Syrian Civil War Update: Even Bread Lines Aren't Safe From Assad's Attacks

Bashar al Assad is feeling the heat on all fronts. His security forces and loyalist goons can't stop the rebel forces from gaining and holding territory despite having a monopoly on air power and artillery. His backers remain at Iran, Russia, and China, and that may not be enough to keep him in power.

Egypt's new President Mohamad Morsi has called for an intervention in Syria and told Iran that it's thwarting a peaceful transition of power in Syria by backing Assad. Morsi called out Iran on Iran's home turf during a meeting of the non-aligned nations.

It's not surprising that Assad's diplomats walked out during Morsi's meeting. They have few friends among diplomats across the globe, and Morsi's criticism came on Syria's primary backer's doorstep.

Assad's regime keeps trying to play down the slow but steady stream of defectors, but the fact is that support for Assad within his regime isn't what it once was. The civil war rages on, the death toll mounts, and there is disillusionment with how Assad has handled everything - namely preserving power for himself at the expense of more than 20,000 lives across the country. The number of refugees is continuing to rise because the violence continues through the heart of Syria's urban areas. Those refugees are a problem not only for Syria, but the countries where they are seeking refuge. That is likely to inflame tensions and could potentially spur those countries, including Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan, to take action - closing down the border, military action against Syria, or demanding that the UN take more resolute action than weak worded resolutions that are teethless because Russia and China are blocking anything more constructive.

But most of all, his incessant attacks on civilians will take its toll. You cannot murder dozens of people by carrying out airstrikes against people queued up in lines for bread without all Syrians taking notice.

Dozens were killed when airstrikes over a period of days hit multiple breadlines in Aleppo.

Syrian jets and artillery have struck at least 10 bakeries in Aleppo in the last three weeks, killing dozens of people as they waited in line to buy bread, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday, accusing the military of targeting civilians.

The U.S.-based group said the attacks were either aimed at or were done without care to avoid the hundreds of civilians forced to queue outside a dwindling number of bakeries in Syria's biggest city, a front line in the civil war.

"The attacks are at least recklessly indiscriminate and the pattern and number of attacks suggest that government forces have been targeting civilians," Human Rights Watch (HRW) said.

"Both reckless indiscriminate attacks and deliberately targeting civilians are war crimes."

One attack on August 16 killed around 60 people and wounded more than 70, said HRW, which sent a researcher to the embattled city.

Food shortages in Aleppo - a focal point of the 17-month-old uprising against President Bashar al-Assad - have forced many bakeries to close, meaning huge queues for the food staple outside the remaining shops.

"Day after day, Aleppo residents line up to get bread for their families, and instead get shrapnel piercing their bodies from government bombs and shells," said Ole Solvang, the HRW researcher who visited Aleppo.

That's a textbook example of war crimes and crimes against humanity carried out by the Assad regime. Assad's forces targeted civilian populations and fired indiscriminately on civilian populations. Assad must be held to account for his atrocities.

As Civil War Rages On, Syrian Foreign Minister Defects to Jordan

This is potentially a significant turning point in the ongoing Syrian civil war. The Syrian prime minister Riyad Hijab has defected to Jordan, although Bashar al-Assad's media outlets claim he was fired:

President Bashar al-Assad fired his prime minister on Monday, Syria’s official media reported, as activists countered that he had defected with several officials and military commanders in what seemed a further indication of disarray among government loyalists following a series of high-level defections and a rebel bomb attack last month that killed four of the Syrian leader’s closest security aides.

Amid a rush of jubilation, opposition figures said Prime Minister Riyad Farid Hijab had defected to neighboring Jordan along with at least two ministers and three military officers — 10 families in all, opposition leaders said. Al Jazeera television carried what it said was a statement from a spokesman for Mr. Hijab saying he had “joined the ranks of the freedom and dignity revolution.”

Mr. Hijab appeared to be the highest ranking civilian official to defect since the conflict started 17 months ago. The announcement of his dismissal by Syria’s official media came hours after a bomb explosion was reported at the main state television building in Damascus, the capital, while fighting raged in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, and other parts of the country.

“We welcome the defection,” said Mohammed Sarmini, a spokesman for the Syrian National Council, the main opposition group, based in Turkey. “It’s not the only one and there will be more. This is proof that the regime is collapsing.

There have been a series of defections by various diplomats and several generals, but this is the highest ranking official to have done so. There have been mixed reports about whether Hijab was in Jordan or not, but it would appear that he's definitely out of the government. The question would be whether it was of his own accord or he was pushed out.

Either way, it would seem to indicate that Assad's loyalists are beginning to doubt that Assad's regime and his grip on power will continue. It could be a sign that the defectors are hoping for a spot in whatever government emerges to take Assad's place down the line, or at least survive without fear of sectarian retribution from Assad's opposition. It would also indicate that Assad's support is thinning and that he could face a coup should his higher ranking military officials band together to preserve their own positions by sacrificing Assad. After all, that's how the current situation in Egypt developed (street protests and unending violence led to Hosni Mubarak being sacked by the military that turned on him).

The fighting continues around the country, including in Damascus, where a bomb blast hit the state run television station.

At the same time, a group of Iranian "pilgrims" were captured by rebel forces. Iran has sought their release, but the rebel group claims that Iranian military officers were among those captured.

Syrian rebels said a group of people captured near Damascus included members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, according to a video broadcast by Al Arabiya, as fighting raged outside the capital and in Aleppo.

The claim contradicted Iranian descriptions of the abducted people as pilgrims. Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi urged Turkey and Qatar, which have backed the Syrian opposition, to help release the captives, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported. IRNA said 48 pilgrims were abducted.

Shiite Muslim-led Iran has been the closest regional ally of President Bashar al-Assad’s government, which is dominated by officials from the Alawite sect, affiliated with Shiite Islam. Turkey and Qatar are largely Sunni Muslim states, and the rebels are largely drawn from the Sunni majority.

This isn't the first time that Iranian pilgrims have been captured, and it certainly isn't the first time that the rebels have claimed that Iranian military officials were among those captured. It certainly is plausible that the rebels are on the mark with their claims, but there's no way to independently verify the claims.

Sabotage Damages Gas Terminal in Sinai.

The Sinai was rocked by an explosion at a gas terminal which sent flames shooting skyward. Bedouin extremists are believed to be behind the attack. Israeli authorities have said that they were monitoring the situation but that they weren't affected.

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UPDATE:


The affected terminal and pipeline were shut down and it will probably take a week to repair. This will adversely affect Jordan, which is highly reliant on the natural gas supplied by that pipeline.

The state-run Middle East News Agency said the stoppage was to limit damage caused by an explosion carried out by “subversive elements,” while the Oil Ministry said a gas leak led to a fire. Official Egyptian television reported that the incident in El Arish in the northern Sinai desert was an act of “terror” carried out by “foreign hands.”

There were no casualties and the fire is under control, the Oil Ministry said in a statement. Flames and smoke billowed into the sky in the area of the pipeline, footage from the Al Arabiya network showed.

The incident adds tension as hundreds of thousands of protesters have been demonstrating in Cairo and other cities for more than 10 days, calling for the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak. He has warned that an early departure for him would leave Egypt, the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, in chaos.

Israel’s Ministry of National Infrastructure said in a statement that it doesn’t foresee any interruptions to the country’s electricity supply. About 40 percent of gas consumed in Israel is imported from Egypt.

One-Week Stoppage

The incident occurred on a part of the natural-gas network before it divides to Jordan or Israel, Marwan Bqaeen, head of the natural-gas unit at the Jordanian Energy Ministry, said in a telephone interview. The stoppage will halt Egyptian gas exports to Jordan for about a week, Petra news agency reported, citing Ghaleb al-Maabira, general director of Jordan’s state electricity company.

Egypt has halted gas supplies “as a safety precaution,” and Jordan has “resorted to back-up fuel,” Bqaeen said. “We heard from the Egyptians that the flames were under control and will soon be put out. They will then carry out an assessment.”

Egypt has natural-gas reserves of 77 trillion cubic feet and is the main producer of the hydrocarbon in the eastern Mediterranean, according to the U.S. Energy Department. The country exported 650 billion cubic feet of gas in 2009, 30 percent by either the Arab gas pipeline to Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, or to Israel through the El-Arish-Ashkelon line, according to the U.S. department’s figures.

Terrorist groups have reportedly contemplated attacks on the El-Arish-Ashkelon line following the weeks of rioting and demonstrations in Egypt.

Jordan's King Abdullah Attempts To Get Ahead of Protests

The problems that are racking Egypt with protests and riots can be found throughout the Middle East. Regimes that are not responsive or responsible to the people. Regimes that have excused their failing policies by blaming others - whether it is the US, Israel, or a combination of the two. Regimes that crush any and all opposition because they are perceived as threats to the regimes.

