BY JEFF JACOBY, BOSTON GLOBE— It was the torture of elementary-school students in Deraa that gave momentum to the current Syrian uprising against Bashar al-Assad’s brutal regime. The children, some as young as 10, were picked up by security agents for scrawling antigovernment graffiti on a school wall. When they were released days later, there…
BY HOWARD LAFRANCHI— Massacring dozens of its own citizens one day — elected to the United Nations’ top human rights group the next? That’s the trajectory Syria is on, meaning that the once-dependably stable but now-bloodied domain of President Bashar al-Assad could join the United States and 45 other countries on the UN Human Rights…
BY DAVID LEV, ARUTZ7— Unrest continued Saturday in both Egypt and Syria, as protesters in both cities were killed by security forces in each country. Meanwhile, thousands of Egyptians rioted outside the Israeli embassy in Cairo over the IDF’s response to Hamas terror attacks, increasing concern in Jerusalem that the protests in the Arab world…
BY CAROLINE GLICK, JPOST— Anti-regime protests in Syria are welcome departure from grim choices posed by Egypt, Libya because supporting protesters there is actually good idea. Amidst the many dangers posed by the political conflagration now engulfing the Arab world, we are presented with a unique opportunity in Syria. In Egypt, the overthrow of President…
by Isabel Kershner, The New York Times For Israel, the prospect of a government in Lebanon backed by Hezbollah, one of Israel’s worst enemies, seemed to be the realization of a nightmare. Yet some analysts here said it was not necessarily an immediate cause for alarm. The previous Beirut government, led by Saad Hariri, “never…
by David Isaac, Shmuelkatz.com “…they assigned Bezer in the wilderness upon the plain out of the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan out of the tribe of Manasseh.” – Joshua 20:8 In “Golan: More Than Geography” (The Jerusalem Post, March 5, 1993), Shmuel Katz…
by Associated Press The prosecutor who filed his first indictment in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri hailed the move Tuesday as a landmark in efforts to end impunity for political slayings in the strife-torn country. Canadian prosecutor Daniel Bellemare said in a video statement that the confidential indictment at the UN-backed…
by JPOST Staff Hizbullah Leader Hassan Nasrallah discussed the international probe into the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, blaming Israel and the US for the Lebanese government’s fall, in a televised speech on Sunday. Nasrallah accused Hariri’s son, Prime Minister Sa’ad Hariri, of acting under “heavy American influence.” He explained that there…
by Mariam Karouny, Reuters Lebanese leaders agreed on Thursday to start talks next week on rebuilding a government after Hezbollah walked out of Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri’s coalition, testing political faultlines across the Middle East. Monday’s first meeting will launch a process. But few think a new cabinet likely until compromise is found in the dispute…
DEBKAFILE — With backing from Tehran, Hizballah and its Christian ally Michel Aoun abruptly quit the Lebanese unity government Wednesday, Jan. 12, in a move that could pave the way for their seizure of power in Beirut. They struck as the Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s prosecutor Daniel Bellemare prepared to hand over to the pre-trial…