Syria Live: "We Are Stronger Than Those Who Would Divide Us"

Protest in Kafranbel in Idlib Province on Friday

See also Iran- Syria-North Korea Shocker: Congress Reveals US Threatened by "Evil Love Triangle"
Syria Opinion: The Danger of Confusing "Islamists" and "Jihadists"
Egypt (and Beyond) Live: Mubarak Retrial OpensEgypt (and Beyond) Live: Mubarak Retrial Opens
Friday's Syria Live: G8 Foreign Ministers Say Little of Note After Two-Day Meeting

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1945 GMT: Airstrike. Graphic footage has been posted which claims to be of people trying to put a fire, including burning victims, after an airstrike on Jobar in Damascus.

1915 GMT: Insurgents and "Al Qa'eda". The opposition Syrian National Coalition has chided Jabhat al-Nusra leader Abu Mohammad al-Golani for praising the ideals of Al Qa'eda head Ayman al-Zawahiri while emphasising that JAN is fighting with and for the Syrian people:

The Coalition views with utmost concern recent statements made regarding the Syrian people and the rebels....We urge Jabhat al Nusra to stay within the ranks of nationalistic Syrians, to continue its efforts in fighting the Assad regime, and in supporting and protecting the freedom of all Syrian sects.

Other factions within the insurgency have also criticised the al-Golani statement.

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Iran- Syria-North Korea Shocker: Congress Reveals US Threatened by "Evil Love Triangle"

Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen speaks at the "Breaking the Iran, North Korea and Syria Nexus" hearing on Thursday

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An evil love triangle is threatening the world and the US must intervene to stop it, was the no-nonsense message from House Foreign Affairs Committee leaders this week.

The dastardly trio of Syria, North Korea and Iran are embroiled in a torrid "triangular relationship", lawmakers warned. While Pyongyang and Tehran were working together to build a nuclear bomb, the Iranian mullahs were supplying weapons to Damascus.

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Syria Opinion: The Danger of Confusing "Islamists" and "Jihadists" (Khan)

Mass demonstration last month in Raqqa, soon after the city was taken by insurgent forces including Islamists

See also Syria Special: The Media Creates the "Al Qa'eda Myth"
EA Video Analysis: The "Al Qa'eda Myth" and Syria

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The commander --- a Dutch dentist of Syrian origin who called himself simply ‘Doctor’ --- was a member of the Ahrar al-Sham, the most powerful Islamist group in the vast array of factions fighting against the Syrian regime. His was a common perspective amongst the Salafi Islamists I met in northern Syria: measured, well-thought out and intellectually consistent, drawing on the realities of a war inexorably descending into factional chaos. Syria is on a knife’s edge, they told me. The regime will fall but most didn’t expect the fighting to end there. They feared a larger sectarian war and were practically begging the international community to help them prevent it.

It was a stark contrast to the few jihadists I encountered, whose only cerebral quality seemed to be their proficiency with weapons. Those men, aligned with the al Qaeda-linked Jabhat al -Nusra, spoke in terms familiar to a Western audience: global jihad, the re-establishment of the Caliphate, and, most frighteningly, perpetual war until their rule over Muslims is achieved.

Conflating the two groups is like mixing Christian fundamentalists with the Amish. And yet, Western governments continually cringe at the thought of Islamists, particularly Salafis, gaining a foothold in the various revolutions playing out in the so-called Arab Spring.

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Egypt (and Beyond) Live: Mubarak Retrial Opens

See also Syria Live: "We Are Stronger Than Those Who Would Divide Us"
Friday's Israel (and Beyond) Live: A Quiet "Freeze" on Settlement Expansion?

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1925 GMT: Palestine. West Bank Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has submitted his resignation to President Mahmud Abba, despite US efforts for him to stay on.

"Fayyad met Abbas for half an hour in the president's headquarters in Ramallah in the West Bank and officially handed him his written resignation," a Palestinian official said.

Abbas tasked Fayyad with the role of caretaker for the current government until a new Prime Minister is appointed, another official said.

Late Friday, US Secretary of State John Kerry telephoned Abbas to press him to find common ground with his prime minister over economic policies, Palestinian officials said.

A senior Palestinian official said Fayyad had had his letter of resignation prepared since 23 March but put off submitting it because of a visit to Israel and Palestine by US President Barack Obama and Abbas's overseas trips.

