Wednesday, May 15, 2013 at 9:21 | Scott Lucas in EA Live, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran 
Assad & Netanyahu: BFFs (says Jerusalem Post)Step up, Jerusalem Post....
"Israel, Hezbollah, Iran are working with Assad"
Really? We get Hezbollah and Iran the part. But Israel?
Wednesday, May 15, 2013 at 5:34 | James Miller in EA Live, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran 1930 GMT: Even Government Sources Admit Baniyas is Different.
The Baniyas massacre on Syria's coast may be a singular event that stands out as being dramatically different than all the other massacres. For starters, the scale of the massacre is at least among the worst of all of Syria's massacres, though some reports suggest that it may be magnitudes worse than any event that has taken place since the start of this crisis. Also, this incident had a clearly sectarian nature to it that is not disputed - Alawite militias loyal to President Assad targeted Sunnis, many of them children, and killed them en masse. In a thorough, nuanced, and eloquent description of the massacre, the New York Times' Anne Barnard and Hania Mourtada point out that the Assad government typically blames civilian deaths on "terrorists" even when their own forces and loyalists are implicated. This time, however, even the government admitted that its people were responsible for a mass killing, though they tell a different tale than Baniyas's residents:
Multiple video images that residents said they had recorded in Bayda and Ras al-Nabeh — of small children lying where they died, some embracing one another or their parents — were so searing that even some government supporters rejected Syrian television’s official version of events, that the army had “crushed a number of terrorists.”
One prominent pro-government writer, Bassam al-Qadi, took the unusual, risky step of publicly blaming loyalist gunmen for the killings and accusing the government of “turning a blind eye to criminals and murderers in the name of ‘defending the homeland.’ “
The article chronicles some of the evidence and eyewitness reports. It also argues that there were those who were trying to break with the sectarian nature of the killings even while the violence was ongoing. In the end, however, it's a must-read article on a story that has been under-reported.
Saeed Jalili Posts Photos On His New Google Plus Account
Presidential Election Watch: Rohani to Withdraw in Favour of Rafsanjani
Hassan Rohani, a senior official with the Expediency Council, has indicated that he will withdraw his candidacy in favour of former President Hashemi Rafsnajni --- but after the Guardian Council has finished its vetting process:
I am happy that Rafsanjani registered for the candidacy and people should be patient for another 10 days as I think some candidates will step down in favour of other candidates.
EA's Scott Lucas spoke with Monocle 24's The Briefing this afternoon about the latest US and British rhetoric on Syria.
Listen from 17:26 on The Briefing homepage or in a separate pop-out window
In a week when British Prime Minister David Cameron met Russian leader Vladimir Putin and then US President Barack Obama, have Washington and London moved from support of the insurgency to a political accommodation with the regime?
And what of others involved in the conflict --- for example, why is Iran talking so tough this week?
Turkey: 1st Kurdish Fighters Move to Iraq
In the first withdrawal of fighters of the Kurdish insurgency PKK from Turkey under an ongoing peace process, 13 men and women have arrived in Iraq.
The group was carrying Kalashnikov assault rifles, light machineguns, and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.
PKK fighters began leaving positions in southeast Turkey on 8 May after a cease-fire declared by their imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is in talks with the Turkish Government.
About 2000 PKK fighters are based in Turkey and will join several thousand comrades in bases in northern Iraq in a process expected to take several months.
Registered candidates in the 2013 Presidential election
What does this shift from parties to personalities and atomised politics mean?
The easy notion of a Supreme Leader manipulating and shaping politics through his position and networks is under strain. Ayatollah Khamenei finds that he is not acting but reacting to the initiatives of others.
Nikahang Kowsar's vision of Hashemi Rafsanjani and the Supreme Leader in the Presidential election
See also Iran Special: EA's Guide to the Presidential Election
Iran Analysis: Presidential Election --- Good-bye Parties; Hello, Personalities and "Atomised Politics"
Monday's Iran Today: Rafsanjani & Jalili Put Out Campaign Slogans
Presidential Election Watch: Supreme Leader's Man Renews "Sedition" Attack on Rafsanjani
MP Gholam Ali Haddad Adel, a member of the Supreme Leader's "2+1 Committee" has renewed the "sedition" attack on former President Hashemi Rafsanjani by linked him to the detained opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi: “Everyone who supported Mousavi in [the disputed 2009 Presidential election] is today supporting Hashemi Rafsanjani.”
Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 6:04 | Scott Lucas in EA Live, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran 2110 GMT: Islamist Faction Executes Pro-Regime Militia in Raqqa
Graphic video posted on YouTube today shows the execution of three men, claimed to be pro-regime militia, in the main square of the city of Raqqa.
Before the execution, a man reads out a statement declaring the execution to be in response to the mass killing of residents of the coastal town of al-Bayada, near Baniyas, earlier this month.
The man signs off the statement with a reference to the "Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham".
The identity of the faction is unclear as is any affiliation with large Islamist groups such as Jabhat al-Nusra, which has been prominent in the takeover of Raqqa.
Residents of Raqqa have rallied tonight in protest against the executions.
Monday, May 13, 2013 at 9:23 | James Miller in EA Live, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran 1613 GMT: Rebels Make "Rules of War" Videos.
Al Jazeera English reports that a non-government organization, Geneva Call, has helped the Syrian National Coalition to develop videos that spell out the codes of conduct for rebel fighters that explain the international standards that their fighters should follow:
1546 GMT: Rebels Reportedly Shoot Down Helicopter.
The LCC is reporting that a "warplane" delivering supplies to the Abu ad Duhor airbase has been shot down (map). "Warplane" is a strange linguistic feature unique to Syria, as it sometimes means "military helicopter" or "military airplane," but helicopters have often been used to supply this besieged air base at the intersection of Hama, Idlib, and Aleppo provinces. Furthermore, several sources are posting this video:
Omran al-Zoubi, Syria, Turkey 
A Former Soldier And A Diplomat: Presidential Candidate Saeed Jalili Tweets Photograph of Military Past
Presidential Election Watch: Backing Rafsanjani (continued)
The Reformist Coordination Council has welcomed the candidacy of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani and called on all reformists to participate in a statement of support.Presidential Election Watch: Hardline Kayhan Criticizes Rafsanjani
In a lengthy editorial on Monday, Hossein Shariatmadari, editor of hardline newspaper Kayhan, which is close to the Supreme Leader, criticized the decision of former president Hashemi Rafsanjani to register his candidacy, asking what the point of doing so had been, and suggesting that it could have been a cover for the reformists to return to the political scene.
Kayhan criticized the wide coverage the Iranian press has given to Rafsanjani's registration as a candidate.
