Thursday, February 12, 2015
IDF Blog: Cleared for Publication: Three Hamas-Affiliated Suspects Arrested in Smuggling Attempt
Last month, a joint ISA-IDF operation uncovered tons worth of materials being smuggled on a vessel off the coast of Gaza. The materials, originating from the Sinai Peninsula, were meant for Hamas in the Gaza Strip and led to the arrest of three suspects.Israel Navy Intercepts Hamas Smuggling Vessel
On January 19, IDF forces identified a suspicious boat making its way towards the Gaza Strip. The navy, in conjunction with the Israel Security Agency (ISA), intercepted the vessel after requesting that the passengers stop the boat.
The craft was disguised as a fishing boat, but underneath the fishing gear liquid fiberglass was concealed. The liquid fiberglass was intended for Hamas and meant to be used in the manufacturing of rockets and mortars.
“The Dvora-class ships and our Shaldag-class knew to seize the vessel quietly and discreetly after following it for hours, patiently, from the moment it crossed the southern border,” asserted Lt. Col. Liav Ziberman, commander of the navy’s 916th Company, located in Ashdod. “Thwarting smuggling attempts like this happens almost every week,” he said.
Michael Lumish: Arab Terrorists Attack Jewish Kindergarten in Jerusalem.
It looks as if attacking kindergarteners is a new Arab terrorist fad because this is not the first time this has happened in Jerusalem and according to the article just two weeks ago about a dozen masked Arab terrorists attacked a kindergarten in the town of Lod, setting it ablaze.The U.S. Let Iran Take Over Iraq. Are Nukes Next?
It clearly speaks to the character of these people that they would choose to go after children. It is sick. It is twisted. And Israel needs to crack down on anyone throwing rocks or explosive devices at people. Throwing rocks, not to mention fireworks, is attempted murder and the police and the IDF need to use the force required to meaningfully reflect this truth.
One thing, however, that I find interesting is that the enemies of the Jewish people over many centuries, through until today, constantly accused the Jews of killing children. It is the blood-libel and in the classic medieval form the claim was that Jewish people kill Christian babies so that the blood might be used (somehow) in the making of matzoh. This claim, consciously or not, was meant to stir up violence against the Jewish people. Today the blood-libel takes the form of accusing the IDF of intentionally targeting Arab children or youngsters and it has the identical effect. It creates hatred in people toward Jews, incites them to violence against us, and provides a profound justification for that violence.
It now seems clear that, on the issue of nuclear weapons, Iran has the U.S. where it wants it. Put simply, Iran wants a favorable deal and thinks it can get one. Mainly because it knows that the U.S. fears that any further demands will sabotage a deal, and therefore will not do a thing to jeopardize Iran’s “strategic patience” on the issue.
But the U.S. is not only stumbling toward Iran on the issue of nuclear weapons. It is doing the same in Iraq, where the U.S. is acquiescing to Iranian influence and accepting Iranian dominance over the Iraqi government and many of the armed militias active in the country.
After so many years of American investment in trying to build a stable Iraq, the United States has effectively enabled an Iranian takeover of the country. I know, because I was there and saw it with my own eyes. That the Obama administration is not opposing the rising influence of Iran, as the White House prepares a historic deal to leave Iran with nuclear weapons just beyond its fingertips, is especially alarming, and a recipe for increasing regional conflict.
In part, this U.S. elevation of Iran’s regional role due to the rise of ISIS, which has pushed Iraq and Iran together. This is not an unnatural alliance. ISIS is a threat to both nations, which share a border and a sectarian interest—Shia Islam. From Iran’s perspective, why shouldn’t it ensure that its proxies in Iraq are fighting the ISIS threat and, while they’re at it, undermining the power of Iraq’s Sunni minority?
The Rise of the Iranian Empire
[T]he West has done little or nothing to stop Iran’s expansionist policies. This disturbing lack of action from the West can be explained by two erroneous beliefs held by Western leaders.Steinitz Hints Israel Could Strike Iran as Nuclear Talks Drag On
The first is the belief that Iran and its proxies are fighting Sunni Islamists like ISIS and AQAP, which are hostile to the United States and other Western countries, leading to the erroneous view that Iran’s policies are an asset to the West’s counterterrorism strategy.
