Drumbeat For Action Against Syria's Assad Grows Louder

The ongoing civil war in Syria has led to more than 100,000 dead, more than 2 million refugees situated in grim camps in Syria, Turkey, Jordan, and the entire region is in turmoil, especially after the latest reports indicating that chemical weapons of some kind were used against civilian populations in a Damascus suburb.

It's the latest in a string of scattered incidents involving chemical weapons in the civil war that have pushed the US, France, and others to warn that they may seek military action against Bashar Assad's regime for their violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention. Russia, along with China, continues working their stalling tactics at the UN as Assad continues his brutal crackdown against rebel forces, meaning that there's little chance of an immediate military response to the chemical weapons attack that may have killed anywhere from 130 to 1,300 people.

The British are putting forth a UN resolution at the Security Council, but Assad isn't going to stop fighting his enemies on the basis of a UN resolution. Efforts by UN inspectors to figure out what actually happened were hampered by a delay in getting access to the site, coming under sniper fire, and the fact that Assad's forces had laid siege to the area with conventional artillery for days before the inspectors could get on the ground there.

With the drumbeat of war growing louder, and the possibility that airstrikes may commence tomorrow, the Jerusalem Post is warning that the Israeli homefront is not prepared for an unconventional conflict - referring to chemical weapons. There’s also reports indicating that if the UN/NATO/US hit Assad targets in Syria, that Syria would retaliate against Israel. Some Israelis aren’t sure that Assad would or wouldn’t attack.

It doesn’t matter that Israel has Iron Dome, Patriot and other missile defense systems available to it; Syria going after Israel if hit by airstrikes would open up a can of worms not seen since the 1991 Gulf War. Back then, Israel withstood the brunt of dozens of scud launches that slammed into Israel without retaliation, but would Israel do the same once again?

I’m not so sure. There are reasons that Assad wouldn’t want to enlarge the fight to include Israel out of practical reasons - if his military can barely scratch out a stalemate against rebel forces, it would suffer badly in a fight against the IDF. And Israel may well respond not only with airstrikes of its own, but could send in its Sayeret Matkal and other special forces to go after specific targets - missions that it might not have considered unless Israel was directly attacked. That’s not to say that Israel hasn’t gone after Syrian targets of opportunity before - the airstrike against the nuclear facility a few years back shows that they’ll act preemptively and with force if necessary.

But there are also reasons Assad would go after Israel - make a muddled mess and further complicate things for the rebels and the West - since affiliations/backing for various groups arrayed against Assad have different motivations and sometimes run counter to each other.

Still, airstrikes will hurt Assad, but they’ll end up having unpredictable outcomes not only for Israel, but for Lebanon, which is where Syria still exerts influence and where Assad’s proxies in Hizbullah continue to hold sway. Hizbullah is a wildcard in this, and they could again make a mess of Lebanon, to say nothing of Northern Israel.

If there’s a callup of Israeli forces, it may also be out of a concern that Hizbullah may well be planning to take the pressure off Assad by launching attacks against Israel to take media pressure off Assad and put the spotlight again on Israel.

Ahmadinejad Makes Annual Trip To UN General Assembly; Anti-Gay, Anti-Israel Comments Ensue

There's no surprises here. Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hates Israel's very existence and doesn't think any better of gays or lesbians. He lets those views air once again in an interview given before he speaks at the United Nations expect that they will be part and parcel of his rants tomorrow when he speaks at the UN General Assembly (which will likely be marked by Israel, the US and other countries walking out on his rants).

During a taped interview with Piers Morgan broadcast Monday night on CNN, Ahmadinejad responded candidly to Morgan's questioning about a statement the Iranian leader once made that Israel should be "wiped off the map."

Speaking through a translator, Ahmadinejad said:
If a group comes and occupies the United States of America, destroys homes while women and children are in those homes, incarcerate the youth of America, impose five different wars on many neighbors, and always threaten others, what would you do? What would you say? Would you help it? ... Or would you help the people of the United States?

So when we say "to be wiped," we say for occupation to be wiped off from this world. For war-seeking to (be) wiped off and eradicated, the killing of women and children to be eradicated. And we propose the way. We propose the path. The path is to recognize the right of the Palestinians to self-governance.

Ahmadinejad also did not fully acknowledge the Holocaust, saying to Morgan, "Whatever event has taken place throughout history, or hasn't taken place, I cannot judge that. Why should I judge that? I say researchers and scholars must be free to conduct research and analysis about any historical event."

That he's going to claim that Israel's existence is an abomination and is an illegitimate state isn't news. He's been doing this routine for years. Ahmadinejad's also been deep in Holocaust denial for years as well.

That he's doing it in a speech scheduled for Yom Kippur, Judaism's holiest day, is. Who put together that schedule?

Protesters Overrun US Embassy In Egypt Over Mysterious Movie

No one can actually verify what film the protesters are supposedly upset about which makes the protests against the US Embassy in Cairo all the more odd and disturbing. Reuters and USA Today can't seem to track down the film, but regardless of the facts and circumstances, a group of protesters set out to overrun the US Embassy in Cairo. They succeeded in taking down the US flag for a time and scrawling graffiti referring to not disgracing the name of the prophet Mohammad.

From Reuters:

"This movie must be banned immediately and an apology should be made ... This is a disgrace," said 19-year-old, Ismail Mahmoud, a member of the so-called "ultras" soccer supporters who played a big role in the uprising that brought down Hosni Mubarak last year.

Many Muslims consider any depiction of the Prophet to be offensive.

Mahmoud called on President Mohamed Mursi, Egypt's first civilian president and an Islamist, to take action. Many others were supporters of Islamist groups.

About 20 people stood on top of the embassy wall in central Cairo, where about 2,000 protesters had gathered.

"There is no god but Allah, Mohammad is Allah's messenger. We will sacrifice ourselves for you, Allah's messenger," they chanted, with many waving religious flags.

A U.S. embassy official had no immediate comment on the protesters' actions but the embassy had put out a statement earlier on Tuesday condemning those who hurt the religious feelings of Muslims or followers of any other religions.

"We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others," the U.S. embassy said in its statement.

