Iran and Syria: Hints of a Future Rift over Iraq, The Law East of the Jordan
Iran, Syria, and Iraq:
Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad met this week with Shaikh Harith al-Dhari, controversial head of an extremist Iraqi Sunni organization called The Association of Moslem Ulema (Clergy). Al-Dhari has been feted recently by various Arab monarchs and dictators, including King Abdullah of Jordan in Amman, the Secretary General of the Arab League in Cairo, the president of Egypt, and by various potentates in Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf states. Iraqi investigators would also like to fete Shaikh Al-Dhari: he is wanted for questioning in Baghdad for suspected connections to Salafi/Wahabi terrorists and has chosen to remain in exile.
Harith al-Dhari is s leading opponent of the political process that brought the Shi'a-Kurdish alliance to power in Iraq, and a main advocate of reinstating Sunni rule. He is also the complainer-in-chief against the government and the armed militias that have taken the law into their own hands in Baghdad. It is widely suspected that the regime in Iran trains and arms some of these militias. Al-Dhari also speaks frequently of deepening Iranian influence in Iraq.
The fact that he has been received in Damascus could mean that Syria might be distancing itself from Iran: after all, the goals of the secular regime in Syria are bound to diverge from those of the clerical regime in Tehran. Al-Dhari also claimed publicly that Syria will not extradite Iraqis wanted by their government. Surprise, surprise. Iraqi President Talibani had announced after his visit to Syria last month that Baghdad will request that Syria extradite terror supporters and those wanted for absconding with public funds. The fact is that, even while U.S military commanders assert that Iranian arms flow into the hands of the Shi'a militias, the Syrian border remains porous for the Jihadist and Ba'athist terrorists who sneak into the country. It seems that even other Arab Jihadists, including Saudis, Jordanians, and Sudanese prefer to enter Iraq from Syria rather than the long borders with Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
Iraq may be planning to close its borders with Iran and Syria temporarily, pending new security measures.
According to Arab media reports, a sub-branch of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party has been negotiating with the Iraqi government for a cease fire in exchange for an amnesty and some form of restitution. The Ba'ath party leadership has condemned these steps from Syria.
Looks like the Ashura went relatively calm this year. The victims of terrorist killings numbered only in the tens, much less than in the past few years. The joint American-Iraqi operation near Najaf, its nature still shrouded in fog and smoke, probably aborted a real disaster at the shrines in Najaf and Karbala: that would have been the proverbial last straw on the Iraqi camel's back.
Deja Vu (All Over Again):
In a potentially ominous development, the Israeli military attache in Paris seems to have disappeared since Jan 23. His car has been found, but no traces of him. The last time an Israeli diplomat was targeted for assassination was by the PLO in London in 1982, and it led to the invasion of Lebanon, the ejection of the Palestinian forces from that country, and the rise of an organization called Hizbullah.
Priceless Jordanian Honor:
A Jordanian high court has reduced the sentence of a man to six months in prison, for killing his sister with a sword. The court considered it a 'crime of honor', and changed the conviction from pre-meditated murder to justifiable homicide misdemeanor. The court blamed the dead woman for provoking the murder with her behavior of defiance and immorality. The brother claimed that an unknown person had sent him a videotape of the sister with a man. I wonder if she had a life insurance policy with the family as beneficiaries.
Cheers
Mohammed
Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad met this week with Shaikh Harith al-Dhari, controversial head of an extremist Iraqi Sunni organization called The Association of Moslem Ulema (Clergy). Al-Dhari has been feted recently by various Arab monarchs and dictators, including King Abdullah of Jordan in Amman, the Secretary General of the Arab League in Cairo, the president of Egypt, and by various potentates in Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf states. Iraqi investigators would also like to fete Shaikh Al-Dhari: he is wanted for questioning in Baghdad for suspected connections to Salafi/Wahabi terrorists and has chosen to remain in exile.
Harith al-Dhari is s leading opponent of the political process that brought the Shi'a-Kurdish alliance to power in Iraq, and a main advocate of reinstating Sunni rule. He is also the complainer-in-chief against the government and the armed militias that have taken the law into their own hands in Baghdad. It is widely suspected that the regime in Iran trains and arms some of these militias. Al-Dhari also speaks frequently of deepening Iranian influence in Iraq.
The fact that he has been received in Damascus could mean that Syria might be distancing itself from Iran: after all, the goals of the secular regime in Syria are bound to diverge from those of the clerical regime in Tehran. Al-Dhari also claimed publicly that Syria will not extradite Iraqis wanted by their government. Surprise, surprise. Iraqi President Talibani had announced after his visit to Syria last month that Baghdad will request that Syria extradite terror supporters and those wanted for absconding with public funds. The fact is that, even while U.S military commanders assert that Iranian arms flow into the hands of the Shi'a militias, the Syrian border remains porous for the Jihadist and Ba'athist terrorists who sneak into the country. It seems that even other Arab Jihadists, including Saudis, Jordanians, and Sudanese prefer to enter Iraq from Syria rather than the long borders with Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
Iraq may be planning to close its borders with Iran and Syria temporarily, pending new security measures.
According to Arab media reports, a sub-branch of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party has been negotiating with the Iraqi government for a cease fire in exchange for an amnesty and some form of restitution. The Ba'ath party leadership has condemned these steps from Syria.
Looks like the Ashura went relatively calm this year. The victims of terrorist killings numbered only in the tens, much less than in the past few years. The joint American-Iraqi operation near Najaf, its nature still shrouded in fog and smoke, probably aborted a real disaster at the shrines in Najaf and Karbala: that would have been the proverbial last straw on the Iraqi camel's back.
Deja Vu (All Over Again):
In a potentially ominous development, the Israeli military attache in Paris seems to have disappeared since Jan 23. His car has been found, but no traces of him. The last time an Israeli diplomat was targeted for assassination was by the PLO in London in 1982, and it led to the invasion of Lebanon, the ejection of the Palestinian forces from that country, and the rise of an organization called Hizbullah.
Priceless Jordanian Honor:
A Jordanian high court has reduced the sentence of a man to six months in prison, for killing his sister with a sword. The court considered it a 'crime of honor', and changed the conviction from pre-meditated murder to justifiable homicide misdemeanor. The court blamed the dead woman for provoking the murder with her behavior of defiance and immorality. The brother claimed that an unknown person had sent him a videotape of the sister with a man. I wonder if she had a life insurance policy with the family as beneficiaries.
Cheers
Mohammed
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