maimed inside the hospital,'' al-Bursh added.

Health sources at the Hospital confirmed that the IOF did not inform the hospital of any evacuation orders nor did they issue any warnings before the bombing began, affirming that ''there are no military targets inside the hospital.''

The medical staff currently inside the hospital appeal to the international community and human rights
...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty...
organizations to intervene urgently to stop this attack and save their lives.

On Sunday morning, a health official said the occupation army surrounded the Indonesian Hospital in Jabalia, in northern Gaza, with drones amid direct shooting in the area.

The hospital director, Marwan al-Sultan, said in a statement that Israeli drones fired at the hospital's intensive care unit, affirming that one patient was injured after shots were fired in the hospital vicinity.

The Paleostinian Ministry of Health said the occupation army has been intensifying its targeting and siege of the Indonesian Hospital since dawn Sunday, days after the European Gaza Hospital was put out of service.

Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza confirms at least 500 people killed in past few days alone
[HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] The Director General of Al-Shifa Medical Complex announced on Monday that the hospital has received more than 500 martyrs and more than 1,000 wounded in the past few days.

This comes at a time when all hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip have ceased operations and the health sector is facing an unprecedented humanitarian disaster amid a bloody military escalation by the Israeli occupation forces against the Gaza Strip.

The complex director explained in his statements that the humanitarian situation is deteriorating dangerously with the arrival of large numbers of wounded and sick people amid a severe shortage of basic medical supplies. This crisis has already led to the death of some patients due to the lack of adequate care.

He pointed to the massive human losses resulting from the recent escalation, noting that the enormous pressure on the complex greatly exceeds its capacity, preventing it from providing the necessary medical care, whether for critical cases or for newly injured patients.




Link


India-Pakistan
Who Is Jyoti Malhotra, YouTuber Arrested For Spying For Pakistan?
2025-05-18
[OneIndia] Popular YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra, along with five others, has been arrested on charges of spying for Pakistain.

For passing on sensitive Indian information to Pak intelligence operatives, a case has been lodged against her under Sections 3, 4, and 5 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923, and Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Hindustan Times reported.

WHO IS JYOTI MALHOTRA?
Jyoti Malhotra owns a YouTube channel 'Travel with Jo' which has 377,000 subscribers. She got in touch with Ehsan-ur-Rahim alias Danish, a staffer at the Pakistain High Commission (PHC) in New Delhi in 2023. She has been her handler who introduced her to Pak Intelligence Operatives (PIOs).

In 2023, she went to Pakistain twice where she met Ali Ehwan, Shakir, and Rana Shahbaz. She saved their names using fake names like Jatt Randhawa for Rana Shahbaz so that nobody would get suspicious. She has been in touch with these people through encrypted platforms.

While portraying herself as a travel enthusiast, authorities allege she was part of a covert influence campaign promoting a favourable image of Pakistain on social media. Her substantial online following, Sherlocks say, provided her handlers in Pakistain with a platform to shape narratives.

Another key accused, Guzala, a 32-year-old widow from Punjab
...1. Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2. A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3. A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots
...
.
's Malerkotla, was allegedly lured into the spy ring after visiting the Pakistain High Commission in Delhi in February 2025. There, she met Danish, who cultivated a romantic relationship with her, shifting their conversations to Telegram for "security." Over weeks, Danish sent her payments-totaling ₹30,000 via PhonePe and Google Pay-before directing her to funnel portions to suspicious accounts, according to a report in India Today.

Guzala later returned to the High Commission with a friend, Banu Nasreena, also a widow, and secured visas with Danish's help-a detail that has raised concerns about exploitation of vulnerable individuals.

THE WIDER NETWORK
Among others arrested:

Yameen Mohd (Malerkotla): Allegedly handled financial transactions and visa logistics for operatives.

Devinder Singh Dhillon (Kaithal): A Sikh student recruited during a Pakistain pilgrimage; accused of filming Patiala's military cantonment.

Arman (Nuh): Supplied Indian SIMs, transferred funds, and attended Defence Expo 2025 on Pak handlers' orders.