One slogan scrawled on the walls of the embassy, a fortress-like structure that is near Tahrir Square where Egyptians revolted against Mubarak, said: "If your freedom of speech has no limits, may you accept our freedom of action."

An Egyptian state website carried a statement by Egypt's Coptic Orthodox church condemning what it said were moves by some Copts living abroad "to finance the production of a film insulting Prophet Mohammad".

About a 10th of Egypt's 83 million people are Christians.

It was not immediately clear which film angered protesters.

However, according to the website www.standupamerianow.org, the Christian Pastor Terry Jones, who angered Muslims by burning a copy of the Koran, was due to take part in an event on Tuesday called "International Judge Mohammad Day" in Florida in which it would symbolically put the Prophet on trial and play it out live over the Internet.

"Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy," the U.S. embassy statement said, adding that it condemned the efforts by "misguided individuals" to hurt the feelings of Muslims.

What's interesting is that you've got hundreds of people protesting a film allegedly being made in the US but not a single person can actually cite the name of the film. Moreover, it appears that FARS (Iran) is pushing the claim that Egyptian Coptic Christians are behind the film and fanning sectarian violence that will inevitably result from such claims.

So, the only "film" that could even fit the profile is some Internet production by Terry Jones who's got quite the reputation for hating Islam and showing a tremendous amount of religious intolerance.

That might be what they're protesting, but as with most kinds of protests across the Arab world, all it takes is a rumor for things to take hold, and no amount of debunking will stop things.

What we do know is that Egypt has been hit by several waves of sectarian violence since the fall of Hosni Mubarak and Coptic Christians have been under assault from Islamists who are asserting themselves at the Coptic Christians' expense.

UPDATE:
According to twitter links to this website provided by NJDhockeyfan, the name of the film is Life of King of Islam but there's no reference in IMDB.com. It was supposedly done by Sam Basil (again no reference in imdb), but they refer to Terry Jones' actions. There's also a reference to Dutch involvement, but it's not clear what is being referenced.

UPDATE:
The Atlantic seems to have run down more details, though there's way too much speculation about who is behind the film, their intentions, and other salient details.

The movie is called Mohammed Nabi al-Muslimin, or Mohammed, Prophet of the Muslims. If you've never heard of it, that's because most of the few clips circulating online are dubbed in Arabic. The above clip, which is allegedly from the film (update: Kurt Werthmuller, a Coptic specialist at the Hudson Institute, says he's confirmed the clip's authenticity) is one of the only in English. That's also because it's allegedly produced by Florida Pastor Terry Jones (yes, the asshole who burnt the Koran despite Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates' pleas) and two Egyptians living in the U.S., according to Egyptian press accounts. The Egyptians are allegedly Coptic, the Christian minority that makes up about a tenth of Egypt.

Obviously, there's a lot to this story that's still unclear. What we do know is that some members of Egypt's sometimes-raucous, often rumor-heavy media have been playing highly offensive clips from the highly offensive film, stressing its U.S. and Coptic connections. In the clip below, controversial TV host Sheikh Khaled Abdallah (known for such statements as "Iran is more dangerous to us than the Jews" and that Tehran had engineered a deadly soccer riot in Port Said) hypes the film as an American-Coptic plot and introduces what he says is its opening scene.

UPDATE:
A second American embassy has been besieged, this time in Libya. Libyan security forces have been fighting against unknown militias in the vicinity of the American embassy.

The AP reports that Morris Sadek is promoting the video on his website and on some television stations.

Morris Sadek, an Egyptian-born Christian in the United States known for his strongly anti-Islam views, said in an interview from Washington that he was promoting the video on his Web site and on certain television stations, which he did not identify.

He said the video “explains the problems of the Copts who suffer from Muslims,” for which he blamed the Koran.

For several days, the Egyptian news media have been reporting on the movie, playing excerpts and blaming Mr. Sadek for it, with ultraconservative clerics going on the air to denounce it.

Medhat Klada, a representative of Coptic Christian organizations in Europe, said Mr. Sadek’s views did not represent those of expatriate Copts.

“He is an extremist,” he said in an interview from Switzerland. “We refuse any attacks on religions because of a moral position.”

This has the feel of the cartoon jihad in the making - where more than 100 people were killed around the world, several embassies were ransacked and torched, and all because of the publication of cartoons in a Danish publication, Jyllands Posten.

Syrian Civil War Update: Rebels Again Attack Assad's Security Compounds

Despite a relentless pounding from Syrian military and loyalist militias, the rebel forces continue to more than hold their own against a better equipped force. The rebels have once again attacked security compounds in Aleppo and also along the border with Iraq:

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Friday that one of the assaults in Aleppo sparked a firefight that killed and wounded a number of government troops. It gave no figures.

Last month, rebel forces took control of parts of Syria's commercial hub, sparking fierce fighting there.

Also Friday, the monitoring group said government troops and rebels were locked in battle north of the capital, Damascus, and in Albu Kamal, on the Iraqi border. Internet video appeared to show fighting in Homs, Daraa and Damascus.

The fighting continues to inflict casualties on civilians and the war of words over Assad's backers continues as well. Egyptian leader Mohamed Morsi again attacked Iran over its support for the Assad regime during the meeting for nonaligned nations taking place in Tehran. Iran subsequently attacked Morsi for his calls for the nonaligned nations to act to bring the civil war to an end. Iranian officials have remained steadfast in their support of Assad.

Part of that reason could be that Assad thinks that he's winning. Despite Assad losing control of significant portions of the country, he thinks his military has the upper hand against the rebel forces. That could be due in part to delusions of grandeur, his military leaders telling Assad what he wants to hear rather than what the situation on the ground really is, or that he believes that the crackdown is working to rid himself of the rebel threat via a meatgrinder.

Turkey is calling for a safe haven, which seems to be a step towards establishing a no-fly zone to protect Syrians from the onslaught of air attacks.

UN Secretary General called on Assad to stop using heavy weapons against civilian populations. The call will go unheeded, as Assad has repeatedly shown that his only interest is preserving his power, not human rights or arranging some form of power-sharing with the opposition.

France is looking at ways of funneling aid to those parts of Syria that are controlled by the rebel forces.

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.