The second is that the West views the spread of Iran’s direct and proxy influence in the region as separate from Tehran’s quest for nuclear weapons. But the nuclear issue is only one aspect of Iran’s quest for regional hegemony. Nuclear weapons play a limited—albeit very important—part of this strategy. As Henry Kissinger noted in his book World Order,
In Iran, the nuclear issue was treated as one aspect of a general struggle over regional order and ideological supremacy, fought in a range of arenas and territories with methods spanning the spectrum of war and peace—military and paramilitary operations, diplomacy, formal negotiation, propaganda, political subversion—in fluid and mutually reinforcing combination.
Until the leaders of the West understand this, they will remain bogged down in an endless game of nuclear negotiations, imposing strict deadlines that are never met, then extending those deadlines again and again. Iran will thus continue buying more and more time to pursue its goal of regional hegemony and, in doing so, further destabilize the region, picking off one Western-allied country after another. Unless it is stopped by firm and resolute action, Iran will continue down this path, causing serious and potentially permanent damage to both Western interests and the stability of the Middle East as a whole.
Intelligence Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz warned Thursday that Israel could act unilaterally against Iran over its nuclear drive, saying Tehran has failed to make concessions in talks with world powers.Amid chants of ‘Death to Israel,’ Iran leader calls for ‘win-win’ nuke deal
"I won't be too specific but all options are still on the table," Steinitz told reporters.
"We never limited Israel's right of self-defence because of some diplomatic constraints," he said.
Significant gaps remain between Iran and the P5+1 world powers on specific measures to end a 12-year standoff on Tehran's nuclear program.
Two deadlines for a permanent agreement have already been missed, since an interim accord was struck in November 2013.
Iran marked the 36th anniversary of its 1979 Islamic Revolution on Wednesday as the country continues negotiations with world powers over its contested nuclear program.Iran Suggests Israeli Embassy in Uruguay Bombed Itself to Foster 'Iranophobia' (not satire)
State television aired footage of commemorations in Tehran and elsewhere across the country. Some participants chanted “Down with the US” and “Death to Israel.”
Speaking at a rally in Tehran, President Hassan Rouhani addressed the ongoing nuclear negotiations with Western powers, saying that Tehran seeks “constructive interaction” with the world, while preserving its interests.
“We seek a win-win agreement, according to which Iran would [guarantee] the transparency of its peaceful nuclear activities within the framework of international law and the opposite side should put an end to inhumane and illegal sanctions. This will benefit both sides,” said Rouhani, according to the Iranian Press TV.
The Iranian government is categorically denying involvement in the discovery of a suitcase full of explosives near the Israeli Embassy in Montevideo, Uruguay. In a report carried by Iranian state media, Tehran is said to have responded to the case by claiming that Israeli officials have “ordered attacks” on itself to make Iran look villainous on an international stage.Alan Dershowitz: Dershowitz: Obama Made 'Mistake' With Kosher Deli Remarks
Iran’s Press TV reports that the Iranian embassy in Uruguay’s capital rejected the notion that their diplomats had any involvement in planting an explosive near the Israeli embassy. The report notes that the embassy argues that the claim an Iranian diplomat was expelled from Uruguay over the incident is “aimed at creating Iranophobia and tarnishing the Islamic Republic’s international image.”
The statement from Tehran implies Israeli officials are directly responsible for planting the bomb: “Tehran has said in the past that Tel Aviv has ordered attacks against its own embassies in India and Georgia in order to damage Iran’s image in the host countries.”
President Barack Obama "did a terrible disservice" to European Jews by calling the January murders at a kosher deli in Paris a random offshoot of the al-Qaida-inspired Charlie Hebdo massacre, and his spokesman compounded the error by insisting the president was right, says noted lawyer and author Alan Dershowitz.Anti-Semitic horrors don‘t exist in Obama’s world
"The big mistake was doubling down," Dershowitz told "MidPoint" host Ed Berliner on Newsmax TV Wednesday, as he joined other prominent public figures, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, in urging the president to apologize for diminishing the threat to Jews at a time of Islamist terror and rising global anti-Semitism.
