Syria

By Clarity Staff Reporter • January 2nd, 2009

We have been reporting on how Iran may well direct the Arab reaction to the Israeli attacks on the Gaza, and now it appears Syria and Iran are together orchestrating the response. Both Iran and Syria are actively involved in dialog and supplying Hezbollah. Israel needs to be keeping at least one eye on [...]

The US war in Iraq has subtly, but crucially, shifted the balance of power in the Middle East. The ramifications are still playing out, can be seen at work in the Israeli attacks on the Gaza, and may be the single most important policy bungle that costs the West in the coming years. President Bush was, always and [...]

  The Israeli government’s focus seems to be firmly centered on the potential for domestic violence emanating from Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and the worrisome nuclear programs in Iran. While Israel may be focusing on the close to home issues, there is a much more dangerous threat to Israel’s security, and that threat is [...]

  Where there is a will there is a way, allegations are circulating that Venezuela’s President Chavez, has his sticky fingers in the Middle East arms controversy in Syria and Iran. The Italian newspaper, La Stampa, citing intelligence sources reports that the Venezuelan national airline is smuggling missile parts and other sanction-busting technology on its scheduled [...]

  The arrest of the 23 supposed Iraqi security officials alleged to have been in a conspiracy to reestablish Saddam Hussein Baath’s party has been widely reported. Today, they were all released by a judge who said, they cannot be detained  “because they are innocent.”  All charges have been dismissed against the 23 - 19 of [...]

   The Russian foreign policies towards the Middle East are something akin to a multiple personality disorder. They are on one hand the preachers of peace and reconciliation in the region, while they simultaneously shovel as much advanced weaponry and nuclear technology there as they can. The dualism is to a degree understandable. Russia is [...]

Why is President Bush still making monumental mistakes on the world stage? What is President Bush’s problem with Syria? How undiplomatic can he behave in the final days of his office? Bush reached new lows recently in the arts of diplomacy and in his laughable stature as a statesman. In a recent meeting with [...]

Given the hard line approach to relations with Syria that the Bush Administration is taking, one has to assume they are privy to some pertinent information that nobody else knows. It appears that the US, given any potential forum likes to slam Syria’s actions and intents. This runs contrary to the softening of rhetoric [...]

  There appears to be a mini-race in the Middle East at the moment to become a member of the nuclear club. Many analysts believe that this is bacause other countries do not want to lag behind Iran. They are fearful of an uneven balance of power where Iran becomes the dominant regional power. Israel has nuclear power [...]

There had been hope that US President-Elect Obama’s victory might act as a catalyst for change in the mired Middle East. Reports from Syria this morning may well be evidence that this could be the case. Sami Mubayed often viewed as an official voice of Syria, wrote this morning that Syria would stand down Hamas and [...]

It has been a busy few days for Damascus, and for the media that have been following the US attack inside Syria. The US has still not officially confirmed or denied the attack inside the Syrian border that killed 8 people was a US action. Syria however, unlike Pakistan who is subject to similar [...]

  The consequences of the US attack in Syria are beginning to reverberate internationally. The Syrian Foreign Minister, in London for meetings with the British government, cancelled the meetings in outrage. At the same time the British newspaper, The Times, said that the attack should serve as a warning to Syria to cease its relationship [...]

Reports from Damascus are circulating that 4 US helicopters covertly landed 5 miles within Syrian sovereign territory. They dispatched US special services operatives who raided a construction site - the result 8 dead civilians (or alleged insurgents) and whole diplomatic storm. If confirmed, this is the first US attack within Syria (though Israel has done [...]

The region’s newspapers carried quite a few worrying stories last night. These stories show an escalation of tension in many of the issues we have been covering,  so let’s get the overnight updates.
In Israel, “settlers’ angry at the destruction of one of their illegal outposts by Israeli soldiers responded, not against the Israeli Defense [...]

Have you ever heard of a worker being called unexpectedly to go and visit his company’s human resources manager. He thinks he is getting promoted but unknown to him, the HR manager has been instructed to fire him. We feel much the same about the proposed non-aggression treaty suddenly being discussed between Israel and [...]