War Crimes Abound As Syrian Civil War Drags On

It should come as no surprise that war crimes are an ongoing feature of the Syrian civil war. Whether it's the Syrian military operating at the behest of Bashar al-Assad bombarding civilian areas or his loyalist militias engaging in massacres, or rebel forces murdering captured government officials by throwing them off rooftops, war crimes are an ongoing concern and worry for Syrians and the human rights groups tracking such actions.

The only difference between the sides is the scope of the war crimes and human rights violations; the rebels have done it to a lesser degree than Assad's goon squads:

Syrian government forces and allied shabbiha militia have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder and torture in what appears to be state-directed policy, UN human rights investigators said on Wednesday.

Syrian rebels fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad have also committed war crimes but these "did not reach the gravity, frequency and scale" of those carried out by the army and security forces, they said.

"The commission found reasonable grounds to believe that government forces and the shabbiha had committed the crimes against humanity of murder and of torture, war crimes and gross violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, including unlawful killing, torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, sexual violence, indiscriminate attack, pillaging and destruction of property," said the 102-page report by the independent investigators led by Paulo Pinheiro.

Both government forces and armed insurgents had violated rights of children during the 17-month-old conflict, it said.

Airstrikes continue to take their toll on the Syrian people.

Meanwhile, the violence continues to spill over into Lebanon while Israel, Iraq, and Turkey are all warily watching the situation. The violence in Lebanon includes a series of abductions as retaliation for relatives being captured or killed inside Syria.

At the same time, the Pentagon is warning that Iran is training militias to fight in support of Assad inside Syria.

Sitting alongside Panetta at a Pentagon news conference Tuesday, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the militia, which is generally made up of Syrian Shiite forces, is being used to take the pressure off the Syrian regime forces.

“Any army would be taxed with that kind of pace,” Dempsey said. “They are having resupply problems, they are having morale problems, they are having the kind of wear and tear that would come of being in a fight for as long as they have.”

Dempsey also said that it appears Syrian rebels were able to shoot down a Syrian warplane but said he has seen no indication that they are armed with heavy weapons or surface-to-air missiles, at least not yet.

He says the MiG fighter could have been shot down with small arms fire. Syria has blamed the crash on a technical malfunction, but Dempsey said the cause “didn’t appear to be mechanical.”

The Syrian civil war has aspects of a proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar among others. Iran, both directly and indirectly, is supporting Assad's regime while Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar are supporting the rebel forces hoping to topple Assad's regime. Russia is also trying to stave off NATO or UN military action to bring the conflict to a close, which has the effect of supporting Assad and his odious regime. That compares with France and the US, which are leading efforts to bring sanctions and other actions to bear against Assad. The other actions include covert support for the rebel forces, including communications gear and logistical support at the US base at Incerlik in Turkey.

Standard Chartered Agrees To $340 Million Fine From NYS Regulator

Federal and state regulations prohibit certain kinds of conduct by banks. That includes money laundering and dealing with Iran. Standard Chartered violated both ends of that - they not only engaged in money laundering deals with Iran, but lied to regulators and sought to cover up their activities.

Benjamin M. Lawsky, New York Superintendent of Financial Services, claimed that Standard Chartered engaged in $250 billion of money laundering. There was much hand wringing, including from federal regulators who didn't necessarily like the idea of the state regulator jumping on Standard Chartered.

The bank steadfastly refused and rejected the claims.

That is, right up until the moment that the bank agreed to settle the case with New York for a civil fine of $340 million.

In addition to the civil penalty, Lawsky said the bank agreed to an outside monitor for at least two years to check on controls on money-laundering at its New York branch.

Lawsky's aggressive stance heightened his public profile just months after the Department of Financial Services, the agency he heads, was created out of the state's banking and insurance regulators.

Within minutes of the announcement, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo lauded the "effectiveness and leadership" of the new agency.

"New York needed a tough and fair regulator for the banking and insurance industries to protect consumers and investors," Cuomo said.

But Lawsky has also drawn fire by jumping ahead of a two-year probe into Standard Chartered by the U.S. Treasury, the Federal Reserve, the Justice Department, and New York prosecutors.

"It's very unfortunate this wasn't done as a global state and federal settlement," said Ed Wilson, a former senior attorney at the U.S. Treasury Department.

As negotiations with Lawsky progressed last week and this week, the bank held separate talks with other authorities. It had hoped to land a deal on both fronts, but Lawsky's solo announcement Tuesday made clear that had not happened.

Underscoring a continuing divide with Lawsky, the other authorities issued short statements saying they would continue to work together.

"Treasury will continue working with our state and federal partners to hold Standard Chartered accountable for any sanctionable activity that may have occurred," the Treasury Department said.

Lawsky says that the bank agreed that the conduct at issue involved transactions of at least $250 billion, even if the bank claims that it amounted to $14 million.

In his announcement on Tuesday, Lawsky said the bank had "agreed that the conduct at issue involved transactions of at least $250 billion." But he gave no details on what protections the deal gave Standard Chartered.

Standard Chartered believes that it limited its liability further by entering the deal, but what I'd like to know is where all this money is going to go. The money is being collected by the NYS DFS, and that potentially represents a windfall to the state. I'd like to see an accounting of these funds.

At the same time, there's still the potential for the Treasury Department to impose its own penalties against the bank. That could result in a comparable sum but it also highlights that banking and financial regulators have a long way to go before they can claim to have gotten these kinds of transactions to stop.

Carnage Continues Across Syria

Amnesty International has released satellite imagery showing artillery impact craters for Aleppo and its surrounding towns. It shows hundreds of craters and just how intense the fighting has been.

The international human rights group said both sides fighting in Aleppo, the country's largest city, might be held criminally accountable for their failure to protect civilians.

It said the images, obtained from commercial satellites over the July 23 - Aug. 1 period, showed more than 600 craters, probably from artillery shelling, dotting Aleppo's surrounding areas. The craters were represented with yellow dots in the images.

One photo, from July 31, showed craters next to what looked like a residential housing complex in the nearby town of Anadan, Amnesty said.

'Atrocities'
The organization expressed concern about the deployment of heavy weaponry in residential parts of Aleppo.

