by Barry Rubin – Gloria Center US President Barack Obama’s recent decision to appoint a new ambassador to Damascus is further proof positive of the effectiveness of the strategy pursued by Syria over the last half decade. It also showcases the sense that the current US administration appears to be navigating without a compass in…
by Matthew RJ Brodsky, JPost With the peace process returning to a deep freeze, the Obama administration is eyeing an opportunity to make headway with Syria. The theory is nothing new: If the regime in Damascus can make peace with Israel, end its sponsorship of terrorist groups such as Hizbullah and Hamas, distance itself from…
by Debkafile The UN has turned down Lebanon’s demand to intervene in delineating its sea border following Israel’s discovery in the Mediterranean of the Leviathan gas well – billed as the world’s biggest find in a decade. UN Spokesman Martin Nesirsky explained that UNIFIL’s mandate applied to coastal waters, not to delineating maritime lines. Cyprus…
by Ronen Bergman, The Wall Street Journal Speaking recently to the heads of his country’s major media outlets, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was unable to contain his glee at the revelations from the latest WikiLeaks documents (a reaction that elicited a private protest from the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv). The main reason for…
by Hilary Leila Krieger, Jerusalem Post Former US president George W. Bush indicates that both Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas were willing to publicly back Olmert’s proposed peace agreement before Olmert’s ouster as prime minister ruined the deal, according to a memoir to be released on Tuesday. Bush also excoriates the US intelligence agencies that…
by Debkafile Hizballah last Thursday, Oct. 28, conducted a command exercise in all parts of Lebanon to test its armed militia’s readiness for what its leaders called “zero hour” i.e. asserting its grip on Lebanon and “cornering” Prime Minister Saad Hariri. debkafile’s military sources report the exercise took all day and led up to the…
by Sarah Stern, Emet Report As the attention of much of the United States has been primarily focused, due to today’s elections, on domestic issues, as well as on the sardonic Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert non-rally-rally on the National Mall, the foreign policy stage remains deadly serious. Yet, we as a nation have lost…
by Jerusalem Post Staff Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave a speech to a crowd of thousands in the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil on Thursday, telling his audience that “Lebanese resistance is more powerful than the swords of Zionists.” Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu responded to Ahmadinejad’s speech at Independence Hall in Tel Aviv on…
by Debkafile Towards the end of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s first day in Lebanon Wednesday Oct. 13, a high alert was declared in the Israeli, Syrian, Lebanese armies, the Hizballah militia and the UN peacekeeping force. The visitor was expected to further sharpen his tone and fire seriously belligerent rhetoric at Israel from the sites…
by Israel Today Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be in Lebanon on Wednesday, and is planning to visit the border fence with Israel, where he has promised to hurl a “symbolic stone” into the Jewish state to express his solidarity with those who fight against the “Zionist entity.” Druze-Israeli lawmaker Ayoub Kara (Likud) is preparing…