The arrests come amid heightened India-Pakistain tensions following the April terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu & Kashmir
...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it Azad (Free) Kashmir. The remainder they refer to as "Indian Occupied Kashmir". They have fought four wars with India over it, the score currently 4-0 in New Delhi's favor. After 72 years of this nonsense, India cut the Gordian knot in 2019, removing the area's special status, breaking off Ladakh as a separate state, and allowing people from other areas to settle (or in the case of the Pandits, to resettle) there....
, where 26 people-primarily Hindu men-were executed at close range by Death Eaters. India blames Pakistain-backed groups, including the Kashmir Resistance (a front for the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba
...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI...>
), for the attack. In retaliation, India launched 'Operation Sindoor', targeting terrorist hubs across the border.
Related:
Pahalgam: 2025-05-15 Is Pakistan’s Army Chief Asim Munir Leading with Faith over Strategy?
Pahalgam: 2025-05-14 Draw with a taste of victory. Pakistan fought off India with Chinese weapons
Pahalgam: 2025-05-12 Pakistan heaps praise on Trump for brokering India ceasefire, offering Kashmir mediation; India limits engagement to direct talks at Directors General of MilOps only
Link


Cyber
Cryptocurrency's Role in the Global Fentanyl Trade Offers Opportunities for Disruption
2025-05-15
A solid taste:
[Chainalysis] The synthetic opioid crisis, which has a growing crypto nexus, is contributing to tens of thousands of deaths annually in the U.S. Fentanyl has been at the epicenter of the public health crisis, which has been a policy priority for the current U.S. administration and its predecessor. Transnational drug trafficking organizations (DTOs), including those in Mexico, have historically focused on other illegal drugs, such as cocaine, however they are now intimately involved in the transnational illicit fentanyl trade. On top of cartel activity, online vendors and darknet marketplaces (DNMs) also play a role in the fentanyl trade, and engage with different types of entities in the ecosystem – all while leveraging crypto. Below, we’ll take a look at this ecosystem, its geographic centers of gravity, two recent use cases, and practical lessons to combat this persistent threat.

ON-CHAIN NEXUS TO FENTANYL ECOSYSTEM IS MORE SUBSTANTIAL AND BROADER THAN COMMONLY UNDERSTOOD
Cryptocurrency is increasingly interwoven into the illicit drug trade, allowing DTOs to bypass the traditional international financial system. The on-chain fentanyl trade includes a broad array of players, each of which provides complementary services:

  • Precursor manufacturers are the start of the fentanyl supply chain. Leveraged by amateur drug vendors and DTOs alike, these suppliers openly advertise on the open web, and conduct sales over instant messaging apps and emails. They ship worldwide, and commonly accept payment in bitcoin (BTC) and stablecoins.

  • Darknet Markets (DNMs) are the original crypto-drug marketplace, and provide the platform on which vendors of illicit material and buyers can trade. Many DNMs ban fentanyl in their terms of service. However, some vendors will still sell substances laced with fentanyl (e.g. commonly counterfeited prescription drugs), as well as fentanyl derivatives like China White heroin, and nitazenes, which are dangerous synthetic opioids with a similar potency to fentanyl. Western darknet markets commonly accept Monero (XMR) and BTC.

  • Drug forums serve as a watering hole for vendors and buyers. Some are geared towards DNM activity, while others are geared toward drug synthesis and chemical manufacturing, with representatives from Chinese chemical companies engaging with amateur online drug vendors who are synthesizing their own substances. Subscribers may pay for access and/or can make donations in cryptocurrency, and users do not always take measures to obfuscate their transactions.

  • Postage services sell bulk postage in exchange for cryptocurrency. They are often used in direct ‘vendor to consumer’ shipments due to crypto’s perceived anonymity. Popular in the U.S. and Mexico, these services are not illegal, however their counterparties can be useful in generating leads to individuals who may incorrectly believe they are operating in secrecy.