This is Bashar al-Assad's take on the Hama rules initiated by his father. The New York Times has reported that rebel forces have withdrawn from parts of Aleppo as Assad's forces have begun a ground action. However, rebel forces have indicated that they have not withdrawn. Fighting has been most intense in the area of Salaheddiin.

Meanwhile, Iran admits that some retired members of its Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) were among the 48 people the rebels have captured/kidnapped though Iran claims that the group was simply a bunch of pilgrims to a religious shrine. The US State Department has no reason to doubt the rebel statements about the 48.

On Wednesday, however, Iran's foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi was quoted by the Islamic Republic's government-controlled media as saying, "some retired individuals from the Guards and army" were among those being held.

"After some time in which pilgrims from Iran were not being dispatched to Syria... we took steps to send retired forces from various organizations," he was quoted as saying by Iran's state news agency and other state-run media. "Some retired individuals from the Guards and army were dispatched to Syria to make a pilgrimage."

Salehi continued to reject claims that the hostages were playing an active military role.

A day before admitting the hostages' links to the elite Iranian military unit, Salehi sent a formal letter to United Nations Secretary-General, to "seek the cooperation and the good offices of Your Excellency for securing the release of these hostages."

Rebels took the Iranians hostage recently, claiming they are members of the IRGC. In a video published on Sunday, Capt. Abdul Nasser Shumayr of the Free Syrian Army's al-Bara Brigade said three of the captives had been killed in "fierce shelling" by security forces, and he threatened to execute the rest if the bombardment continued.

More Defections as Casualties Climb Across Syria

The butchers' bill continues rising courtesy of Bashar al-Assad's security forces as they attempt to rebuff rebel forces in Aleppo and other parts of Syria. The security forces aren't exactly distinguishing themselves in anything other than running up a body count.

There have been an increasing number of defections, including another general among those seeking refuge in Turkey today. The rebel forces are trying to maintain support among the civilian population, but with a renewed military offensive, they are unavoidably putting them all in harm's way. The rebels continue to hold on to territory and Assad cannot allow that to continue.

Rebel headquarters in the north-east of Aleppo were bombed again this morning. The building has been attacked three times now. One bomb missed the building, hit a nearby house, killed 10 people. Another this morning hit a hospital, killed another 10. A third hit a wedding hall and no one was injured. Two bombs did hit their target inside the headquarters, but neither exploded. Nonetheless it was time for the rebels to move on. They had lost the patience of neighbours who weren’t too happy about their neighbourhood being relentless targeted by jets above. They’ve move but there has been more bombing in areas they’ve moved to. So there has been no let up in this siege.

Aleppo was strafed by Syrian air force planes and bombarded by artillery to the point that UN observers were forced to leave the city for fear for their own safety. They had that option; Syrians are between a rock and hard place. They could stay and try to ride out the fighting, but they could face being killed by fire coming from either the rebels or the military. Or, they could attempt to make a run for one of border countries, in which case they could get hit on the way or face an uncertain future as to when they could return. It's a humanitarian nightmare, and it's not going to improve anytime soon.

Aleppo has apparently been surrounded by Syrian forces, and it's likely to result in still higher casualties across the city. It appears that Assad's forces are content with aerial bombardment and artillery strikes rather than a ground offensive thus far.

Assad made his first television appearance today, when he appeared in a video alongside an Iranian diplomat.

Even as the fighting rages on, the US and others are already contemplating a post-Assad Syria. They are looking at how to avoid the very messy situations in Libya or Iraq, though I doubt anyone can prevent a sectarian conflict as Sunnis seek retribution against the Alawites and Assad loyalists who have run Syria for more than 40 years. Syria has been a police state where you would be disappeared if your loyalty was questioned. There will be demands for accountability among those involved in the Syrian security apparatus.

Meanwhile, the cyberwar between loyalists and rebel forces has spread to sites including Reuters.

On Sunday, it was a hijacked Reuters twitter feed trying to create the impression of a rebel collapse in Aleppo. On Monday, it was another account purporting to be a Russian diplomat announcing the death in Damascus of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

As the situation on the ground becomes ever more bloody, both sides in Syria are also waging what seems to be an intensifying conflict in cyberspace, often attempting to use misinformation and rumor to tilt the war in reality.

On Friday, Reuters was forced to temporarily shut down its system for posting blogs on www.Reuters.com after the appearance of a series of unauthorized, and inaccurate, reports citing opposition military reverses in Syria.

On Sunday, the company took similar action to suspend the @ReutersTech twitter account after it appeared to have been seized, renamed and used to send a series of false tweets apparently designed to undermine the rebel Free Syrian Army. Both incidents remain under investigation.

The attacks were not the first time a major media or other organization had been targeted apparently by supporters of Assad. Some - including the defacement of a Harvard University website last year to post a picture of Assad in military uniform -- have been claimed by the "Syrian Electronic Army".

Expect a whole lot more of this as Assad's forces attempt to counter all the negative press coming from their ongoing attacks against the rebel forces, while the rebels attempt to counter that with their own propaganda.

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.

Terrorists Strike Israelis On Vacation In Bulgaria With Multiple Casualties Reported

Israeli Prime Minister blames Iran for the blast in Bulgaria that killed at least three Israelis on vacation there. It follows repeated attempts to attack Israelis in other countries around the world in the past few months. The bombing occurred at at Sarafovo Airport in Burgas, Bulgaria, 400km east of Sofia.

At least 7 are now reported dead, and YNet indicates that it was a suicide bomber.

According to media reports, a suicide bomber boarded one of three buses shuttling Israeli tourists across the terminal at around 5:30 pm and then detonated an explosive vest. Bulgarian media said 44 people were on the vehicle at the time of the explosion. The Foreign Ministry has formed a team of experts that will fly to Burgas and assist local authorities in the investigation. The Israeli Embassy in Sofia has been mobilized and is ready to assist the team, which includes ZAKA disaster recovery officials, in identifying the victims and ensuring that the injured and other Israelis that were unharmed return to Israel as soon as possible.

My thoughts and prayers go out to those affected by this latest attack. The city is on the Black Sea and is a favorite summer destination for Israeli tourists. That's one of the reasons the location was targeted. At the same time, there have been reports that Hizbullah and/or Iran are looking to carry out still more attacks against Israelis and Israeli interests around the world. Bulgaria was among those countries where a threat was noted.

