Death of Abdel Basset Al-Sarout shocks Syrian opposition: Reflections and memories on social media

Abdel Basset Sarout (Abdul Basset Saroot, Abdel Basset al-Sarout, Abd Al Basset El Sarwat #Abdel_AlBasset_ElSarwot , ‏عبد الباسط الساروت), called the “voice of the Syrian revolution” in memories posted on social media, was killed in fighting in Hama. Some saw his death as symbolic of the overall difficulties facing the Syrian rebels or opposition. A […]

US official: No discussion or plan for Israeli annexation of parts of West Bank

Anonymous official responds to remarks by US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, who said he supports Israel’s ‘right’ to retain some West Bank land By TOI STAFF and AGENCIESToday, 11:28 pm  0 2shares A view of the Israeli West Bank settlement of Beitar Illit, February 14, 2018. (MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP) Israel has not presented a plan for annexation of any […]

U.S. senate resolution insists peace plan include two-state solution

By Tamar Beeri June 8, 2019 23:09   A new US senate resolution insists that any American peace plan for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must include a two-state solution. The resolution was brought up a few days before US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman said in a New York Times interview that Israel should be able […]

Hamas-Gaza amasses 10,000 rockets, plans a new Iran-sponsored militia in Syria

Israel’s Chief of Staff Lt, Gen. Aviv Kochavi said on Friday, June 8: “The slowdown of Hamas-instigated violence on the Gaza border, including the incendiary balloons, is the outcome of an equation reached with Hamas on the operational level and we have decided to give it a chance.” He was talking to heads of the […]

German FM in Baghdad to de-escalate U.S.-Iran tensions, save Iran deal

Seth J. Frantzman June 8, 2019 20:22 Germany’s Foreign Minister arrived in Iraq on Saturday as part of a trip to de-escalate US-Iran tensions and also focus on the Iran Deal. “Following the recent escalation, we are duty-bound as European neighbors to advocate de-escalation,” he said. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas also said that it […]

Hamas official calls Friedman’s annexation remark ‘destructive and radical American thinking’

  Member of Hamas’ International Relations Office Basem Naim said Saturday that remarks from U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman about Israel’s right to annex some parts of the West Bank expresses “the destructive thinking of the extreme American leadership.”   Earlier Saturday, PLO chief Saeb Erekat called potential annexation “a war crime.”    

Are Saudi Arabia and Iran in an ‘arms race’ or is the contest more complex: Notes and sources

By SETH J. FRANTZMAN A version of this article appeared in ‘The Jerusalem Post,’ this one has links and charts. In May 2017 US President Donald Trump and Saudi Arabia inked a $110 billion arms deal. Two years later news that Riyadh was seeking to extend its missile capabilities has resurrected claims that the Kingdom is […]

US Fears Having F-35s Close to S-400 Over Latter’s ‘Ability to Understand the Profile of Jets’

Sergei Chemezov, head of the state corporation Rostec, earlier stated that Turkish personnel had already finished their S-400 training programme in Russia and that the air defence systems will be shipped to Turkey in two months. The US Undersecretary of Defence for Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen Lord stated that the Pentagon wants to keep its […]

Can Israel become an energy independent nation?

Can Israel become an energy independent nation? The country’s energy infrastructure relies on a centralized source supplying mainly natural gas to power plants all over the country; unexpected events such as natural disasters or supply shortages could quickly bring a coutnry’s electricity grid to its knees, especially when war could break out Dr. Daniel Madar, […]

Iran minister: Tehran secretly defying US sanctions with ‘unofficial’ oil sales

Bijan Zanganeh scant on details, but says Iran covertly circumventing ‘evil’ American oil embargo through ‘unconventional means’ By AFP and TOI STAFFToday, 4:25 pm  0 0shares This photo from March 12, 2017, shows an Iranian laborer walking the platform of the oil facility in the Khark Island, on the shore of the Gulf. (AFP/Atta Kenar) Iran is keeping up […]

Iran says new US sanctions show offer for talks is ‘hollow’

Foreign Ministry says announcement of penalties for petrochemical industry belie Trump’s claim he would reopen discussions if Tehran agreed to give up nuclear weapons By AFPToday, 2:32 pm     Abbas Mousavi, spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, gives a press conference in the capital Tehran on May 28, 2019. (ATTA KENARE / AFP) TEHRAN, Iran — Iran […]

US envoy defends Israel’s ‘right’ to annex West Bank land: NYTimes

i24NEWS Latest Revision june 08, 2019, 8:11 AM AP Photo/Ariel Schalit US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman speaks during the 5th trilateral summit between Israel, Greece and Cyprus in Beersheba, Israel, Thursday, Dec. 20, 2018. ‘There were some extraordinarily generous proposals made to Palestinians that they turned down,’ Friedman said In an interview with the New […]

Iran Has No Intention of Withdrawing From OPEC – Iranian Oil Minister

In May, Iranian authorities vowed to retaliate if their interests in the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) are harmed. Iranian officials also noted that the organisation is flawed due to “the unilateralism of some of its members and that it’s possible that the organisation may collapse”. Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh stated in an interview […]

Putin: Iran can defend its interests, US measures endangering world

Iranian Meda IRNA – The Russian president, during a meeting with IRNA’s managing director and few senior world news agencies’ directors, stated that Iranians with over thousand years of cultural history and national pride are capable of defending their own interests, and Russia supports the preservation of the JCPOA. Vladimir Putin made the remarks in response […]