"I just got back from Paris," said Dershowitz, reporting that there is "real fear among Parisian Jews, and the president did a terrible disservice when he made it sound like they were just random shootings. He was wrong and he should apologize."
Obama said in an interview with Vox published on Monday: "It is entirely legitimate for the American people to be deeply concerned when you've got a bunch of violent, vicious zealots who behead people or randomly shoot a bunch of folks in a deli in Paris."
Pressed later about the phrasing — "randomly shoot a bunch of folks in a deli in Paris" — in a sharp exchange with ABC's Jonathan Karl, White House Spokesman Josh Earnest said: "These individuals were not targeted by name. This is the point. … There were people other than Jews who were in that deli."
Dershowitz called the uproar that followed "part and parcel of the president's unwillingness to talk about Islamic extremism."
Obama stepped in it on Monday. He said something stupid and ill-advised. (After all, he had previously said the attack was an act of anti-Semitism.) And rather than walk it back, the administration’s blatherskites on Tuesday foolishly chose to step in it even more deeply by twisting themselves into pretzels on the “randomness” issue.We Have to Talk About Obama’s Ignorance
This is what Earnest and the White House want us to believe. In a late-afternoon tweet, Earnest said, “Our view has not changed . . . POTUS didn’t intend to suggest otherwise.”
But what if this is disingenuous and false?
What if the administration is now so committed to its bizarre assertion that the acts of terror in Paris and the horrifying butcheries of ISIS have not been perpetrated in the name of Islam that it chose to dance around the anti-Semitic agency of Islamist Jew-killers — until it was caught out, that is?
If this is so, the moral cretin is the man now resident in the Oval Office.
The problem is that Obama tends to make mistakes that stem from a worldview often at odds with reality. Russia is a good example. Does it matter that Obama doesn’t know the basics of Vladimir Putin’s biography and the transition of post-Soviet state security? Yes, it does, because Obama’s habit of misreading Putin has been at the center of his administration’s failed Russia policy. And it matters with regard not only to Russia but to his broader foreign policy because Obama has a habit of not listening to anyone not named Jarrett. Obama appointed among the most qualified American ambassadors ever to represent the U.S. abroad in sending Michael McFaul to Moscow. But with or without McFaul, Obama let his own naïveté guide him.Israel Advocates Warn US Legislators of Political Costs Over Boycott of Netanyahu’s Congress Speech
Obama has also run into some trouble with history in the Middle East, where history is both exceedingly important and practically weaponized. The legitimacy of the Jewish state is of particular relevance to the conflict. So Obama was criticized widely for undermining that legitimacy in his famous 2009 Cairo speech, puzzling even Israel’s strident leftists. The speech was harder to defend than either his remarks to BuzzFeed or Vox because such speeches are not off the cuff; they are carefully scrutinized by the administration. When Obama could say exactly what he meant to say, in other words, this is what he chose to say.
It wasn’t the only time Obama revealed his ignorance of the Middle East and especially Israeli history, of course. And that ignorance has had consequences. Obama has learned nothing from the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a fact which was reflected quite clearly in his disastrous mishandling of the negotiations and their bloody aftermath. He didn’t understand Palestinian intentions, Israeli political reality, or the lessons from when the U.S. has played a beneficial role in the conflict in the past. The president can simply move on, but Israelis and Palestinians have to pay the price for his learning curve.
Two of America’s most outspoken Israel advocacy organizations have issued a warning to legislators contemplating a boycott of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s forthcoming speech to Congress that doing so could damage them at the polls.Poll: Most Americans think Obama should meet PM in March
In a joint statement, the Emergency Committee for Israel (ECI) and the Christians United for Israel Action Fund (CUFI) said, “As representatives of two proudly pro-Israel organizations, we urge members of Congress to do the right thing for the U.S. and Israel. And for those who would turn their backs on Israel and boycott its leader — they are no friends of Israel, and we pledge to do our best to educate voters about their undermining of Israel and the U.S.-Israel relationship at this crucial hour.”