  • Research chemical vendors sell analogues of controlled substances as a means to bypass regulation; these drugs are consumed in the same manner and have similar effects as the illegal substances that have inspired their creation. For example, while alprazolam, or Xanax, is a federally controlled substance, flubromazolam is not, and selling it in bulk to wholesale buyers has proven to be a lucrative business. The initial powders are often purchased in bulk from China-based vendors, and are then resold online and/or pressed into counterfeit pills. Some of these vendors also sell nitazenes. One result of the research chemical trade is that street-level buyers are unwittingly taking substances that are altered or counterfeited, and that could potentially have nitazenes or fentanyl laced in.

  • Pill Press Manufacturers, also commonly China-based, sell pill presses, industrial mixers, and pill molds, which are used for drug counterfeiting. There is heavy on-chain association between these manufacturers and DNM vendors who are pressing their own pills.

  • Independent drug vendors have either diversified their streams of income by operating their own shops on top of their DNM profiles, or have divorced themselves entirely from the centralized DNM scene. Some of these actors maintain Telegram bot shops, while others may have clearnet or TOR-based websites. These vendors, if they are producing their own drug material, will likely be sourcing their precursors from China.

While fentanyl trafficking is a prominent example of this dynamic, this typology applies broadly to vendors involved in other synthetic drugs as well. China, in particular, is a significant source country not only for fentanyl precursors, but also for a wide range of synthetic drug material.

BACKBONE OF INTERNATIONAL FENTANYL MARKET SPANS CHINA, MEXICO, AND U.S.
Crypto not only enables the purchase of chemical precursors without physical interactions, but also forms part of a broader underground banking and financial facilitation scheme spanning Mexico, the U.S., and China. Chinese money laundering networks, including Chinese nationals based in the U.S., are increasingly working closely with drug trafficking networks, most notably the Mexican DTOs, to launder their ill-gotten proceeds, often using cryptocurrency. Since Chinese nationals are prohibited from buying more than $50,000 in foreign currency, using underground banking networks tied to the fentanyl trade provides one way to evade the country’s capital controls.

In spite of its ongoing cryptocurrency ban, China continues to be the main source of the world’s fentanyl precursors, shipping services, and other offerings, such as TDP die kits, which are used to press counterfeit pills. For example, as we have flagged previously, from 2018-2023, one group of suspected China-based chemical traders received more than $37.8 million worth of cryptocurrency. Major Mexico-based DTOs, such as the Sinaloa Cartel and the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación, purchase these precursors to manufacture synthetic opioids, including fentanyl, which they then traffic and distribute in the U.S.

Despite their centrality in the fentanyl trade, Mexico and China are far from the only important on-chain players:

  • Earlier this month, Iranian national and Nemesis DNM administrator Behrouz Parsarad was designated by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for facilitating the sale of fentanyl and other drugs worldwide, including to the U.S.

  • In October 2023, OFAC designated Canada-based Valerian Labs, along with its Canadian owner Bahman Djebelibak (aka Bobby Shah). Valerian was a major facilitator of Jinhu Menshing, a China-based entity that advertises punches and dies for tablet presses with pharmaceutical imprints on e-commerce platforms and has provided pill dies for counterfeit oxycodone. These entities were part of a larger designation targeting the supply chain for purchasing and facilitating the distribution of chemical precursors to produce illicit narcotics, including fentanyl.

  • In 2022, OFAC designated Dutch nationals Alex Adrianus Martinus Peijnenburg and Martinus Pterus Henri De Koning for supplying illicit fentanyl, synthetic stimulants, cannabinoids, and opioids to U.S. markets through internet sales and a host of shell companies.

Two recent, but starkly different, cases exemplify how blockchain analytics shine a light on networks that would otherwise be inaccessible and provide actionable inroads.

CIVIL FORFEITURE CASE: STRAIGHTFORWARD, BUT EFFECTIVE, LAUNDERING FOR THE CARTELS
As we discussed recently in the Organized Crime section of our 2025 Crypto Crime Report, a recent civil forfeiture case in the Eastern District of Wisconsin highlighted crypto’s growing role in the financial ties between Mexican cartels and Chinese chemical suppliers. The case resulted in the seizure of over $5.5 million in cryptocurrency and illustrates how Chainalysis can reveal hidden financial flows within organized crime.
Related:
Fentanyl 05/07/2025 Bondi announces one of largest fentanyl seizures in US history
Fentanyl 04/23/2025 Woke Minnesota DA lets Tesla thug walk, signaling it's open season on Team Trump
Fentanyl 04/12/2025 Governor of Oregon tells schools to keep DEI programs and 'Hold the line.'