Jordan is no exception.

Now, Jordan's King Abdullah is trying to stave off the death rattle that currently swirls around Egypt's Hosni Mubarak. King Abdullah has fired his entire government.

Jordan's Royal Palace says the king has fired his government in the wake of street protests and has asked an ex-army general to form a new Cabinet.

King Abdullah's move comes after thousands of Jordanians took to the streets -- inspired by the regime ouster in Tunisia and the turmoil in Egypt -- and called for the resignation of Prime Minister Samir Rifai who is blamed for a rise in fuel and food prices and slowed political reforms.
The Royal Palace says Rifai's Cabinet resigned on Tuesday.

Abdullah also nominated Marouf al-Bakhit as his prime minister-designate. No other details were immediately available.

Demonstrators inspired by mass protests in Tunisia and Egypt had called for Rifai's dismissal.

"(Bakhit) is a former general and briefly ambassador to Israel who has been prime minister before. He's someone who would be seen as a safe pair of hands," said Rosemary Hollis, professor of Middle East policy studies at London's City University.

"I wouldn't see it as a sign of liberalization. With his previous premiership, he talked the talk of reform but little actually happened," she said.

Under fire from an enraged public over high food prices, Rifai announced wage increases two weeks ago to civil servants and the military in an attempt to restore calm.

It's anything but clear whether these steps will placate the Jordanian people, or whether even more drastic steps will need to be taken to prevent the protests from turning into riots that spiral out of the king's control.

Hope Where the Waters Meet and Recede

The Dead Sea is one of the great ecological and natural wonders on the planet. It marks the lowest point on the surface of the planet. It straddles the Israel, West Bank, and Jordanian borders, and accessible to all three.

The Palestinian Authority, in conjunction with Israel and the Jordanian government are hoping to increase tourism to the region and get the area listed as one of the great natural wonders of the world.

In another point of convergence, the governments of Israel, Jordan, which lies across the water, and the Palestinian Authority have joined in a bid to promote the Dead Sea in an Internet competition to be voted one of the new seven natural wonders of the world.

With the water level now dropping by more than three feet a year, many here hope that the competition will focus attention on ways to restore the waters.

“We chase after the water with steps,” said Yusef Matari, a lifeguard at the private beach, Neve Midbar, or Desert Oasis. Mr. Matari has been working in the area for 20 years. “It changes every month,” he said. “There is no permanent shore.”

Some of the ultra-Orthodox women kept on long robes, adhering to strict religious codes of modesty, although Mr. Matari, perched in his lifeguard’s hut on a slope high above the current water line, was the only man in sight.

At nearby Kalia beach, the managers have been trying to encourage more young people to come down for parties by renovating the beach bar, and promoting it as the lowest watering hole in the world.

Dahani Utseh, 35, paddled in the salt-thickened water. She had come with her brother-in-law and her small daughter from Nablus, in the northern West Bank. It was her first time.

While the Palestinians claim about 25 miles of shoreline that lie in the West Bank as part of a future state, Aviv Cohen, a site manager who lives at the settlement, said the negotiations were not his business. The settlement, which is a small kibbutz, or communal farm, is investing heavily, with plans to build a restaurant and a visitors center, he said.

Khalil Tufakji, a Palestinian geographer, said the Palestinians also have more distant plans to build hotels and health spas.

But at this place, where heaven and earth are farthest apart, the challenges that pit people against nature are particularly stark.

The water level has been dropping steeply since the 1960s, mainly as a result of Israel, Jordan and Syria diverting almost all the waters of the Jordan River, which used to feed the Dead Sea, for domestic use and agriculture. Potash industries on both the Israeli and Jordanian sides of the lake also play a significant role in depleting the Dead Sea, since the extraction process relies heavily on evaporation ponds. The southern basin, where the industries and the Israeli hotel district are located, was always shallow. Now it would be completely dried out were it not for the industrial evaporation pools, whose water is artificially pumped in from the northern part.

One proposed solution is to construct a water conduit from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea, which would generate hydroelectricity and provide desalinated water, primarily to Jordan, which is acutely short of water, and also help refill the Dead Sea. The governments of Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority agreed to a World Bank-sponsored feasibility study that has begun.

The waters are receding by three feet every year because of the evaporation and decline in water coming into the Dead Sea from the Jordan River. Increased usage upstream has limited the water entering the Dead Sea, hastening its evaporation.

It's good to see that there can be some agreement on what are truly important issues such as water rights and how to protect vital assets.

The receding waters have created some unusual sights, including docks and signs warning of swimming where there is no water. More dangerous are the sinkholes that develop as the soils dry up and contract. Some are big enough to take out a car.

Terrorists' Rockets Slam Into Israeli and Jordanian Red Sea Resorts

Terrorists firing Grad rockets hit the Israeli Red Sea resort city of Eilat and Jordan's Aqaba. One person was killed in Aqaba and four others were injured. No injuries were reported in Israel.

One rocket hit in Jordan's Aqaba on a main street in front of the Intercontinental Hotel, killing a taxi driver, Information Minister Ali Ayed told The Associated Press. Four other Jordanians were injured, Ayed said.

"The Grad rocket landed in a public street near a major five-star hotel and caused four injuries, with three persons lightly wounded and the other casualty in serious condition," a Jordanian interior ministry source told Reuters.

Asked where the Aqaba rocket was fired, he said without elaborating: "It came from the west." Experts were investigating the site to find out where the short-range Grad rocket had been launched, he said.

It appears that the rockets were fired from the Egyptian side of the Israel-Egypt border. This isn't the first attack in recent months, and it suggests that terrorist groups are utilizing Egypt's Sinai Peninsula to carry out attacks against the Israelis. That the rocket hit Jordan's Aqaba may have been the result of the unguided rocket being aimed incorrectly - that the target of all the rockets were Israel.

Yet, now that Jordan was hit by those rockets, the Jordanians may pressure Egypt to increase security further to crack down on terrorists using the Sinai to carry out attacks, lest they hit the Jordanians.

A Grad rocket is a larger version of the kassam rockets that Hamas typically uses to carry out attacks from Gaza.

Hamas Now Pointing Fingers At Arab Regimes For Assassination

No one really knows who was behind the assassination of a Hamas top terrorist in Dubai. Dubai keeps pointing fingers at the Israeli Mossad. Israel denies any involvement, but certainly would love if Hamas thought that Israel had their finger on the pulse of every Hamas thug operating around the world so that they could take them out at their earliest convenience.

Hamas has also claimed that their rival Palestinian terror group Fatah was involved. Now, they're claiming that Egyptian and Jordanian intel services were involved.

Arab countries may be complicit in the January 19 assassination of Hamas terror chief Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, Hamas sources said on Tuesday, according to various reports.

Citing a report by Al-Quds Al-Arabi, Reuters quoted Hamas official Mahmoud Nasser as saying that Jordanian and Egyptian intelligence agencies had probably tracked Mabhouh prior to his assassination.

Nasser told the newspaper that there was evidence showing that Mabhouh had been targeted by moderate Arab countries because he had handled sensitive information concerning the activities of Hamas and other Islamist elements. He added that that assassination may have been carried out earlier than planned.

According to the newspaper, Nasser is in charge of Iran's ties with Hamas and had worked closely with Mabhouh prior to the latter's death.


Meanwhile on Tuesday, The National reported that Dubai police requested FBI assistance in investigating the assassination of Mabhouh.

The UAE-based English-language paper reported that the US investigators will be charged with probing the ties between the suspects which have been named in the murder and their prepaid credit cards, most of which were issued by the same Iowa bank, Meta. The FBI has also been asked to find links between the alleged assassins and the Israeli Mossad.

It is not like the Mossad to use Israeli citizens as cover for their own intel operations since it would expose more Israelis to possible reprisals; that's why Israeli intel operations usually involve passports from other countries and non-Israeli citizens. It's why I think this was likely a Fatah-led operation because it would burnish the credibility Fatah intel services that have received training from Western intel services and help undermine their rival in Gaza.

Double Agent Responsible For New Year's Eve Bombing Killing 7 CIA Agents

A double agent was responsible for the suicide bombing that killed seven CIA agents and his Jordanian intel agency handler. He had been captured by the Jordanians and they believed he had been turned, but it now shows that they underestimated Balawi's capacity for evil.

The suicide bombing on a CIA base in Afghanistan last week was carried out by a Jordanian doctor who was an al-Qaida double agent, Western intelligence officials told NBC News.