Meanwhile, more than a dozen members of Congress have said they will follow Vice-President Joe Biden’s example in boycotting Netanyahu’s speech on the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Earlier today, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said that he too would not be attending the speech, but shifted the blame from Netanyahu onto the GOP leadership.
According to a survey of 1,000 American adults by the London-based YouGov market research firm, 47 percent of respondents disapproved of the invitation issued to Netanyahu, which White House officials deemed a breach of protocol as the administration was not consulted, while 30% saw nothing wrong with it. The rest were unsure.Biden Snub Amplifies Obama Administration’s Tension With Israel
Along party lines, more Democrats (72%) than Republicans (29%), unsurprisingly, felt the invitation was inappropriate.
Almost half of the respondents (46%) felt their Congress representative should attend the speech on March 3 regardless, with 24% responding “no,” and 30% “not sure.”
Although Obama — along with US Secretary of State John Kerry and Vice President Joe Biden — has said he will not meet with the PM during his visit to Washington, because of its proximity to Israel’s March 17 elections, more than half of those polled (58%) felt he should (23% were unsure).
Asked about the significance of the president of the Senate (Biden) skipping a congressional speech by a foreign head of state, George Mason University’s Bernstein called that aspect “purely symbolic.”Charlie Rangel's Challenge To Benjamin Netanyahu Goes Horribly Wrong...For Rangel
“In constitutional theory, the vice-presidency is an independent office, with the only real role other than waiting for the president to die being president of the Senate,” Bernstein said. “In practice, the vice-presidency has evolved into a part of the administration of the president who chose him. Given that, it’s not surprising that Biden, as effectively a part of the Obama administration, would choose not to attend.”
But CUFI’s Brog said Biden’s skipping of the speech is significant because the vice president “influences decisions that will impact the future security of America and the world.”
“Especially on an issue as serious as Iran’s nuclear program, he has a sacred duty to solicit many opinions—including dissenting ones—before making a decision,” Brog told JNS.org.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, said that while Netanyahu accepted the invitation to address Congress about the existential threat posed by a nuclear Iran, “the ensuing controversy, including the specter of the vice president’s absence, instead focuses on strained U.S.-Israel relations and domestic American politics.”
“The Iranian regime must be thrilled,” Cooper told JNS.org. “As the clock ticks down to a March [24] deadline [for a political framework agreement between world powers and Iran], the centrifuges continue to spin, intercontinental ballistic missiles are developed, and Iran’s direct involvement in threatening Israel’s northern border is on display. But none of this evokes protest from President Obama.”
NY Democratic Rep. Charlie Rangel has challenged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to meet AIPAC instead of speaking on the House floor, where Netanyahu is scheduled to speak next month.Clinton in Tough Spot Over Attending Bibi’s Speech
The childish dare was posted to Rangel’s twitter account accompanied by a photo of Rangel attempting to look rough and tough.
It was a big mistake on Rangel’s part as droves of Netanyahu supporters came to his defense, brutally calling out the Congressman.
Will Clinton Show for Bibi? Elizabeth Warren's (so far little known) outspoken support for Israel may be a factor.Hezbollah, Syrian forces and Iranian officers approach Israeli border in fight against rebels
On Tuesday, Feb. 11, the Emergency Committee for Israel released a letter to Hillary Clinton, urging her to attend the Israeli Prime Minister’s speech to Congress, scheduled for March 3. She may have to, given a new poll and pro-Israel competition from an unlikely source.
ECI, chaired by the Weekly Standard’s William Kristol, is a staunchly pro-Israel educational organization, which sees its goal as educating the public about “the serious challenges to Israel’s security and about what elected officials in this country are doing and should do in order to meet those challenges.”
Clinton is scheduled to be in Washington on March 3, the same date as Bibi’s speech, as ECI noted.
Hezbollah, Syrian army forces and Iranian officers have drawn close to the border with Israel in the Golan Heights in their fight against Syrian rebels, AFP reported on Wednesday, citing state media reports and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.New Al Qaeda Video Shows Steady
"Regime troops and their Hezbollah-led allies are advancing in the area linking Daraa, Quneitra and Damascus provinces," the Observatory stated.
