 Hamas political leader has said that his group will not recognise Israel despite new pressures and will give priority to building resistance to the Jewish state. Addressing a rally in the Syrian capital on Friday to mark the end of the Israeli attack on Gaza a year ago that killed 1,400 Palestinians, Meshaal said Hamas does not want another war with Israel, but it will stick to armed struggle as a means to liberate occupied land. "Hamas will keep rejecting the occupation and refuse to recognise the legitimacy of the Zionist entity. Priority will remain building and developing the resistance," said Meshaal, who lives in Syria along with other Hamas leaders in exile. "Pressure, siege, temptations and opening doors or communication channels will not fool Hamas, which will not compromise on the rights. Hamas will be only tempted by restoring the land," Meshaal said. Meshaal was referring to increased contacts between Hamas and Western delegations since the Gaza war, including a meeting with a US group that included Jack Matlock, a former American ambassador in Moscow. "Triumphant Gaza today is still wounded. Its houses are still destroyed. It's still under siege and its borders are still closed. Add to this the new steel wall," Meshaal said, referring to a structure being built by Egypt along its border with Gaza to stop the smuggling of arms and goods into the strip. "Today we do not seek war but if war is imposed on us we will fight fiercely," Meshaal said. Meshaal said reconciliation with Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, was needed to strengthen the Palestinian cause but he made no new proposals on how to do so after Egyptian efforts to bring about agreement between the two sides foundered. Meshaal also said that captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit will not be freed unless Israel releases hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. "Shalit will not to home before the liberation of our prisoners," he told the rally, blaming Israel for the failure to reach a deal on freeing the soldier, who was captured in June 2006. Al Jazeera 
 Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon's dressing down of the Turkish ambassador in Jerusalem last week was in the air but not directly referred to during Defense Minister Ehud Barak's time in Ankara on Sunday. Instead, the 12-hour visit was characterized by pleasantries and long conversations, in a clear attempt by both countries to broadcast that the past was behind them. The Turks viewBarak as someone they can work with and believe that he can have the impact on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that they are hoping for. The Turkish media highlighted this point by making a distinction between Barak, whom they described as the leader of the left-wing Labor Party, and Ayalon, who, some papers wrote, was a member of the "far-right" Israel Beiteinu Party. The last time Barak visited Ankara was in February 2008, the same day that Hizbullah military commander Imad Mughniyeh was assassinated in Damascus, an operation attributed by some to the Mossad. The killing came half a year after Israel bombed a nuclear reactor in northwest Syria. Then, Israeli-Syrian relations were at an all-time low. Soon after, though, Jerusalem and Damascus launched indirect peace talks with Turkish mediation. Barak's visit at the time likely had something to do with that. On Sunday, Barak's hosts pressed him on the Syrian issue, identifying him correctly as the Israeli cabinet member most supportive of peace talks. Whether or not such negotiations will take place is not up to Barak, though. Netanyahu will have to decide. Barak was trailed throughout his visit by a crowd of Turkish press. At the airport, journalists and cameramen lined the runway with satellite hookups reporting his arrival live. At the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, he was again met by a pool of reporters. After the minister laid a wreath on the tomb of the republic's first president, and as he signed the visitors' book with a plea for a "safe and secure region," one ofBarak's senior advisers marveled at the size and grandeur of the monument while noting what a great leader Atatürk was. Israel will likely have to keep on hoping for a new secular leader like Atatürk. While Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamic party is predicted to get only 33 percent of the vote in the 2011 elections - more than 10% less than his party received in 2005 - he is still likely to come out first and win a third term. Within the Turkish cabinet, there are believed to be a number of ministers favorable to Israel. Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul, Barak's official host on Sunday, who called the Israeli Embassy on Friday and asked how to translate some Turkish words into Hebrew, is perceived in Jerusalem as the "Israel lobbyist" in the Turkish government. He has tried over the past year, unsuccessfully, to restore warm and full diplomatic and military ties, one of the goals ofBarak's visit. His other meeting, with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, lasted three-and-a-half-hours, more than double the time originally allotted. Davutoglu is the foreign policy architect within theTurkish cabinet, and is a close associate of Erdogan. Members of Barak's delegation said they believe Erdogan will tone down his criticism of Israel. While he is unlikely to begin supporting Israel, the officials said that the countries could maintain good working relations regardless. The Turkish dailies Sunday were filled with articles about Barak's visit. One column in Today's Zaman, an English-language paper affiliated with the Islamists, said that Israel could no longer rely on maintaining ties with Turkey just on adefense level, and could no longer depend on American-Jewish groups like AIPAC to influence the US Congress. Instead, the column recommended that Israel renew peace talks with Syria and work to improve the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip. The hope in Ankara is that Barak will be able to deliver the goods. This is also the understanding within Israel. As long as Erdogan is prime minister, the most Israel can hope for are lukewarm ties. "The moment there are peace talks, this will change," explained one Israeli official. The only question left is whether Netanyahu will agree to hold those talks. JPost
 An Egyptian daily newspaper has published an article praising Israel for preventing Iran from completing its proposed nuclear facilities.
