APS Diplomat News Service articles from January 2008

APS Diplomat News Service archives from January 2008

Syria Tries To Regain Control Of Lebanon In A Less Honest, More Dangerous World.
January 7, 2008... *** The Iran-Led Axis, Syria Included, Says It Wants To Re-draw The Political Map Of The Middle East, With Hizbullah Insisting It'll Begin From Lebanon And The Gaza Strip; But Tehran Also Says It May Restore Diplomatic Ties And Some Geo-...

Lebanon To Be Internationalised As Arabisation Will Fail.
January 7, 2008... Assad's next move in his attempts to regain control over Lebanon was on Jan. 6 to thwart efforts by the Arab League to issue a resolution forcing Syria to stop blocking a US-backed process to elect a new president for the Lebanese republic who...

Syria Jails More Activists.(Brief article)
January 7, 2008... The Syrian regime on Jan. 2-3 imprisoned writer Fayez Sara and human rights activist Rashed Sattouf. Sara, who writes for several Arab magazines and newspapers, was summoned to the security office in Damascus on Jan. 3 and went there after...

Syrian Arms To Rival Lebanese Groups.
January 7, 2008... Assad's regime has been accused by the UN and Western quarters - as well as Lebanese government officials - of sending arms to rival groups in Lebanon in a ceaseless effort to cause civil war. The Daily Star of Beirut on 3 said: "Two things...

Russia Is Closing Critical Gap In Iran's Air Force.
January 7, 2008... Iran's Defence Minister Mustafa Najjar recently announced that Moscow had agreed to supply the theocracy with an anti-aircraft defence system equipped with S-300 surface-to-air missiles - which will close a critical gas in Iran's weak air...

Iran's March Polls Preparations Begin.
January 7, 2008... Supremacist Interior Minister Mostafa Purmohammadi said in Tehran on Jan. 1 that his ministry was ready to hold "peaceful and reassuring" elections in March for Iran's eighth parliament since 1979. He told the press after a meeting of...

The Neo-Salafis Enter The Palestine Arena as Bin Laden Hits Hizbullah.(Brief article)
January 7, 2008... Fatah al-Islam (FaI), allegedly a loose Neo-Salafi group created by the Syrian military intelligence, has recently announced it had fired rockets against Israel from the Gaza Strip. On Dec. 29, a video posting on the Internet showed al-Qaeda...

GCC+Egypt, Part Of US Alliance, Receive Bush With An Idea On Tackling Iran-Led Axis.
January 14, 2008... *** The GCC+Egypt Plan Is That, While The US Contains The Iran-Led Axis In A Cold War Which May Or May Not Blow Hot At Times, These States Will Be More Effective As Allies By Having Cordial Relations With Tehran - Thus Preventing A...

Terror & Tribalism - Bin Laden Aims To Oust GME Regimes & Then Defeat USA.(Greater Middle East)
January 21, 2008... *** Lebanon Has Become A More Dangerous Scene For Power Games Between Syria And A US-Backed Arab Alliance Which Is Moving Closer To Iran Despite The Fact That Tehran Remains Head Of An Axis Of Anti-American & Anti-Israel Forces In The Region;...

The Tribal Experiment In Pakistan.
January 21, 2008... On Jan. 14, fresh fighting broke out near the Afghan border town of Ghalanai. Pakistani security forces killed 23 Taliban fighters and lost seven of their own men. In this fighting a small tribal force mobilised against the Taliban was put to...

Militants Want Talks.
January 21, 2008... On the other hand, militant leaders in the tribal belt on Jan. 19 indicated they wanted to negotiate with Islamabad a truce as a first step, pending a peace deal. This followed a series of deadly attacks on government forces during the past...

US Concerns.
January 21, 2008... Continuing political uncertainties in the wake of Bhutto's assassination have propelled the nuclear-armed country to the top of Washington's national-security agenda. The assertion that "Pakistan is the world's most dangerous place" has become...

Gates On Allies' Role In Afghanistan.
January 21, 2008... Secretary Gates on Jan. 17 said NATO states were playing a "significant and powerful role in Afghanistan", after some of Washington's closest EU allies assailed him for alleging that they had failed to conduct counter-insurgency operations in...

Lebanon In A War Of The Two Int'l Triangles.(Russia and the United States)
January 28, 2008... *** In The Iran-Led Axis, There Is A War Of Wits Over Which Of Its Two Capitals, Tehran Or Damascus, Will Have A Deal With Washington *** But Before That Can Happen, Both Will Have To Wait Until Putin Has Managed To Form The Rival Triangle...

Focus On Lebanon.
January 28, 2008... For the 13th time since September 2007, Lebanon's presidential election was postponed from Jan. 21 to Feb. 11. Both the Hizbullah-led opposition (March 8 Forces) and the ruling March 14 Coalition had agreed on Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF)...

