Hamas said on 11
January that it had completed a draft framework for a Gaza ceasefire deal and
is awaiting a response from Israel. The news coincides with recent reports of
cautious progress in reaching an agreement to end 15 months of genocidal war on
the strip.
Hamas spokesman
Jihad Taha told Al-Araby al-Jadeed that mediators have finished a draft
stipulating the terms for a ceasefire and an exchange of Israeli captives for
Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
The spokesman
said mediators are now waiting for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s
representative in the Qatari capital, Doha, to approve and sign the agreement.
According to
Hamas sources cited by Al-Araby TV, negotiations have advanced positively and
are nearing their final stages.
The first phase
of the proposed agreement will see Israeli troops pull out from certain areas,
including the Rafah crossing and parts of the Philadelphi Corridor along the
Gaza-Egypt border. The withdrawals are supposed to begin once Israeli captives
are released in the first week.
The US, Qatar,
and Egypt are expected to hold a conference to outline the details, including a
time and date for the start of implementation.
Netanyahu’s
office announced on Saturday that the premier had sent a delegation to Doha for
negotiations, headed by Mossad chief David Barnea.
The prime
minister has blocked a deal from going through for over a year. Hamas, which
had been holding fast to its terms for a full Israeli withdrawal throughout the
entirety of the war, has now agreed to a deal that would see troops maintain a
presence on the Gaza-Egypt border.
A Hamas source
told Al-Sharq TV on Sunday that the deal will go through if Israel does not
impose new conditions at the last minute.
“Hamas
demonstrated great flexibility that surprised the Israeli side by agreeing to
submit a list of the names of the living hostages as part of the first phase,
adding eleven hostages at Israel's request during the current round of
negotiations in the first phase of the deal, and not refusing to leave Israeli
forces on the Philadelphia Corridor and the presence of Israeli forces on the
Netzarim Corridor,” the source said.
The report says
the Rafah crossing will not be opened, but “there is a promise for the return
of the Gazan displaced through an electronic checkpoint equipped with cameras
on the al-Rashid Road at the beginning of the first phase of the deal, which
will last between six and eight weeks,” the source added.
Militants
affiliated with the new Syrian government, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)
leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, are kidnapping and murdering members of Syria's Alawite
community based on their religious identity in various parts of Syria.
Immediately
after ousting the government of Bashar al-Assad and taking power in Damascus on
8 December, militants from HTS began targeting members of the Alawite community
based on accusations of crimes they committed as part of the previous
government.
However,
Al-Akhbar reported on 11 December that in the Hama governorate, especially in
the villages of its northern and eastern countryside, HTS and affiliated
militants are carrying out “liquidation operations based on identity, without
making accusations against them, such as that they are 'regime remnants' or
were 'against the revolution' before ordering the killing.”
The
Lebanese paper reports that militants affiliated with the new government are
"terrorizing the residents of the Alawite sect and pressuring them to
evacuate their homes, especially in some eastern villages affiliated with
Salamiyah," which will lead to demographic changes in the region.
In
the villages of Al-Zaghba, Mabatan, Maryoud, Al-Fanat, and Maan in the eastern
countryside, armed factions are stealing, looting, and burning homes to ensure
that residents do not return.
A
resident of Al-Zaghba village told Al-Akhbar that “the militants present in the
village prevent the return of the homeowners, and if the purpose of returning
is to check on the house or bring some items and necessities from it, then the
residents enter at their own risk.”
One
of the residents displaced to the villages of the Syrian coast told Al-Akhbar
that "he no longer thinks of returning to his village due to the
violations committed by militants whose affiliation no one knows."
He
added that "the militants killed a civilian man from the village who
returned to check on his house during the past two days."
When
he contacted authorities from the new government to "find out the
affiliation of these killers, who responded that the area was outside the
control of its factions and that it had nothing to do with the violations
taking place there."
Reports
of sectarian killings by HTS or affiliated militants in Homs, Latakia, and
Tartous continue to emerge on social media.
Outgoing
CIA director William Burns stated in an interview on 10 January that Iran does
not have a nuclear weapons program, following a decision it made in 2003, and
that the US is concerned about the revival of ISIS.
In
an interview with state broadcaster National Public Radio (NPR) to discuss his
time as director of the notorious spy agency under President Joe Biden, Burns
was asked whether Iran may accelerate its efforts to obtain nuclear weapons
given the setbacks the Islamic Republic and its allies in the regional Axis of
Resistance have sustained over the past year.
Burns
answered that "the Iranian regime could decide in the face of that
weakness that it needs to restore its deterrence as it sees it and, you know,
reverse the decision made at the end of 2003 (an oral fatwa issued by Supreme
Leader Ali Khamenei) to suspend their weaponization program."
However,
Burns clarified, "We do not see any sign today that any such decision has
been made, but we obviously watch it intently. "
He
added that Iran's weakness could instead lead to negotiations for a nuclear
deal similar to the one signed by Iran and the United States under President
Obama in 2014. President Trump later withdrew from the deal following intense
lobbying by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"You
know that that sense of weakness could also theoretically create a possibility
for serious negotiations, too. And, you know, that's something the new
administration is going to have to sort through. I mean, it's something I have
a lot of experience in with the secret talks a decade ago, a little more than a
decade ago with the Iranians. So, you know, that's that's also a
possibility," Burns stated.
Regarding
the negotiations for a possible ceasefire and prisoner exchange between Israel
and Hamas in Gaza, Burns said he believes there is a chance for an agreement.
"I
think the gaps between the parties have narrowed. There's an Israeli delegation
in Doha right now working through proximity talks managed by the Qataris, with
the support of the Egyptians and with our support. So, I think there's a
chance."
Burns
stated the time was right to reach a deal to end the war because Israeli
captives held by Hamas are suffering, as are Palestinians in Gaza.
"So
there's every reason for political leaders to recognize that enough is enough.
That perfect is rarely on the menu in the Middle East, and that, you know, it's
time to make a deal."
The
outgoing CIA director did not mention the thousands of Palestinians still held
captive in Israeli prisons, or the over 46,000 killed by Israeli bombing over
the course of the 15-month war.
Burns
was then asked about the state of ISIS in the world following the terror attack
in New Orleans that was carried out by a man who US authorities have tried to
claim was inspired by ISIS.
Burns
claimed that "we're quite concerned" and that ISIS constitutes a
"rising threat."
"We
can see the external plotting that particular branch of ISIS is engaged in.
And, you know, we're very sharply focused as an agency on dealing with that
threat, you know, supporting the FBI in the New Orleans case, where, as the FBI
has said publicly, and their belief is that you know, the man who perpetrated
that horrific act was inspired by ISIS but operated alone."
"And
we continue to focus, along with others in the US government, you know, on the
ISIS threat in Iraq and Syria, and over the last few years have, you know, had
successful strikes against ISIS some years in that part of the world,
too," he added.
The
US government says it is fighting ISIS, despite its past support for the terror
group in Iraq and Syria, and its usefulness in justifying a US military
occupation in Syria and presence in Iraq.
Burns
also claimed, "We've stayed focused on Al Qaeda, as well," citing the
killing of former Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kabul, Afghanistan, in
the summer of 2022.
"I
think, evidence of our continuing commitment to deal with potential terrorist
threats coming out of Afghanistan, in this case from Al Qaeda."
At
the same time, the Biden administration has supported the former Al-Qaeda
affiliate in Syria, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), for years, including after it
conquered Damascus from its stronghold of Idlib Governorate in early December.
HTS
leader Ahmed al-Sharaa previously vowed allegiance to Zawahiri after splitting
from his former boss, ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in 2013.
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