The article claims the Israeli intelligence service Mossad has carried out assassinations and acts of sabotage in recent years to prevent the facilities being completed.
The daily newspaper Al-Ahram, in its Saturday edition, says Mossad chief Meir Dagan has led the charge against Iran, and without him the Islamic Republic's nuclear plants would have been completed years ago.
"Over the past seven years, he has worked in silence, away from the media," the op-ed article says. "He has dealt painful blows to the Iranian nuclear program, he is the Superman of the Jewish state."
The Egyptian newspaper cited assassinations, inciting of opposition protests, the carrying out of acts to embarrass Iran's leaders, and covert attacks against nuclear facilities, among the list of achievements by the Mossad chief.
The article also lauds Dagan for his, "many bold victories," against Syria, Hezbullah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and praises the Israeli intelligence service's wisdom for not admitting its involvement in the various acts it orchestrated.
 Damascus and Beirut protested today, albeit in differing tones of voice, at the US government's decision to intensify checks of citizens of some nations - including Syria and Lebanon - which are held to be sponsors of terrorism, or potential places of refuge and territories for the passage of suspect terrorists.
Receiving the US politician Alcee Hastings, in Beirut, the Lebanese President, Michel Suleiman, expressed his "concern at the security measures announced by the United States", stating that Lebanon "enjoys a climate of stability and has shown itself capable of fighting terrorism".
Following the failed attack on the Amsterdam-Detroit flight at Christmas, the United States has recently decided on tightening its security cordon at airports, especially concerning passengers originating from Afghanistan, Algeria, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Syria, Somalia and Yemen.
For its part, Syria has strongly criticised Washington's decision, albeit unofficially, calling it "a dangerous return to the 'black lists' of the Bush era".
The editorial of daily newspaper al Watan, which is close to the government, this morning averred that "Mr Obama is staking his reputation on this affair".
 American authorities announced that as of Monday, anyone traveling from or through nations regarded as state sponsors of terrorism — as well as "other countries of interest" — will be required to go through enhanced screening techniques before boarding flights. The Transportation Security Administration said those heightened security measures would include full-body pat-downs, carryon bag searches, full-body scanning and explosive detection technology. The U.S. State Department lists Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria as state sponsors of terrorism. The other countries whose passengers will face enhanced screening include Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen. The new measures followed the arrest of a Nigerian man, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who allegedly tried to set off an explosive device on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day. Germany announced increased security at all airports following the failed Christmas Day attack, but authorities on Monday said no further measures have been taken since. U.S. officials in Washington said the new security measures would be implemented Monday but there were few visible changes on the ground in Europe, which has thousands of passengers on hundreds of daily flights to the United States. Large hubs such as London, Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt alone account for 20-30 trans-Atlantic flights a day each. In Britain, a major international transport hub, a spokesman for the Department of Transportation said he was still trying to decipher the practical implications for Britain of the new U.S. rules. He refused to give his name due to the sensitivity of the subject. In Switzerland, authorities were studying the new U.S. security measures, but so far the old controls were still in place, said Jean-Claude Donzel, spokesman for Swiss International Air Lines. And a security official in Spain, who spoke on condition on anonymity in line with agency rules, said U.S.-bound passengers from countries on the new watch list were not being singled out for body frisks. Muslim advocacy groups bristled at the new TSA rules and urged the agency to consider alternatives. “It comes pretty close to across-the-board profiling of Muslim travelers,” said Ibrahim Hooper, communications director for the Council on American-Islamic relations, adding that it would unfairly single out not just foreigners but Muslim Americans traveling to see their families in the selected countries. “It only serves to alienate those whose hearts and minds we’re trying to win.” Alejandro Beutel, government liaison for the Muslim Public Affairs Council, said the ruling would cast such a wide net as to ultimately be ineffective. “We do see this as profiling, and profiling is very poor policing,” he said. Elsewhere in the world, there has been a general ramping up of security since Christmas. In Jordan, a key U.S. ally, security was beefed up at Amman's main international airport since the Christmas Day bombing attempt. An official at Queen Alia International Airport said "enhanced techniques" were being applied, especially in screening passengers bound for the United States. He declined to elaborate. Pakistan's national airline said it was intensifying security checks for U.S.