Foreign Policy Magazine’s The Cable Friday outlined an “array of technical, diplomatic, security, and financial challenges” faced by the U.S. and its allies as they struggle to meet a December 31 deadline, set by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), for putting beyond use Syria’s most dangerous chemical weapons....

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Coordinated suicide bombings on the Iranian embassy in Beirut yesterday poured fuel on concerns that the Islamic republic and its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah were dragging Lebanon into the two-and-a-half-year Syrian conflict. Tehran sought to both blame Israel and threaten retaliation for the attack beyond Lebanon’s borders, but their case – per a late Tuesday...

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The last few months have seen Israel seek to engage the United Nations in general, and the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in particular, on the hope that active participation in the global body and its forums may alleviate what both Israeli and American diplomats have criticized as a...

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Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah yesterday threatened that there would be a Middle East war if there is no deal with regards to Iran’s nuclear program: World powers failed to reach an agreement with Iran over the weekend to curb its controversial nuclear programme in exchange for some relief from crippling Western sanctions...

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Turkey is looking to finalize its purchase of Chinese anti-missile systems within a matter of months, according to statements made Thursday by the head of Ankara’s under secretariat for defense industries: “The immediate goal for us is in about six months to come to a reasonable level in our contract negotiations and...

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The Syrian Opposition Coalition – the main opposition group backed by the West in the now almost three year old conflict – agreed yesterday to join troubled and oft-delayed peace talks to be held in Geneva. They just have a couple of conditions: Although the Syrian Opposition Coalition’s announcement was...

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The Christian Science Monitor reports on efforts being made across the Middle East in general – and Egypt in particular – to push back against Islamist violence targeting them and their communities. A recent massacre during a Coptic wedding refocused attention on the subject, but southern Egypt had in fact...

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Four Hezbollah members were recently killed in Syria “while carrying out their sacred Jihadist duty,” according to claims posted Saturday to a website aligned with the Iran-backed terror group.The declarations come amid reports that Hezbollah is taking the lead in organizing what is expected to be a massive campaign on...

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The BBC yesterday posted quotes from Iranian Foreign Minister Mohamed Javad Zarif describing sectarian strife between Sunnis and Shiites as – per the outlet – “probably the most serious threat to world security.” Zarif’s assessments come a week after the BBC posted footage captured from an Iranian cameraman who had...

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Reuters today evaluated the efforts of Secretary of State John Kerry to dampen an increasingly public spat between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia over a range of issues. The wire noted that strain has emerged “particularly on Syria’s civil war and the nuclear dispute with Iran.” It also assessed that,...

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