The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 6th December 2024
The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 6th December 2024
The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Fighting rages across the Middle East as the Israelis ignore the Lebanon cease-fire they signed up for last week and covertly work with their American masters in arming the sectarian Muslim militias who launched a new onslaught against Syria last week. Russian war-planes have joined in the fighting while Hezbollah and Iran say that they are considering sending their own troops in should the Syrian government make an official request for help. Meanwhile the slaughter of the innocents continues in Gaza as Israeli jets again bombed the so-called ‘safe zone’ in Gaza’s al-Mawasi, killing at least 20 people and wounding dozens more.
Back in London Amnesty International has concluded that Israel’s war on Gaza meets the legal threshold for genocide. In a damning new report Amnesty says the Israeli military has committed at least three of the five acts banned by the 1948 Genocide Convention, including indiscriminate killings of civilians, causing serious bodily or mental harm, and “deliberately inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction”.
“Month after month, Israel has treated Palestinians in Gaza as a subhuman group unworthy of human rights and dignity, demonstrating its intent to physically destroy them” said Agnes Callamard, secretary-general of Amnesty International. “Our research reveals that, for months, Israel has persisted in committing genocidal acts, fully aware of the irreparable harm it was inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza.
“Our damning findings must serve as a wake-up call to the international community: this is genocide. It must stop now.”
On Monday the Israelis carried out their largest wave of airstrikes across Lebanon since the ceasefire came into effect on 27th November, killing at least 11 people. Lebanon called on Washington and Paris to press Israel to observe the deal that was brokered by France and the USA to end the fighting. All they got was the mealy-mouthed words that the imperialists routinely use to cover up Zionist crimes.
US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller claimed on Monday that the ceasefire “is holding” and that Washington had “anticipated that there might be violations”. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot also spoke to his Israeli counterpart Gideon Saar on Monday, saying both sides should adhere to the ceasefire.
Meanwhile the sectarian Muslim militias that were former affiliates of Al Qaeda have launched a new wave of terror in northern Syria, seizing Aleppo and Hama. Syrian and Russian war-planes are pounding their positions while Syrian troops and the Kurdish militias fight to fend off the NATO-armed terror gangs who are based in Turkish-occupied northern Syria.
In Tehran the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said: “Iran does not command resistance factions in Arab countries and does not have organisational ties with them; rather, it supports their cause and provides assistance when necessary.” But Iran will consider joining in the defence of Syria on request.
And the chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces warns that the recent surge of terrorist activities in northwestern Syria is part of a “dangerous” American-Israeli plot to weaken the Syrian government.
Major General Mohammadi Baqeri said the terrorist offensive was the first step of a dangerous scenario for the region, stating that the coincidence of this invasion with the fragile ceasefire in Lebanon indicates a co-ordinated American-Zionist conspiracy to weaken Syria, its allies and the Axis of Resistance.