Related:
Cryptocurrency 03/28/2025 Hamas Won't Like What the Justice Department Just Did
Cryptocurrency 03/07/2025 US judge rules crypto lawsuit seeking billions for Oct. 7 victims can move forward
Cryptocurrency 12/06/2024 Trump taps businessman and former Abraham Accords negotiator as hostage point-man, and more noms

Link


Britain
‘’Rights’’ groups take UK government to court over supply of F-35 parts to Israel
2025-05-15
Sorry — I forgot to add the scare quotes last night. That’s “rights”. They’re actually “wrongs” groups.

— tw at 11:40 a.m. ET.
[IsraelTimes] Challenge to High Court claims London’s decision to supply fighter jet components makes it complicit in alleged crimes against Palestinians in Gaza

Human rights groups launched a court fight Tuesday challenging the UK government’s decision to supply parts for F-35 fighter jets, saying they are being used by Israel in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
in violation of international law.

The legal challenge in the High Court in London alleges that the government is breaking domestic and international law and is complicit in atrocities against Paleostinians by allowing essential components for the warplanes to be supplied to Israel.

Paleostinian human rights organization al-Haq and the UK-based Global Legal Action Network, which brought the legal challenge, say the components are indirectly supplied to Israel through the global spare parts supply chain.
"There’s such clear evidence of the use of weapons parts from the UK being used in war crimes, including in genocide," Sacha Deshmukh, chief executive of Amnesty International UK, said at a rally outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London. "Until this case reaches its judgment, right now as we speak, there are significant human rights
When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much...
violations being delivered by British-made weapons and bombs."

The government said in September that it was suspending about 30 of 350 existing export licenses for equipment deemed to be for use in the conflict in Gaza because of a "clear risk" that the items could be used to "commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law." Equipment included parts for helicopters and drones.

But an exemption was made for some licenses related to components of F-35 fighter jets, which have been linked to Israel’s bombardment campaign against Hamas
..one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,...
in the Gaza Strip.

Rights groups argue that the United Kingdom shouldn’t continue to export parts through what they call a "deliberate loophole," given the government’s own assessment of Israel’s compliance with international humanitarian law.

Paleostinian human rights organization al-Haq and the UK-based Global Legal Action Network, which brought the legal challenge, say the components are indirectly supplied to Israel through the global spare parts supply chain.

Al-Haq had its offices in Ramallah shuttered by Israel in 2022, 10 months after the Defense Ministry designated al-Haq and several other Paleostinian groups as terrorist organizations over their alleged links to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine (PFLP), a leftist terror group. The international community has said Israel has failed to provide convincing evidence to back up its claims.
Said by those who are determined not to be convinced by any amount of the truth. But y’all do you — we know what you are.
UK officials have argued that stopping the export of F-35 fighter jet components would endanger international peace and security.

Compared to major arms suppliers such as the US and Germany, British firms sell a relatively small amount of weapons and components to Israel.

The Campaign Against Arms Trade nonprofit group estimates that the UK supplies about 15 percent of the components in the F-35 stealth combat aircraft, including its laser targeting system.

"British-made F-35s are dropping multi-ton bombs on the people of Gaza, which the UN secretary-general has described as a ’killing field,'" said Charlotte Andrews-Briscoe, a lawyer for the Global Legal Action Network.

"The UK government has expressly departed from its own domestic law in order to keep arming Israel. This decision is of continuing and catastrophic effect," she added.