-bound passengers, even though there are no direct flights to the States from Pakistan. Screening was also stepped up for those flying to the U.S. from other parts of Asia and the Middle East. "It is beyond my imagination what more they could do," said Nadim Umer, 40, a Karachi-based linen merchant who said he was subjected to a strip search when he arrived in New York last June. "Those who are dying to go to America at any cost can put up with all this inhuman behavior, but I cannot." A spokesman for Pakistan International Airlines said the company began applying the new security standards Jan. 1 on U.S.-bound passengers. Sultan Hasan said the passengers are subjected to special screening, including full body searches, in a designated area of the departure lounge. He said the airline had run advertisements in newspapers to warn prospective passengers of the increased safety measures. maintaining strict security standards at all airports for all flights. "We are already carrying out all possible security arrangements at our airports which can be compared with any Western airport," Pervez George, spokesman for Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority. "Safety of the airliners and passengers as well as security at the airports is a top priority and we are maintaining it irrespective where the flight is going." In South Korea, an official at Seoul's Incheon International Airport, Lee Ji-hye, said U.S.-bound passengers are now required to go through additional security before boarding their flights, and security officials also compile lists of "suspicious" passengers to monitor based on their nationalities, travel patterns and ticket purchases. Australian Transport Ministry spokeswoman Moksha Watts said all passengers flying to the U.S. would continue to be patted down and have all their cabin luggage searched. Baghdad's International Airport already has extremely tight security, with passengers having their luggage sniffed by dogs and getting patted down before entering the airport. "Our security procedures at the airport are more intensified than that in any other airport in the world," said security official Umran Idris. Maayan Malkin, spokeswoman for Israel Airports Authority, declined to discuss security arrangements. The Ben-Gurion International airport is considered one of the safest in the world. FoxNews
 While the Obama administration and congressional leaders may justify renewed engagement with Syria with their desire to jumpstart the Middle East peace process, they ignore the very issue that lies at the heart of the Syrian threat to U.S. national security: Syrian support for radical Islamist terror. This may seem both illogical and counterfactual given past antagonism between the 'Alawite-led regime and the Muslim Brotherhood, but there is overwhelming evidence that President Bashir al-Asad has changed Syrian strategic calculations and that underpinning terror is crucial to the foreign policy of the country. Background On February 14, 2005, a huge bomb killed former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri as his motorcade drove through Beirut. All eyes fell on Damascus.[1] Syria's leaders had motive: Hariri was a prominent Lebanese nationalist who opposed their attempts to grant Lebanon's pro-Syrian president Émile Lahoud an unconstitutional third term. The Syrians had the means to carry out such an attack: Their army had occupied Lebanon for more than fifteen years. Syrian military intelligence (Shu'bat al-Mukhabarat al-'Askariya) operated freely throughout the tiny republic and maintained operational networks there.[2] Asad had actually threatened Hariri: Druze leader Walid Jumblatt reported that at a meeting with Asad and Hariri a few months before the latter's murder, Asad told him, "Lahoud is me … If you and [French president Jacques] Chirac want me out of Lebanon, I will break Lebanon," a remark Jumblatt interpreted as a death threat to Hariri.[3] Following the assassination, Syria became an international pariah. U.N. secretary-general Kofi Annan dispatched a fact-finding mission. This mission resulted in the establishment of an international, independent investigating commission headed initially by German judge Detlev Mehlis.[4] U.S. president George W. Bush and French president Jacques Chirac, two leaders whose views of the Middle East seldom coincided, agreed to isolate Syria diplomatically.[5]
The State Department withdrew its ambassador, Margaret Scobey, and maintained only a lower-level diplomatic presence in Damascus. Under immense pressure, the Syrian army finally withdrew from Lebanon. But, over subsequent months and years, as Asad detected chinks in the West's diplomatic solidarity—and as U.S. members of Congress began to defy the White House and re-engage with Asad—the Syrian regime began to put cooperation with the U.N. investigators on the back burner. Today, Syrian cooperation with the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, the successor to the more ambitious Investigation Commission, is negligible. Obama's Approach to Syria Barack Obama campaigned on a platform which made engagement central to his foreign policy. "Not talking [to adversaries] doesn't make us look tough—it makes us look arrogant," he declared during his campaign.[6] In his inaugural address, he declared, "To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist."[7] The Syrian regime signaled that it would accept Obama's offer, so long as the White House's hand preceded the unclenching of the Syrian fist. In a congratulatory telegram to Obama, the Syrian leader expressed "hope that dialogue would prevail to overcome the difficulties that have hindered real progress toward peace, stability, and prosperity in the Middle East."