"The operation launched by the Syrian army is being fought in cooperation with... Hezbollah and Iran," a Syrian army officer told state television, in what AFP reported was the first time that Syrian television had acknowledged such cooperation.
The Syrian forces were attempting to gain control of the area from rebels such as the Nusra Front, al-Qaida's Syrian affiliate, who have made advances in southern Syrian in recent months.
Six Hezbollah operatives and six Iranians, including a general were killed last month in an air strike in the Golan Heights in Syria that was widely attributed to Israel.
Advance along Israeli Border
The Nusra Front, Al Qaeda's official branch in Syria, has released a new propaganda video documenting its steady gains in southern Syria, along the border with Israel.Greece plans military exercises with Israel, Egypt
The 48-minute video is a clear attempt to reassert the Al Qaeda franchise in the jihadi propaganda sphere, where it has been eclipsed by the slick productions of rival jihadi outfit ISIS.
It comes as Al Nusra is experiencing a resurgence on the ground in Syria as well, where until a few months ago it appeared to be losing its momentum, in stark contrast to ISIS's lightening offensives in Iraq and Syria. Recently, Al Nusra has made significant gains against both regime and rival rebel forces, including the capture of large swathes of territory in the Syrian Golan Heights, which borders Israel.
Unlike many previous Nusra Front productions, production-wise this one is on-par with those made by Islamic State/ISIS.
Greece plans joint military exercises with Israel, Cyprus and Egypt, Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos said Wednesday, amid continuing tensions between Cyprus and Turkey over oil exploration in the eastern Mediterranean.Central Elections C'tee bars Zoabi, Marzel from running in election
Kammenos, visiting close ally Cyprus, said the two countries, along with Israel and “possibly” Egypt would begin joint exercises within the coming months aimed at improving regional security.
Cyprus has suspended UN-led peace talks with Turkey, which invaded the island in 1974 and still occupies its northern third, saying Ankara persists in trying to hamper the country’s energy search.
Nicosia has licensed exploratory drilling in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), and is unhappy that Ankara is determined to search for oil and gas in the same area.
Kammenos criticized as a “clear provocation” Turkey’s sending of a survey ship to the waters where the drilling is taking place.
MK Haneen Zoabi (Balad) and Yachad candidate Baruch Marzel will not be able to run for seats in the next Knesset, the Central Elections Committee voted Thursday.JPost Editorial: The PA’s boycott
However, such disqualifications are automatically brought to the High Court of Justice, which ruled overwhelmingly against similar cases - including those of both Zoabi and Marzel - in past elections.
According to Basic Law: Knesset, candidates or lists may not run for seats in the Knesset if they reject Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, incite to racism or incite to armed conflict against the country.
Zoabi's ban passed with 27 Central Elections Committee members in favor from Shas, UTJ, Likud, Bayit Yehudi, Yisrael Beytenu, Yesh Atid, Labor and Hatnua (Zionist Union) and six opposed from UAL, Ta'al, Balad, Hadash and Meretz. Committee chairman Justice Salim Joubran abstained.
In its latest move, it will likely harm itself as well. The six boycotted firms are resilient and much of what they offer cannot be replaced in the Palestinian marketplace.Khaled Abu Toameh: Fatah blames armed gangsters for Nablus-area violence
This is hardly an effective means of fighting the Jewish state, but there should be no mistake – this new boycott too is conceived and implemented as an unequivocally antagonistic act against Israel. The double standards and demonization unleashed from Ramallah surely attest to something that runs deeper than smug holier-than-thou criteria for commercial vendettas.
PA President Mahmoud Abbas ought to remember that the latest boycott, like its futile predecessors, directly flouts the economic annex of the original Oslo Accords. Known as the Paris Agreement, the April 29, 1994, Annex IV of the Gaza-Jericho Agreement (or Protocol on Economic Relations) specifically forbids what Abbas now launches.
That protocol forbids restrictions on agricultural and industrial products. Each side, the annex stipulates, “will do its best to avoid damage to the industry of the other side and will take into consideration the concerns of the other side in its industrial policy.”
This is yet another Palestinian breach of the Oslo Accords, which hardly augurs well for the much-vaunted causes of compromise and coexistence.
