Iran Today: Israel to Receive "Crushing Response"

Supreme Leader Watch

In a meeting with officials running elections, the Supreme Leader has declared that "no one has been able and no one will be able to postpone" June's Presidential ballot.

Ahmadinejad Watch

President Ahmadinejad, speaking in Urmia, has tried to define the Supreme Leader's declared "Year of Political and Economic Epic", while jabbing at his rivals: "Epic means destroying idolatry, putting things in the right place. All depends on one's will, not weapons and bank accounts."

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Syria Snap Analysis: What Did Israel Bomb, and Why?

One of the explosions on Mt. Qasioun, north of Damascus.

Early on Sunday morning, huge explosions rocked northern Damascus.

Scientists said that the explosions measured between two and three on the Richter scale, a scale designed to measure earthquakes. Giant balls of fire rose above Mt. Qasioun, a mountain that overlooks the capital and is at the center of Syria's largest military complex. The very symbol of Assad's control over Damascus was on fire.

The question remains, however, as to whether destabilizing Assad was the ultimate goal of this airstrike. At the very least, Israel has proven that it is willing to pick a side and go all in if it feels threatened.

This incident should also permanently put to rest the debate as to whether Assad's air defense is capable of standing up to external threats. Assad is completely vulnerable, and has been dealt a serious blow. As a result, Israel may have completely changed the debate about foreign intervention in a single instant, and may have catalyzed an international drive to remove Bashar al-Assad from power.

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Iran Today: The "Defending Shrines in Syria" Line

Saturday's Iran Today: "Supreme Leader is the Ultimate Decision-Maker"

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Foreign Affairs Watch (Syrian Front)

General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan, the head of Iran's ground forces, has restated Tehran's line on assistance to the Syrian regime.

Pourdastan said the Islamic Republic i"would help train" the Syrian army if Damascus seeks such assistance, "but [we] won't have any active involvement in the operations".

The General repeated the comment of the head of the Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Ali Jafari, from last autumn, "The Syrian army has accumulated experience during years of conflict with the Zionist regime (Israel) and is able to defend itself and doesn't need foreign assistance."

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Syria Today: Israel Airstrikes "Hit Military Research Centre"

See also Syria Snap Analysis: What Did Israel Bomb, and Why?
Middle East Today: Iraq --- Results from Provincial Elections Inconclusive
Saturday's Syria Today: Obama Maintains Cautious Line on US Intervention

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1900 GMT: Erdogan Denounces "Butcher" Assad

Turkish Prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has delivered his strongest denunciation of President Assad, "If God permits, we will see this butcher, this murderer receive his judgement in this world...and we will praise (God) for it."

Erdogan, speaking to lawmakers and party activists in a town near Ankara, addressed Assad, "You will pay a very, very heavy price for showing your courage to the babies in the cradle, the courage you cannot show others."

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Bahrain Special: How British Government Helped Regime Denounce Press Freedom...on World Press Freedom Day

Journalist Ahmed Hassan, Killed March 2012I suspect George Orwell would be impressed.

The headline on the British Government's website appears straight-forward: "British Embassy Bahrain Marks World Press Freedom Day". The introduction sounds promising: "The British Embassy asked Bahraini journalists and commentators to write a brief article outlining their views on the freedom of expression in Bahrain."

So who would the British government select to address this important issue and what would the answers be?

Would the British government open a discussion of how Bahrain's mainstream press and broadcasting is almost exclusively pro-regime outlets?

Would it allow comment from or pay tribute to those reporters who have tried to bring alternative views?

Would there be recognition of those journalists who have been refused entry to Bahrain, or asked to leave the country, or those who have been detained, sentenced to prison< terms, or even killed by security forces?

Well, no.

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Middle East Today: Iraq --- Results from Provincial Elections Inconclusive

See also Bahrain Special: How British Government Helped Regime Denounce Press Freedom...on World Press Freedom Day

Syria Today: Israel Airstrikes "Hit Military Research Centre"
Saturday's Middle East Today: Libya --- Tensions Continue Over Post-Qaddafi Laws

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Bahrain: Protestors Sentenced

A court has sentenced 31 protesters to 15 years in prison each for alleged roles in firebomb attacks against security forces during a demonstration last year, according to defence layer Mohamed al-Tajir.

The defendants, aged 16 to 34, all come from Sitra Island, a centre of protests since the rising began in February 2011.

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Syria Today: Obama Maintains Cautious Line on US Intervention

Protest in Beza'a in Aleppo Province on Friday

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1205 GMT: Sanctions and Surveillance

Documents establish that large amounts of computer equipment from Dell have been sold to the Syrian government through a Dubai-based distributor despite strict trade sanctions, according to The New York Times.

The computer equipment was sold by BDL Gulf, which is based in Saudi Arabia and is an authorised distributor for Dell in the Middle East and Africa and a reseller for other computer brands, including Samsung and Acer.

BDL sold the equipment to Anas Hasoon Trading, a Damascus-based company with contracts to provide computers to the Syrian government, according to billings records and e-mail exchanges between the companies.

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Middle East Today: Libya --- Tensions Continue Over Post-Qaddafi Laws

Troops Protecting Government Building in Tripoli

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Libya: Clashes Over "Exclusion" Legislation

Hundreds of demonstrators have protested against armed groups demanding the exclusion of officials from the regime of Muammar Qaddafi, who was overthrown in October 2011.

Several hundred people gathered in Tripoli's Algeria Square on Friday to protest against the gunmen, who have surrounded the Ministries of Justice and Foreign Affairs. They waved placards such as "The era of the militias is over", "Attacks on the ministries are attacks on the Libyan people", and "No to weapons, yes to dialogue."

When the crowd marched to Martyrs' Square, they were challenged by supporters of the law to exclude the Qaddafi-era officials from top government posts.

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Iran Feature: The Week in Civil Society --- From Economic Punishment to Women in "Bad Hijab"

Iranian Women Walk DogsThe cost of currency combined with crippling sanctions is hurting all sectors of Iran's society from business owners to pharmaceutical manufacturers to the population at large.

Iron sellers went on strike, a food for oil deal with Shell was blocked, and children are malnourished.

Iran's workers suffer from unpaid wages and poor safety regulations. Medical subsidies are being slashed, and a a new generation in Iran faces unemployment.

Meanwhile, Iran's morality police have identified the true source of Iran's woes: women in "bad hijab" and their lapdogs.

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Iran Today: "Supreme Leader is the Ultimate Decision-Maker"

Khatami Watch

Reformist former president Mohammad Khatami has said that mutual trust between the government and the Iranian people has disappeared during Ahmadinejad's presidency.

Khatami also said that the hopes and trust of the middle classes and young people had also eroded and must be restored. Iran's problems would not be solved, he added, without leadership and coordination.

Khatami said that Iran must first and foremost get over its "atmosphere of suspicion", and that currently a tough security atmosphere prevailed in Iran.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Leader's brother, Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Khamenei, has told the Fars News Agency that Iran's enemies are planning a complex plot ahead of the June presidential election, involving former president Hashemi Rafsanjani.

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