The United Nations has issued a report placing most of the blame for the humanitarian catastrophe in Syria on the government of President Bashar al-Assad. An anonymous American official told Reuters: What the report shows is that the magnitude and frequency of violence committed by the Assad regime far outstrips that...

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Violence generated by the Syrian conflict spilled across both the Turkish and Lebanese borders on Monday and into Tuesday, deepening worries not just that chaos will splash beyond Syria but also that other actors may be drawn into the fighting. A series of incidents erupted between Turkey and Syria, including one that saw Syrian...

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The Arab League conference opened in Kuwait with rifts among its members expected to be a major focus of the annual meeting. Egypt’s Foreign Minister, Nabil Fahmi, alluded to these divisions when he acknowledged that he would not meet with his Qatari counterpart due to the “deep issues” dividing the...

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Reuters yesterday conveyed statements from Secretary of State John Kerry expressing his “hope” that the Ukraine crisis, which has pitted Washington against Russia, would not impact the international effort to degrade Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal, a context in which the Obama administration had gambled heavily on extensive cooperation from the Kremlin. “I...

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The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is launching a new round of anti-Israel activity, with as many as 5 new resolutions in the works this coming week. In conjunction with the UN’s year of solidarity with the Palestinian people, the Council, which has only one resolution pending this session addressing...

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Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam condemned the latest armed clashes to erupt on the streets of Beirut as increasing numbers of factions and individuals get their hands on weapons, threatening the stability of country and trying to drag Israel into the regional conflict. There is little or no central security...

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The Israeli army moved overnight Tuesday to restore deterrence along the country’s border with Syria, launching air strikes against multiple Syrian army installations after a steady stream of attacks against Israeli military personnel in March culminated on Tuesday in a roadside bombing that injured four soldiers. This month had already seen three...

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Lebanese media on Wednesday described Hezbollah-controlled areas of Beirut as having settled into “an atmosphere of contentment” – with the mood being particularly prominent “among Hezbollah party leaders, cadres, and partisans” – after Hezbollah fighters seized the Syrian border town of Yabroud on behalf of the Bashar al-Assad regime. The Iran-backed terror group...

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One of Hezbollah’s closest allies, lawmaker and retired army general Michel Aoun, says there is a “serious possibility” he will run for the presidency of Lebanon in the spring election. This would add to the anti-Western alliance’s ever-increasing influence over Lebanese politics and the country’s military. Aoun is currently showing...

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Former Lebanese President Amine Gemayel has issued a stark warning about the fate of Christians in the Middle East, endangered by what he called “the rise of religious extremists.” Speaking last week at an event sponsored by Christian Solidarity International (CSI), Gemayel, who is himself Maronite Catholic, called on the international community...

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