Who's Leading the Iran-Israel War?

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                

Smoke rises from the Iranian state TV building in Tehran after an Israeli strike. Photo: Stringer/Getty Images  This was a targeted strike.  

My attention as been drawn to the fact that Trump has told Teheran to evacuate!  Why?  Israel is not nor will want to bomb the civilians of Iran.  Israel has been pin-pointing all along;  they have the capability, to only hit places causing bombing from Iran to Israel!  They have wiped out top leaders of Iran's army, etc., bases, things like that.

Won't that put civilians in the way of the battlefield?  They can't leave by plane;  where can they go but to the hills where the nuclear centers are.  Tehran, home to 10 million people, suffers from severe traffic congestion making a speedy evacuation impossible, says Al Jazeera.                    

"The Israeli military has said it has complete control of the skies over Tehran. It signaled Monday that it's expanding its targets beyond strictly military or nuclear sites, including by bombing Iranian state TV."

In Israel's recent strikes against Iran, the commander-in-chief of the Iranian military, General Hossein Salami, was killed. 

Israel's strikes on Iran killed several Iranian commanders on Friday, including Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, Iran’s highest-ranking military officer, and Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami, who was the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an elite wing of the Iranian military.

While Salami was the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, is the overall commander-in-chief of the armed forces.  Trump does not want him targeted.  Evidently he is still in Iran, though there were rumors he had fled to Putin in Russia.  

Eyal Zamir (Hebrew: אייל זמיר; born 26 January 1966) is the current Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, having taken office on 5 March 2025. Zamir previously served as the Director-General of the Israeli Ministry of Defense (2023–2025), as Deputy Chief of Staff between 2018 and 2021, commander of the Southern Command,Military Secretary to the Prime Minister, commander of the 36th Division and commander of the 7th Armored Brigade.  The Israeli military chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, stated that Israel's actions were a "fight to preserve our existence". 

PM , formerly Captain Benjamin Netanyahu served in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) at age 18  elite special forces unit known as Sayeret Matkal. 

• It is considered one of the premier special forces units of Israel.
• It is known for its clandestine operations and is often tasked with intelligence gathering and counter-terrorism missions.
• Sayeret Matkal is modeled after the British Army's Special Air Service (SAS) and shares the motto "Who Dares Wins". 

"President Trump called on Iranian civilians to "immediately evacuate Tehran" on Monday evening, shortly after which the White House announced he would be departing the G7 summit early to "attend to many important matters."

Why it matters: It's not immediately clear what triggered Trump's dramatic post on Truth Social or his early return from Canada. Israel has been conducting strikes in Tehran since Thursday night, but the U.S. has so far declined to join the operation.

• White House spokesperson Alex Pfeiffer denied reports the U.S. was attacking Iran: "American forces are maintaining their defensive posture, and that has not changed. We will defend American interests," he wrote.
• Trump later told reporters before departing Canada that "they (Iran) want to make a deal, and as soon as I leave here, we're going to be doing something. But I have to leave here."
• Tehran is home to around 10 million people, with around 17 million in the metropolitan area.  I repeat, Israel is not aiming at killing the civilians.  If they leave Tehran, won't they find themselves in the battlefield and be in more harm?  
  
• Pete Hegseth is the USA's Secretary of Defense.  Did he call Trump back? 
• USA's General Flynn is also commenting:
• The conflict has clearly intensified with Israel launching its initial airstrikes back on 13 June. Targets in Iran include military & nuclear facilities, such as Natanz, Esfahan Nuclear Technology Center, Tabriz Airbase, Hamedan Airbase, Amand Missile Base, Bakhtaran missile base, & energy infrastructure such as South Pars, Fajr-e Jam, and Shahran oil depot, as well as the Farda Motors factor. Israel described these actions as aimed at dismantling Iran’s nuclear program and ballistic missile capabilities, reporting a 90% interception rate of Iranian munitions. Iran responded with Operation True Promise III, launching 7 waves of ballistic missile attacks & two waves of drones, causing significant casualties, w/ at least 13 deaths & 270 wounded in Israel.
•  DUBAI/JERUSALEM, June 17 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said he wanted a "real end" to the nuclear dispute with Iran and indicated he may send senior American officials to meet with the Islamic Republic as the Israel-Iran air war raged for a fifth day.
  Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said meanwhile that Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei could face the same fate as Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, who was toppled in a U.S.-led invasion and eventually hanged after a trial.

• Resource:
• https://www.axios.com/2025/06/16/trump-evacuate-tehran-warning-israel

Who's Counting Hostages ?

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                 

Miss Noa  Argamani, a Chinese-born Israeli citizen, was kidnapped from the Nova festival and harrowing video footage from 7 October showed the 26-year-old being taken away on the back of a motorbike screaming, "Don't kill me!." Freed Israeli hostage Noa Argamani was held in child's bedroom in Gaza during eight (8) months in captivity.  

During its 7 October attacks in southern Israel Hamas killed about 1,200 people and took some 251 people.

Some 116 remain in the Palestinian territory, including 41 the army says are dead.