The hearing is expected to last four days, and a decision is expected at a later date.
Related:
Al-Haq : 2024-12-22 Iraqi MP Habib Al-Halawi vows to massacre Americans
Al-Haq : 2024-09-17 Iran Moving Hamas, Houthis into Iraq as Biden Admin Watches
Al-Haq : 2024-02-20 Sadr-linked activist found killed in Babil
Related:
Global Legal Action Network: 2025-04-17 Activists file arrest warrant for Sa’ar during his London visit
Global Legal Action Network: 2024-02-22 London High Court rejects petition to suspend British arms exports to Israel
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanon and Syria's moves to centralize power lead to crackdowns on Palestinian factions
2025-05-11
[AnNahar] Leb
...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects....
and Syria are cracking down on Paleostinian factions that for decades have had an armed presence in both countries and which on some occasions were used to plan and launch attacks against Israel.

The crackdown comes as Syria's new rulers under Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else
...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State...
are pursuing officials of the former government under Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Despoiler of Deraa...
, including those in the ousted president's web of security agencies. Syria's most prominent Paleostinian factions were key allies of the Assad dynasty in both war and peace time and closely cooperated on security matters.

It also comes after Iran's main regional ally, Lebanon's Hezbollah, was weakened after over a year of war with Israel and as Lebanon's new government vows to monopolize all arms under the government, including Hezbollah and Paleostinian factions in Lebanon.

On Wednesday, Syria's President Ahmad al-Sharaa said his government is holding indirect talks with Israel through mediators, who he did not name. He said the aim of the indirect negotiations is to ease tensions after intense Israeli Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s on Syria.

A crackdown on hardline Paleostinian factions, including the Paleostinian Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
, which took part with Hamas
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
, is likely to be welcomed by Israel.

A Syrian government official declined to comment on the matter.

A Paleostinian official who had been in Damascus for more than 40 years, and who recently left the country, said Paleostinian factions in Syria were forced to hand over their weapons and the Paleostinian embassy will be the only side that Syria's new authorities will deal with. The Paleostinian groups would only be limited to social and charitable activities, the official added, who spoke on condition of anonymity fearing for their safety.

Paleostinian factions for decades have lived in refugee camps in Lebanon and Syria and have been involved militarily both locally and regionally. They closely aligned themselves with the Assads and later with Hezbollah in Lebanon, whose powerful military arsenal grew over the past few decades. Over time, many of the leaders of groups like Hamas and the Paleostinian Islamic Jihad were based in those countries.

However,
a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all...
the regional developments of late 2024 that went against Iran's favor in the Levant began to take shape in recent weeks among the Paleostinian factions in Lebanon and Syria.

"No weapons will be allowed in the (Paleostinian refugee) camps. The Syrian state will protect citizens whether they are Paleostinians or Syrians," said Syrian political analyst Ahmad al-Hamada, whose view points reflect those of the government. "It is not allowed for Paleostinian factions that were arms for Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
and the Assad regime to keep their weapons."

When asked whether the state will prevent any attacks against Israel, al-Hamada said Syria will not allow its territories to be used as a launch pad against any neighbor.

Syrian authorities in Damascus this week detained two bigwigs of the Iran-backed Paleostinian Islamic Jihad group and briefly detained and questioned the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine-General Command, FLP-GC, that since its founding had been a key ally of Assad.

Another Paleostinian official with one of the factions that had been based in Syria said the developments caught them by surprise, and that regardless of who runs the country they are keen to have good relations with Syria's new rulers and maintain the country's stability.

"We hope that this wouldn't have happened. But we don't have a say in this," the official said, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are still based in the country. "We are simply guests here."

The government in Lebanon, which is trying to expand its army's influence in the south near Israel, has also been reclaiming dozens of informal border crossings with Syria, which were key arteries for Iran and its allies to transport weapons and fighters over the years. Many of those crossings were held by PFLP-GC forces of Evil who have given some of those positions up to the Lebanese Army after Assad's downfall.

Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....>
, who Paleostinian factions in Syria oppose, visited Damascus last month for the first time in more than a decade and he is scheduled to visit Lebanon on May 21.

After Israel intensified its airstrikes on Lebanon in response to Hamas allegedly firing rockets from southern Lebanon in late March, the Lebanese government for the first time called out the Paleostinian group and arrested nearly 10 suspects involved in the operation. Hamas was pressured by the military to turn in three of their forces of Evil from different refugee camps.

Ahmad Abdul-Hadi, a Hamas representative in Lebanon, was also summoned by the head of one of the country's top security agencies over the incident and was formally told that Hamas should stop its military activities.

Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun, who is backed by the United States and Arab countries rather than Hezbollah and Iran, has said armed factions should not be allowed to "shake up national security and stability." His statement has set a new tone after decades of tolerating the presence of armed Paleostinian groups in refugee camps which have led to armed conflict in the crowded ghettos.

"I think we're in unprecedented times, politically speaking," said Mohanad Hage Ali, a senior fellow at the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut. "The (Lebanese) army is acting out of a political will, with its former chief now the president. There is a strong political thrust behind the army."

A Lebanese government official familiar with the initiative said that Hamas was told to hand over wanted forces of Evil and end all its military activity in the country. He added that there is also a plan to gradually give up Hamas' weapons, which coincides with the visit to Lebanon of Abbas, leader of the rival Fatah group.
Link


Fifth Column
Mostly women arrested in Columbia University library takeover: NYPD
2025-05-09
[FoxNews] Majority of those detained were female students who renamed Butler Library the 'Basel Al-Araj Popular University'

The New York Police Department arrested 61 females after anti-Israel agitators stormed Columbia University's Butler Library on Wednesday as students were studying for finals.

In total, the NYPD made 80 arrests – 19 males and 61 females, according to a source. A source also said at least 50 of the 80 protesters arrested were Columbia University students.
The other 30 being professional cadres, or at least paid, no doubt. How many of each group were foreigners, whether legal or illegal?
Protesters renamed the Butler Library "Basel Al-Araj Popular University." Students at the Ivy League institution said protesters climbed on a desk and chanted "Free Palestine," and demanded that the university divest from Israel.

At the entrance gate to Columbia University, a security guard said, "Nobody comes in, nobody comes out."

Claire Shipman, Columbia's acting president, said in a statement on Wednesday that the NYPD was called to help "secure" the building. She added that two university police officers were injured.

"Sadly, during the course of this disruption, two of our Columbia Public Safety Officers sustained injuries during a crowd surge when individuals attempted to force their way into the building and into Room 301," Shipman said. "These actions are outrageous."
More from the Times of Israel:
Acting Columbia President Claire Shipman releases a video statement on the protest, saying she saw the library room “defaced and damaged in disturbing ways and with disturbing slogans.”

“Violence and vandalism, hijacking a library — none of that has any place on our campus,” Shipman says. “Let me be clear: Columbia unequivocally rejects antisemitism and all other forms of harassment and discrimination.”

Shipman says 900 students were forced out of the library during the protests.
Related:
Columbia University: 2025-05-08 US charges man for assaulting Jews in NYC, including Columbia students
Columbia University: 2025-05-08 Judge orders Trump admin to detail legal grounds to deport anti-Israel Columbia activist
Columbia University: 2025-05-08 Columbia University calls in police after anti-Israel activists invade library
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Leb army seized 800 rockets from Palestinian refugee camp in country’s north amid efforts to disarm non-state actors
2025-05-03
[IsraelTimes] Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, who previously served as army commander, has vowed to bring all weapons in the country under the state’s authority.

"The president underscored Leb
...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects....
’s refusal to be drawn into regional conflicts, highlighting the importance of Paleostinian rights without compromising Lebanese stability," Mustafa told news hounds, referring to the council session.

"The prime minister also stressed the need to hand over illegal weapons and to prevent Hamas
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
or any other faction from undermining Lebanon’s national security and stability," a council statement said.

The Saudi channel al-Hadath reported Friday that the Lebanese army seized 800 rockets in the al-Beddawi Paleostinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon.

The Lebanese military also reportedly entered bases belonging to Hezbollah in northern Lebanon.

There was no official confirmation of the report in Lebanon.

According to the report, the rockets belonged to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine — General Command, a small Paleostinian terror group that has been operating in recent years from Lebanon.

It has ties to the main Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine and is not known to have carried out major terror attacks independently in recent years.

