Significant Developments

Syria. Israel reportedly conducted an airstrike inside Syria on Wednesday for the first time since 2007, igniting protests from the Assad regime as well as Syria’s allies Iran, Russia, and Hezbollah. Conflicting reports have emerged about the target; U.S., Israeli, and Lebanese sources have been quoted claiming Israel struck a convoy carrying advanced SA-17 anti-aircraft weapons heading into Lebanon. Read more »

“We don’t want old faces. We tried that…We are worried…We can help Jordan not go the same way as Syria and Egypt.” –Khalid Hammad, 28, a lawyer who voted in Amman, in support of a friend, a fellow lawyer who was a first-time candidate Read more »

Israelis are still digesting the results of yesterday’s national elections, with Prime Minister Netanyahu, who fared much worse than anticipated, still likely to be tapped to form the next government. The definitive tally, to be announced tomorrow, could bump a few parties up or down by one of the hundred and twenty total parliamentary seats up for grabs. Netanyahu, who will not wait for that final announcement, is already scrambling to forge a new coalition government comprised of at least a simple majority of 61. Read more »

Significant Middle East Developments

Algeria. At least eighteen Algerian kidnappers and twelve hostages were killed in an Algerian military operation yesterday that freed six hundred and fifty hostages who had been captured when Islamist militants attacked a natural gas production complex in eastern Algeria, according to Algerian sources. Details remain sketchy, but American, European, and Japanese citizens were believed to have been amongst the hostages taken. Read more »

“It’s a very big victory for the Islamic groups…They are the strongest in Syria now because the Western countries won’t help.” – The director of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights using the pseudonym Rami Abdulrahman, speaking about the rebel capture of a key military air base last week Read more »

Significant Middle East Developments

Syria. Syrian president Bashar al-Assad gave his first speech in nearly seven months on Sunday, outlining a “peace plan” that ruled out any negotiation with Syria’s armed rebels. UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi called Assad’s speech “uncompromising” and said that the Syrian president could not be part of any transitional government-the closest Brahimi has come to calling for Assad’s resignation; Syria’s foreign ministry called Brahimi “flagrantly biased.” Russian and U.S. diplomats are scheduled to meet with Brahimi tomorrow in Geneva. Read more »

“The Iraqi spring is coming.” – Moqtada al-Sadr, an Iraqi Shiite leader, expressed support for further demonstrations against Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki in a speech in Najaf on Tuesday

“The failure of the international community, in particular the Security Council, to take concrete actions to stop the blood-letting, shames us all…Collectively, we have fiddled at the edges while Syria burns.” – UN high commissioner for human rights Navi Pillay Read more »

Last week I posted my take on the most significant Middle East developments of 2012. The ten developments that I identified, in chronological order, were:

1. The cold war with Iran heats up
2. The Muslim Brotherhood’s election in Egypt
3. Syria’s descent into civil war
4. The Innocence of Muslims anti-American riots
5. The killing of U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens in Benghazi
6. Political unrest in Jordan
7. The Israel-Hamas November conflict
8. The United Nations recognition of Palestine as a non-member state
9. International failure to stop Syria’s bloodshed
10. The Muslim Brotherhood’s struggle to consolidate power in Egypt

Read more »