Mideast Media Sampler - 08/25/2013 - When is a red line not a red line? When there's no precedent....
Mideast Media Sampler 08/23/2013...
Mideast Media Sampler - 08/20/2013 - Why Hezbollah takes a shine to the shrine...
Why not? The Kurds out number Palestinians several times over, and unlike Palestinians, have a real ethnic and cultural distinction from surrounding Arabs (and in Turkey, Turks). But for Europeans drawing lines on maps and Turkish national ambitions, there should have been an independent nation for...
For a day or two, the massive explosion in the Syrian city of Homs was a mystery. Another Who bombed it? Israeli attack? Or just more destruction by the Syrian government which already has left Homs a wreck? Via WaPo on August 1: What caused this enormous explosion in...
Mideast Media Sampler - 08/02/2013 - How the Obama administration is playing Israel in the Mainstream Media...
(Mas'ade Druze Village Israel, looking towards Mount Hermon)[/caption]
You can see on this map how far north Metula is:
[caption id="attachment_60711" align="alignnone" width="505"]
(Metula, Israel - Map View)[/caption]
These map view give a good perspective on how Metula is surrounded on three sides by Lebanon:
[caption id="attachment_60710" align="alignnone" width="464"]
(Metula, Israel - Street Map View)[/caption]
(Quneitra Crossing, Golan Heights, view from Avital Volcanic Park)[/caption]
We then headed to the nearby Golan Heights Wind Farm, which had a better view of the smoke rising from the area:
[caption id="attachment_60693" align="alignnone" width="516"]
(Golan Heights Wind Farm - map view)[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_60692" align="alignnone" width="537"]
(Golan Heights Wind Farm - View of Syria)[/caption]
(Kibbutz Sha'ar HaGolan, Israel - Map View)[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_60601" align="alignnone" width="547"]
(Kibbutz Sha'ar HaGolan, Israel, view towards Golan Heights)[/caption]
We then drove on the snake-like Highway 98 up the side of the Golan Heights facing Jordan across a deep ravine. The border fence along the road is shown in this photo -- my reaction was the same as yours probably is -- that's the border fence! We were assured that the Jordanian policing of its side of the border together with the topography was sufficient.
[caption id="attachment_60603" align="alignnone" width="527"]
(Highway 98, Israel, climbing Golan Heights - Jordan Border Fence)[/caption]
Note also the red triangle signifying a minefield -- something we would see repeatedly throughout the Golan even away from the border. Vigorous warning signs not to leave the established roads and pathways were everywhere.
We noted several days ago the latest "who bombed it?" mystery, Did Israel just destroy Syrian depot holding Russian missiles? While answers remain sketchy, unnamed U.S. sources reportedly are pointing to Israel, via CNN: A series of explosions on July 5 at a critical Syrian port was...
Another "who bombed it" mystery in Syria...
Many weeks ago we suggested that one outcome of Hezbollah's involvement in the Syrian civil war on behalf of Assad, particularly the conquest of Qusayr, would be car bombings in pro-Hezbollah sections of Beirut. That prediction appears to be coming true. Via The Daily Star of Lebanon: A...
While everyone is focused on protests in Cairo, the war continues in Syria. Via Al Jazeera, Syria army launches intense bombing of Homs: Air strikes killed at least three civilians as Syrian government forces intensified their attacks and pressed forward with a new bid to retake several...
Mideast Media Sampler - 06/26/2013...
Via Lebanese website Naharnet: Syrian rebels have recently received new weapons that could "change the course of the battle" against the Syrian regime, a spokesman for the Free Syrian Army told Agence France Presse on Friday. "We've received quantities of new types of weapons, including some that...
The U.S. has concluded that forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have used chemical weapons in the country's civil war with rebels, U.S. officials said, a determination that could lay the ground for a decision by the U.S. to arm the rebels and take other steps expanding American involvement in the conflict. The finding comes nearly two months after the White House informed Congress that U.S. intelligence agencies believed with "varying degrees of confidence" that Mr. Assad has used chemical weapons, likely including sarin gas. President Barack Obama has said that the use of chemical weapons by Mr. Assad would cross a "red line" for the U.S. A senior U.S. official said the determination could be used by the White House to sign off on a proposal to arm moderate Syrian rebels and other measures now under consideration.CNN, White House: Syria crosses 'red line' with use of chemical weapons on its people:
The White House acknowledged Thursday the Syrian government has used chemical weapons, including the nerve agent sarin, on a small scale a number of times, according to a statement. The administration also indicated it will increase the "scope and scale of assistance" to rebels in Syria following its acknowledgment that the Bashar al-Assad government has used chemical weapons in the civil war, according to the statement.Time, Red Line Crossed: U.S. Officials Confirm Syrian Chemical Weapons Use:
The development, announced Thursday by White House Deputy National Security Advisor For Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes, puts the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad over President Barack Obama’s “red line” announced in August 2012 promising severe consequences for the use of chemical weapons. “We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized,” Obama said at the time. “That would change my calculus. That would change my equation.”Given that this announcement comes on the heels of major Syrian-Hezbollah-Iranian gains, including retaking the city of Qusayr, expect claims that this is a pretext to arm the rebels. Update: Prelude to war? Remember, it's Bad or worse in Syria:
After three weeks of often intense artillery barrages and air strikes, Hezbollah took over Qusayr near the border with Lebanon. While the Syrian government is proclaiming victory, the Syrian government was the tale on the dog -- it was a Hezbollah operation. But NOW Lebanon reports the...
1) Music lives in Israel Arsen Ostrovsky interviewed Zubin Mehta about performing Israel: According to Mehta, "it's hard to find an emblem of cultural, national pride that burns as bright as Israel's success in classical music." He adds "the amount of culture going on in a small...