Initial reports said that the attack, which killed seven CIA officers, was carried out by a member of the Afghan National Army.

According to Western intelligence officials, the perpetrator was Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, 36, an al-Qaida sympathizer from the town of Zarqa, which is also the hometown of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian militant Islamist responsible for several devastating attacks in Iraq.

Al-Balawi was arrested by Jordanian intelligence more than a year ago. However, the Jordanians believed that al-Balawi had been successfully reformed and brought over to the American and Jordanian side, setting him up as an agent and sending him off to Afghanistan and Pakistan to infiltrate al-Qaida.

His specific mission, according to officials, was to find and meet Ayman al Zawahiri, al-Qaida’s No. 2, also a physician.

However, the Al-Jazeera Web site quoted a Taliban spokesman who said al-Balawi misled Jordanian and U.S. intelligence services for a year. The spokesman, Al-Hajj Ya'qub, promised to release a video confirming his account of the attack.

The Jordanian intel officer happens to be a relative to Jordan's King Abdullah and the Jordanians responded to his death with a state funeral.

Jordan's official news agency, Petra, said bin Zeid was killed "on Wednesday evening as a martyr while performing the sacred duty of the Jordanian forces in Afghanistan" and provided no further details about his death. Local news reports quoted family members as saying bin Zeid had been in Afghanistan for 20 days and had been scheduled to travel home on the day of the bombing.

His coffin's arrival in Amman on Saturday was handled with unusual pomp, with Jordan's King Abdullah II and his wife, Rania, personally presiding over a funeral and burial in a military cemetery.

Current and former U.S. intelligence officials said the special relationship with Jordan dates back at least three decades and has recently progressed to the point that the CIA liaison officer in Amman enjoys full, unescorted access to the GID's fortress-like headquarters. The close ties helped disrupt several known terrorist plots, including the thwarted 2000 "millennium" conspiracy to attack tourists at hotels and other sites. Jordanians also provided U.S. officials with communications intercepts in summer 2001 that warned of terrorist plans to carry out a major attack on the United States.

Jordan has been working closely with the US to thwart al Qaeda attacks, and that has also meant that al Qaeda has put Jordan in the crosshairs, including a 2005 bombing at an Amman hotel that killed more than 50.

I fear we may see more of these kinds of attacks as the US and other intel services attempt to cultivate agents and associations with those with access to al Qaeda's hierarchy and some of them turn out to be double agents. It puts the CIA and other intel agencies at risk, not only with dubious intel, but puts their agents on the front lines at risk of suicide bombings and other attacks.

It also shows the difficulties in trying to infiltrate these terror organizations, and the lengths to which we and our allies have gone to make the attempt.

Israel Bashing From Amnesty Int'l, Jordan and Germany

Israel bashing from the usual suspects, and one who should know better.

The US went ahead and increased US foreign assistance to Jordan by $150 million (from $363 million to $513 million), and this is the claptrap that their former Prime Minister comes out with? Classy.

Former Jordanian prime minister Abd Al-Raouf Al-Rawabdeh delivered a speech recently in which he called Israel “a cancer that must be eradicated.” His comment were aired on Al-Jazeera TV on June 27 and translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). “Israel is a cancerous body. This is agreed upon,” he stated.

“Usually, you confront a cancerous body in one of two ways: If you have the power, you use it to eradicate the cancer. But if you don't have the power, you try to contain the danger, until you obtain the power you need in order to eradicate it,”said Al-Rawabdeh.

Meanwhile, all the media outlets are busy screaming that Israel killed Palestinians with reckless abandon during Operation Cast Lead. Amnesty International, which has never been known to cast an objective view on matters relating to Israel, issued the report, and the rest of the media jumped on the bandwagon.

Israel bashing has always been in vogue, and it results in all manner of inane statements, particularly when it comes to the construction of communities in the West Bank. German Chancellor Angela Merkel jumped on the settlement bashing train, claiming that it was an obstacle to peace. Merkel should know better.

Sorry, but the obstacle to peace is the fact that Hamas will never recognize Israel as a Jewish state and remains at war with Israel until such time as Israel is destroyed. As I've repeatedly pointed out, Israel has removed Israelis from communities in Gaza and Sinai as part of the disengagement and the Camp David Accords, respectively.

Hamas controls Gaza since 2005, and it has been free of all Israelis save one - Gilad Shalit. Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza, and all that has done is enable Hamas to arm Gaza for future conflicts, including the ongoing rocket war against Israel. Operation Cast Lead was a response to the thousands of rockets fired against Israel. In other words, but for Hamas firing those thousands of rockets, Israel would not have tried to go after Hamas in well populated areas that Hamas used as human shields.

Instead, Amnesty International and others claim that it was Israel who used human shields. It turns the facts on the ground on its head, but that's what the propagandists do. It's what Israel-haters do. Israel rejects the claims, but now that they're out there, the Amnesty report will be taken as the final word, regardless of what Israel says.

UPDATE:
Elder of Ziyon continues debunking Palestinian claims and has a running count of Palestinian terror attacks against Israel for June 2009 - including the mortar and kassam attacks. Those continue to be underreported in international media, and barely get a mention in Israeli outlets. Yet, every last one is a violation of international law and a war crime for the intent to murder Israeli civilians.

Back to Square One

There is no peace process when the Arab nations surrounding Israel keep reverting back to square one. Israel has had a de facto peace with Syria for years along its border with Syria, despite holding the Golan Heights, which it won in hard fighting in 1967, and which it defended at terrible cost in 1973. Syria wants the Golan back, not only because of the land per se, but because of what it represents.

Syria cannot recognize that Israel beat them repeatedly, and it needs something to show for its decades of war and support of terrorism against Israel's very existence. Syria still doesn't recognize Israel's existence, but it fears Israel's military. It's seen what Israel can do to Syria's military and its efforts to obtain weapons of mass destruction, and it cannot hold a candle to Israel via conventional warfare, so its efforts are primarily via the proxy terror armies of Hamas and Hizbullah and as a conduit for Iranian support.

Of course, the Golan also is a major watershed and supplies much of the region, including Israel and Jordan. Syria's interests in the Golan aren't altruistic. Even Jordan recognizes this as the Jordan River supports a significant portion of the Jordanian water needs.

Meanwhile, Jordan is also working the usual tripe about how Israel must make concessions in order to establish a two-state solution. Let's also ignore the fact that Jordan had the power to make a two-state solution possible from 1947 until 1967, when it occupied and annexed the West Bank (and back in the days when Jordan was called Transjordan). The Palestinians are no different than their Jordanian brethren since they're the same people. The same goes for Egypt, which occupied Gaza from 1948 until 1967, when it too lost that territory. The Arab states didn't want to create a new Palestinian state; they sought Israel's destruction.

That mindset hasn't changed one bit, even with the cold peace between Israel and Egypt and Jordan.

When are the Palestinians, and by extension, the entire Arab world, going to concede that they cannot destroy Israel, and that it is futile to do so? Arab regimes around the world sponsor hatefests that demonize Israel and seek its destruction as a way of controlling their own restless populations.

And these are the folks that Israel has already made peace with.

Keep in mind that these are the so-called moderates in the Middle East.

The Palestinians produce stuff that is beyond the pale in comparison and they are actively seeking Israel's destruction.

All these people feeding the hate are evil.

Yes, they're evil. They're indoctrinating kids into hating and seeking destruction and wanton murder and unending violence because Israel exists. You want peace? Start by dealing with the indoctrination of the next generation of Arab kids into seeking Israel's destruction.

The Palestinian Authority was supposed to stop spreading hatred and indoctrinating yet another generation of Arabs into seeking Israel's destruction as the highest obligation one can achieve. The Palestinian Authority never did stop spreading the hate. Hamas and Fatah continue spreading their venom, using all the means at their disposal.

But we're constantly reminded that it is Israel that must make concessions in the name of peace. What are these people giving up in the name of peace? Nothing.

The Islamists feed on the hate and spread it by calling for jihad against Israel and consider it their religious obligation to fight Israel to the last man, woman and child. These barbarians are more than willing to murder everyone in their path, and no one in the Middle East seems willing to take these Islamists head-on.

UPDATE:
Mere Rhetoric points out that the terrorists are once again firing mortars into Israel despite claiming that they were going to contemplate a ceasefire.

They contemplated, and decided to once again engage in war against Israel because that's their religious obligation.

At the same time, Bill Roggio notes a curious report noting that the US Treasury Department has sanctioned an al Qaeda terror master living in Syria.

Sa'ad Uwayyid 'Ubayd Mu'jil al Shammari, an Iraqi member of al Qaeda who operates from inside Syria, has been designated as a terrorist under Executive Order 13224. The designation allows the US to freeze his assets, prevent him from using financial institutions, and prosecute him for terrorist activities.

