Iranian Atomic Urgency
• Meir Javedanfar weighs in on the Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander assassinated in either Lebanon or Syria:
It’s very difficult to believe that Shateri was there “to implement reconstruction and development projects” as the Iranian government claims. These days in Aleppo, development of the city is not on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s agenda. Defeating the rebels from around the city is.
What Shateri was most probably doing was acting as a liaison between the IRGC Quds force and Assad’s forces who are battling the Syrian opposition forces. His involvement in “reconstruction projects” was most probably just a cover.
Meanwhile, the Wall St. Journal (via Google News) quotes Syrian rebels claiming that Shateri was actually killed in Israel’s air strike on the Syrian convoy/military facility.
• Worth reading: Why Iran Already Has the Bomb
If North Korea has the bomb, then for all practical purposes Iran does, too. If that’s so, then Obama’s policy of prevention has failed, and containment—a policy that the president has repeatedly said is not an option—is in fact all Washington has.
Arab Spring Winter
• For the first time since the civil war began, injured Syrians (a group of seven) were brought to Israel for medical treatment. AP picked up on the story:
“It was on a humanitarian basis,” Israeli Vice Premier Moshe Yaalon told channel two TV. “Refugees approached the border, received medical treatment, and we decided to bring them in for treatment in our territory in light of their condition,” he said. Yaalon stressed that there is no change in Israeli policy and that a large influx of Syrians will not be allowed.
It was unclear whether the Syrians are rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad, forces loyal to him or civilians caught in the crossfire.
• Hezbollah’s offering Lebanese refuge to the Syrian army’s Alawite officers. Asharq al-Awsat explains how both sides benefit:
On one hand, the aim of this offer was to calm down the growing concern of many Alawite officers that they may be tried as war criminals or be the targets of bloody liquidation after they have become convinced that the regime will fall sooner or later. On the other hand, the offer aims at reinforcing the ranks of Hezbollah’s fighters with veteran Alawite officers with high combat experience.
• Bahrain busted terror cell with apparent Iran ties.
• Tunisia the world’s biggest exporter of jihad.
Rest O’ the Roundup
• Sheik Hassan Nasrallah: No comment on the Bulgaria report.
• Times of London: Israel’s finalizing plans for a Red-Med railway alternative to the Suez Canal.
Israeli officials have publicly denied suggestions that the plan threatens Egypt’s monopoly of one of the world’s most important trade routes. But privately they admitted that they were being asked to plan for the “day after” a closure of the canal.
(Image of Fischer via Flickr/World Economic Forum, Shateri via YouTube/MinWashingtonNews, tracks via Flickr/Ian Sane)
For more, see Thursday’s Israel Daily News Stream.
