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Latif Nassif Jassim, Saddam-Era Media Minister, Passes Away

Latif Nassif Jassim
Latif Nassif Jassim
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Latif Nassif Jassim, Saddam-Era Media Minister, Passes Away

Latif Nassif Jassim
Latif Nassif Jassim

Latif Nassif Jassim, media minister under Saddam Hussein and prominent member of his regime, passed away after a chronic illness, announced authorities in Iraq’s southern Dhi Qar province on Monday.

Jassim, 80, was jailed at the Nasiriyah Central Prison, which is known as al-Hoot, where several members of the former regime are detained.

At the appeal of his family, Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi had ordered that he receive treatment outside of prison. He was consequently being treated at a hospital in Baghdad where he passed away on Monday.

This marked the first time that a prime minister responds to an appeal from the family of a prominent member of the list of 55 most-wanted Iraqi officials from Saddam’s regime that was put out by invading American forces.

The list had included Saddam, his sons and siblings and members of the revolutionary council and Baath party. Jassim and other ministers, such as former interior and foreign minister Tariq Aziz and defense minister Sultan Hashem Ahmed, were on the list.

The detention of Aziz and Hashem Ahmed had stirred the most controversy and demands for their release. The demands fell on deaf ears with both former officials dying in prison.

Saddam’s former intelligence chief, Saber al-Douri, remains behind bars in spite of dozens of demands for his release from the predominantly Shiite Karbala province.

Residents of the province believe that Douri was among the best governors to have ruled the province even though he is a Sunni and hails from the Salaheddine province.

Jassim joined the Baath party in 1957. He served in Saddam’s regime for three decades, occupying various media posts, as well as the positions of minister of media and agriculture. He was also a close friend of the former ruler and one his most loyal aides.

As media minister, he rose to prominence during the Iraq-Iran war (1980-88) where he was played a role in war propaganda.

He was arrested in 2003 shortly after the US invasion and sentenced to life in jail. He was serving his sentence at the Nasiriyah Central Prison.

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Israeli Forces Surround Lebanon’s Khiam Ahead of Storming it

Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the village of al-Khiam in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 22 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)
Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the village of al-Khiam in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 22 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)
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Israeli Forces Surround Lebanon’s Khiam Ahead of Storming it

Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the village of al-Khiam in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 22 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)
Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the village of al-Khiam in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 22 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)

Israeli forces have blocked supply routes to the southern Lebanese border city of al-Khiam ahead of storming it.

They have also surrounded the strategic city with Hezbollah fighters still inside, launching artillery and air attacks against them.

Hezbollah fighters have been holding out in Khiam for 25 days. The capture of the city would be significant and allow Israeli forces easier passage into southern Lebanon.

Field sources said Israeli forces have already entered some neighborhoods of Khiam from its eastern and southern outskirts, expanding their incursion into its northern and eastern sectors to fully capture the city.

They cast doubt on claims that the city has been fully captured, saying fighting is still taking place deeper inside its streets and alleys, citing the ongoing artillery fire and drone and air raids.

Israel has already cut off Hezbollah’s supply routes by seizing control of Bourj al-Mamlouk, Tall al-Nahas and olive groves in al-Qlaa in the Marayoun region. Its forces have also fanned out to the west towards the Litani River.

The troops have set up a “line of fire” spanning at least seven kms around Khiam to deter anti-tank attacks from Hezbollah and to launch artillery, drone and aerial attacks, said the sources.

The intense pressure has forced Hezbollah to resort to suicide drone attacks against Israeli forces.

Hezbollah’s al-Manar television said Israeli forces tried to carry out a new incursion towards Khiam’s northern neighborhoods.

Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that since Friday night, Israeli forces have been using “all forms of weapons in their attempt to capture Khiam, which Israel views as a strategic gateway through which it can make rapid ground advances.”

It reported an increase in air and artillery attacks in the past two days as the forces try to storm the city.

The troops are trying to advance on Khiam by first surrounding it from all sides under air cover, it continued.

They are also booby-trapping some homes and buildings and then destroying them, similar to what they have done in other southern towns, such as Adeisseh, Yaround, Aitaroun and Mais al-Jabal.

Khiam holds symbolic significance to the Lebanese people because it was the first city liberated following Israel’s implementation of United Nations Security Council 425 on May 25, 2000, that led to its withdrawal from the South in a day that Hezbollah has since declared Liberation Day.