Arab Spring Winter
• Palestinians factions in Lebanon agreed to hand over terror suspects to Lebanese authorities. This comes in the wake of Thursday’s rocket attack on northern Israel which drew IDF retaliation. See Daily Star and Times of Israel coverage.
• From AP:
• French media reports say Israeli, Jordanian, and American commandos are already operating in Syria. Details at Israel HaYom. The original French-language report is at Le Figaro.
• According to the Jerusalem Post, (Sunni) Arab media calls for US intervention in Syria are “at a fever pitch.”
• As the likelihood of intervention in Syria rises, so have Israeli requests for gas mask kits. The number of citizens asking for the kits has jumped fourfold in recent days.
• CNN visited “Layla,” a young Syrian girl getting medical treatment in Israel’s Sieff Hospital. Reporter Jim Clancy adds that the number of Syrians being treated in Israel is rising.
Half of the available beds in the intensive care unit here are filled with Syrian wounded brought in the last week alone.
• Hezbollah has more than 10,000 people fighting in Syria, estimates Now Lebanon.
• Dahiyah residents aren’t getting any sympathy from me if Hezbollah security measures kill their businesses. They voted for Hezbollah:
“People from outside Dahiyah are avoiding the area for now,” says Hassan Saleh, a fruit and vegetable salesman, using the Arabic word for “suburb,” which is the name given to the southern district of Beirut. “Those living here are staying at home and not going out.”
• The Wall St. Journal profiles Saudi prince Bandar bin Sultan, who is spearheading the Arab world’s efforts to topple Bashar Assad.
• This terrific letter to the editor making the rounds online was originally published by the Financial Times (click via Google News).
• For more commentary/analysis, see Lee Smith, Dr. Reuven Berko, Yaakov Lappin, Michael Rubin, Mitch Ginsburg, Nicholas Blanford, Bill Keller, Yoav Limor, Zvi Bar’el, and Michael Tomasky.
(Image of burning church via YouTube/VexZeen)
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream.