[8] While the Syrian regime had yet to cooperate with the Hariri investigation, cease its sponsorship of and support for terrorism, stop interfering in Lebanon, or stop helping Hezbollah build up its rocket force, the Obama administration wasted little time in easing pressure on Damascus. This rush to dialogue was undertaken in order to create a more conducive atmosphere for engagement. On March 7, 2009, the State Department dispatched Jeffrey D. Feltman, assistant secretary of state and the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Syria in more than four years, to Damascus for talks with Syria's foreign minister.[9] The Obama administration called an abrupt end to the moratorium initiated during the Bush administration forbidding U.S. officials' attendance at Syrian embassy functions in Washington when it sent Feltman and senior National Security Council aides to Syrian National Day festivities.[10] Feltman's participation in the renewed engagement was particularly symbolic given his previous posting as ambassador to Lebanon during the Cedar Revolution of 2005 when he led the diplomatic charge to rid Lebanon of Syrian influence and troops. On June 24, 2009, the State Department announced that it would once again nominate an ambassador for the U.S. embassy in Damascus.[11] Just over a month later, the Obama administration announced that it would ease sanctions on Syria. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly explained that "Senator [George] Mitchell [the president's Middle East envoy] told President Assad that the U.S. would process all eligible applications for export licenses as quickly as possible."[12] While the easement did not include those sanctions imposed by Congress in the wake of Hariri's assassination, they, nonetheless, reflect the White House's desire to bring Syria in from the cold. Nor will Congress necessarily act as a check on this enthusiasm to roll back even those sanctions. Less than two years after Hariri's assassination, senators Arlen Specter (Democrat of Pennsylvania), Bill Nelson (Democrat of Florida), John Kerry (Democrat of Massachusetts), and Christopher Dodd (Democrat of Connecticut)[13] traveled to Syria to promote engagement. Four months later, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also visited Asad for the same purpose, declaring, "The road to Damascus is a road to peace."[14] More at MEF
 OSAMA bin Laden's closest relatives are living in a secret compound in Iran, members of the family say. They include a wife and children who disappeared from his Afghan camp at the time of the 9/11 attacks on the US. The family's whereabouts have been a mystery for the past eight years, with reports that some of the children had been killed in bombings, while others had joined their father in planning terror attacks. However, relatives said they found out last month that the group, including one of Osama's wives, six of his children and 11 of his grandchildren, had been kept in a high-security compound outside Tehran. They have been prevented from contacting the outside world while Iran has repeatedly denied that any of the relatives were living in the country. Members of the bin Laden family are now appealing for the group to be allowed to leave Iran and described them as the "forgotten victims of 9/11". They told him how they had fled Afghanistan just before the September 11, 2001, attacks and walked to the Iranian border. They were taken to a walled compound outside Tehran where guards said they were not allowed to leave "for their own safety". The eldest of the children, Saad, was 20 at the time; Ossman was 17, Muhammad 15, Fatma 14, Hamza 12, Iman 9, and Bakr 7. There had been speculation Muhammad was second in command of al-Qa'ida and that Saad instigated and plotted terrorist attacks until he was killed about 18 months ago by a US drone. The relatives, however, said Muhammad was still living in the compound and Saad ran away less than a year ago in an attempt to find his mother. A week after making contact with her brother, Iman escaped during a rare trip outside the compound and made her way to the Saudi Arabian embassy. She is now living there while seeking permission to leave Iran. Mr bin Laden said his relatives live as normal a life as possible, cooking meals, watching television and reading. They are allowed out only rarely for shopping trips. Because several families are being held in the compound, some of the older siblings have been able to marry and have their own children. "The Iranian government did not know what to do with this large group of people that nobody else wanted, so they just kept them safe; for that we owe them much gratitude, and thank Iran from the depth of our hearts," he said. Mr bin Laden, who had lived with his father in exile in Sudan and Afghanistan but left before the 9/11 attacks, hopes the family will be given permission to leave Iran and join his mother, brother and two sisters in Syria or himself and his wife in Qatar. He said: "They are all just innocent victims, just the same as anyone else hurt by the dreadful events of 9/11 and 7/7. "These babies and children have never had any education, never hurt a single soul, never trained with any weapons or ever been part of al-Qa'ida. "We just want to be together as a family. I have now got 11 nieces and nephews, born either in Afghanistan or Iran that I have never seen. "Some may find this story unnerving, but the child can't be judged by the sins of their father." The Australian
 This may be a response to criticism that the terrorist group hasn’t done enough to fight Israel, but Al-Qaeda has published a report that admitted that the organization has a branch in Damascus and that this branch carried out rocket attacks on Israel from Lebanon on June 17, 2007 and in January 2008. The report also claimed that eight rockets found in Lebanon on December 25, 2008 belonged to Al-Qaeda-Damascus.