The attack occurred on the 18th anniversary of a deadly attack in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people at a Jewish Community Center. That attack was traced back to Hizbullah and Iran. It wouldn't surprise me that there's a Hizbullah/Iran link to today's attack.

Concerns Mounting Over Possible Balkanization of Syria

Syria remains in the throes of a civil war, and there are reports indicating that Assad may be trying to carve out an Alawite sector of the country, essentially engaging in ethnic cleansing so that the Alawite minority can retain control over some geographical portion of Syria. They point to an increasing trend of sectarian attacks.

I don't think Assad's thinking about retaining just part of Syria. He's looking to crush the rebellion and retain control of all Syrian territory.

A far more worrisome possibility, particularly for Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, and Iraq is that Assad falls and the power vacuum results in a jihadi safe haven from which attacks could be launched at all of Syria's neighbors.

Israeli officials believe it's just a matter of time before Assad falls, but they're concerned about the possibility of a failed state on its border and the potential influx of Iranian and Hizbullah influence:

The regime of Bashar Assad in Syria will not overcome the uprising against it, although it might survive for anywhere between another two months and a little more than two years, Military Intelligence Chief Major General Aviv Kochavi told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday.

Kochavi said that the Golan Heights region could turn into a theater of anti-Israel operations, similar to the Sinai Peninsula region, due the growing presence of global Jihadists in Syria.

Kochavi showed the committee satellite photographs of Syrian artillery batteries firing indiscriminately into urban populated areas. Kochavi said that the Syrian military is acting in a "brutal" manner, indicating the Syrian military's despair over the fact that it can't find an effective way to suppress the riots.

Kochavi said that the clashes in Syria are worsening on a daily basis, with 500 to 700 people being killed every week, and that the country is experiencing an accelerated process of Iraqization.

The chances of a war between Israel and Syria are low, even as a last resort for Assad, Kochavi said. Assad has moved many of his forces from the Golan region to Damascus because he is not concerned about a conflict with Israel.

Kochavi said that Iran and Hezbollah are preparing for the day after Assad's fall from power.

I've repeatedly noted that Assad has no problem engaging in war crimes, and Israeli officials note that is precisely what Assad is engaging in with indiscriminate shelling of civilians. Assad and his loyalists are engaged in a fight for their survival, and it means eliminating their enemies in the process.

Assad's fight is increasingly hitting closer and closer to home. The fighting isn't confined to the provinces of Hama or Homs; they're in his backyard. The fighting is now in Damascus suburbs.

Violence is continuing to spread across Syria and in the capital Damascus as rebels - now better-equipped and more organised - confront the army and government-backed militia.

The rebel Free Syrian Army said it had launched Operation Damascus Volcano, and has called for an escalation of attacks on regime targets and the blocking of main roads all around the country.

One of the biggest and most organised opposition groups, the Muslim Brotherhood, has called on all Syrians to join what it called a decisive battle.

Witnesses say the government's military deployment in Damascus is the biggest since protests against President Bashar al-Assad's rule began in March last year.

There have also been video showing roads being blocked in and around Damascus as well as firebombing of vehicles ostensibly occupied by regime loyalists. The increased disruptions of life in Damascus is starting to take a toll there, but that only adds to the overall uptick in number of refugees flowing into neighboring Turkey and the numbers are increasing.

Putting Iran's Elections Into Context

Iran's carrying out elections and the results wont really shed all that much light on who wields power in the country. Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei basically picks and chooses who runs through the Guardian Council. There are hardliner factions, including those who have backed Khamenei's previous chosen one - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (who is term-limited and can't run for a third term as President).

The election basically pits what media outlets refer to as Ahmadinejad's faction versus Khamenei's faction.

Iran's supreme leader urged Iranians to vote in large numbers as the country held parliamentary elections Friday, saying a high turnout would send a strong message to the enemies of the nation in the nuclear standoff with the West.

The balloting for the 290-member parliament is the first major voting since the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in June 2009 and the mass protests and crackdowns that followed.

It is unlikely to change Iran's course over major policies — including its controversial nuclear program — regardless of who wins, but it may shape the political landscape for a successor to Ahmadinejad in 2013.

That's not really accurate.

While Ahmadinejad has tried to expand his power, Khamenei slapped him down. There was an incident where Ahmadinejad attempted to sack a minister, but Khamenei restored the minister to that post within days. That's a reminder of where power really lies in the country and should be a message that media outlets really take away from the kabuki play of elections.

Iran's mullahs get to pick and choose who runs for office, and they do so with the blessing of the Supreme Leader. If the mullahs don't like the candidate - they don't even get on the ballot.

Opposition leaders, including Mirhussein Mousavi, are under house arrest. Mousavi had run against Ahmadinejad in the disputed elections and lost. Massive protests erupted across Iran and it was violently suppressed, leaving the opposition groups under arrest and the watchful gaze of the Iranian security forces loyal to Ahmadinejad and Khamenei.

Taken as a whole, the elections really don't indicate who runs the country or whether the Iranian regime is shifting policies since the power is dictated from the same person - Supreme Leader Khamenei.

Even opposition groups in Iran recognize this - that the statements coming from Khamenei about voting in the election as a poke in the eye of the West (US) is just propaganda to prop up canddiates that have been selected to run by the same cabal that has run the country since the 1979 revolution. It's not change - it's rearranging deck chairs.

Iran's economic situation remains dire and Khamenei is using all manner of tactics to ensure that his power is preserved. At the same time, Iran's political and religious leaders are invoking the crisis with the West over Iran's nuclear program as a way to get out the vote, even though most Iranians are far more concerned over their economic situation.

No Surprise Assad Claims Support For New Constitution As Crackdown Continues

Bashar al-Assad's busy claiming that people who turned out to vote for a new constitution did so overwhelmingly to support the new one. Mind you that Assad's security forces were busy murdering opposition protesters and shelling cities and communities that strongly oppose the regime. Western countries consider the referendum to be nothing more than window dressing to allow the regime time and space to continue their crackdown.