A deal agreed in November saw Hamas release 105 hostages in return for a week-long ceasefire and some 240 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.  I must add that Israel has about 9 million population, of which about 6 million are Jewish.  It was formed and planned to be a Jewish state, such as some 50 others are Muslim states.  "According to the Pew Research Center in 2010, there were 50 Muslim-majority countries. Around 62% of the world's Muslims live in the Asia-Pacific region (from Turkey to Indonesia), with over one billion adherents."

On Saturday, the Hamas-run health ministry said the death toll in Gaza is now 36,801 people.  They usually are found to lie and quote higher numbers than the truth.  Dead Palestinians make better copy to dirty Israel's reputation and get people to sympathize with the "Poor" Palestinians.  The UNDERDOG is the Palestinians,  crowds think.  

Noa and Palestinian kidnapper who might have been one of the daily workers in Noa's kibbutz.  Most all had been workers, familiar with the families and were paid by them.  To think that the Israelis had trusted them like family.  Oy very!  Yes, they were recognized by the living.  They were also those "innocent civilians who raped, plundered and kidnapped and set fires all over".  

Out of 251 kidnapped Israeli hostages, yesterday a top Hamas official, probably speaking from Qatar, said that out of the remaining  120 hostages in Gaza, had no idea how many remained alive. That shows their figures had lost 131 who were either rescued to had died or both. 

Israel believes and hopes that more than 70 of the 120 hostages are still alive.  The Hamas official claimed that he had no idea what the correct figure was.  The last 4 rescued came from homes of Palestinians.  The home-owner Palestinians were complicit in holding hostages, hardly could be considered as innocent civilians.  They helped Hamas big-time; probably for money, too.  

Back on June 3rd in Khan Younis, JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military on Monday confirmed the deaths of four more hostages held by Hamas — including three older men seen in a Hamas video begging for their release.  The three men, Amiram Cooper, Yoram Metzger and Haim Peri, were all age 80 or older. Looking weak and wary, they appeared in a video in December released by Hamas under the title, “Don’t let us grow old here.”The fourth hostage was identified as Nadav Popplewell. Israel’s military spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said the four men died together in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis when Israel was operating there. The cause of death was not immediately known.   Israel carried out a major offensive in Khan Younis, a Hamas stronghold, early this year.

Each time they rescue a hostage, it gets harder and harder to do again.  Israel lost a soldier this time who was killed.  Freed 4; but lost 1.  =  3.  

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd11z2j34k4o

https://www.the-sun.com/news/11584231/freed-israeli-hostage-noa-argamani-childs-bedroom-gaza/

https://nypost.com/2024/06/14/world-news/top-hamas-official-claims-no-one-has-any-idea-how-many-israeli-hostages-are-still-alive/

The Great Famine in Lebanon : Result of Ottoman Empire Hooking up with Germany

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                  

                                  Starving man and children in Mount Lebanon 1915-1918

Lebanon's population was made up of Muslim Arabs, Maronite Christians and a few Jews. Christians were once a majority inside Lebanon and are still a majority in the diaspora of the nearly 14 million Lebanese people living outside of Lebanon. The president of the country is traditionally a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim, and the speaker of parliament a Shia Muslim. The majority are Muslims.  Jews lived in Beirut, Tyre and mainly in Aleppo.

The Great Famine of Mount Lebanon (1915–1918) was a period of mass starvation during World War I that resulted in 200,000 deaths.  Allied forces--Great Britain, France, USA  Russia, Italy, Romania, Japan and the United States who blockaded the Eastern Mediterranean, as they had done with the German Empire in Europe, in order to strangle the economy with the knowledge that it might lead to a profound impact on civilians in the region. 

At the outbreak of war, the arid Mount Lebanon was a semi-autonomous area within the powerful Ottoman Empire. Its economy was based on the production of raw silk, which was woven by women in mills and exported to Europe.

But the Ottoman alliance with Germany caused the Allies to cut off international trade routes, damaging the silk trade and choking the economy. Food was scarce and prioritized for the soldiers of the Ottoman war effort.                                                      Turkish soldiers below

A Jewish community existed in Lebanon since King Solomon's days (961-920 BCE), when Solomon procured Cedars of Lebanon for the Temple, the population concentrating mainly in Beirut, the capital, but  also in Tripoli, Tyre and Sidon, and they  engaged in commerce.                                                                 

 The situation was exacerbated by Jamal-Djemal Pasha, commander of the Fourth Army of the Ottoman Empire, who barred crops from neighbouring Syria from entering Mount Lebanon.          

Ahmed Djemal Pasha (1872-1922) was one of the leading members of the Young Turk administration prior to and throughout World War One, and one of few initially pro-Entente senior politicians.  Holding numerous wartime posts Djemal also served at the head of Fourth Army on the Palestine Front.  He further held the military governorship of Ottoman Syria, operating what was in effect a huge personal fiefdom encompassing Palestine and the majority of Arabia. He was known to be a cruel man.                         

