Rolling MENA 2014 (Middle East)

it will be more "hard right wing" after the next election

meanwhile in Syria:

http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/15/opinion/syria-aleppo-isis-threat/

At least six villages north of Syria's largest city of Aleppo fell Wednesday to militants from ISIS, according to AFP. The jihadist group has seized large swathes of land in Iraq and consolidated control over considerable territory in northeastern Syria in the past year.

ISIS fighters are now just 30 miles from the rebel-controlled northern suburbs of Aleppo and within striking distance of key opposition positions leading to the Turkish border.

The situation for the opposition may be even worse inside Aleppo city, where forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad are gaining ground after a brutal months-long campaign against opposition forces.
....
The rebels in Aleppo fighting to topple Assad and beat back ISIS' advance have long been a melting pot of different groups, including various Free Syrian Army (FSA) units, the al Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra, and the Islamic Front (IF). While core moderate FSA-linked factions benefitted from an influx of Western support in late 2013 to facilitate their anti-ISIS offensive in January, this support has since dwindled.

http://forward.com/articles/204174/islamic-jihad-says-cease-fire-agreement-will-be-si/?

look at islamic jihad - leaking w/ the big boys

i thought the harpers cover round table about I/P was good this month. it's behind a paywall but for MENA eyes only....

rumor is that a deal has been signed in cairo?

Wow, so Islamic Jihad is leaking to you! Who would have guessed that...You must be using another alias...

But seriously, that would be good if a deal was signed (I think)

lol obv i'm not hearing the leaks directly from the source

My Fox News (! This came up first in google) sources are reporting:

In a possible move to pressure Hamas to soften its positions, Norway's foreign minister said Monday that his country and Egypt were planning to co-host a donor conference in Cairo for the reconstruction of Gaza. Boerge Brende said invitations would be sent out once there is an agreement in the Egypt-mediated truce talks with Israel.

Meanwhile, Israel's Shin Bet security service said Monday it had thwarted what it described as a Hamas coup attempt in the West Bank aimed at toppling Abbas, though it offered few details. The security agency said Hamas operatives had tried to stir up an uprising that would have led to the collapse of Abbas' Western-backed Palestinian Authority.

haaretz reports that talks have been extended for an additional 24 hours

fascinating stuff here: http://jewishphilosophyplace.wordpress.com/2014/08/19/palestine-the-question-of-israel/

good stuff, thanks for posting

Protective Edge part 2

Isis just beheaded an American photojournalist

2014 in Iraq

Whoops thanks

despite claims to the contrary from hamas, i've been hearing rumors that Deif is dead - and i kinda believe it considering the huge barrage of fajrs being launched right now. it's not the kind of response you'd expect for a failed targeting...

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri, in a Hamas TV interview earlier Wednesday had described Deif as “the dead man” in an apparent slip of the tongue.

if you were a Saudi, w33d might get u beheaded

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/08/saudi-beheads-four-men-smuggling-drugs-2014818184317907443.html

somehow i think there's something else about me that might get me beheaded if i were saudi...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/israeli-airstrikes-kill-3-top-hamas-commanders-in-gaza-strip/2014/08/21/627e90b8-2930-11e4-958c-268a320a60ce_story.html

They got these 3, but still nothing more re Deif

except for the zuhri slip of tongue. i think he's dead.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2014/08/21/hamas_israeli_teen_kidnapping_militant_group_claims_responsibility.html

thought you'd be talking about this.

well sure, but i knew that from the beginning :P

well I guess they got what they wanted

Hey, finger pointing is counterproductive. I think it's very important to keep the focus on Israel for its disproportionate response to the actions of Hamas designed and intended to provoke just such a disproportionate response.

it was always kinda bizarre bc obv the family that did it was a hamas affiliate. the organization is too decentralized to believe that meshaal himself gave the order. this is just a confirmation about what ppl already knew -- that a hamas affiliate did it, and that hamas approved (at least after the fact).

What a mess.

the real mess are all the ppl who refused to accept that hamas might've had something to do w/ it until hamas themselves told them. is that where we're at now? we only believe things when hamas tells us them?

hmm yeah that link doesn't really say it was directed from the top-down (agree w mordy that Hamas doesn't appear to be an organization that really works that way). is this actually new info?