This branch is led by “close comrades of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi,” it says, proving that Syria acted as a safe haven for the Al-Qaeda element of the Iraqi insurgency. World Threats
 The Iraqis gave one more piece of evidence tying Syria to the horrific twin bombings in August and General Petraeus has gotten in the mix, revealing that Al-Douri is in Damascus. That’s been widely understood, but this is the highest ranking U.S. official to confirm it and this fact hasn’t been pointed out in months. From MEMRI: In the third day of hearings at the Iraqi parliament, Iraqi Interior Minister Jawad Al-Bolani is reported to have revealed in the secret hearings that the cellphone call record of the suicide bomber who blew up the Foreign Ministry last August indicates that he made his last call to someone in Damascus before the operation. In a related matter, General David Petraeus, U.S. CENTCOM head, told Al-Arabiya TV that Izzat Al-Douri, deputy to Saddam Hussein and one of the men most wanted by the Iraqi government, is in Damascus. [In his youth, Al-Douri sold ice blocks from a horse-drawn cart; he is known in Iraq as "The Iceman"] Sources: Al-Mada, December 15, and al-Rafidayn, December 14, 2009 World Threats
 With the release of Wafa Sultan's book, A God Who Hates, the various Saudi front organizations have sprung into action doing their best to smear her reputation.It is of course completely unsurprising that the agents of a kingdom that despises women and treats them like cattle would be furious at criticism of Islam coming from... a woman.Ever since Wafa Sultan first came to the public's attention by defiantly challenging a male cleric and demanding her right to speak, she has been the target of repeated death threats and slander. So it is also completely unsurprising that those same Saudi front groups would then use transparent lies and smears to attack her now. But their smear campaign reveals more about them than it does about Wafa Sultan. First up is the claim that Wafa Sultan lied about ever being a Muslim, because she was an Alawi Muslim. This is a bizarre claim that only fanatical Sunni Wahhabi groups could make with a straight face. To argue that Sultan did not grow up as a Muslim because she grew up as an Alawi Muslim, is akin to a Catholic arguing that a Protestant is not a Christian and vice versa. The other half of this claim is the argument that since she does not currently believe in Islam and the Koran, she is somehow unqualified to talk about what is wrong with Islam. A position that would disqualify every Scientology critic on the planet and every dissident who escapes from an oppressive regime. Wafa Sultan's qualifications to talk about what is wrong with Islam come from growing and living as a Muslim under Islam. As well as her study of what is wrong with Islam from a cultural, religious and psychological standpoint. A corollary to this is the claim that Syria was secular and therefore Wafa Sultan did not grow up living in an Islamic society. While Syria under Assad was more secular than say Saudi Arabia, it was still a Muslim country, in the same way that the similarly Baathist Iraq was Muslim. Aside from small minorities, virtually every Syrian is Muslim and mosque attendance is normative. The state funds mosques and Islamic education is part of the regular curriculum. Islamic norms are thoroughly integrated within the national culture. For a snapshot of that, here's an excerpt from an academic paper on Syria's educational system Islamic education in Syrian schools is traditional, rigid, and Sunni. The Ministry of Education makes no attempt to inculcate notions of tolerance or respect for religious traditions other than Sunni Islam. Christianity is the one exception to this rule. Indeed, all religious groups other than Christians are seen to be enemies of Islam, who must be converted or fought against. The Syrian government teaches school children that over half of the world’s six billion inhabitants will go to hell and must be actively fought by Muslims...
The government is to be an Islamic State without separation of church and state. The student is constantly reminded that the Islamic state is a divine order whose wisdom, justice, and laws are imposed by God. The chapter of the twelfth grade text entitled, “The System of Government in Islam,” concludes with the following sentences:
There's your "secular" Syria right there. That's the "secular" Syria that Wafa Sultan grew up in.
Secondly, there's the claim that Wafa Sultan is a "turncoat" who has deliberately sought fame in order to get rich. As In Focus, a CAIR front magazine writes;
"As for the Sultans’ financial troubles, Halabi told InFocus that ever since Dr. Sultan gained notoriety those troubles are a thing of the past. "She bought a house for herself and bought another for her son," ... When asked about the source of her material well-being, Halabi was unsure.
As to the reasons that may have pushed Sultan to be so outspoken and vocal against Islam in a post-9/11 world, Halabi sympathetically remarked, "Poverty. It drives people to sell their soul."
The "mysterious source" of their material well-being is that Wafa Sultan was able to become a practicing doctor in the United States. Doctors in the United States tend to have not particularly mysterious sources of material well-being. And whatever money she has made from her speaking fees is hardly anything compared to the security costs of regularly dealing with death threats from Muslim.
Thirdly, let's discuss the In Focus magazine hit piece, Wafa Sultan Reformist or opportunist? that is the source of many of the smears aimed at Wafa Sultan.
 The Reform Party of Syria reports: Around 8:30am this morning, a large explosion ripped through a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims near a major Shiite religious shrine in Damascus killing a score of people.