"We will continue to aggressively implement the international obligation to target al Qaeda-linked terrorists, like Abu Khalaf, who threaten the safety of Coalition Forces and the stability of Iraq," said Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence said in a Treasury press release issued today.

Shammari, who is better known as Abu Khalaf, is known to recruit suicide bombers from North Africa and aids in setting up their travel arrangements into Syria and ultimately Iraq. “The facilitator recruited a few suicide bombers, who attempted to travel to Iraq," the Treasury press release stated.

Khalaf also helped al Qaeda suicide bombers based in the Persian Gulf region travel to the Levant to conduct suicide attacks. The Levant consists of the countries that border the Mediterranean Sea and includes Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Egypt. He is believed to operate in Tal Hamis in Syria and Tal Wardan and the 'Awinat village in t Rabiah district in Iraq.

Syria keeps bad company, and sooner or later it will come back to haunt them in a big way, although it looks like the Obama Administration will content itself with issuing directives to cut off funding for those al Qaeda in Syria, rather than demanding the regime in Damascus hand them over.

We've also been hearing reports that the Syrian support for the Iraqi insurgency has picked up in recent weeks, suggesting that whatever the Obama Administration has done vis-a-vis Syria hasn't worked. Syria is pursuing its own agenda, and that comes at the expense of the US and Israel.

Goals and Objectives

It is my sincere belief that Israel stopped its campaign against Hamas far too soon. Hamas was on the ropes, and foreign policy needs to ensure that the operation was completed by the inauguration of Barack Obama was an arbitrary and capricious decision that will actually serve to extend the conflict since Hamas will come back at some point to resume its rocket war with Israel that never ended.

The journalists are busy trying to make sense of the death and destruction in Gaza, and are trying to figure out how Israel can be blamed for all the carnage.

Far too many pundits, diplomats, and journalists will ignore Hamas and their role for initiating the conflict. Thousands of kassam rockets go down the memory hole. Terrorist attacks, a call for jihad and the annihilation of Israel are part and parcel of the Hamas Charter, and yet the diplomats think that they've worked out a ceasefire? Israel ceases, and Hamas will fire. That's as it has been.

All that will be remembered is that Israel dropped tons of ordnance on Gaza and blew up parliamentary buildings, schools, offices, and residences, ignoring that all those facilities were used by Hamas to fight Israel and to hide their weapons and terrorists among civilian populations so as to maximize the civilian casualties.

So, what did Israel accomplish? It reasserted deterrence. It showed that it would not tolerate Hamas rocket attacks, but that deterrence capability lasts only as long as Israel retains a zero-tolerance policy; the first rocket or mortar attack and Israel must go back into Gaza to wipe up those Hamas left.

It's most curious that Hamas now breaks out their uniforms after the cessation of Israel's actions. Hamas is again directing traffic, and perhaps some Gazans will wonder why Hamas went to war and caused so much death, misery, and mayhem with nothing gained.

Hamas put those uniforms away the moment Israel began the airstrikes, but now that Israel has called off the dogs of war, they're back out. Hamas knows that if their thugs wore those uniforms, their gig of hiding behind women and children would have been overtly exposed for the cruel and barbaric act that it was. By blending into civilian populations, Hamas is claiming that the body count was comprised of more civilians than actually occurred. That was done with a propagandists' eye to undermining Israel's right to defend itself and to take the appropriate actions against terrorists operating in densely populated areas.

Hamas makes no bones about its intentions. This is a hudna. It is meant to allow Hamas to regroup and rearm for the next phase of its genocidal conflict with Israel. Hamas would sacrifice the lives of all Gazans to fulfill its religious obligations to destroy Israel. They say that they will continue to smuggle weapons into Gaza for that purpose.

Ed Morrissey thinks that Hamas was a clear loser despite its claims to the contrary. He points out that Iran has changed its stance in relation to the disastrous efforts of Hamas' Iranian militia, which was wiped out with ease. Israel indeed destroyed Hamas at every opportunity, but Hamas will claim the Pyrrhic victory, and if you repeat the lie enough, people will come to believe it.

Arab leaders continue to weigh in on the Israeli operation in Gaza, and Saudi King Abdullah says that Israel used excessive force.

[correction] I wonder if Abdullah would have criticized King Hussein of Jordan in 1970-1 when Fatah and PLO terrorists started a civil war that King Hussein brutally crushed, giving rise to the PLO faction, Black September. Thousands of Palestinians died in that uprising against the Jordanian King. No one shed a tear, least of all the current Jordanian King Abdullah, who now owes his existence to his father's liberal use of force against terrorists arrayed against his regime. Make no doubt, Abdullah is applying quite the double standard here, and it is for Palestinian consumption within the Arab World. Arab regimes have significant Islamist populations that they're trying to keep under wraps, and they're offering just enough red meat to these groups so as to keep them from rising up against them.

The Muslim Brotherhood, of which Hamas is an offshoot, has tentacles throughout the Middle East and beyond, and these pronouncements are all designed to keep the Brotherhood placated, even as the regimes themselves are largely breathing a sigh of relief that Israel took Hamas and Iran down a few notches.

Now, the world will begin throwing money at Gaza to rebuild what Israel destroyed. The Saudis have pledged $1 billion in reconstruction aid. I have no doubt that was done with an eye to thwarting Iranian influence there. The key for Israel will be to see that the money isn't diverted by Hamas for rebuilding their terror infrastructure. Even the EU is leery of rebuilding as long as Hamas controls Gaza. Still, watch the UN direct the money into Gaza regardless that the terrorists have retained nominal control over Gaza.

So, where are the Hamas humanitarian gestures? They aren't going to be forthcoming. Nor should anyone expect that Gilad Shalit be released either. Hamas will continue holding him for use to demand Israel release hundreds of terrorists from Israeli jails.

Operation Cast Lead: Day 10

Hamas has a thing for those smuggling tunnels between Gaza and Egypt. They're not for food and humanitarian aid; if Hamas were truly serious about providing for the needs of Gazans, they would have long ago ceased firing the kassams and allowed the food and aid to flow and for Gazans to be able to work in Israel to earn a living. Instead, Hamas knows that controlling the flow of goods into Gaza is a guarantee that they retain control.

Hundreds of tunnels have been carved out beneath the Gaza-Egypt frontier, providing a vital conduit to bring basic needs into the territory which has suffered an increasing stranglehold in the past 18 months.

Foodstuffs, building materials, medicines and electric equipment are all brought from Egypt through the passages -- as well as weapons, notably rockets, and ammunition.

Such contraband provides smugglers with a profitable business. It is also a source of income for Hamas, the Islamist movement which has been the sole ruler in the Gaza Strip since June 2007.

The movement levies taxes on the smugglers' income from the tunnels which are linked to the territory's electricity grid with the blessing of Hamas.

Conscious that the goods, particularly weapons, flowing under the border are vital to Hamas in its conflict, Israel has bombed dozens of tunnels since Israel began its offensive on the Gaza Strip on December 27.

Hamas maintains a firm grip on the smuggling operations because they get a piece of the action; and that's not counting the weapons and equipment used for the terror war against Israel.

Israel must secure the Philadelphi corridor to thwart Hamas from continuing to resupply via Egypt. The Israeli operations has now entered a new phase where the Israeli army will search for terrorists and their weapons caches and destroy them. That's going to be a very dangerous and potentially lengthy phase. Much can go wrong during it, including significant civilian casualties and Israeli casualties.

Everything that Israel does is a so called naqaba. Israel's existence is a naqaba that Hamas hopes to correct by destroying it.

Jordan's politicians are demanding that the country sever ties with Israel. Siding with terrorists isn't a good idea or good for your health. Qatar is busy calling Israel's acts to defend itself war crimes. No word on when Qatar will get around to calling Hamas' terrorist acts war crimes, which they are. The Arab world has fully and truly debased the meanings of all these terms - whether it is genocide, terrorism, holocaust, war crimes, etc. They'll ignore the violence perpetrated by their fellow Arabs or Muslims, but the moment Israel stands up for itself and goes after those that seek to destroy it, Israel is automatically called the aggressor and guilty of criminal behavior.

CNN reports that patients are lying everywhere (but strangely not exactly telling folks that many of those being brought in are Hamas thugs, or that Hamas thugs have been going through the hospitals executing and kneecapping those who they believe are collaborating with Israel). CNN also ignores that Hamas has started disguising themselves as doctors and nurses and hiding in hospitals.