Fatah’s Office of Information and Culture on Wednesday accused armed gangsters of imposing a reign of terror and intimidation on residents of the Balata refugee camp and the nearby city of Nablus.Hamas Commander Killed by Egyptian Forces in Sinai
The accusation came after several days of armed clashes between Palestinian Authority policemen and gunmen from Balata, the largest refugee camp in the West Bank and a traditional stronghold of Fatah-affiliated armed groups.
“The camp has been hijacked by an armed group that is terrorizing and threatening to kill residents who dare to speak out,” the Fatah Office of Information and Culture said. It accused the gunmen of extorting money from wealthy businessmen from Nablus and running a big market for drugs and weapons.
The “outlaws” have been operating for some time, committing various types of crimes against residents of the camp and Nablus, it said.
A commander of the Hamas terrorist group’s Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades was reportedly killed by an Egyptian army airstrike in the Sinai Peninsula.Egypt leader on defensive over claims he mocked Gulf allies
Abdallah Saeed Kashta, 25, from the southern Gaza town of Rafah, was killed as part of a raid by Egyptian forces against the Islamic State-affiliated Wilayat Sinai jihadist group (formerly known as Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis) last Friday, Sky News Arabia reported.
Israel’s Channel 2 reported that Kashta was cooperating with the Sinai jihadist group.
In a reflection of Egypt's massive dependence on Gulf largesse, its president telephoned an array of oil-rich monarchs to control the damage after allegedly being caught on tape discussing how to milk them for cash.Chinese Media: Egypt-Russia Deal a 'Rejection of U.S. Hegemony'
The quick move from an authoritarian leader to patch things up came at a time when Egypt's government is hoping for more help from regional allies at an international conference next month.
Gulf nations have thrown Egypt's government a lifeline of tens of billions of dollars since Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi — at the time the head of the military and now Egypt's president — led the overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in the summer of 2013. Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood is seen as a dangerous opponent by most Gulf monarchs, and el-Sissi has waged a fierce crackdown on the group the past year.
Most experts observing the meeting in Cairo between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi this week are interpreting it as Egypt’s way of letting the Obama Administration know there are other super-power fish in the sea.Putin Watches As Egypt Butchers Russian National Anthem
Judging by the report published in the state-run Xinhua press, China thinks something a bit more serious is going on: sunset for America’s status as the premiere world power.
Putin traveled to Egypt this week for two days of talks with President Sisi, who has been criticized by the United States government for cracking down too vigorously on his Muslim Brotherhood nemeses. Putin made the trip to reaffirm his own government’s support for al-Sisi, praise the growing trade between their countries (up 50% in a single year by Putin’s estimation, as related by the BBC), float the idea of conducting that trade with something other than American dollars, talk up Russian arms sales to Egypt, discuss various conflicts in the Middle East, and finalize a deal to help build Egypt’s first nuclear power plant.
On Tuesday, Russian president Vladimir Putin arrived in Cairo for a meeting with Egypt’s president Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. During the visit, Putin was forced to stand through one of the worst renditions of a national anthem that you will ever hear.Douglas Murray: Assad is hoping Isis will make his regime look moderate. This is no accident
Before the anthem, the meeting was going well, reports The Telegraph. The festivities included photo ops for Putin and el-Sissi, children waving Russian flags and a 21-gun salute.
Then, this happened.
Then Assad sniggers. It has never been an uncommon tic among Assad’s many tics that he sniggers at odd moments. But there is something particularly striking about it here, coming as it does during an interview in which he is obviously trying very hard to exert an aura of calm and control.There's No Coordination with Assad, Says State Department
Obviously he only agreed to do the interview because he wants to be seen as a practical, human, interested party in a time of Isis-dominated madness. On the barbarities of his own regime he swots questions away. He dismisses accounts of killings of civilians as ‘childish’. Other aspects of the regime’s brutal suppression over the last four years are rejected as ‘not realistic’. In denying the well-documented use of barrel-bombs which kill civilians indiscriminately the President twice makes a strange joke that the army do not use ‘cooking pots’ against civilians either. When the discussion turns to the apparent use of chlorine gas Assad points out that chlorine can be found in any household. Bowen points out that it can be militarised. ‘Anything can be militarised’ replies Assad, with the air of a man who knows.