Interior minister Mohammed al-Shaar said the turnout was 57.4 percent of eligible voters with nearly 8.4 million ballots cast,

The new document will create a multi-party system in Syria, which has been governed solely by the Baath Party since 1963, and set presidential term limits. But even if it passes, President Assad will still be very powerful.

Opposition factions say the only acceptable solution to Syria's crisis is for President Assad to step down. Western governments rejected the referendum as a farce, but both China and Russia welcomed it Monday.

Russia and China recently blocked the U.N. Security Council from tougher actions against Mr. Assad's government.

Also Monday, European Union foreign ministers imposed new sanctions on Syria's central bank and froze the assets of several Syrian government officials. The bloc already has blacklisted nearly 150 other Syrian entities and people.

The U.N. Human Rights Council is scheduled to hold an urgent meeting on the crisis in Syria on Tuesday.

The regime says that the new constitution was approved by 89% of those voting. Considering that the opposition boycotted the referendum, the numbers aren't all that surprising. Assad wont be forced to step down, and the Ba'athist continue controlling all the elements of government. They "rewrote" the constitution but aren't going to relinquish power to opposition groups that are under constant harassment, military assaults, and human rights are not respected.

This is a regime that is murdering its own citizens all to allow Assad to continue his reign of terror. It's not surprising that Iran is doing what it can to block action in the UN's Human Right's Council, even as other Arab countries are lining up in opposition to the crackdown.

Iraq, however, is backing the Syrian people and isn't going to stand behind the regime. Qatar's foreign minister has called for arming the opposition, which is further than the US is willing to go at this point.

The Red Cross has managed to get into Hama for the first time in weeks to distribute aid, but it's a paltry amount compared to what's needed.

UPDATE:
Opposition groups claim that 144 civilians were killed across Syria today, including dozens murdered when attacked at a checkpoint in Homs:

At least 144 people were killed Monday across Syria, including 64 who died in a "horrifying massacre" at a checkpoint in Homs province, opposition activists said.

Those killed at a checkpoint in the Abel area were attempting to flee shelling in the Baba Amr neighborhood in the city of Homs, said the Local Coordination Committees of Syria, a network of opposition activists.

"Reports said security members and thugs kidnapped the women among them," the network said in a statement. Residents found 47 corpses in one area and 17 in a second one, it said.

A total of 68 corpses were found in the area, in farmland in western Homs province, said the opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, apparently referencing the same incident. The bodies were found after an injured survivor reported the attack, the group said. All the bodies had been either shot or stabbed.

Homs Remains Under Artillery Assault For 20th Day; Assad's Crackdown Continues

The City of Homs has now been under constant artillery barrages and attacks by Bashar al-Assad's security forces for 20 days and there's no sign of any letup. Assad's forces are intensifying their attacks, and the body count continues rising on a daily basis.

The UN no longer keeps track of the casualty figures because their officials can't guarantee their own safety, so casualty figures are derived from news reports (both the official government propaganda type and the opposition Twitter, blog, and satellite report chatter), human rights groups that operate in the country, and the only thing that is certain is that civilians continue being murdered by the regime.

The attacks on Homs are not precision attacks against military targets, but are instead attacks that hit civilians all too frequently. Civilians are the targets, which means that Assad's regime is engaging in crimes against humanity and war crimes in violation of Geneva Conventions and other international law. Even the United Nations Secretary General and other top human rights officials at the UN are cognizant of the criminal acts by the Assad regime.

The report, handed to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, was compiled by a panel of three investigators who said that they had not been allowed to enter Syria to conduct their inquiries at first hand but had relied on a total of 369 interviews with victims, witnesses, defectors and other people with “inside knowledge” of the situation. They had also examined photographs, video recordings and satellite imagery to corroborate some witness accounts.

The report was published as Syrian security forces continued their shelling of besieged areas of the central city of Homs for a 20th successive day on Thursday, despite a growing outcry and international calls for the creation of humanitarian corridors to reach the sick, the wounded and the frail.

The newest bombardment, reported by activists, came on the eve of a major international gathering Tunisia to seek a way out of the crisis. Some reports from Homs said government forces in tanks had pressed into contested areas where opponents of the government say hundreds of trapped civilians have died in one of the deadliest campaigns in nearly a year of violent repression by the government of President Assad. The United Nations report seemed likely to add weight to those conclusions, arguing that Syria was now “on the brink” of civil war and “the continuation of the crisis carries the risk of radicalizing the population, deepening inter-communal tensions and eroding the fabric of society.”

The document spoke of torture and killing of civilians.

“The commission received credible and consistent evidence identifying high- and mid-ranking members of the armed forces who ordered their subordinates to shoot at unarmed protesters, kill soldiers who refused to obey such orders, arrest persons without cause, mistreat detained persons and attack civilian neighborhoods with indiscriminate tanks and machine gun fire,” the investigators said.

Yet, the UN is powerless to do anything more than write a strongly worded letter because Russia and China continue to hold a veto threat against any action in the Security Council that might even provide the option to use military action to force Assad to stop his brutal crackdown. That's despite the fact that the recognition of war crimes and crimes against humanity demands that the UN act under the terms of international law, including the Genocide Convention and Geneva Conventions.

There are also accusations by French leader Nicholas Sarkozy that the Syrian military deliberately targeted journalists, including the attacks that killed American journalist Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik.

Wounded protesters brought to hospitals are reportedly being tortured, and children are among those killed.

While Russia and China are the most important backers to Assad's regime, they're not alone. Besides Iran, it appears that Venezuela's Hugo Chavez has decided to throw his support behind Assad and his brutal regime.

UPDATE:
The UN has gone beyond what it has previously state in regards to crimes against humanity and war crimes in Syria to say that the actions are being directed by the highest levels of Assad's government.

"The commission is satisfied that a reliable body of evidence exists that, consistent with other verified circumstances, provides reasonable grounds to believe that particular individuals, including commanding officers and officials at the highest levels of government, bear responsibility for crimes against humanity and other gross human rights violations," the report said.

In other words, these aren't the actions of rogue local security forces run amok but rather the coordinated actions of a government engaging in crimes against their own countrymen.

Assad Accelerating Assault on Homs; Two Journalists Among Those Killed

The situation in Homs continues deteriorating as Bashar al-Assad's forces continuing their assault against the city. Two journalists were among those killed, including American war correspondent Marie Colvin, who works for the British Sunday Times. A Syrian blogger was also among those killed.