The official, and mostly unreliable, Syrian tally places the number of dead at 1 Iranian and 5 Syrians. …One such building [that was damaged] is the Khomeini Hospital named after the Iranian Ayatollah. Other eyewitnesses said that the Syrian security, with offices not too far from the blast, has descended upon the scene in an attempt to suppress information and clear the area. The blast coincided with Saeed Jalili, Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, visiting Damascus for meetings with Syrian officials, including Assad. The RPS lists several suspects: Iran, Israel, or Hamas, which would be a reaction to supposed pressure from the regime. I personally disagree with the RPS’ argument and I think it is most likely the work of radical Islamic elements that were originally allowed into Syria so they could wage war on Iraq, or the Israelis. It is entirely possible that the bus was secretly transporting some sort of secret personnel, although that is speculation on my part. The Assad regime is claiming that the explosion is the result of an accident. “It happened while one of the empty bus’s tyres was being repaired. An explosion took place as result of the excessive pressure,” said the Syrian Interior Minister. World Threats
 Analysis. We should take it a priori that anything that Syria does to destabilize Iraq leads right back to the mullahs in Iran.The mullahs are aware that a strong and unified Iraq is the only thing that stands between Iran and the first leg of the empire of Darius and Cyrus. The ancient capital of the Persian Empire, Ctseiphon, is not far from Baghdad. Beyond that, the major shrines of Shiite Islam are in Iraq southwest of Baghdad. It may well be that the mullahs see themselves as the new military geniuses of a resurgent Persian Empire. There is no way that we cannot understand that Iran can keep Iraq destabilized long after the United States pulls out. Iran is insuring that we know that.
Syria may well be behind the Saddam channel. If Syria were removed from the picture the channel would be reestablished in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon. Hezbollah would run it. What would be different is that Lebanon has no contiguous border with Iraq. That would cut down a lot on the smuggling of people and explosives into Iraq. Beyond that it is a direct challenge to the United States. The mullahs are well aware that as long as they can close the Straits of Hormuz the United States, and therefore the rest of the World, will not act to strike them. Israel is the only country that can perform the deep strike mission required to do any serious damage to their nuclear facilities other than the United States. As it stands now, that attack must come through Saudi airspace. Once the first airplane crosses into Iranian airspace, the regional war is on. It appears to be the theory now that it is best to postpone this conflict as long as possible. it has always been my theory that if you know to pretty much a metaphysical certainty that there will be war, it is perhaps better to fight the war when you are ready and your opponent isn’t. World Threats
 The Assad regime of Syria is permitting Al-Qaeda to establish a network in the northeastern part of the country from which it can wage war in Iraq. This has been documented on WorldThreats.com for quite awhile, but this report adds several new details, including that the network is growing. “There is an entire Al Qaida infrastructure in eastern Syria that includes induction, training, financing and logistics,” an official said. “The Syrian regime knows about this and allows this to continue.” The report says the Syrian government received “tens of millions of dollars in bribes” to allow Al-Qaeda to operate and that the regime has been promised that it won’t be targeted in return for their safe harbor.
There has been debate about whether “Al-Qaeda in Iraq” is really related to the same “Al-Qaeda” that operates under Bin Laden’s leadership and carried out the 9/11 attacks, but this report makes clear that the operatives in Syria come straight from Bin Laden’s ranks. Issa Al-Masri, a high-level Al-Qaeda operative, left Pakistan for Syria in June, and even operates from Damascus, where he coordinates the flow of money and weapons into Iraq.
Also working from Damascus under the protection of Syrian intelligence are two former senior members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party, Sattam Farhan and Mohammed Younis Al-Ahmed. According to the report, the Baath remanants and Al-Qaeda are actively working together from Syria to carry out attacks on the elected Iraqi government. World Threats
The great and heroic ex-Muslim freedom fighter Wafa Sultan, author of the essential book A God Who Hates, spoke in New York this morning. Pamela was there and has video -- parts 2, 3, and 4 are linked here. Watch it all! With thanks to JihadWatch
 The Iraqis have added another threat to Syria, on top of trying to establish a U.N. tribunal to prosecute those in Syria facilitating the violence, and thus exposing the Assad regime’s involvement. Iraq now says that they will end their economic ties with Syria if it does not stop providing insurgents with safe passage and extradite Baathist insurgents involved in the horrific bombings in Baghdad since August.
The Iraqis are handing the confessions of three captured terrorists involved in the October bombings in Baghdad to the U.N. as part of their effort to have a tribunal created and expose Syria. To better understand Syria’s complicity in radical Islamic terrorism, check out Barry Rubin’s article in Middle East Quarterly, which I might add, mentions yours truly. World Threats
 This article by Peter Berkowitz in the Weekly Standard brings us up to date on the situation in Lebanon, where an election was held in June, but a new government is only now being formed. In the election, a moderate, pro-Western, pro-democracy coalition -- led by Saad Hariri, son of the linfluential anti-Syria eader whose death by car bombing in 2005 sparked the "Cedar Revolution" -- exceeded expectations and obtained a small parliamentary majority. The overriding issue, according to Peter, was "whether Lebanon would submit to Hezbollah and the political authority of Syria and Iran, or build a free and democratic state." Although the voters opted for the latter alternative, the winning coalition was unable to form a government for five months because Hezbollah blocked it -- formally, by means of the powers it obtained through the Doha Agreement (a deal reached after Hezbollah forces took over Beirut in 2008), and informally, through threats and intimidation. But the stalemate has finally been broken, at least for now, by the formation of a "national unity government" in which 2 of the 30 ministerial portfolios will go to Hezbollah politicians. Conventional wisdom holds that Israel is the key to undermining Hezbollah's influence. The idea is that if the Israelis would only abandon the small strip of land they control in Southern Lebanon (Shebaa Farms) and negotiate the creation of a Palestinian state, Hezbollah would lose its status as the heroic resistance. It's a convenient analysis inasmuch as it relieves the Lebanese of responsibility for their own fate, but Peter rejects it. In his view, "resistance does not refer merely to armed struggle against Israel's occupation of this or that piece of land, or even the battle against Israel's very existence, but a fight to the death against the claims of liberty and democracy in Lebanon and throughout the region in the name of Islamic law as dictated by the Iranian mullahs." What should the United States do?
