Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Lebanon
Israel Military Searches for Hizbullah Tunnels along Border with Lebanon - Jack Moore (International Business Times-UK)
Lebanese Forces Chief Geagea Backs Anti-IS Coalition, Slams Hizbullah for Criticizing it (Naharnet)

Iran
Pentagon: Iran Fielding Anti-Ship Ballistic Missiles - Jeremy Binnie, London and Daniel Wasserbly (IHS Jane's Defence Weekly)

Libya
Sudan and Qatar deny accusations of supporting Libya Dawn (Libya Herald)

Palestinians
The UN: Clueless or Complicit in Gaza? - Claudia Rosett (National Review)
Palestinian: Donors Wary of Funding Hamas-Run Gaza - Mohammed Daraghmeh (AP)
Gazans Rush to Enjoy Life after Ruinous War - Hamza Hendawi (AP)
Gaza Landlords Refusing to Rent to Hamas - Khaled Abu Toameh (Jerusalem Post)
Fatah Song Promotes Terror -Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdek (PMW) Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party continues to call for launching rockets at Israel. 
Hamas Leader: Gazans Most Affected by Fighting Were Most Committed to Resistance - Asmaa al-Ghoul (Al-Monitor)... an essential part of the capabilities of the resistance was from Iranian aid in the recent war and the war that preceded it.

Saudi Arabia
The "Al-Aqsa Is in Danger" Libel - Nadav Shragai (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) 
Saudi Arabia to Host Training Camps for Moderate Syrian Rebels (Reuters)

South Asia to the Far East
Growing Support For The Islamic State (IS) From South Asia To The Far East; Four New Jihadist Groups Planning Islamic Caliphate Comprising Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, And Southern Philippines - Tufail Ahmad (MEMRI)
Responses to Terrorism: Europe v. India - Vijeta Uniyal (Gatestone Institute)

Syria
I included this because I read the Journal and somehow missed this article. Maybe you did too.
 ISIS's Cruelty Toward Women Gets Scant Attention - Haleh Esfandiari (Wall Street Journal)  ISIS fighters are "rewarded" by being allowed to have their way with captured women. To the men of ISIS, women are an inferior race, to be enjoyed for sex and be discarded, or to be sold off as slaves. From ISIS-captured territory in Syria, we saw a photograph of a line of women, covered from head to toe and tied to one another by a rope, as they were being led to a makeshift slave market. Little girls were married off to men many times their age. Although Islam requires that marriages be based on consent, consent does not appear to exist in the lexicon of ISIS fighters. Why are there are no demonstrations in Western and Muslim societies against this barbaric onslaught on women and girls?
See also: Islamic State of Rape (Foreign Policy)
End of an Era: UN Peacekeepers Stop Pretending to Keep Peace - Seth Mandel(Commentary)
Israeli Troops Saved Irish Peacekeepers on Syria Border - Jim Cusack and John Drennan (Sunday Independent-Ireland)
Al-Qaeda's Syrian Cell Bigger Threat to U.S. than ISIS? - Ken Dilanian and Eileen Sullivan (AP)
New Reality for Israelis on Golan Heights: Islamists Now Control the Other Side - Joel Greenberg (McClatchy)
'Moderate' Syrian Revolutionaries Front continues to support al Qaeda – Lisa Lundquist (Long War Journal)

Turkey
Turkey Sends Back 830 European Jihadists - Fevzi Kizilkoyun (Hurriyet-Turkey)
Turkey ‘welcomes’ Egypt Muslim Brotherhood figures who leave Qatar (Al Arabiya News)

United States
On Thursday, September 11, President Obama finally announced that the U.S. has a strategy. I urge you to read Justin Logan's commentary in USA Today. In it, he makes the case that “we can't fix other countries' political pathologies at an acceptable cost.” (Look at Iraq and Libya). The U.S. “response to the Foley and Sotloff killings should be simple: punishment.” What do you think?
Fact Sheet: Strategy to Counter the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) (White House)
Report: U.S.-Israeli Misunderstanding Led to Breakdown of Gaza Truce(Jerusalem Post) According to the report, the Americans mistakenly led Israel to believe that Hamas accepted an unconditional 72-hour cease-fire when in fact the Palestinian Islamist group never gave its consent to refrain from attacking Israeli troops on the ground in Gaza.
Sotloff, failed by US, was sold for $25k-$50k, family saysSpencer Ho (Times of Israel) Spokesman claims location of Israeli-US journalist was given by ‘moderate’ rebels at Turkey-Syria border to IS; accuses Obama administration of using hostages as ‘pawns’
Islamic State Attracts Female Jihadis from U.S. - Alistair Bell (Reuters)  In addition, law enforcement officials say they learned of 15-20 men with connections to the Minnesota Somali community fighting for extremist groups in Syria.

Yemen
Pro-Iranian Houthis Advancing in Yemen - Arafat Madabish (Asharq Al-Awsat-UK)