Mid East Daily

Fighting and infighting continues in Gaza, Palestine. Intriguing part is, enemy keeps changing. Now the issue is no longer Palestine-Israel fight. It is a clash within two groups in Gaza, Hamas and Fatah. Further, there are rifts within clans supporting Fatah.

Hamas wants to control and rule over 1.5 million Palestinians in the coastal Gaza strip. On Saturday, in retaliation to earlier bombing, Hamas attacked the Hilles clan, whose chief had been associated with Fatah. Interestingly, the clan members sought refuge at Israeli border. More intriguing part unfolded when Fatah too tried to distance itself from this clan. So, members of Hilles, who fled during the attack by Hamas, had no option but to be at mercy of Israel!

Having suffered setbacks in Saudi Arabia and Iraq, Al Qaeda has turned its attention towards an impoverished Yemen to relaunch the Islamic Jihad against Western targets both in the Arabian peninsula and abroad. Since the september eleventh bombings in the United States, Yemen reluctantly took the side of Washington and now it is bearing the brunt of an Al Qaeda backlash.

Wild passion can be dangerous, especially when it comes from extremist groups like the al-Qaeda. Their latest weapon, according to The US Army is to deploy women for terrorist attacks, as women have the advantage of becoming almost sure shot live weapons, both emotionally and physically! Captain Matthew Shown, the intelligence officer for Sabre Squadron, 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armoured Cavalry Regiment, which is based in southeast Diyala, Baghdad, says,

Some Women are easy prey because their husband or children have been killed or detained by US forces. They will try to use whatever works best for them to attempt to exploit whatever political or cultural restrictions we have. Now they’ve adapted to try to use female suicide bombers.

With the completion of the withdrawal of 28,500 US troops posted in the recent military build up in Iraq, the country for now is taking in a gasp of fresh but temporary calm. According to Pentagon only 490 deaths have been reported in the month of June, a far cry from 3,700 Iraqi deaths in the fall of 2006. This has given some breathing space even to U.S. officials and politicians.

In Baghdad, people now can be found roaming on the streets, going to bars and generally conducting the normal peace time activities, though restricted to aware confines of their own districts. Tension, though, is prevalent across the land. The usual kidnapping, suicide attacks, and assassinations still occur but added to that is the question of what after the US withdrawal? The internal and difficult question over the distribution of power in the future is as yet unsettled and unanswered and thus, a cause of uneasiness among the competing groups.

Iran test-fired nine missiles on Wednesday. It didn’t forget to add that Israel and U.S. assets were within missile reach. Iran has sent a strong and clear warning that it’ll retaliate if there is any military attack on its nuclear projects. Now US is left with no choice but to brainstorm on how to rein in this country. Iran’s nuclear ambitions can be reined-in only by long-term policies, recommends a study report by Rand Research Organisation. Any military action will only make things worse. It’ll create widespread ill-will against US and will not make Tehran change its mind about pursuing nuclear weapons programs.

Iraqi Prime minister Nuri al-Maliki has an unenvious job. He has to keep the Americans as well as his countrymen happy. Lately there have been increasing voices in the Iraqi parliament against any deal with the US to enable its forces to continue staying in Iraq after the UN mandate ends. That is why Maliki is hoping for a memorandum of understanding with the Americans rather than a deal. He need not have to take the MOU to the country’s parliament.

Moreover for the first time the PM has asked for a clause about a timetable for ending US military presence in Iraq. This clearly points to the increasing dislike to continued US presence amongst Iraqis. Maliki had to make the demand to safeguard his political interests.

UN has a very strong presence in conflict zone of Darfur, Sudan. UN’s World Food Program (WFP) is carrying out one of the largest food aid operation; United Nations-African Missions Joint Peacekeeping Force (UNAMID) has been trying to protect people for almost five years. Yet, hundreds and thousands of people have died due to continuing conflicts and thousands in the relief camps are suffering. What exactly ails UN in Darfur?

‘U.S. attack cannot stop Iran’s N-program’ - Better late than never, finally White house is banking on diplomatic measures instead of military action to act as deterrent for Iran’s nuclear program. Speaking on behalf of President Bush, White House Spokesperson dismissed prospects of military attack against Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Is it that Bush administration waking to reality that violence begets only violence and military attack is an expensive futile exercise? Experts have warned that any attack will only delay Iran’s nuclear plans and encourage them to acquire some more nuclear expertise and nuclear weapons. US also lacks intelligence information on number of nuclear facilities the country has throughout Iran. Mulling military action will make Iran bury its facilities too to be detected from air. So is it lack of intelligence information and precise evidence that’s forcing Bush to use diplomacy here?

