‘Truckers without borders’ sustain Syria - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East
▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/politics/2015/09/turkey-syria-truckers-without-borders-isis-nusra-front.html#
‘Truckers without borders’ sustain Syria
Un autre regard sur les routes de la guerre en #syrie
الكشف عن اجتماع سري لممثلي عشائر سورية والقوى الغربية ودول الخليج بجنيف لبحث كيفية التخلص من تنظيم “الدولة الاسلامية”.. ولقاء وشيك مع العاهل الاردني | رأي اليوم
▻http://www.raialyoum.com/?p=284076
La situation se simplifie en Syrie : les USA, avec des Etats du Golfe, rencontrent "secrètement" à Genève des représentants des tribus bédouines (comprendre : sunnites) pour qu’ils combattent Daesh (mais aussi le régime, sans faire partie des deux - au moins - officielles coalitions de l’opposition).
L’arrière-plan de la question ici : The cultural and tribal diversity and underground resources in the desert — extending over about half the surface of Syria — turned the battle fought on its territory into a multifaceted war.
▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/politics/2015/07/syria-desert-tribes-division-oil-geography.html#
Have US, Turkey found common ground in Syria? - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East
▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/politics/2015/05/have-us-and-turkey-found-a-middle-course-in-syria.html#
Let’s look at the details of the Idlib operation. Military experts agree that this operation required intensive coordination among the groups in the field and the foreign actors that support them. But there is something even more significant. Western media reported that the Idlib operation was conducted by jihadist organizations such as Jabhat al-Nusra, but that the Free Syrian Army (FSA), supported by Washington, also played an important role in the operation.
Charles Lister, a Middle East expert at the Brookings Institution, a prominent US think tank, has spoken to some FSA sources who had taken part in the Idlib operation. FSA sources told him that the decision of the FSA to join the operation led by Jabhat al-Nusra was made by the joint US-Turkey operations room in Antakya. In other words, the United States seems to have modified its position on jihadist groups in Syria.
Previously, the United States was giving arms to groups it supported on the condition that they distance themselves from the jihadists and that they refrain from any joint action with those groups. The Idlib operation, however, shows that Washington is now more flexible when it comes to working with jihadists.
There is another change in Washington’s approach. Washington has refused to supply the opposition with anti-aircraft weapons, fearing they may end up in jihadist arsenals. However, a few days ago the head of the Syrian National Coalition, Khaled Khoja, announced on his Facebook page that the United States has changed its position on not supplying anti-aircraft weapons to the opposition. Some experts believe that this US change will allow the opposition to set up protected safe zones.
Gemayel: Lebanon should stand with Saudi Arabia - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East
▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/politics/2015/04/lebanon-amin-gemayel-president-vacuum-aoun-hezbollah.html
Did your dialogue with Hezbollah stop?
Gemayel: No, it did not stop. But it is happening away from the spotlight as long as the main matters are not yet ripe for resolution. But this dialogue and the dialogue between Hezbollah and the Future Movement protects the future.
An-Nahar: What are you discussing in the dialogue?
Gemayel: Two topics: the first is a principle that we cannot achieve in the current regional circumstances. It is about the situation in Syria and Hezbollah’s involvement in the war there, and the issue of weapons. The second deals with other points related to management, transparency, public affairs, and maintaining security and stability. Maintaining a dialogue with the basic components of Lebanese society is useful, and this is our choice. Warding off the threat to the [Lebanese] entity is achieved by putting the internal situation in order, through dialogue, and convincing everyone that the Lebanese mosaic cannot afford to get involved in the region’s conflicts. And if this mosaic is broken up, it would be very difficult to put back together, and everyone will pay the consequences.
We feel, through the political dialogues and the current political discourse, that we are being heard. We feel that a solution will require some time. These matters will be addressed when the suitable historic, national and regional moment arrives. The door is not closed. Looking at Hezbollah’s path since 1982, we notice a development in its behavior, starting from its full rejection of the Lebanese state by rejecting parliamentary and Cabinet participation, to participating in the state and in parliament, the Cabinet and the administration. [Hezbollah] is now [active] in daily administrative issues. The more [Hezbollah], or anyone else, gets involved in the Lebanese structure, the more it becomes convinced of the need to preserve it and the more it gets engaged in the democratic state project. This is not the first experience in Lebanon’s modern history.
Read more: ▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/politics/2015/04/lebanon-amin-gemayel-president-vacuum-aoun-hezbollah.html#ixzz3Y7zFyUzS