I thought the culprits had been identified pretty early on as Hamas-affiliates

seems the key distinction is whether they were ordered to do it by senior Hamas officials or if they just did it on their own without anyone else knowing about it.

altho this distinction is kind of moot in light of subsequent events

the real mess are all the ppl who refused to accept that hamas might've had something to do w/ it until hamas themselves told them. is that where we're at now? we only believe things when hamas tells us them?

The response from defenders I've been seeing has been along the lines of "well, everyone knows Hamas is a terrorist organization, nbd."

http://972mag.com/palestinian-teen-i-was-used-as-a-human-shield-in-gaza/95800/

i don't really know what to say. there was this whole narrative that hamas wasn't really responsible bc they were a rogue organization. but hamas praised the initiative from the get-go. i really blame jj goldberg for manufacturing this whole conspiracy that bibi blamed hamas just so he could have this war. (nb certainly it's true that there were other reasons for operation brothers keeper - such as the tunnels, and maybe this supposed anti-PA hamas plot.)

bc they [the family in WB] was a rogue organization

I think Bibi was happy to take advantage of any pretext available, that seems p clear

xp

i figure that if the anti-PA plot is real, there's no way Abbas is going to the ICC over protective edge

The AP wire story makes the admission out to be a big deal:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/hamas-admits-kidnapping-israeli-teens/2014/08/21/6e70b51e-2957-11e4-8b10-7db129976abb_story.html?hpid=z2

Here's part of it

JERUSALEM — A senior Hamas leader has said the group carried out the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teens in the West Bank in June — the first time anyone from the Islamic militant group has said it was behind an attack that helped spark the current war in the Gaza Strip.

Saleh Arouri told a conference in Turkey on Wednesday that Hamas’s military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, carried out what he described as a “heroic operation” with the broader goal of sparking a new Palestinian uprising.

“It was an operation by your brothers from the al-Qassam Brigades,” he said, saying Hamas hoped to exchange the youths for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Hamas has repeatedly praised the kidnappings, but Arouri, the group’s exiled West Bank leader, is the first member to claim responsibility. Israel has accused Hamas of orchestrating the kidnappings and identified two operatives as the chief suspects. The two men remain on the loose.

Arouri’s admission shows “Hamas has no qualms whatsoever about targeting innocent civilians,” said Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev.

I dont get why Hamas claims responsibility now, and not earlier. But then I don't get Hamas pretty much full stop.

Like Mordy, I think nearly everyone suspected it to be Hamas. But that shouldn't shift the focus away from Israel's completely disproportionate, destructive response.

yes, don't get distracted

there's nothing to see here, etc.

Israel did exactly what Hamas wanted them to do and what Hamas knew they would do

cheers all around for every party being totally predictable

I dont get why Hamas claims responsibility now, and not earlier.

presumably because now it doesn't really matter. If they'd admitted it earlier it would have damaged their positioning themselves as innocent victims of Israeli aggression. Surely this is obvious?

At this point they've won as much of the PR battle with Israel as they could reasonably expect to.

Hi Mordy. Glad you are the one who isn't looking away. Your many remarks about the thousands of Palestinian deaths, IDF using Palestinians as a shield etc ad infinitum were particularly emphatic and balanced.

Outic, you're right.

http://static4.fjcdn.com/comments/oyy+my+sarcasm+detector+just+got+somting+_70a47a2b99292f505955c7ff56ddd98c.jpg

at the time it seemed to me like the political situation just got away from him [xps: bibi]. kidnapping children is about as inflammatory as it gets and the public (and cabinet in turn) demanded something big. the charge was of course made that the gov't knew the teenagers were murdered quickly ergo the vigils etc were cynical PR management, but i usually guess on the side of sheer chaos when it comes to the drive for war. but i'm not the closest observer of the scene obv

LBI i think we can agree that we have both been very fair minded + balanced in our comments on this thread

Hamas has repeatedly praised the kidnappings, but Arouri, the group’s exiled West Bank leader, is the first member to claim responsibility. Israel has accused Hamas of orchestrating the kidnappings and identified two operatives as the chief suspects. The two men remain on the loose.

uhh is arouri (whoever he is) trying to get these guys killed?