Assad is showing himself more than capable of engaging in mass murder and war crimes with his ongoing actions. He's taking a page right out of his father's Hama rules handbook on how to deal with threats to the regime - bomb them into submission.

Hundreds of people have been killed in daily bombardments of Homs by Assad's besieging forces using artillery, rockets and Soviet-built T-72 tanks, stoking fears of Assad subjecting the city to the same devastation as his late father inflicted on the rebellious town of Hama 30 years ago, killing at least 10,000.

With diplomacy to halt Syria's bloodshed at a standstill and Assad's forces intensifying offensives to wipe out rebels, the United States appeared to open the door to eventually arming the Syrian opposition, saying that if a political solution to the crisis was impossible it might have to consider other options.

The Homs district of Baba Amro where the 19 deaths were reported has been under bombardment since February 3, taking the conflict to a new dimension which is bound to dominate "Friends of Syria" talks in Tunis on Friday where U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meets officials from 70 countries and groups.

In a further sign of worsening carnage in Syria, activists said that troops and militia loyal to Assad captured and shot dead 27 young men on Tuesday in northern villages in the thick of an 11-month-old uprising against his autocratic rule.

Russia, one of Assad's few remaining allies and seen as retaining some leverage over him, said on Wednesday it was seeking safe passage of aid convoys to Syrian civilians trapped in the spreading violence.

Even as Assad's troops murder people opposed to the regime, he's claiming that the constitutional referendum will somehow limit his power. Opposition leaders are calling for a boycott of the referendum, noting that they had nothing to do with the process that led to the proposed constitution and that Assad is using the referendum as a cover to continue his crackdown.

At the same time, in light of the ongoing crackdown and increased hardships on civilians across the country, the Russians are floating a proposal for a nationwide 2-hour ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid to flow to civilians caught in the crossfire. Don't expect much to come from that proposal though it is a recognition that Assad's crackdown against rebel forces is taking an increasing toll on civilians. Russia, China and Iran reaffirmed backing Assad's regime, so they're doing what they can to take the pressure off Assad even as the butcher's bill increases.

Assad Sending Reinforcements To Crush Homs; Resistance Grows Across Syria

Bashar al-Assad is incapable of tolerating any dissent despite claims that he's authorizing a referendum to amend the constitution to grant other parties beyond the Ba'athists to engage in the political process. He's sending reinforcements to Homs to crush the ongoing rebellion there, and that's only going to increase the death toll as civilians attempt to fend off the Syrian military alongside a growing number of defectors.

Observers think that Assad wont be able to retake Homs since residents there are willing to fight to the last man. To Assad, that may not matter. He is following in his father's footsteps in crushing those opposed to his regime.

Syria-based activist Mustafa Osso told The Associated Press he does not think the regime will be able to retake Homs through military force as residents plan to fight until "the last person." He added that Homs is facing "savage shelling that does not differentiate between military or civilians targets."

Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads the Britain-based activist group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said he expects the regime to try retake the Baba Amr district of Homs. Many Syrians call Baba Amr "Syria's Misrata," a reference to the Libyan city where rebels fought off a brutal government siege for weeks, managed to hold the city and went on to play a key role in overthrowing dictator Moammar Gadhafi last year.

"The human loss is going to be huge if they retake Baba Amr," Abdul-Rahman said.

The Observatory said that Monday's shelling of Baba Amr killed five civilians.

In neighboring Lebanon, security officials said at least three wounded Syrians were brought for treatment in the eastern town of Chtoura. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said the wounded came from the Baba Amr attacks.

Amateur videos posted online showed what activists said were shells falling into Baba Amr. Black smoke billowed from residential areas.

Clashes between military rebels and Syrian forces are growing more frequent and the defectors have managed to take control of small pieces of territory in the north as well as parts of Homs province, which is Syria's largest stretching from the border with Lebanon in the west to Iraq and Jordan in the east. Increasingly, Syria appears to be careening toward an all-out civil war.

Assad's authoritarian regime may be trying to subdue Homs — an important stronghold for anti-Assad groups — before a planned referendum Sunday on a new constitution. The charter would allow a bigger role for political opposition to challenge Assad's Baath Party, which has controlled Syria since a 1963 coup.

Assad has no intention of ceding power. That's the bottom line, and he's undertaking actions that constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity in order to remain in power. He's more than willing to murder thousands upon thousands of Syrians to show those surviving that he's going to continue to remain in power.

Even as more and more of Syria resists Assad's loyalists and seeks to engage in a new political order, Assad will resist to the end. He's following a path we've seen previously with Libya's Mumar Khadafi. Assad may well think that his forces are still capable of crushing the rebellion and prevent an all out civil war, but we're already seeing a civil war as rebel forces are operating from territories within the country where the loyalists are unable or unwilling to enter.

The diplomatic efforts to prevent further bloodshed aren't going to succeed as long as Assad continues to think that he can crush the rebellion. War crimes and crimes against the humanity aren't going to be an impediment to his actions. Artillery barrages against cities like Hama or Homs will continue to inflict civilian casualties.

Meanwhile, Iran sent two warships to Syria to train Syrian naval forces. It's a sign of support and shows just the kind of regimes that are still backing Assad.

Terrorists Target Israeli Diplomats In India and Georgia; Israel Blames Iran For Attacks

Two Israelis were injured when a bomb went off in their diplomatic vehicle in New Delhi. A diplomat's wife and their driver were injured when the bomb ripped through their vehicle.



A grenade was discovered by Israeli security underneath a diplomatic vehicle in Tblisi, Georgia and was safely defused before it could cause injury. It comes as Israel issued warnings to its diplomatic corps ahead of the anniversary of the death of Hizbullah leader Imad Mughniyeh that has long been attributed to Israel.

The Israeli government is holding Iran responsible, which shouldn't be all that surprising given that Iran blames Israel for being behind the current spate of attacks that have killed several Iranian nuclear scientists and conventional wisdom also suggests that Israel was behind the Stuxnet virus that crippled the Iranian nuclear centrifuge computer systems.