Otherwise the interview is an exercise in self-deception and the attempted deception of global public opinion. The Assad regime has survived longer than anybody expected by being even more brutal than even some seasoned observers expected them to be. The government is now banking on Isis making the Assad regime look comparatively moderate and decent. The fact that it should ever have been able to boil down to this is no accident.
The United States denied on Tuesday that it was coordinating air strikes with the Syrian regime against Islamic terrorists, renewing its insistence that President Bashar Al-Assad must step down, AFP reported.British Foreign Minister Slams 'Delusional' Assad
The comments were made in response to remarks made by Assad in an interview with the BBC, in which he claimed Damascus was being informed about the United States-led coalition airstrikes against the Islamic State (ISIS) group through messages conveyed via a third party.
The British government has branded Syrian President Bashar al-Assad "deluded", following an interview in which the dictator claimed the death toll in Syria had been "exaggerated" and dismissed widespread evidence that his forces were using indiscriminate weapons against civilian population centers.Syrian Commentator: Zionists Burned Jordanian Pilot, Just Like They Knead Passover Matzos with Blood
In the interview, conducted in Damascus with the BBC, Assed also claimed his regime was being informed about US-led air strikes against jihadists in Syria and that the raids could help his government if they were "more serious".
Syrian commentator Hussam Shoei'b recently said that the immolation of the Jordanian pilot was "a clear demonstration of the barbarity of the Zionist entity," adding: "In the past, they used to knead [Passover] matzos with human blood and eat them." The statement was made on Hizbullah's Al-Manar TV on February 6, 2015. (h/t dabney)
Elliott Abrams: Is the battle against ISIS winnable?
Surely one of the reasons Islamic State is attracting recruits is that it appears to be winning, going from victory to victory. Potential recruits will naturally want to join such a group instead of its less successful rivals, and may even be persuaded that the group is winning because God is on its side.Obama’s ISIS War Proposal Blocks Future Commitments
Here the United States' role can be central: Stop the Islamic State group from having all these victories. Stop the momentum. Erode the image of success. Traub is not against a military role for the United States, but I think he underestimates the utility of making Islamic State a failure. Easier said than done, to be sure, but the rate at which Islamic State is conquering territory has changed already, and airpower can achieve a great deal against the group.
Traub insightfully discusses the legitimacy and illegitimacy of Arab regimes, Islamic State's ideological and religious appeal, and other aspects of the struggle that may be even more important than the "merely" military side. But Islamic State did not gain all that territory and a surge of recruits from around the globe just because of ideology or because its opponents are sometimes regimes whose popularity and legitimacy are questionable. Victory breeds the sense of inevitable future victory -- momentum. Defeat, retreat, setbacks, and casualties will have an opposite effect. It's hard to see that happening without leadership from Washington, ranging from military aid and training, to diplomatic efforts to create and lead coalitions, to actual use of American airpower and some troops on the ground. Islamic State will not be defeated "merely" by battlefield successes, but it won't be defeated without them.
The White House is set to introduce a new Authorization for Use of Military Force against ISIS, designed to maximize American flexibility and minimize boots on the ground.US lawmaker calls for amendment after Obama ISIS resolution omits the word 'Jews'
Representatives of the administration, including the White House and State Department, have revealed details of the proposed bill, BloombergView reported Tuesday. The suggested AUMF would prohibit permanent American ground troops from deploying against ISIS until 2018, well after President Obama will have left the presidency.
While preventing full-time boots on the ground, or “enduring offensive ground operations,” the bill would allow for the existing 3,000 advisers helping the Iraqi military, as well as special operations forces, airstrike coordinators and Search and Rescue teams. Those exceptions would also expire in 2018, which would prompt another round of congressional approval.
Notably, the proposal would break from the opinion of Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Martin Dempsey, widely regarded on both sides of the aisle as one of the most shrewd military strategists in America. Dempsey recently told reporters, “I think in the crafting of the AUMF [authorization for use of military force,] all options should be on the table, and then we can debate whether we want to use them.”
