On Tuesday, Israeli Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin, director of Military Intelligence, announced that Hamas had launched a rocket some 60 kilometers into the sea- meaning it could hit Tel Aviv. He also told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Hamas has accumulated an arsenal of rockets slightly larger than the arsenal it possessed before last winter’s Operation Cast Lead.

Hamas offered two different responses. First, the allegation was not rejected publicly but Israel was blamed for manipulating the international community. In the beginning, a spokesman for the organization’s military wing, Abu Obeida, said: “The occupation can say whatever it likes, and whatever it says is dubious.” Later, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum stated that the diplomatic crisis triggered by the report “has led the Zionist enemy to make up excuses in an attempt to instigate public opinion against Hamas.”

So, was this really a tactical manoeuvre to mislead the international community and strengthen Israel’s hand in the face of increasing criticisms, or a confession that the offensive in Gaza was a big failure?

Tags: Abu Obeida, Amos Yadlin, Fawzi Barhum, Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Operation Cast Lead

After the purported re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the President of Iran, a selection of reactions both from inside Iran and from the rest of the world:

Mir Hossein Mousavi, Reformist Candidate:

“I’m warning I will not surrender to this dangerous charade. The result… will jeopardize the pillars of the Islamic Republic and will establish tyranny.”

Mehdi Karroubi, Reformist Candidate:

“Evidently the results and the institution coming out of such a vote count is illegitimate and unacceptable.”
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Tags: Afghanistan, Ali al-Dabbagh, Amr Moussa, Arab League, Avigdor Lieberman, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Bashar Al-Assad, Canada, election, EU Presidency, European Union, Fawzi Barhum, Fawzi Salloukh, France, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany, Hamas, Hamid Karzai, Hillary Clinton, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Lawrance Cannon, Lebanon, Mehdi Karroubi, Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mohsen Rezai, Syria, the United States