HARDER ANSWERS

BY AMY DAVIDSONSEPTEMBER 23, 2013

KEYWORDS

SYRIA;

 

POLITICS;

 

(PRES.) BARACK OBAMA;

CHEMICAL WEAPONS;

 

RUSSIA;

 

(PRES.) VLADIMIR PUTIN;

 

(PRES.) BASHAR AL-ASSAD

A frequent complaint about President Obama’s Syria policy is that he keeps making matters more complicated. The photographs and the videos that began arriving from Ghouta, outside Damascus, on August 21st seemed clear enough: children crying as they struggled with the effects of some sort of gas; bodies wrapped in shrouds. Obama was ready, on his own authority, to launch air strikes against the regime of Bashar al-Assad, and an attack was expected within days, when the President surprised everyone by announcing that he had decided to seek congressional approval first. Then, last Tuesday night, in an address to the nation, he said that he’d asked Congress to delay the vote while he tried to make a last-minute diplomatic gambit work.

Will Syria deal spur US-Iran diplomacy?

September 16, 2013  6:11AM ET

The US may not strike Syria, but Obama says that doesn't mean US wouldn't hit Iran's nuclear program

Topics:

 

Iran

 

International

 

Barack Obama

President Obama says Iran "shouldn't draw a lesson that we haven't struck" in Syria.

L. to R.: Mikhail Klimentyev/RIA Novosti via Reuters; Ron Sachs-Pool/Getty Images

The diplomatic compromise that has, for now, averted U.S. air strikes on Syria could portend a breakthrough in the stalled negotiations over Iran's nuclear program. That's according to President Barack Obama, who linked the two issues in an interview on Sunday -- and revealed an exchange of letters between himself and Iran's President Hassan Rouhani that prompted some to speculate over a possible meeting between the two men when both address the U.N. General Assembly in New York next week.

Summary

Iran, Syria: Smuggling Weapons to Gain Influence in the West Bank

Analysis

AUGUST 9, 2013 | 1052  Print  Text Size 

Palestinian militants in Saair, West Bank, on Feb. 25. (Photo by Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)

Summary

There are growing indications that Iran, Syria and their local proxies may be attempting to build up militant capabilities in the West Bank to eventually threaten Israel. Physically transferring weapons into Fatah-controlled West Bank will remain a key challenge, as recent arrests of weapons smugglers in Jordan have shown. Though Iran and Syria face many constraints in trying to spread militancy to the West Bank, their quiet efforts are worth noting, particularly as Hamas and Iran are now finding reasons to repair their relationship after a period of strain.

Analysis

In the past several days, Jordanian authorities have reported two separate incidents in which groups of smugglers traveling from Syria have been caught with weapons and drugs in Jordan. A Jordanian security official speaking anonymously to local media said that five Syrian smugglers were caught the morning of Aug. 6 with anti-tank missiles, surface-to-air missiles and assault rifles in their possession. According to a Stratfor source, the arrests were made near Madaba in central Jordan. The smugglers, carrying Jordanian identity cards, allegedly hid the weapons in two pickup trucks loaded with watermelons, but when the two trucks traveled beyond the main produce market and kept heading south, the Jordanian police became suspicious. Jordan's state-owned Petra news agency said the army had thwarted another attempt to smuggle a large amount of drugs and weapons from Syria into Jordan earlier in the week.

Hard-line group claims responsibility for Eilat rocket attack - Courtney Morgan

A hard-line Islamist group operating in the Sinai claimed responsibility Thursday morning for rockets fired into southern Israel the night before as well as for a series of attacks on Egypt’s gas pipeline to Israel.

The Salafi Front in Sinai issued a statement on a number of Islamist sites saying that its fight was not against Egyptian police but against Jews and Zionists.

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On Wednesday, two large blasts were heard near the Red Sea resort town of Eilat. Officials suspect two rockets were fired from Sinai into Israel, though the rockets had not been found as of Thursday morning.

The group, of which little is known, said it had fired the rockets.

It also said it was responsible for attacks on the gas pipeline from Egypt to Israel. A series of over a dozen attacks in the year since the fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak all but cut off vital gas supplies to Israel.

However the terror group said it was not responsible for the killing of 16 Egyptian border policemen earlier in the month that sparked a heavy Egyptian crackdown of Islamist activity in the peninsula.

In the wake of the attack, which ended when a group of terrorists tried to infiltrate Israel with a hijacked armored vehicle, Egypt for the first time since 1973 deployed helicopters and jets to Sinai in a bid to root out the terrorists.

On Wednesday, Salafi Jihadi, one of the largest militant groups in the Sinai, issued a statement calling on Cairo to still its guns or risk dragging the group into a battle it doesn’t want.

The group said its true fight was with the “Zionist enemy,” Reuters reported.

Egyptian officials suspect hard-line Salafis allied with Al-Qaeda and other terror groups are behind the growing lawlessness in the Sinai. Aside from the attack on the border police station in Rafah, there have been a number of shooting attacks on police stations in the peninsula, many of them in northern town of El Arish.

Terrorists operating in the Sinai have also used it as a base from which to attack Israel. A large-scale attack on the road running along the Egyptian border in August 2011 left seven Israelis dead.

Israel is currently working on finishing a fence along the largely rugged and uninhabited border, which it says is designed to keep out illegal African migrants and meant as a security measure.

Eilat rocket strike: Israeli city hit from Sinai - Courtney Morgan

At least two rockets have hit the southern Israeli city of Eilat.