US President Barack Obama, in his proposed resolution for Congress that formally authorizes broad-scale use of force against the Islamic State terrorist organization wherever it is, specifically singles out several ethnic groups threatened by the group: Iraqi Christians, Yezidis and Turkmens.White House: At least one more American held hostage in Syria
The sole Republican Jewish lawmaker in Congress, Lee Zeldin thinks the omission of Jews from the list of groups mentioned is a mistake, telling CNN the targeting of the Kosher deli last month in Paris that left four Jews dead, is proof that ISIS is committed to vicious acts against Jews around the world.
"I see an understanding, a recognition in the resolution with regards to ISIS attacks on Muslims, on Christians and others, and I didn't see a reference to Jews," the New York Republican told CNN on Wednesday. "And one of the efforts I've been involved in is trying to raise awareness for the rising tide of anti-Semitism."
If passed, the authorization would be the first bill of its kind to authorize the use of force since Congress voted to authorize the war in Iraq in 2003.
The White House on Tuesday night confirmed that at least one more US citizen was held captive in Syria, hours after 26-year-old Islamic State hostage Kayla Mueller was confirmed dead.Bahrain to Join Fight Against ISIS
“I’m not going to get into the specific discussions of the cases of individuals who are being held hostage, principally because we don’t believe that it’s in their best interests for me to discuss them publicly,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said, according to Reuters.
“But there have been public reports of at least one other American hostage being held in Syria,” he said.
Bahrain's royal ruler told his Jordanian counterpart that he is ready to assist the kingdom in its fight against terror organization Islamic State, the royal palace in Amman said Monday.Rejoining fight, UAE hits Islamic State from the air
King Hamad of Bahrain, quoted in a palace statement, told King Abdullah II that he was "proud to provide all the help Jordan needs to combat terrorism and protect Islam from Daesh (ISIS)."
Talks between the two monarchs in Amman on Monday focused on reinforcing military cooperation between their countries, notably their air forces, the statement said.
The United Arab Emirates launched airstrikes Tuesday against the Islamic State group from an air base in Jordan, marking its return to combat operations against the militants after halting the strikes late last year.Report reveals shadowy Unit 190 of Iran's Revolutionary Guard
The Gulf federation’s official WAM news agency quoted the General Command of the UAE Armed Forces as saying that Emirati F-16s carried out a series of strikes Tuesday morning.
The fighters returned safely back to base after striking their targets, the statement said. It did not elaborate, nor did it say whether the strikes happened in Syria or Iraq. The militants hold roughly a third of each country in a self-declared caliphate.
Details of a secret arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's Quds Force made up of a handful of operatives responsible for smuggling arms to conflict areas in the Middle Ease were revealed by Western intelligence sources to Fox News recently.Embassies in Yemen close as thousands protest militia rule
A report on Wednesday named Unit 190 as the force comprised of only about two-dozen employees. The sources told Fox that the name of a key player in the unit: Behnam Shahariyari, born in 1968 in Ardabil, northwest Iran.
The intelligence sources said that Shahariyari runs a network of straw companies to get by sanctions and hide RPG's, night-vision equipment and long-range rockets in powdered milk, cement and spare vehicle parts.
“Very often arms and explosives were placed in trucks underneath legal cargo in order to hide them,” Michael Eisenstadt, director of Military and Security Studies programs for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told Fox.
The report cited an instance in May 2007, when Turkey intercepted containers filled with 122mm mortar shells and explosives destined for Hezbollah via Syria in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1747. The bill of lading had Shahariyari's signature on it.
The United States, Britain and France closed their embassies in Yemen over security fears as the takeover of the country by a Shi'ite Muslim militia group threatened all-out civil war.NYT Defends Houthis: 'Very Reassuring' that 'Death to America' Slogan Not Meant Literally (not satire)
Tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of the central city of Taiz on Wednesday and hundreds more in the capital Sanaa in the largest protests yet against the Houthi movement, which overran Sanaa in September and formally took power last week.
The United States stopped work at its embassy and withdrew its diplomatic staff on Tuesday.
"Recent unilateral actions disrupted the political transition process in Yemen, creating the risk that renewed violence would threaten Yemenis and the diplomatic community in Sanaa," US State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said.
