CNN reported tonight that Israel’s air force recently attacked a Syrian chemicals weapon cache, probably on Thursday or Friday and probably from within Lebanese airspace. The report cited Western intelligence sources, likely based on radar evidence. The CNN report comes days after Syrian opposition forces reported that IAF strikes had...

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Qatar’s support for radical Islamists across North Africa and the Near East was at the root of a “blunt” exchange between President Barack Obama and Qatari emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani during an April 23rd meeting. Bloomberg published details of the meeting yesterday. The President is not the...

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Iran and its terrorist proxy Hezbollah are coordinating to seize control of large swaths of Syria in the aftermath of Bashar al-Assad’s expected downfall, according to analysis published today by Israeli Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Dr. Shimon Shapira: Suleimani… now appeared to be prepared to extend Iran’s control to all of Syria....

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Hezbollah is tightening its grip on southern Lebanon, with Lebanese armed forces withdrawing from the area and U.N. peacekeepers finding themselves paralyzed and humiliated: UNIFIL patrols are finding paths blocked and former temporary observation points suddenly out of bounds in what is being interpreted as Hezbollah seeking to flex its...

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Qatar and Turkey are playing key roles in boosting hard line Islamic groups across the Middle East. Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E., and Jordan are trying to support groups which are relatively more moderate. The Obama administration is, as a result, finding its regional posture being… complicated: The regional divisions, described...

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Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the chairman of Iran’s Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, warned this weekend that any Western move to assist forces seeking the overthrow of Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad would trigger a regional war that would engulf Israel. Iran had previously declared that Tehran would treat any attack on Syria as...

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The Syrian army has begun transfering portions of the country’s chemical weapons arsenal to the Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah, according to an Israeli opposition figure. If confirmed – and Israeli defense officials quoted by the Associated Press and by Israeli sources considered the assessment premature – the development would mark...

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Senator Lindsey Graham talked to CNN yesterday about the prospects that the Jordanian monarchy will survive the strain of Syrian war spillover. Prognosis: uneven: Senator Lindsey Graham, R-SC, told Wolf Blitzer on CNN that “If [the Syrian civil] war doesn’t end soon, the king of Jordan is going to be...

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Hezbollah’s decision to launch a small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) toward Israel today is not straightforward to understand. In that sense it’s similar to the decision to kidnap two Israeli soldiers in July 2006, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, which triggered a war. Many analysts will conclude that the organization’s...

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The U.S. intelligence community has concluded that the Syrian army used chemical weapons against opposition forces, according to statements made today by Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel: Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel first revealed the intelligence assessment, which was detailed in a letter to select members of Congress, while speaking to reporters...

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