Police said the rockets had landed in open areas, without causing damage or injury. The Israeli military said they were fired from Sinai in Egypt.
Warning sirens went off just before the rockets hit. The city's airport has been closed and security tightened.
Eilat, a popular tourist destination on the Red Sea, has previously been hit by rockets fired by militants in neighbouring Egypt and Jordan.
The Egyptian military said it was investigating the incident.
Hours after the attack, a small militant Salafi group, the Mujahedeen Shura Council, said it had fired two Grad rockets at "occupied Eilat", in a statement carried on jihadist websites.
About 50,000 people live in Eilat, and tens of thousands of holidaymakers visit every year.
The Israeli military said an Iron Dome anti-rocket battery - designed to intercept short-range missiles - which was positioned near Eilat earlier this month was not deployed in the latest attack.
There were several rocket attacks on the city last year, though no injuries were caused.
Most of the rockets were fired from Sinai, which has become increasingly lawless since the revolution which toppled former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
Islamic militant groups have grown in strength there and have used it as a base from which to target Israel across the lengthy shared border.

Israel ready to act on Syria weapons, warns Netanyahu - Courtney Morgan

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told the BBC that Israel has a right to prevent weapons from falling into the wrong hands in Syria.

He said that if terrorists seized anti-aircraft and chemical weapons they could be "game changers" in the region.
There have been growing calls for the international community to arm rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad.
But there is increasing concern that Islamist militants could use such weapons to further their own causes.
Israel has said its policy is not to get involved in the Syrian conflict.
But in recent months it has retaliated following Syrian firing into Israeli-controlled areas in the Golan Heights.
Israel first occupied the Golan Heights in 1967 and later annexed the territory in a move that is not internationally recognised.
Mr Netanyahu, in an exclusive interview with the BBC's Lyse Doucet, said Israel's concern was "which rebels and which weapons?"
"The main arms of concern to us are the arms that are already in Syria - these are anti-aircraft weapons, these are chemical weapons and other very, very dangerous weapons that could be game changers," he said.
"They will change the conditions, the balance of power in the Middle East. They could present a terrorist threat on a worldwide scale. It is definitely our interest to defend ourselves, but we also think it is in the interest of other countries."
'Not aggressive' Mr Netanyahu was in London to attend the funeral of former prime minister Baroness Thatcher, and also held talks with current Prime Minister David Cameron.
Asked if Israel would adopt a more aggressive military stance in Syria, Mr Netanyahu said: "We are not aggressive. We don't seek military confrontation, but we are prepared to defend ourselves if the need arises and I think people know that what I say is both measured and serious."
Mr Netanyahu would not confirm what was widely believed to have been an Israeli air strike on a suspected Syrian government weapons convoy in January.
It was reported that the convoy had been heading for Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon.
Mr Netanyahu also reiterated his view that Iran and its nuclear programme posed a direct threat to world peace, which could only be stopped by a "direct military threat", not sanctions or tough diplomacy.
"Other countries, once they see Iran getting nuclear weapons, will rush to get their own nuclear weapons and then the Middle East will become a tinderbox," he said.
He added that the current North Korea crisis had shown world leaders what could happen when a rogue state acquired nuclear weapons.
"The entire world is paralysed [and] destabilised," Mr Netanyahu said.
"Iran is many times stronger than North Korea, both in GDP and aggressive tendencies. I think there's an interesting change of perception because people can understand what it would be like to have Iran with their imperial ambitions, with their messianic and apocalyptic ideology possess atomic bombs."
Asked about the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Mr Netanyahu said the creation of a two-state solution depended "on the Palestinians".
"I'm ready to sit down. I think we shouldn't talk about the talks. We should just get on with it and try to negotiate a real lasting and defensible peace between us.

Fresh Bahrain clashes ahead of Formula 1 race - Courtney Morgan

Barricades of burning tyres have been set up in villages near the F1 race

Fresh clashes have erupted in Bahrain ahead of this Sunday's F1 race in the Gulf kingdom.

Activists have demanded the race be cancelled due to the country's poor human rights record.
But Formula 1's governing body has defended the race, saying it could have a healing effect.
For the past two years members of the Shia majority have been protesting against what they say are human rights abuses by the ruling Sunni minority.
A source in the capital Manama told the BBC that security forces were firing tear gas in a bid to stop protesters reaching a major motorway, the Budaiya highway.
Protesters are reported to be blocking roads with barricades made of burning tyres.
The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights said 13 people had been arrested and that clashes were continuing in villages close to the Sakhir track, the site of the F1 race.
A centre spokesperson said police were firing tear gas and birdshot against protesters in the towns of Sitra and Diraz.

Correspondents say the continuing unrest will be seen as a setback for the interior ministry which is trying to prevent tourists and F1 fans from being affected by the protests.

The latest clashes come after days of escalated tensions.
On Tuesday, police fired tear gas and clashed with students in a raid on a secondary school in the capital, Manama.
Officers stormed the Jabreya school for boys after students staged a protest demanding the release of a colleague arrested on Monday, activists say.
On Sunday a car bomb blew up in the heart of the financial district in Manama, though without causing injuries.
The main opposition society in Bahrain , Al Wefaq, has called for a major protest on Friday, reports the BBC's Bill Law.
Khalil al Marzooq, a senior Al Wefaq leader, said they would not call for protests on the day of the race.
Mr Marzooq also urged all protests to be peaceful.
"We do not support any violence either from security forces or protesters," he said.
While Al Wefaq and other opposition groups repeat their calls for peaceful protest, angry youths are still routinely taking to the streets armed with Molotov cocktails.
There have been almost daily clashes in Bahrain since security forces used birdshot and tear gas to quash a three-day-old peaceful protest at Manama's Pearl Roundabout on 17 February 2011.