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EA Video Analysis: The "Al Qa'eda Myth" and Syria

>Syria Special: The Media Creates the "Al Qa'eda Myth"

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Complementary to Joanna Paraszczuk's analysis of this week's media coverage of a supposed merger between "Al Qa'eda in Iraq" and the Syrian insurgent faction Jabhat al-Nusra, I offer an eight-minute critique of how the "Al Qa'eda myth" has entrenched itself in US foreign policy and is now being promoted by the media to explain developments in Syria.

Iran Live: Ex-President Rafsanjani's Camp Makes Its Election Move

Iran Feature: The Week in Review --- Threats and Arrests Before the Presidential Election
Thursday's Iran Live: Ahmadinejad "Presidential Election Will Be Political Epic"

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1407 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Mohammad Hassan Asfari of Parliament's National Security Commission has said that a proposed festival in Azadi Stadium in Tehran is a gathering of Ahmadinejad which is an abuse of public funds and is illegal.

1253 GMT: Your Tehran Friday Prayer Update. In today’s sermon, Ayatollah Movahedi Kermani warned Presidential candidates that loyalty to the Supreme Leader is a vital prerequisite for the position, stating that the Presidency is not a position of personal power but a “trusteeship of the divine”.

He also offered his sympathies for those affected by Wednesday’s earthquake in Bushehr Province that killed at least 37 people and injured hundreds more.

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EA Audio Analysis: The Reagan-Thatcher "Special Relationship" --- Scott Lucas with the BBC

I spoke with BBC WM last night, in the context of the recent death of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, about her "special relationship" with US President Ronald Reagan.

Listen to discussion from 37:04 mark

The take-away on the surface is that a lot of the relationship was symbolic, with Thatcher's exploitation of it --- given her challenge to notions of "society" in Britain --- even greater than Reagan's effect in the US.

The shrewd listener, however, will be able to detect further thoughts behind carefully-chosen words.

Iran Feature: The Week in Review --- Threats and Arrests Before the Presidential Election (Arseh Sevom)

With a Presidential election season on the horizon, speculation begins about likely candidates while officials create an atmosphere of insecurity with rumours and fear-mongering.

Civil society actors in Khuzestan are rounded up. The family of a former framer of the Constitution is told that there can be no public gathering for his funeral.

The Minister of Education has lobbied for segregated university classrooms leaving some asking, “What’s next? Divided hallways?”

Economic woes are nothing new in Iran with inflation at 31.5%, yet the market is flooded with cheap fruit.

The country now has the second-highest rate of traffic fatalities.

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Israel (and Beyond) Live: A Quiet "Freeze" on Settlement Expansion?

1625 GMT:Egypt. In an apparent show of defiance of a report criticising Egypt's armed forces, President Morsi has promoted several generals.

A Government-commissioned report, portions of which have been leaked, has found that officers killed, tortured and abducted Egyptians during the 2011 uprising against the Mubarak regime and protests over the following two years.

Standing alongside members of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Morsi said: "Any insult against the armed forces is an insult against all of us, and we reject any kind of insults....I announce this to the whole world: we appreciate the great role that the armed forces has been playing in maintaining the safety and security of this country."

Morsi promoted three major-generals to the honorific title of lieutenant-general.

As the President listened, the head of the armed forces, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, said:

The armed forces during the last two years was very, very fond of Egypt and the people of Egypt and did not commit any malpractices whatsoever. By God I swear that the army, since 25 January 2011, did not kill and did not order to kill, did not deceive and did not order to deceive.

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Syria Live: G8 Foreign Ministers Say Little of Note After Two-Day Meeting

1842 GMT: Israel Fires Artillery into Syria. According to Al Jazeera English, the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) exchanged fire with a target in Syria:

"No soldiers were injured and no damage was caused," the statement said.

"IDF soldiers responded with artillery fire towards the source of the shooting."

The statement said "a direct hit was identified" and that the army had informed UN authorities about the incident.

Israel's Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said after a previous incident of a Syrian mortal shell and small-arms fire on the Golan that his nation would respond to any attacks on its territory.

1615 GMT: Qamishli Under Attack. Months ago it appeared that a rebel coalition that included a strong representation of Jabhat al Nusra fighters was set to take Qamishli, a largely-Kurdish city in the northeastern corner of Syria (map). Qamishli city has had a strong presence of anti-Assad protests, but Assad still has outposts in the city, particularly in the south. Also, the Kurdish leadership, both the members of the PYD and others, have reached an agreement with the rebels to govern the city themselves. It's unclear if that agreement has broken down, or whether Kurdish groups have joined this attack. However, heavy clashes are reported near the airport to the south (map) which is reportedly being shelled by rebel fighters. The video below reportedly shows smoke rising over the city as a result of the fighting.

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