The disarmament in Lebanon is occurring as low-intensity hostilities continue between Israel and Hezbollah, with the Israel Defense Forces killing two operatives in the group in Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s on Thursday.
Related:
Al-Beddawi: 2023-02-16 Roads blocked in North in protest at dollar surge, economic situation
Al-Beddawi: 2019-12-11 Leb: Protesters Block Jounieh Highway, Many Roads as Tripoli Protests Escalate
Al-Beddawi: 2015-05-08 Leb: Indictments Issued against Suspects on Terror Charges
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
IDF says 3 key terrorists killed in recent strikes, including leader of Oct. 7 Kissufim attack
2025-04-30
[IsraelTimes] Recent Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip killed three prominent terror operatives, including a Hamas terrorist who led the attack on Kissufim on October 7, 2023, the IDF announces.

According to the military, a strike in Gaza City on Thursday killed Ali Naddal Husni Sarfiti, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Sarfiti had been jailed in Israel between 2002 and 2015 for involvement in terror activity, including providing military training and planning a suicide bombing on behalf of the PFLP, the IDF says.

“After his release, he operated in recent years to carry out terror attacks in Israeli territory,” the military says, adding that he was in contact with terror operatives in the West Bank and transferred millions of shekels to them for the attacks.

Additionally, the IDF says recent strikes in Gaza killed Sa’id Abu Hasnan, a member of Hamas’s Nukhba force in the terror group’s Deir al-Balah Battalion, “who infiltrated [Israel] and commanded the infiltration at Kissufim” on October 7; and Mustafa al-Mutawwak, chief of operations in Hamas’s Jabalia Battalion, who led attacks on Israeli troops in Gaza.

Palestinians report 3 killed in Israeli strike in Gaza’s Khan Younis
[IsraelTimes] Three Palestinians were killed an Israeli drone strike in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, the Hamas-linked Shehab news agency reports.

There is no comment from the IDF on the alleged strike, which comes amid offensive operations in the Gaza Strip.

There is no verification of the toll and Hamas-run authorities do not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

Four killed in overnight Gaza strikes, Hamas-controlled authorities say
[IsraelTimes] Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip overnight killed four Palestinians, according to local health officials from Hamas-controlled authorities.

Gaza’s Hamas-controlled civil defense agency says a number of people were additionally injured in an Israeli airstrike on tents near the Al-Iqleem area.

The figures cannot be independently verified and do not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

There is no comment from the Israeli military, which has said in the past that it is targeting terror operatives and infrastructure in the Strip.
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
France complains after Israel bars entry to officials; denies claims groups linked to PFLP
2025-04-30
[IsraelTimes] France condemns Israel’s decision to cancel the entry visas of 27 French left-wing lawmakers and local officials two days before their planned visit to the country, says a French government spokesperson.

“The decision… is regrettable, unhelpful, and potentially harmful to France-Israel relations,” says the official at a press briefing.

The spokesperson says entry was denied to two French delegations “led by associations working toward cooperation” that “included several elected officials who were scheduled to visit Israel and the Palestinian Territories.”

Israel’s interior ministry said visas for the French officials were canceled under a law that allows authorities to ban people who could act against Israel.

In a statement on Monday, Israel’s embassy in France said any individual or delegation associated with the Decentralised Cooperation Network for Palestine or the France-Palestine Solidarity Association (AFPS) would not be permitted to enter the country because, according to the embassy, they were linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terror group.
“Keep your nasty, stinky Communists to yourselves. we have enough of our own here, we don’t need more.”
“The public allegations made by the Israeli Embassy in France, which imply a possible link between these associations and terrorist organizations, are unacceptable,” says the French official, adding that “France calls on the Israeli authorities to reconsider their decisions, which undermine actors working toward a sustainable peace between Israelis and Palestinians.”
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Why has Hezbollah escalated its rhetoric on arms?
2025-04-27
[AnNahar] The issue of Hezbollah’s arms is "present on the table of indirect dialogue between President Joseph Aoun and Hezbollah’s leadership" and Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri

...perennial Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, head of the Amal Shiite party aligned with Hezbollah, a not very subtle sock puppet of the Medes and Persians...
is following up on the matter, the PSP’s al-Anbaa news portal quoted "credible sources" as saying.