        Registered Syrian refugees in Lebanon as of June 30, 2016. Source: UNHCR
    

 Additionally, a swarm of locusts devoured the remaining crops, creating a famine that led to the deaths of half of the population of the Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate, a semi-autonomous subdivision of the Ottoman Empire and the precursor of modern-day Lebanon.                   

Other areas in modern-day Lebanon, according to multiple sources, were also famine-stricken. However, due to poor documentation, casualties were never recorded. Some of the areas hit with no documentation include Tyre, Zahle, Akkar & Bint Jbeil.                                              

To counter the Allied blockade, the Ottomans adopted a severe policy of acquisition by which all food supplies were prioritized for the army. The crisis  further exacerbated a black market run by well-connected usurers.

                                                               

                 Beirut, the capital; enjoyed outdoor dining before the famine

The Ottoman government had appropriated all of the empire's railway services for military use, which disrupted the procurement of crops to parts of the empire. One of the first cities to be hit by the grain shortage was Beirut, the capital.

                                                       

On 13 November 1914, only 2 weeks after the Ottoman Empire joined the war, a group of citizens stormed the Beirut municipality to warn the municipal council of the severe shortage of wheat and flour in the city. The train freight cars that regularly transported grains from Aleppo,  had not arrived and the bakery shelves were empty. Angry mobs looted the bakeries of whatever little reserves of flour and grain they had left.                                         

 The municipal council dispatched a message to then Beirut Vali Bekir Sami Kunduh who requested grain provisions from the governor of Aleppo Vilayet and urged the Ottoman authorities to prioritize grain shipping to Beirut. 

                                                            

                                        The bridge at Khan-M'rad, with a DHP train

Acquiring train freight cars to transport anything to the Beirut Vilayet was impossible without paying large bribes to military commanders and to the railroad authorities. Grain prices began to soar, which prompted the president of Beirut's municipal body, Ahmad Mukhtar Beyhum, to address the grain supply bottlenecks himself.

On 14 November 1914, Beyhum took off to Aleppo,   where he negotiated with authorities, securing grain freight cars from the Ottoman Fourth Army. The wheat was paid for from the municipal treasury. Grain freights arrived to Beirut on 19 November 1914 to the relief of the masses; however, the crisis was to worsen as both reports of the Ottoman officials and correspondence from the Syrian Protestant College indicated that food shortages were to become a daily occurrence past November.                                             

Around 200,000 people starved to death at a time when the population of Mount Lebanon was estimated to be 400,000 people. The Mount Lebanon famine caused the highest fatality rate by population during World War I. Bodies were piled in the streets and people were reported to be eating street animals. Some people were said to have resorted to cannibalism.  There were reports of bloated bodies dead in the street, even cannibalism. One account from a Jesuit priest tells of a father coming to confess he had eaten his own children.

                                                            

Some tried to help and soup-kitchens started to open. Thousands were fed, but there was no way to mitigate the effects of the double blow.

Soup kitchens were set up but had little effect in relieving the starving population. The Lebanese community in Egypt funded the shipping of food supplies to the Lebanese mainland through Arwad. This assistance was delivered to the Maronite patriarchate (Christians)  who distributed it to the populace through its convents.

The Syrian–Mount Lebanon Relief Committee was "formed in June of 1916 under the chairmanship of Najib Maalouf and the Assistant Chairmanship of Ameen Rihani" in the United States.

The first memorial to memorialize the victims of the famine was erected in Beirut in 2018, marking the 100th year since the end of the famine. The site is called "The Great Famine Memorial", and is located in front of the Saint-Joseph University It was erected based on initiatives by Lebanese historian Christian Taoutel (curator of the memorial) and Lebanese writer Ramzi Toufic Salame.

                                                            

                       Lebanese men from Mt. Lebanon in the 1880s, all with rifles

The finances of the world affect the affairs just as much as the people's religion does.  As a prelude to 

Before World War I, the scene was set for further problems.  European economic activities that grew significantly during the 19^th century benefited mostly Christians (and some wealthy Muslim and Jewish merchants) but damaged the livelihood of Muslim artisans and traders, members of the traditional middle classes. They and members of the lower classes were also badly affected by the newly introduced Ottoman reforms of the Tanzimat in 1839, 1856, and 1876, namely, regular taxation, mandatory recruitment to the army as well as some reduction in the role of Islam and equal status granted to non-Muslims, particularly Christians. This would be the Dhimmi status, 2nd class citizens which Jews also were who had to pay more taxes and were under certain stipulations not required by others.  

All these developments – European intervention, the Tanzimat reforms and periodically provocative Christian behavior – led to Muslim-Christian tension and violence, particularly in Aleppo in 1850 and in Damascus in 1860. 

In Damascus thousands of Christians were massacred by Muslims, assisted actively by Druze.  Around the same time Druze in Lebanon massacred many Christian Maronites in an ongoing attempt to curb their socio-political ascendancy in Mount Lebanon.

Resource;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_of_Mount_Lebanon****

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_transport_in_Lebanon

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30098000