First, the Obama administration can stop encouraging the widespread view, rooted in decades of pan-Arab rhetoric, that the key to Middle East peace is solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Peace between Israel and the Palestinians should be assiduously pursued, but to suppose that the absence of a final agreement between them is what stands in the way of security and stability in the Middle East is to play into the hands of Arab governments that cynically use the conflict to shift their people's attention from their own countries' internal failings and destabilizing ambitions. Second, the United States can expand programs to support civil society in Lebanon, particularly K-12 education, and also economic development, particularly in the south, since one way to loosen Hezbollah's grip is to enable the Lebanese government to better provide the social services and financial support that, thanks to Iranian financing, Hezbollah now delivers. Third, the administration can redouble efforts to degrade Iran's ability to deliver cash and transfer funds electronically to Hezbollah. Fourth, it can place at the heart of engagement with Syria an insistence on cutting off the enormous flow of ammunition, machine guns, bombs, rockets, and missiles that Iran pumps through Damascus to southern Lebanon.
But ultimately, the future of Lebanon depends "most of all on crafting strategies to thwart Tehran's export of Islamic revolution" which, in the near term "depends most of all on thwarting Iran's drive to acquire nuclear weapons." Powerline
 Debka is reporting on its headline crawl that the Saudis have sent out an emergency request to the Gulf States for their Special Forces to assist in the fight against the Houthi rebels in northern Yemen. Analysis. The previous post based upon a story in Alsharq Alaswat may not be the whole story.
The Saudis, with the assistance of the Jordanian Special Forces, may well have controlled the border. The request for additional special forces probably means that the Saudis are attempting to destroy the Houthis as a threat both military and religious. As long as the Houthis exist in some number, the Saudis are subject to Iranian meddling on their southern border and the World is subject to the possibility of Iranian control of the southern entrance to the Red Sea by proxy. Should this conflict be the one that breaks the camel’s back, removing the Houthi threat eliminates one battle front that the Saudis and their allies must contend with.
That ally would most likely be the Egyptians at this point whose forces would be better used deployed in Jordan to take on the Syrians and Hezbollah. World Threats
 Lebanon's new cabinet has agreed on a policy statement that acknowledges Hezbollah's right to use its weapons against Israel, despite disagreement by some members of the ruling majority. Information Minister Tarek Mitri said late Wednesday after a cabinet committee set up to draft the statement met for the ninth time that an agreement had been reached. He said the new statement will retain the same clause approved by the previous cabinet as concerns the arsenal of Hezbollah, which fought a devastating war with Israel in 2006 and is considered a terrorist organization by Washington. The clause states the right of "Lebanon, its government, its people, its army and its resistance" to liberate all Lebanese territory. Hezbollah is commonly referred to as the resistance in Lebanon. Mitri said that reservations concerning the clause by members of the Western-backed majority would be noted in the government program. Christian members of the majority, including the Phalange Party and Lebanese Forces, argue that Hezbollah's arsenal undermines state authority and runs counter to UN resolutions. However, the Shiite party, which has two ministers in the 30-member unity cabinet, has made it clear that its weapons are not open to discussion. The party argues its arms are necessary to protect the country against any future aggression by Israel, which withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000 after a 22-year occupation. Lebanon's new cabinet is headed by Prime Minister Saad Hariri, whose US and Western-backed alliance defeated a Hezbollah-led opposition supported by Syria and Iran in a June vote. YNet
 DAMASCUS: Relations between Baghdad and Damascus have fallen to a new low after fresh allegations claiming Syrian complicity in bombings were aired on Iraqi state-run television.The damage to ties between the Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al Maliki, and his Syrian counterpart, the president, Bashar al Assad, is now “permanent”, Syrian and Iraqi politicians and analysts have warned. “If Maliki is re-elected as Iraq’s leader, his relations with Syria will never be warm,” said Mohammad Ghrawi, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq’s (ISCI) chief representative in Syria. “There is always hope that things will improve and that the two countries can function together on an official basis. But they will never be close, personal relations.” On August 18, Mr al Maliki met with Mr Assad in Damascus to conclude a strategic partnership between Syria and Iraq, a deal that promised a new era of co-operation. The following day two huge explosions devastated government buildings in Baghdad, killing more than 100 people and wounding 1,000 others. Almost immediately, Iraqi officials publicly blamed Syria for hosting the insurgents behind the attack. Iraq withdrew its recently appointed ambassador to Damascus, and Syria responded in kind. Baghdad then went even further and called on the United Nations to set up a tribunal to investigate the case. In consequence, the situation was already extremely tense when, on Sunday, Iraqi officials said suspects behind a more recent double suicide bombing originated in Syria.