The sources attributed the latest "conflicting stances" by Hezbollah’s leaders to "raising the ceiling of its demands regarding its role in the reconstruction of the South, its political future and the number of members who will be integrated into the army and security forces."

"What President Aoun mentioned prior to his travel to Doha about his rejection of repeating (Iraq’s) Popular Mobilization Forces in Leb
...home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade....
and his rejection of the creation of a special army unit for Hezbollah’s fighters are part of this dialogue, to which (Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim) Qassem responded in an escalatory tone," the sources added.

"Some escalatory stances of Hezbollah’s leaders reflect personal wishes based on a wrong analysis of the U.S.-Iranian negotiations and of the directions of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard," the sources went on to say.
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
PA President Abbas demands ''sons of dogs'' Hamas free captives
2025-04-24
[NEWARAB] Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....>
slammed Hamas
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
on Wednesday, demanding the group relinquish control over Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
, fully disarm, and free Israeli captives held in the enclave.

The comments were made at the 32nd session Paleostinian Central Council meeting, which some factions, including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine and the National Initiative decided to boycott, alongside prominent political figures.

Abbas crudely lashed out at the group, calling them "sons of dogs," before demanding they operate within the laws of a Paleostinian state. He urged for an independent and recognised Paleostinian state, which would be a part of the UN.

He went on to demand that Israel fully withdraws from Gaza, ensuring there are clear and sustainable mechanisms in place to allow for necessary aid and reconstruction. He insisted that the rebuilding of Gaza should not include any displacement of Paleostinian people.

"We are already working with our brothers in Egypt, as well as with the UN, in order to hold an international conference for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, which friendly countries can participate in, along with various international organizations," he said.

He further called on Israel to stop attacks, military operations, and the building of settlements in the occupied West Bank.

COMMITMENT TO THE PLO
Abbas also demanded that the Paleostine Liberation Organisation (PLO), which does not include Hamas, be recognised as the sole legitimate representative of the Paleostinian people, adding that there should be a single Paleostinian political system, law, and "national opinion".

He denounced Hamas for its 2007 takeover of the Gaza Strip, which took place after a conflict with his Fatah organization.

"Hamas, since its coup against Paleostinian national legitimacy in 2007, and its work throughout this period to separate the Gaza Strip from the West Bank and Jerusalem, causing six wars on Gaza - without exempting the occupation [Israel] of course from responsibility - has inflicted severe damage on the Paleostinian cause," he said.

He added that Hamas has, over the years, given Israel "free pretexts to carry out crimes in Gaza", saying that one of the pretexts was taking the captives from Israel in October 2023.

"The consequences of all these actions carried out by Hamas were the aggression, destruction and closure of future prospects for our people."

He added that this "makes it obligatory for us and our people to end its seizure of power and authority in the Gaza Strip completely, and to leave it to the PLO and the legitimate Paleostinian National Authority, to protect their interests and future."

Abbas said that at the Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
summit in March, he had called for the creation of a new role, vice-chairman of the Executive Committee of the PLO and the President of the State of Paleostine, referring the matter to the Paleostinian National Council.

At the meeting, he also called for amnesty for those dismissed from Fatah and called for them to be reinstated to their jobs after they submit requests to the Paleostinian leadership.

Abbas said he still stands by his comments at the summit, before highlighting that Paleostine is very close to a new catastrophe that "threatens our existence and threatens to liquidate our entire national cause".

He further denounced Israel's "barbaric aggression" on the West Bank and on Gaza, which he said violates international laws and agreements made with the PLO.

"Our vision to achieve a just and comprehensive peace and ensure security and stability in Paleostine and the region requires a political horizon based on ending the Israeli occupation—including the establishment of an independent, sovereign, viable and recognized Paleostinian state, which is a full member of the UN, and lives in security and peace alongside Israel," he added.
Update from the Times of Israel at 3:30 pm ET:
He further called on Hamas to cede control of Gaza to the PA, give up its arms, and become a political party.

“Hamas must hand over Gaza responsibilities and hand over its arms to the responsibility to Palestinian Authority and transform into a political party,” Abbas said.

Hamas has refused calls in recent months by Israel and the United States to lay down its arms.
Link



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