Israeli officials earlier told The Associated Press that an explosion tore through an Israeli diplomat's car in New Delhi. The driver and a diplomat's wife were injured, according to Indian officials.

Television footage showed a charred minivan with blue diplomatic plates, its rear door apparently blown out.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor would not discuss who was injured nor the extent of the injuries because it was a security matter.

"There was one attempted attack, and one successful, as it were," said Paul Hirschson, a spokesman for Israel's foreign ministry. "In both cases, the people concerned worked with the Israeli embassies."

Hirschson said the Israeli ambassador to India was not hurt in the New Delhi attack.
Israel had put its foreign missions on especially high alert ahead of the February 12 anniversary of the assassination, in 2008, of the military mastermind of Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas, linked to the Shiite Islamist group Hezbollah, Imad Moughniyeh.

That the attacks come four years to the day since Mughniyeh was killed suggests that Hizbullah may have been involved, or Iranian intel services, or a combination of groups. The New Delhi attack appears to have been carried out by an unknown assailant attacking the bomb to the car by motorbike.

Saudis Threaten To Obtain Nuclear Weapons If Iran Tests Own Nuclear Weapons

As I've been indicating for a while, the Saudis have a vested interest in seeing that Iran doesn't obtain nuclear weapons. They are the chief rivals for the Iranian regime and there are religious connotations to the geopolitical maneuverings.

While unnamed US offiicals and others think that Israel is behind a rash of attacks that have killed scientists involved in Iran's nuclear program to derail or at least slow down their nuclear ambitions, I've noted that Saudi Arabia may also be involved in the process. In fact, Iran may consider Saudi Arabia to be the bigger threat and rival than Israel and Saudi Arabia may be playing up Israel's role in thwarting Iran so as to hide the Saudi role in doing so.

The revelation that Saudi Arabia would go nuclear if Iran tests its own nuclear weapon is the latest indication that Saudi Arabia is involved in efforts to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Citing an unidentified Saudi Arabian source, the Times newspaper in the U.K. (which operates behind a paywall) said that the kingdom would seek to buy ready-made warheads and also begin its own program to enrich weapons-grade uranium.

The paper suggested that Pakistan was the country most likely to supply Saudi Arabia with weapons, saying Western officials were convinced there was an understanding between the countries to do so if the security situation in the Persian Gulf gets worse. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have denied such an arrangement exists.

Iran, which follows the Shiite branch of Islam, and Sunni Saudi Arabia are major regional rivals.

While it might be convenient to paint Israel as the impediment to peace in the region, the fact is that Arab and Persian regional animosities and ambitions are as much a factor as the Arab-Israeli conflict. Even if Israel didn't exist, Saudi Arabia and Iran would be engaging in their own arms race for regional supremacy.

Israel's nuclear program, which has never been officially declared by the Israeli government, isn't the destabilizing element in the region, but an Iranian nuclear program is - primarily because the Iranian leadership may not be constrained by the longstanding belief that mutually assured destruction (MAD) would keep nuclear-armed parties from going to war with nuclear weapons because they would not want to see their own countries obliterated in a nuclear exchange. If religious beliefs trump rational action and the Iranian leadership seeks a nuclear confrontation to achieve religious domination over its foes, it might see those killed within Iran as martyrs for the cause and accept casualties that might otherwise keep the weapons locked tight.

The reports also indicate that there is a tightening axis between Saudi Arabia and the Pakistani government to the point where they consider the two countries as one:

Ambassador Mohammed Naeem Khan was quoted as saying that "each Pakistani considers (the) security of Saudi Arabia as his personal matter." Naeem also said that the Saudi leadership considered Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to be one country.

It also raises serious questions about Pakistan's ongoing role in nuclear weapons and technology proliferation and its ongoing role in spreading nuclear technologies around the world. That's a role that began with the AQ Khan network, but which appears to be continuing to this day.

Human Rights Groups Warn of Horrifying Slaughter of Civilians In Syria

While the videos could not be independently verified because Bashar al-Assad's iron-fisted grip on media and propaganda, human rights groups inside the country are claiming that Assad's loyalists murdered dozens of people, including women and children in the city of Homs.

The Observatory and the Local Coordination Committees, an umbrella group of activists, both said the death toll in Homs was at least 35, but the reports could not be confirmed. The groups cited a network of activists on the ground in Syria.
The Observatory said 29 people were killed in the religiously mixed Karm el-Zaytoun neighborhood of Homs on Thursday, including eight children, most of them when a building came under heavy mortar and machine gunfire.

Residents spoke of another massacre that took place when shabiha — armed regime loyalists — stormed the district, slaughtering residents in an apartment, including children.

"It's racial cleansing," said one resident of Karm el-Zaytoun, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. "They are killing people because of their sect," he said.

The casualties apparently occurred when a building came under heavy mortar and machine gun fire.

That comes just days after the head of the Muslim Red Crescent was killed (that's the Muslim humanitarian group equivalent to the Red Cross).

Meanwhile, there are indications that Hamas leader Khalid Meshaal has left Syria and is staying elsewhere as the terror group assesses the situation and is considering leaving the country for safer locales (Egypt, Turkey, and Qatar being the alternatives):

Analysts say Meshaal was also embarrassed by Assad's violent crackdown, with more than 5,000 people reported killed. Many victims of the security forces have been Sunni Muslims allied to the Muslim Brotherhood, whose support Meshaal relies on.

Assad is backed mainly by his minority Alawite sect and other minorities.

The sources said Meshaal would not publicly shut down the political headquarters of Hamas in Syria, where it has long been hosted by Assad and by his father before him.

"In the past month he may have only stayed five days in Syria and the rest he spent in Qatar, Turkey and Egypt," said the diplomat. "But he did not close the headquarters in Syria in full and there are some Hamas officials still there."

"Our belief is that Hamas will not announce a departure from Syria even if it happened," the diplomat added.

Elsewhere in Syria, the Free Syrian Army (the opposition militia) is claiming that they've captured a group of Iranian soldiers that have been operating at the behest of Assad. That conflicts with the Iranian account, which claims that these individuals are engineers who were kidnapped by unknown assailants. Separately, several other groups of Iranians have been taken by unknown groups inside Syria - some purportedly making their way through the country on pilgrimages.