There's a simple way to stop the Israeli operation. Demand Hamas surrender and Israel will stop going after Hamas. Stop the rockets, and no more Israeli interventions in Gaza. Gazans have a choice, and they sided with the terrorist group that demanded war against Israel. Israel gave them that war.

Hamas knows how to stop the war - stop attacking Israel, but everyone knows that Hamas is incapable of doing so. To do so would mean admitting that Israel won - that Israel beat the Islamists on their home turf. Again. So, the world puts pressure on Israel to stop attacking those who attacked it first. They know that eventually Israel will give in to the pressure.

Blue Star Chronicles came across a Hamas propaganda video, which was translated for our benefit. Hamas' death wish is being satiated in the blood of Palestinians who are cannon fodder for Hamas, are props for propaganda in media outlets, and brag about the use of women and children as human shields.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Olmert, who days ago claimed that he would not tolerate talk of truces or ceasefires, is now raising the notion of a ceasefire if Hamas meets certain conditions. I'd prefer room temperature for their leaders, unconditional surrender, and destruction of all their weapons stockpiles, but Olmert is thinking that a return to quiet - without the daily rocket attacks would be sufficient. He's counting on the international community to enforce the actions:

According to Olmert, Israel is interested in a ceasefire agreement that would bring to an isolation of Hamas and include the following conditions: A stop to the rocket fire and the terror emanating from Gaza, as well as to Hamas' military buildup, and the deployment of international forces in the Gaza Strip to enforce the implementation of a truce.

The release of Gilad Shalit will also be stipulated as one of Israel's terms for a halt to the fighting as part of any future agreement.

A senior source in Jerusalem said Sunday: "After Israel launched the ground incursion, the world realized it must wake up and abide by the conditions set by Israel.

"Contrary to the empty moves initiated by various countries, including the humanitarian ceasefire initiative promoted by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, the American initiative is based on the agreement of the four elements that surround the only geographical territory in the world that is ruled by a terrorist entity – Gaza.

The official explained that the initiative does not include negotiations with Hamas, but rather forcing such a regional treaty on the organization. He added that Olmert has made it clear to the Americans and to other world leaders involved in the move, that Israel's conditions were not negotiable, and that if they are not obtained through a diplomatic course, they would be secured through the military operation.

I have a real bad feeling about this - Olmert has not learned the mistakes of the Hizbullah war, and allowing the UN or EU to dictate Israeli security is a recipe for disaster. Hizbullah is in a stronger position now than in 2006 precisely because UNIFIL has not demilitarized South Lebanon and Hizbullah has essentially usurped power from the Lebanese people.

Hamas, seeing the Israeli options being floated, will simply do what it can to hold out - maximize civilian casualties, and wait for the UN to step in on its behalf to stop Israel. Why would Hamas accept any treaty? They've never held up their end of the bargain on previous ceasefires; why would they start now?

Hamas will then claim victory, and Israel will have achieved little in return.

UPDATE:
Hamas fired a Grad rocket at Askhelon, injuring nine Israelis. The terrorists also unsuccessfully tried to kidnap an Israeli soldier operating inside Gaza while clearing one of the many tunnels.

Hamas leaders, who show their heroism by calling for more terror attacks from undisclosed locations or the safety of residences in Damascus or the safety of Egypt, are calling on their thugs to crush Israel's military and that Israel has legitimized the killing of children. That's particularly rich since Hamas has specifically targeted civilians - including a kindergarden hit in Ashkelon today - while Israel has done its utmost to avoid killing civilians all while Hamas is busy using women and children as human shields and as props to garner sympathy to force Israel to stop short of stopping Hamas once and for all - a situation that would truly lay the groundwork for peace.

Hamas also claims that it has weapons that it hasn't used to date. That probably means a combination of longer range rockets and suicide bombers, or both. Expect to see both before long. Hamas will be forced to choose between using them or losing them as Israel moves forward with the ongoing ground operation. Hamas also claims that it will start targeting civilians - as though that's different than the thousands of kassams and mortars fired into Israel before today.

The Turkish Prime Minister thinks that Allah will punish Israel. So far, I'd say that Allah hasn't exactly shown much interest in helping Hamas.

UPDATE:
Sderot residents got lucky. A local food market just closed up shop, when a kassam slammed into the facility. No one was injured. A few minutes earlier, and the outcome would have been quite different.

Lal Masjid Military Operation Continues

We're into day two of the military operation to clear the Lal masjid mosque in Islamabad of militants. There has been strong resistance from the militants inside who have barricaded themselves into rooms underneath the mosque. Heavy casualties are expected.

A commando raid that was expected to be a quick operation to subdue Islamic radicals in the Red Mosque turned into a marathon battle Tuesday and Wednesday, with elite Pakistani forces sweeping through underground bunkers in nearly two days of intense combat.

By late Wednesday afternoon local time, Pakistani forces were combatting as many as 30 armed militants still holed up within the mosque compound.

Military officials said the fighting left at least nine commandos and at least 50 radicals dead -- including the firebrand cleric at the center of the standoff. But they also suggested the toll might ultimately prove far higher. Among the hundreds of people estimated to be in the mosque when the raid began, only 86 have made it out alive so far -- most of them women and children, but including some civilians who were rescued and some militants who were wounded or captured.

At least 10 security forces have been killed and 33 injured. There's no clue as to what the final toll will be, but it may be quite significant. For good background on the mosque and the situation in Islamabad that led up to the siege, see Pakistaniat.

The US issued a statement regretting the loss of life, but pinned those deaths on the militants inside the mosque. Predictably, Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood wasn't so supportive:

Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood on Tuesday condemned the Pakistani army's dawn raid on a pro-Taliban mosque in Islamabad, describing the assault in which at least 58 people were killed as dangerous and unprecedented.

“The movement condemns the killings and violation of the mosque's sanctity,” Salem Falahat, leader of the country's largest opposition grouping, told AFP.

“Pakistan undermined the lives of innocent people, which is dangerous and unprecedented. The government should have given more time to the besieged people inside the mosque.” Falahat accused Pakistan of “trying to win the satisfaction of the United States.“Pakistan should reject external meddling in its affairs under the pretext of fighting terrorism,” he said.

As anyone following this page should know, the Muslim Brotherhood is the organization from which grew such terrorist organizations including Hamas and al Qaeda. They are Islamists to the core and are not afraid to use violence when the need arises. They're likely concerned that Musharraf will do unto the thugs in Lal Masjid that Assad did to the Brotherhood in Hama, Syria; crush and eliminate the threat - killing thousands of supporters in the process.

UPDATE:
Reports now indicate the fighting has indeed stopped. However, there is no information about the extent of casualties and what else was found inside the mosque compound.

"The first phase of the operation is over. There are no more militants left inside," Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad said in a telephone interview.

He said that the compound was still being combed for mines, booby traps and other weaponry.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said that no dead women and children had been found inside the sprawling complex and the probability of finding bodies during the clearing operation was low.

For the Prime Minister's sake, I hope that remains the case, because sentiment might change against the Musharraf government if it turns out that women and children were killed in the course of the siege.

UPDATE:
Other reports are more circumspect as to the number of casualties as the numbers wont be known until the entire complex is searched and cleared of traps and explosives.

UPDATE:
Gaius wonders why folks are not calling Ghazi what he was - a coward for hiding behind women and children, and putting hundreds and perhaps thousands at risk of injury or death because he sought to impose Sharia on all.

UPDATE:
Did high value targets manage to escape the compound using tunnels dug under the compound? Did Ghazi die in order to give those individuals a chance to escape? One tunnel was apparently discovered linking the mosque to the madrassa next door, but both are within the same compound so security forces do not believe that those inside could have escaped. Those and other issues will need to be addressed by Musharraf in coming weeks as they have to wrap their hands around the issue.

Watch for the possibility that other Islamist groups take to the streets:

Meanwhile, the six party Islamist Parties Alliance (IPA) staged a demonstration in Peshawar over the Lal Masjid conflagration.

Liaqat Baloch, a parliamentarian of the Jamaat-e-Islami, described "Operation Silence" as a misnomer, adding that it was "basically" a bloody continuation of an attempt to undermine the decisions of the Jirga convened recently by the Federally Administered Tribal Arear (FATA).

Samya Raheel Qazi, another member of the party, was quoted by a foreign news agency as saying that it was a huge tragedy, and queried why none had protested.

Pakistani officials were said to be procuring body bags to remove the dead bodies from the Lal Masjid complex, even as paramilitaries continued patrolling the area.

Medical staffs were moving body bags into ambulances. The final death toll is still unknown as mopping-up operations continue.

The curfew in Islamabad's G-6 area would remain in force till further orders, the capital administration said.