Syria has suddenly become the centre of attention amongst the US and European nations. The IAEA team is now in the country to inspect the alleged damaged nuclear plant bombed by Israel. The US says the Syrians have cleared the site and rebuilt it, so one doubts if anything concrete will come out of the inspection.

But the west has understood that Syria can do much nuclear mischief if it keeps co-operating with Iran and North Korea. Another important factor is that it has influence over Hamas in Gaza and the Hezbollah in Lebanon. So the Europeans have changed tactics. Now instead of treating Syria as a rogue, efforts are on to woo it. The belief is if Syria is drawn away from Iran, the latter country will be considerably weakened.

The dwindling patches of common ground between Tehran and the West - a 560 mile long stretch of dikes and trenches along Afghan border - may soon look desolate. This would be the dream-turn-true situation for the international drug lords of Afghanistan. Since Iran has repeatedly refused to back off from its uranium enrichment program, it is time to break the deadlock. Under the twist-or-break-arm tactics, European Union is now considering to link the fight against drug menace to making Iran uranium-free.

Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, due to face parliament dissolution bill, has lost last chance to make ceasefire negotiations with Hamas mediated by Egypt work in his favour. A rocket attack on Israeli border town of Sderot from Hamas controlled Gaza strip not only violated ceasefire within five days, but is also likely to cost Ehud Olmert his office. Knesset, Israeli Parliament, is set to vote for a bill for its dissolution today. Faced with growing opposition demand to step down or face the bill, the Israeli Prime Minister tried his best to overcome domestic troubles by forging new diplomatic openings and dialogue to give peace a chance in Middle East.

Cuba has welcomed the European Unions decision to lift sanctions against the Communist nation. Cuba was always convinced that ‘truth’ and ‘reason’ would prevail over the measures taken against them. This is one of the first positive reactions that are coming out of the regime of Raul Castro after Fidel Castro transferred power recently. The move however, was not welcomed by the US.

Fidel Castro had his own opinions after the sanctions were lifted. He felt that the EU had no right to critic human rights in Cuba while keeping a blind eye towards the abuses by the Bush administration.

A major military exercise carried out by Israel earlier this month has given rise to the speculation of a possible military aggression against Iranian nuclear establishments by Israel. Rumors doing the rounds in media are strongly supported by US officials. Greek air force’s central command too has come up with the revelation that it had taken part in a joint exercise with Israel off the Mediterranean island of Crete on May 28 and June 12. It was code named “Glorious Spartan 08.” The exercise involved 100 Israeli F-16 and F-15 fighters.

While this report warrants a serious scrutiny, media assigned it a form that demonstrated Israel’s serious concern over Iran’s nuclear ambitions. The result was that senior Iranian cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami warned Israel of a strong repercussion if it nurtured armed designs against Iran. Most probably, the report of this joint military exercise brought the June 6 statement of Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz to the fore of his brain, in which Mofaz had warned that Iran would face attack if it did not halt its nuclear weapons program.

Is Iran’s controversial nuclear program starting a nuclear arms race in the Middle East? If a report by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) is to be believed, then at least 13 countries in the region are exploring plans to start nuclear energy programs or revive their pre-existing nuclear programs.

While it is too early to say with certainty the intention of these countries, but besides nuclear threat from Iran, soaring energy prices is seen as a major reason for these countries to explore possibilities of building nuclear reactors. For Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia, it is the desire for acquiring energy independence, but for countries like Egypt and Turkey, besides the energy need it is a way of asserting their prominence in the region that is creating interest in developing nuclear programs. However, for the oil-rich Saudi Arabia nuclear projects would mean development of nuclear arsenals to act as a deterrent against archrival Iran. However, for most countries of the Middle East the huge cost of the nuclear projects, environmental concerns and the long time span required in developing nuclear reactors from the scratch means that none of these countries could develop their nuclear capabilities to rival that of Iran’s in the near future.

Neither can constructing a wall divide the citizens of a country nor can it bring peace to the region. The Americans however has oversimplified the idiom that out of sight is out of mind and have thought that the only solution that lay in bringing peace to Sadr City in Iraq was to build a wall that will keep the warring Shiites and the US-sponsored Iraqi government away from each other’s view and establish peace in the region. Proving the Americans and the Iraqi government wrong supporters of Moktada al-Sadr the anti-American cleric is implementing overt as well as covert tactics to blow the wall.