Significant Developments

Syria. Israel publicly warned Syrian president Bashar Assad to stop transferring advanced weapons to Hezbollah yesterday. In an unusual move, a senior Israeli official contacted the New York Times on Wednesday and was then quoted by the paper saying that “Israel is determined to continue to prevent the transfer of advanced weapons to Hezbollah,” arguing that such a move would destabilize the region. Read more »

“I swear to God we will eat your hearts and your livers, you soldiers of Bashar the dog.” –Abu Sakkar, leader of the Syrian rebel Farouq Brigade from Homs, as he bit into the heart of a regime soldier

“What do I care if they destroy Tel Aviv and lose Beirut?” –Amin Hoteit, retired Lebanese colonel close to Hezbollah, on the possibility of escalating tensions between Hezbollah and Israel Read more »

Significant Developments

Syria. Syrian officials today denied international allegations that Bashar al-Assad’s forces had used chemical weapons in Syria. Yesterday, the White House sent a letter to Congressional leaders stating that U.S.  intelligence agencies assessed “with varying degrees of confidence” that Assad’s government had used the chemical agent sarin on a small scale. Read more »

“Enough already of formations, committees and groups and whatever else…We want action not words and, let me say this, there are many names and committees but there is no action on the ground.” -Coptic pope Tawadros II’s reaction to Egypt president Mohammed Morsi’s handling of the attack against Read more »

“Friday has become a day of self-imposed imprisonment.” – Riham Ibrahim, Egyptian housewife

“Presenting money and weapons to al Qaeda (in Syria) by Qatar and Turkey is a declaration of armed action against Iraq…The weapons will reach Iraqi chests for sure.” – Iraqi transport minister Hadi al-Amiri Read more »

Significant Developments

Iran. Negotiators from Iran and the P5+1 countries, meeting for the first time since June, agreed yesterday in Kazakhstan to hold further meetings on Iran’s nuclear program in March and April. 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 »

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 »

“For decades the Assad regime was talking about the Palestinians’ rights….But Bashar al-Assad has killed more of us today than Israel did in its latest war on Gaza.” – Abu Ammar, Palestinian resident of Yarmouk camp after it was attacked by Syrian fighter jets on December 16 Read more »

By Israel’s accounting, Operation Pillar of Defense has achieved many if not most of its major objectives: assassinating Hamas’ long-sought after military mastermind Ahmed Jaabari and other top officials, destroying much of Hamas’ long-range arsenal of imported Iranian-produced Fajr-5 missiles, and eliminating other significant high-value military targets. Despite this, however, a number of unintended consequences have already emerged, ranging from boosting Hamas’ prominence, undermining its isolation, further weakening the Palestinian Authority’s Mahmoud Abbas, and diverting regional attention from Syria. Read more »