UPDATE:
Zawahiri has been quite busy producing videos of late. He's done three in the past week alone, and today's video calls on Islamists to make jihad against Pakistan and Musharraf for his actions against the Lal Masjid. Laura Mansfield has the text.

The Sleepers Have Awakened?

So, what do we know 48 hours on from the first failed terrorist attack involving car bombs in London, followed by the fiery attack on the Glasgow airport? Well, we've got some names and occupations to go along with all the speculation.

At least one of the five people in custody was a doctor: Dr Mohammed Asha.

That should once again undermine the "root causes" crowd's argument that poverty is behind terrorism.

A total of seven people are now being held in connection with the UK bombing campaign as two more people were taken into custody. The two men, aged 25 and 28, are believed to be of British origins. Meanwhile, more details have emerged over the others in custody:

On Monday, Staffordshire Police closed off Priam Close, in Bradwell, two miles from Chesterton, where one of the people being held, Dr Mohammed Asha, lived.

Dr Asha, 26, who worked as a junior doctor at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford, and a 27-year-old woman believed to be his wife, were arrested on the M6 in Cheshire on Saturday night.

Another 26-year-old man was arrested in Liverpool on Sunday.

Warrants have been issued which allow police to further detain the three people, who are being held at Paddington Green police station, until Saturday.

A man arrested by police at Glasgow airport suffered severe burns

Two men were also detained at Glasgow airport on Saturday after the attempted attack.

One had severe burns and remains in a critical condition, and under armed police guard, at Royal Alexandra Hospital, in Paisley.

The first five people arrested are believed to be of Middle Eastern nationalities.

Two of the seven in custody are doctors and more information about Asha has come out:

Dr. Mohammed Jamil Abdelqader Asha has been identified as a suspect in the U.K. terror plot. He was arrested by British police this weekend near Cheshire, England. He has not been charged with any crimes, but police have been searching his home in Chesterton, Newcastle-under-Lyme, north of London.

Asha graduated from a Jordanian medical school in 2004. He registered in 2005 with the General Medical Council, the British medical-doctor registry.

He works as a physician at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire, Stoke on Trent.

I expect intel agencies to focus on whether he has any links to al Qaeda in Jordan, which is Zarqawi's country of origin. They'd probably look for clan and family links to terrorists; quite a few terrorists involved in al Qaeda are related by family or clan.

The Glasgow jeep apparently contained propane gas canisters, just like the two cars discovered in London, along with quantities of gasoline. It would appear that the three vehicles involved were rigged to set off fuel air explosions, but were either discovered before they could explode or were fizzles.

Security in the UK remains on its highest alert level.

UPDATE:
Still more details on Asha's background; he was apparently worked "... in the neurology department at the North Staffordshire hospital, in Hartshill, Stoke-on-Trent. He qualified in Jordan in 2004 and is registered to work in this country until 2008, it is thought he holds a Jordainian passport and is of Palestinian origin."

Also interesting is that his father is hoping to get the Jordanian government involved in securing his release.

Jamil Abdel Kader Asha, Dr Asha’s father said that he learnt about his son’s arrest through the media and claimed his “son is incapable of such acts”. He called on the Government in Jordan to intervene and secure his son’s release. “Not all Arabs are terrorists," he told the AFP news wire.

Jamil Asha confirmed that his son had obtained his medical degree in Jordan before moving to the UK. “I cannot imagine he had any other goal than to realise his ambition by studying in Britain,” he said, describing his son as pious but not extremist.

UPDATE:
The identity of the second doctor held in British custody has been released:

Police said one man arrested in Glasgow is Bilal Abdulla.

According to the British General Medical Council's register, a man named Bilal Talal Abdul Samad Abdulla was registered in 2004 and trained in Baghdad. Staff at Royal Alexandra Hospital said one suspect was a doctor of Middle Eastern or Iraqi origin who worked there.

UPDATE:
Make that three doctors of the seven that are in custody.

UPDATE:
Can you say five doctors in custody in relation to the car bomb plot? I knew you could.

UPDATE:
Actually, make that six doctors, as another doctor was taken into custody, this time in Australia.

A MAN arrested at Brisbane’s international airport overnight over the UK terror plots was a registrar at the Gold Coast Hospital in Southport.

Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said the 27-year-old man was arrested at Brisbane International airport yesterday. He did not have a return ticket.

The man, who Queensland Premier Peter Beattie said was not Australian-born, was arrested at the airport at 11pm (AEST) by a counter-terrorism team comprising Queensland police and Australian Federal Police officers after advice from UK authorities.

Mr Beattie said he understood the man had been attempting to leave Australia.

Brisbane Airport has confirmed that only one flight was delayed last night, a flight to Kuala Lumpur.

It appears that the person arrested may have been trying to get to Malaysia, which some folks have fingered as being supportive of the jihad in Thailand that has killed over 2,300 people in just the past two years with multiple bombings, beheadings, and school torchings.

Pseudorealities

Jordan rejects a confederation with Palestinians in the West Bank. So ends the hope of some diplomats and pundits that Jordan would ride to the rescue of the Palestinians living there. It would appear that the Arab world is continuing to forsake their Palestinian brethren.

Of course, those Arab countries, including Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia have little use for the Palestinians, who have been troublesome since the get-go and whose leaders have started wars and conflicts wherever they go.

Israel will be releasing tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority in coming days. I have a bad feeling about that as the money will help Abbas and the terrorists fund their operations. I have an even worse feeling about the idea of the US training Fatah thugs in the West Bank. Why should we be dealing with Fatah when they are just as dedicated to Israel's destruction as Hamas? The diplomats continue to ignore that detail in pressing their psuedorealist vision.

The rockets keep hitting Israel. No doubt the US media will only highlight this fact in passing when Israel goes after Palestinian terrorists with airstrikes.

An attempt to eliminate Hizbullah's Nasrallah by Israeli agents, with assistance from Fatah's Dahlan and Saudi Arabia supposedly failed. Damn. Politics and national security would make strange bedfellows if that report is accurate and I have my doubts. There are many reasons to plant a story like that - to show that slightly less radical terrorist groups are willing to deal with Israel as collaborators against the more radical groups (which is a strategy that Hamas has been pressing against Fatah).

Egypt says that it will restart efforts to secure the release of Gilad Shalit. Shalit has been held by Hamas for more than a year and there's no sign that Hamas is any closer to releasing Shalit today than they were a year ago unless Israel decides to release hundreds of Palestinian terrorists from Israeli jails.

UPDATE:
The pseudorealism extends all the way to Pakistan, where it has taken more than a year for Musharaf to realize that appeasement of tribes who have been offering sanctuary to al Qaeda and Taliban would not work.

The Pakistani president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, was warned this month that Islamic militants and Taliban fighters were rapidly spreading beyond the country’s lawless tribal areas and that without “swift and decisive action,” the growing militancy could engulf the rest of the country.

The warning came in a document from the Interior Ministry, which said Pakistan’s security forces in North-West Frontier Province abutting the tribal areas were outgunned and outnumbered and had forfeited authority to the Taliban and their allies.

“The ongoing spell of active Taliban resistance has brought about serious repercussions for Pakistan,” says the 15-page document, which was shown to The New York Times. “There is a general policy of appeasement towards the Taliban, which has further emboldened them.”

UPDATE:
So, instead of realizing the error of their ways and deciding to end the experiment of backing Fatah thugs against Hamas, the State Department is looking at how to reorganize the funding of the same. Why? There is no good reason to believe that Fatah will ever reform itself. It's had a decade to do so. Arafat died and Abbas assumed power and they did no such thing. They've now lost Gaza to Hamas and there is no reason to believe that Fatah's leadership will take the steps necessary to actually bring peace.

They instead hold their hands out to get a piece of the action. They remain thugs and kleptocrats to the end.

“I see no evidence that [Dayton’s mission] succeeded,” said Shoshana Bryen of the Washington-based Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs of efforts to reform the Palestinian security forces and secure the Gaza crossings.

“They simply didn’t fight, they abandoned their posts,” she said of the Fatah forces outgunned but not outnumbered by Hamas. She said, though, that the failure was larger than the battle in Gaza and stemmed from flawed American expectations that any US security coordinator could lead Fatah security services in a direction amenable to US and Israeli interests rather than their own.

Many Israeli security officials said they have been turned off from the whole Dayton enterprise since Fatah forces fell to Hamas, saying that it’s now hard to take his efforts at security reform seriously and interpreting the situation as an example of American inability to grasp the realities of the Middle East.

The flaws in the US security plan was that they continued to operate under the assumption that Fatah could be turned away from terrorism to a functioning government. The diplomats deluded themselves, and misled the leaders in government that this could happen.