Diva Fairouz Stirs Up Friction.
January 28, 2008... Even a performance by Lebanon's top diva Fairouz, a singer revered across the Arab world, can cause a fuss between Assad and the Lebanese. Almost three decades after her last performance in Syria, Fairouz on Jan. 24 went to Damascus, ignoring...

Axis Role In All ME War Zones.(Middle East)(Brief article)
January 28, 2008... There is a role for the Iran-led axis in every crisis zone in the Middle East, including Iraq, the Gaza Strip, Somalia, Algeria, etc. The Syrian military intelligence, headed by Assad's brother-in-law 'Assef Shawkat, is said to be working with...

Syria Targets Maronite Patriarch.(Nasrallah Butros)(Brief article)
January 28, 2008... March 14 leaders are countering a Syrian campaign against Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir through its Maronite Lebanese allies like Aoun and Suleiman Franjieh. The latter recently said Cardinal Sfeir was an employee of the US and...

Syrian-Saudi Rift Deepens.(Saudi Arabia)
January 28, 2008... The state-owned Syrian media have been hitting at Saudi Arabia almost daily since the inconclusive Jan. 17 meeting of Aoun and Hariri which was hosted by Moussa and attended by Gemayel. Likewise, the Saudi media are criticising Syria's role in...

Iran-Syria Differences.(Brief article)
January 28, 2008... The Iranian agenda for Lebanon is not identical to that of Assad. The theocracy of Tehran is aware of the fact that Assad is still dependent on Israeli protection, through the 1974 Golan deal, and that the Syrian ruler continues to have secret...

Olmert Defends '06 Decisions.(Ehud Olmert)(Hizbullah war)
January 28, 2008... Israeli PM Ehud Olmert on Jan. 23 said he had no regrets for the main decisions he made concerning the July/August 2006 war with Hizbullah and would not shrink from a comprehensive debate on the actions and failures. In a speech concluding the...

Gazans Break Through Egypt Border.
January 28, 2008... Tens of thousands of Palestinians on Jan. 23 made a brief escape from the poverty and violence engulfing the Gaza Strip, after militants blew up vast sections of the barrier separating the embattled territory from Egypt. Egyptian border guards...

Israel's Impossible Triangle & The Gaza Time Bomb.
January 28, 2008... The Gaza Strip suffers from rising unemployment and poverty, and lacks medicine, fuel, electricity, food and other basics. More dangerously, it is one of the most likely triggers for the next Arab-Israeli war; this is in view of an impossible...

Rejectionists' Meet In Damascus.(Palestinian rejectionists)(Brief article)
January 28, 2008... A conference held in Damascus by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and a number of other Palestinian rejectionist groups backed by Iran and Syria ended on Jan. 25 with a call for their war on Israel to continue until the whole of historical Palestine, "from...

Mubarak's Option.(Hosni Mubarak)
January 28, 2008... It would be difficult for President Mubarak to keep the Gaza Strip sealed from the Egyptian. But he would prefer to work out an arrangement with PNA President Abbas of Fatah, and not with Hamas. Mubarak had promised Israel that Egypt would...

The Saudi Target For Bin Laden.(Osama Bin Laden)
January 28, 2008... Al-Qaeda is also shifting its focus from Iraq to Saudi Arabia with the aim of destroying it together with the Saudi oilfields and, ultimately, causing the US to collapse. This was the real subject of a Dec. 29 Internet posting by 'Usama bin...

New Iran Sanctions.
January 28, 2008... Germany and the five permanent UN Security Council (UNSC) members on Jan. 22 ended weeks of deadlock over whether to press ahead with a fresh raft of sanctions against Iran by agreeing to a new UNSC draft resolution weaker than the US might...

Ahmadi-Nejad Overruled On Gas Law.(Mahmoud Ahmadinejad)
January 28, 2008... Iran's Majlis (parliament) on Jan. 21 delivered a rare rebuke to President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad by overruling his decision to refuse to implement a recently-approved law to supply natural gas to remote villages. Ahmadi-Nejad had opposed the gas...

A French Military Base In Abu Dhabi.(Brief article)
January 28, 2008... The recent decision of the UAE to allow France to have a permanent military base in Abu Dhabi added a new dimension to the US-led confrontation with Iran. By setting up a permanent military presence in the Gulf, for the first time, France has...

US Willing To Fight In Pakistan.(Brief article)
January 28, 2008... US Defence Secretary Robert Gates on Jan. 24 said the US would consider conducting joint military operations against Neo-Salafi extremists inside Pakistan if requested by Islamabad. He said: "We remain ready, willing and able to assist the...