NGO: UN renews rights chief Pillay without consultations on her record

http://blog.unwatch.org/index.php/2012/05/15/ngo-un-renews-rights-chief-pillay-without-consultations-on-her-record/ After Ban Ki-moon’s announcement today that he supports a two-year extension for rights commissioner Navi Pillay, a non-governmental watchdog group says that the decision was made - pending the UNGA’s rubber stamp -...

Analysis: Turmoil in Egypt

As Egypt's much-anticipated moment of crisis arrived and popular rebellions shook governments across the Middle East, Iran stands as never before at the center of the region. Its Islamist rulers are within sight of...

Congress secretly approves U.S. weapons flow to ‘moderate’ Syrian rebels

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-usa-syria-rebels-20140127,0,3701116.story WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Light arms supplied by the United States are flowing to "moderate" Syrian rebel factions in the south of the country and U.S. funding for months of further deliveries has been approved...

The Al-Nusra Front (Jabhat al-Nusra) is an Al-Qaeda Salafist-jihadi network, prominent in the rebel...

http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/en/article/20573 Al-Qaeda Entrenchment in Syria 1. During the Syrian civil war two branches of Al-Qaeda established themselves among the rebel organizations fighting to overthrow the regime of Bashar Assad. The most prominent is the Al-Nusra...

On the Brink: Decline of US trained Palestinian Security Forces

US-trained Palestinian Security Force under General Dayton November 2009 Prepared with a research grant from the Middle East Forum EXECUTIVE SUMMARY After nearly 20 years, the Palestinian Authority, the PA, has achieved the dubious reputation of being...

The Role of Iranian Security Forces in the Syrian Bloodshed

http://jcpa.org/article/the-role-iranian-security-forces-syrian-bloodshed-2/ Amid the intensifying crisis in Syria, which in recent weeks has seen massacres of the civilian population in various parts of the country, Iranian military, propaganda, and economic assistance keeps flowing in, and its...

Palestinian Reconciliation and the Rising Power of Hamas and Islamic Jihad: An Iranian Windfall

http://jcpa.org/article/palestinian-reconciliation-and-the-rising-power-of-hamas/ Vol. 14, No. 14 May 14, 2014 Fatah and Hamas are continuing to talk in an attempt to translate the reconciliation agreement, signed between the sides on April 23, 2014, into a series of operative...

For Ilhan Omar, not all foreign influence spending is bad

During her time in Congress, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) has frequently voiced concern over the influence of foreign interests on American politics — most controversially with regard to the pro-Israel community in the U.S. But when she visited Qatar...
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani at the State Department in Washington, D.C. on March 5, 2024. Credit: Chuck Kennedy/U.S. State Department.

Terror-supporting Qatar is no friend of the West

Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel directed global attention not only to the terror group itself, but to its financial backer, Qatar. The tiny Persian Gulf state has long been a subject of controversy...

Commentary: Gaza, Israel’s Military Position, and more

An initial report has been delivered on what happened in Gaza: apparently a malfunction in the radar of the artillery battery. Defense Secretary Peretz has now ordered a review of artillery fire procedures and...