Fatah remains led by terrorists. Their security forces are led by terrorists, and the most capable faction of Fatah is a terrorist splinter group answerable to Abbas; the al Aqsa Martyr's Brigade. Yet, the US, Israel, the Quartet, and the diplomats ignore this hoping that they can paper over those inconvenient facts.

They can't.

The facts are exactly as they appear. Fatah remains dedicated to Israel's destruction and does just enough to continue getting money from the West, and everyone limps along from one crisis to the next. Hamas threw a huge monkey wrench into the situation by claiming Gaza for themselves and will then seek to liberate the West Bank and all of Israel from occupying forces, whether it is Israel or Fatah and their minions.

Oh, and you know that the world has gone mad when there is 42% of Israelis who think that the US is too supportive of their country (page 27). (HT: Conflict Blotter).

If this is what passes as support, I'd wonder what they mean by opposition.

86% of Palestinians have an unfavorable view of the US. Heh, big surprise there. We're back the kleptocrat-terrorists against the homicidal terrorists. Egypt and Jordan also have high unfavorables for the US.

Summit Talk

So, we're in the midst of yet another Middle East summit and Israel is once again making concessions that do not appear to make sense for Israel's national security. The Quartet is meeting in Jerusalem to discuss the situation. Among the issues to be discussed is naming outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair as envoy to the region:

There was no official statement released after the meeting of the foreign diplomats, known as the quartet. A proposal to name Mr. Blair to a key new position for the regions has been endorsed by President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Heading into the meeting, a United Nations spokesman said the envoys had “no set agenda” and would discuss “recent developments and the way forward,” according to The Associated Press.

While there has been no formal announcement that he would become the envoy after stepping down as prime minister on Wednesday, Mr. Blair, speaking in London today, said that a negotiated settlement on the issue of Palestine is “essential” for world peace and he would do “whatever it takes” to help achieve a lasting solution.

“Anybody who cares about peace and stability in the world knows that a lasting and enduring resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian issue is essential,” he said in a news conference, according to remarks published on the prime minister’s Web site. “As I have said on many occasions, I would do whatever I could to help such a resolution come about.”

As the representative of the quartet of world powers, Mr. Blair’s appointment would signify the most visible attempt at laying the groundwork for a Palestinian state since President Clinton worked with Yasir Arafat and Ehud Barak in 2001.

Yes, and we know how well that worked out in 2000. Camp David exploded in Clinton's face - Arafat got nearly everything that had been demanded of Israel and not only rejected the proposal, but never ever so much as offered a counterproposal. Instead, Fatah and the Palestinians launched yet another Intifada.

That should be the backdrop for any future negotiations on the subject - demanding the Palestinians start living up to their obligations, rather than forcing Israel to make still more concessions. Those concessions have gotten Israel no peace, and have reduced its ability to defend itself from terrorist attacks (see Gaza withdrawal or the disengagement from South Lebanon).

Hamas still holds Gilad Shalit and his health situation is still unclear. He has not recovered from his wounds sustained when he was captured a year ago. Well, they probably would have been healed had Hamas released him months ago, but that's not going to happen unless Hamas gets Israel to make still more concessions along the lines of prisoner releases. Egypt's Mubarak says that Shalit's release depends on calm in Gaza. No, it depends on whether Hamas can be forced to release Shalit without Israel having to release terrorists in exchange. Shalit could be released tomorrow if Hamas wanted to, but it knows that Shalit's value lies in the ability to obtain concessions from Israel that threaten Israel's security down the road - prisoner releases (both in the immediate form of terrorists back on the streets and the precedence of what happens when Israeli soldiers are captured).

Rockets continue to be fired into Israel from Gaza, including one that landed in a schoolyard in Sderot.

Israel has already announced that it would release 250 Fatah thugs from Israeli jails, in a bid to prop up Abbas, whose own thugs have no problem carrying out terrorist attacks against Israel when they're not enriching themselves or fighting with Hamas. Netenyahu says that the prisoner release was a mistake, which is true, but Bibi doesn't have a problem with allowing the Badr Brigade to come to Abbas's rescue. The Badr Brigade, yet another force of Fatah thugs, are currently in Jordan.

There is one possible reason that Bibi has no problem with this deal (and this is purely speculation) - getting Fatah all in one place makes it easier to track 'em down going forward should things go sour. It would keep Israel and Jordan on the same page as they've had closer relations than Israel has with any other country in the region.

Israel allowing Fatah to bring in more thugs eases the problem for Jordan - and the question then becomes what is Israel getting in return. There's got to be something that isn't getting reported in the media to account for it.

UPDATE:
The Army of Islam has issued a list of demands for the release of Alan Johnston. They want three jihadis released - including a spiritual leader of al Qaeda held in Britain and an al Qaeda thug responsible for hotel bombings in Amman, Jordan that killed dozens, and another jihadi spiritual leader being held in Jordan.

This suggests that the Army of Islam's links to al Qaeda may be far stronger than previously acknowledged. Hamas has also been implicated in Johnston's capture, so this bodes poorly for all involved. Al Qaeda definitely wants to increase its footprint in Gaza, and they've found a willing fellow traveler in the form of the Army of Darkness.

UPDATE:
We're beginning to find out just how some of these news outlets are able to get the news reports - and the attendant bias - because they're in bed with the very terrorists we're supposed to be fighting. Like those who would rather not know how sausage is made, the British would rather you not know what goes into making BBC news reports - and how tied into the jihadis they really are. In this case, the BBC is employing Hamas thugs.

It must hurt something fierce to see how Hamas has repaid that close relationship with the ongoing capture of Alan Johnston.

You can be sure that this likely violates all kinds of British law, not to mention journalistic standards, but what's a few laws or standards when they've got an anti-Israel biased scoop to run.

Taking Sides in Palestinian Civil War To Benefit No One

Iran has picked its side; Hamas. So has the US and the West. The Israelis have decided to throw their lot in with Fatah, releasing hundreds of millions in tax collection revenues to the PA, despite the fact that Fatah still seeks Israel's destruction.

Who benefits from this? Certainly not Israel. Certainly not the Palestinians. It isn't the US either.

Iran benefits from the increased strife because it is able to expand its influence in the region, and that has the other Sunni countries worried. Hamas and Hizbullah are showing themselves to be quite effective terrorist groups, with Hizbullah managing to get a 30+ day war started against Israel last summer that resulted in Hizbullah launching thousands of rockets against Israel and Israel unable to dislodge Hizbullah from South Lebanon.

Speaking of rockets, more kassams were fired from Gaza into Sderot. Three Israelis were wounded in the latest attacks. Guess who was behind the attacks - Fatah and Islamic Jihad.

Hamas says that it will go after Palestinian collaborators who worked with Israel to track down the whereabouts of the Palestinian terrorists. Hamas is seeking to purge itself of threats to its own existence in Gaza, and they are intolerant of anyone who believes differently than themselves. They are also completely devoted to Israel's destruction - politically and religiously.

After days of noting the importance of having a summit to deal with the Palestinian situation and the Israel-Arab conflict, Olmert is now trying to lower expectations. Jordan says that the talks must lead to peace talks. Sorry, but I didn't have any expectations at all. I didn't think it would lead to any breakthroughs unless Fatah's Abbas was going to make significant concessions and actually carry them out and yet Abbas's initial position was even more strident in making demands on Israel. Abbas was in Jordan laying the groundwork for his position.

The Saudis are refusing to mediate between Hamas and Fatah. For the Saudis, they've been burned by trying to hammer out a deal on a new government only to watch their efforts go up in smoke.

UNRWA looks on approvingly as Israel continues providing humanitarian aid to Gaza. I look disapprovingly on as UNRWA does nothing to stop the UNRWA-run camps overrun with weapons and terrorists.

Human rights groups are pushing for Israel to reopen Karni Crossing into Israel from Gaza.

Meanwhile, the NYT is defending its publication of the Hamas editorial last week. They say it is not in anyone's interest to engage in one-sided debate, and then posited a defense in relation to an editorial on a vegan couple who starved their child to death, claiming that the other side was not heard in that instance. Sorry, but that's a weak argument. There are others who could present the Hamas/Palestinian point of view without actually being members of Hamas - a terrorist group on the State Department watchlist and whose members have killed Americans in the past.

The Times had the right to run the editorial, as is its right under the First Amendment, but it also has the inalienable right to make an ass of itself in the process. On that point, it did splendidly.

UPDATE:
This is what happens when you buy into Palestinian propaganda and then realize it is so much shoveled nonsense. You see what the Palestinians are doing to their own, and realize that Israel isn't the biggest enemy here - it's the Palestinians themselves.