The blasts on October 25 targeted Iraq’s ministry of justice, killing 160 and wounding more than 500, a death toll that made it the worst single incident in two years. More at the National
 Debka has two updates on the situation in Yemen and the Houthi Rebellion. First, Debka is reporting here that the Iranians are planning to deploy midget submarines to the area. This is apparently in response to the assignment of the USS Chosin to lead Task Force 151 patrolling the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The Yemeni conflict is fast evolving from a Houthi insurgency against the Abdullah Salah regime in Sanaa to a broad regional conflagration drawing in Saudi Arabia and Egypt as major players and increasingly the United States, whose involvement is building up into a direct confrontation with the rebels’ sponsor, Iran. The belief is that the Iranians are bringing the midget submarines to assist in the supplying of arms and equipment ot the Houthi rebels. On the same note, Debka is also reporting here that Jordan has sent its 2000 strong Special Forces to assist the Saudis in dealing with the Houthi Rebellion. This dispatch was at the request of the Saudis. At the same time the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) is reporting in translation here that Iran is attempting to create chaos during the Hajj. A few days before the Hajj (November 25-30, 2009), Iranian officials deliberately intensified statements calling on Shi’ites, and all Hajj pilgrims to Mecca, to conduct baraa - a kind of political protest against the infidels and apostates instituted by the founder of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini - against the U.S. and the Saudi Wahhabis, whom Iran currently claims are slaughtering Shi’ites in Yemen. [1] During the baraa ceremony, pilgrims demonstrate in denunciation of apostates and the enemies of Islam, chanting political slogans such as “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.” In addition, Iranian senior officials, as well as the country’s leading newspapers, hinted and warned that the unrest in Yemen would not be bound by that country’s borders, and could spill over into Saudi Arabia, threatening the stability of the regime there. It would appear that Iran is attempting to arouse unrest in Saudi Arabia, against the backdrop of increased demands in recent days by the U.S. and Russia that Iran accept the conditions for its nuclear program proposed by the 5+1 in Vienna, and also against the backdrop of the ongoing fighting in Yemen between the Shi’ite Houthis, who are aided by Iran, and the Yemen government troops, aided by Saudi Arabia, in which the latter side is prevailing. Please read the entire article which is too long to print here. Analysis.I believe that there can be little doubt that the theocracy of Iran is attempting to destabilize the region. Unlike the MEMRI analysis in the third paragraph above, I believe that the pressure on Iran to stop enriching uranium is only part of the impetus behind the Iranian efforts.
The major goal of the Iranians is to make Shia Islam the primary sect of Islam.
Shiites believe that the leadership of Islam should follow the lineage of the family of Mohammad. The Sunni believe that there is no supreme leader but that leadership in Islam is by a caliph selected as the most pious among them. Secondarily I believe that the theocracy is attempting to create the chaos necessary to cause the Hidden Imam to return. This particular confluence of events is most demonstrative of the goals. The Iranians have already established their Northwestern Front with Syria and Lebanon. Yemen is the Southwestern Front. Mecca is only about 350 miles from the Saudi/Yemeni border.
While I doubt that the Houthi could reach Mecca en masse, it is quite possible that small groups of saboteurs could reach Mecca and possibly cause a mess as happened in 1987. This would be another embarrassment to the Saudis. The question right now is how far the Iranians will go. Will they use their midget submarines to try and break the blockade of the Yemeni ports to get arms and supplies to the Houthis and take the chance of engaging American warships?
Will they cause the Syrians or Hezbollah to threaten Jordan to force the recall of the Jordanian Special Forces? Will they try to disrupt the Hajj? All the above? None of the above? Something in the Persian Gulf? At this point all we can do is react. That is not a good mode to be in but short of direct military action against Iran there is little that can be done at the moment. It is clear that diplomatic efforts are having no effect on Iran’s goals or actions.
I would expect that Debka will reveal additional meetings between the Intelligence chiefs of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel. Nor would I be surprised that the Iraqi Intelligence Chief had joined the group since the shrine that is built over the well that the Hidden Imam will use to return is in Iraq. World Threats
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Hamas political leader has said that his group will not recognise Israel despite new pressures and will give priority to building resistance to the Jewish state. 
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