Daryl Jones is an Australian volunteer aid worker duped by Palestinian propaganda propaganda to come to their aid but later realized that they were engaged in a bloodlust game to destroy the lives of children.

She recounts how Palestinians displayed photos of bodies, "gouged and pitted, torn. We were told this is from torture from the Israelis." Later, when she saw a Palestinian child blow up in front of her face, she realized that the ripped apart bodies were the result of human booby traps that the Palestinians used against the Israelis.

She was featured in "The Road to Jenin" film by French director Pierre Rehov.

(HT: Killgore Trout at LGF)

UPDATE:
A new video tape released by BBC journalist Alan Johnston's captors shows him decked out wearing a bomb vest. That the video was released shows that the terrorists are not playing around - they intend to kill him unless their demands are met.

PM Olmert is considering giving yet more weapons to Fatah. Why? To what end will those weapons be used? Fatah's terrorists have no problem using them on Israelis. Just as soon as Fatah either deals with Hamas or is defeated by Hamas, those weapons will just as quickly be pointed in Israel's direction.

This is the exact opposite tact that I would counsel.

Reflections on the Six Day War

The Six Day War was a stunning victory for Israel. For the first time since the State of Israel was founded in 1948, Israel was truly within secure borders. It was able to protect itself from attack from the Golan Heights or across the Sinai/Israel border and no longer had to fear that a Jordanian armored advance could cut Israel in half where Israel was nine miles wide between the West Bank and the Med. It was in control of all of Jerusalem, Judaism's holiest city.

Here's how Time Magazine reported the war in the days after the war ended.

In the flush of a victory that surprised even Dayan and his officers ("I thought it would take a day or two longer," Chief-of-Staff Rabin said laconically), the Israelis are clearly not yet sure what to do with their spoils. Indeed, they hardly had time to count the full cost of their victory—or of the Arab defeat. Casualty figures, as yet, are fragmentary, but the few days of desert warfare may well have accounted for more dead than a whole year's fighting in Viet Nam. And historians will be a long time calculating the price in Arab morale, to say nothing of Russia's tremendous loss of face as it stood helplessly by, watching its expensive Middle Eastern adventure being ground to dust by the advancing Israelis. Among the major Israeli spoils were several captured Russian SAM missiles.

What seems certain now is that, for the moment at least, Israel is the absolute master of the Middle East; it need take orders from no one, and can dictate its own terms in the vacuum of big-power inaction, U.N. fecklessness, and Arab impotence.

How did Israel manage to win so big so quickly? Much of the answer can be found in the almost incredible lack of Arab planning, coordination and communications. Despite their swift defeat in 1956, this time the Arabs seemed to expect a long, leisurely war of attrition. Though two squadrons of Algerian MIG-21s arrived, they were a fatal 24 hours too late because Egyptian commanders had failed to instruct them which airbase to head for. In retrospect, it might have been even worse if they had arrived in time for the Israeli raids. Five planeloads of Moroccan troops actually got to Cairo, but five others were grounded in Libya because Egypt had not given them clearance to enter Egyptian airspace. More than 100 truckloads of Algerian troops crossed southern Tunisia on the way to the Sinai front, which crumbled long before they arrived. Tunisian troops ready to move for Nasser were never asked for by Cairo.

The Third Temple. Though the destruction of Arab airpower played the largest part in turning the battle, the Arabs' field performance was nothing to write home about. Their Russian-trained officer corps was a disaster; it fought far better with words than with weapons. Of all the Arab troops, only the Jordanians handled themselves ably and well—and paid for it with what Hussein called "tremendous losses" that included as many as 15,000 dead. Lebanon fired not a shot at Israeli ground forces during the entire war; as they manned their border positions, its soldiers played a backgammon-like game called tricktrack and watched the Syrians and Israelis trade shellfire. Breastbeating to the contrary, Syrian ground forces made no significant move to relieve the pressure on Jordan and Egypt. Few Arab pilots had a chance to show their skills; and those that did came out second best. The Israelis shot down 50 Arab fighters while losing only three.

To this day, Israelis are still trying to deal with the repercussions of that war. Israel has made peace with Jordan and Egypt, but the Palestinians and Syrians continue to agitate for Israel's destruction.

Elder of Ziyon notes Nasser's lies and Arabs' sense of honor continue to provide a wealth of alt-reality to the leftists and thugs that dominate the Middle East. Of course, that alternative reality/revisionist history continues to this day. Yid With Lid has the details.

My earlier coverage is here. Honest Reporting has a good archive of information about the situation leading up to the war.

Just like today--The United States tried to prevent the war through negotiations, but the other side did not want peace, The US could not persuade Nasser or the other Arab states to cease their belligerent statements and actions. Still, right before the war, President Johnson warned: “Israel will not be alone unless it decides to go alone.” Then, when the war began, the State Department announced: “Our position is neutral in thought, word and deed.”

While the Arabs were falsely accusing the United States of airlifting supplies to Israel, Johnson imposed an arms embargo on the region (France, Israel’s other main arms supplier, also embargoed arms to Israel). By contrast, the Soviets were supplying massive amounts of arms to the Arabs. Simultaneously, the armies of Kuwait, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Iraq were contributing troops and arms to the Egyptian, Syrian and Jordanian fronts.


Today, the retrospective tell a different story, the tale of the cynical Zionist nation that saw an opportunity to deal a blow to the Arab nation, expand her territory, and rule over the Palestinian people. All of these articles that I have been reading say that looking back on it, Maybe the Six Day War was not the best thing for Israel, "since it lead her to become the evil rogue nation she is today"

But there is one indisputable fact that todays revisionist history keeps forgetting, if Israel didn't fight and win the Six Day War---there would be no Israel today. Just as if Israel doesn't protect herself from the likes of Hamas, Hezbollah and Fatah today--there will be no Israel in 40 years.

Israel continues to defend itself to this day against terrorists and regimes hellbent on Israel's destruction. They may seek to undermine Israel with papercuts - Fatah, or with kassam rockets - Hamas, or invasions and bloody wars - Hizbullah. Those terrorist groups are proxies of regional thugs in Damascus and Tehran who want to exert their power and influence and don't care how many are killed in the process.

As Ralph Peters notes:

We Americans face a fundamental problem in interpreting Israel's history: We imagine that every problem has a solution, if only we can figure it out. But there are no solutions - none - to the Middle East's problems, short of atrocities too horrific for us to contemplate. Israel may dream of peace, but must be content to survive and muddle through. An erratic ebb and flow of violence may be as good as the region gets.
The Six-Day War didn't create the Middle East's problems, it only changed the math. For Israel, it marked a coming of age. Taken together with the Yom Kippur War six years later - two rounds in a single fight, really - the war of June 1967 meant the end of Israel's basic struggle for existence and the beginning of its "quality of life" wars.

We also forget that those two intertwined wars in 1967 and 1973 resulted in four decades of de facto peace between Israel and the Arab states it had fought in four wars. Intifadahs make great TV, but they can't destroy Israel.

Intifadas might not destroy Israel, but proxy wars could - and that's exactly what Hizbullah seeks to do. They've got the firepower of a military force, that while insufficient to destroy Israel's vaunted IDF, is sufficient to wear down Israeli resolve and destabilize Lebanon and Israel's northern border.

The situation also shows the folly of the US attempting to play neutral in the conflict. Time and time again, the US is accused of assisting Israel, despite all facts to the contrary. Israel is forced to go it alone, while Israel's enemies receive support from all corners of the Middle East and the Soviets/Russians. Expect to see China get involved in the game as well.

Others with posts on the Six Day War:
BabbaZee, Fiery Spirited Zionist, and LGF.

UPDATE:
And the Arab World characteristically finds yet another reason to gather and blame Israel for all their self-inflicted woes (via LGF):

Forty years after Israel’s stunning victory over three Arab armies, the defeat still lingers in the Arab world — so much so, some blame it for everything from a lack of democracy in the region to the rise of religious extremism.

On June 5, 1967, Israeli warplanes destroyed 400 aircraft belonging to Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Iraq — most of them sitting on airport tarmacs. Egypt lost the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip, Syria gave up the Golan Heights, and Jordan relinquished the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

Trying to minimize the defeat, Arabs have long called the Six Day War the “naksa,” or “setback,” but its impact remains a deep wound.

Egyptian columnist Wael Abdel Fattah wrote in the independent weekly Al-Fagr newspaper that Arabs blame the defeat for “everything” — from “price hikes, dictatorship, religious extremism, sectarian strife, even sexual impotence.”

Let that last bit sink in. The hatred and disconnect with reality is pathological and is reinforced on a daily basis by thugs in charge who seek only to remain in power and use Israel as the ultimate bogeyman for their own failings.