Syria

Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other Iranian leaders make so many shocking statements that many people focus only on their words. But the real action and cause for concern lie in their deeds. Iran is embarking on an increasingly aggressive campaign of diplomacy that would be replete with irony were it not so dangerous.

Let’s examine Iran’s actions this month alone.

(JTA) -- Israel and the United States reportedly are attempting to prevent missile sales to Lebanon and Syria.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with Vladimir Putin, his Russian counterpart, in a bid to persuade him not to sell P-800 Yakhont supersonic cruise missiles to Syria, Ha'aretz reported on Friday, and Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak is set to make the same case in Moscow this week. Israel's case is that Hezbollah used Chinese-manufactured missiles purchased by Syria to target Israeli ships during the 2006 Lebanon war.

A thaw in the frozen Mideast peace talks may be in the works as Ehud Barak puts the finishing touches on his new government, but it apparently hasn’t touched Egypt. That was apparent on Monday when a group of Jewish leaders held a chilly session with President Hosni Mubarak, here for a round of top-level meetings including a Thursday session with President Bill Clinton.
Several participants described the meeting as contentious, combative and frustrating.

A thaw in the frozen Mideast peace talks may be in the works as Ehud Barak puts the finishing touches on his new government, but it apparently hasn’t touched Egypt. That was apparent on Monday when a group of Jewish leaders held a chilly session with President Hosni Mubarak, here for a round of top-level meetings including a Thursday session with President Bill Clinton.
Several participants described the meeting as contentious, combative and frustrating.

As more details emerged this week about Israel’s surprise air strike against a Syrian target two weeks ago, there were heightened fears that a miscalculation by either side could lead to the all-out war that some had predicted would occur this summer.
Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East adviser to six secretaries of state, said he believes the Sept. 6 air attack increased the chances for war more than three decades after the 1973 Yom Kippur War was ended by a truce that has been scrupulously adhered to by both sides.

The Bush administration’s decision this week to join an international conference on Iraq that is expected to include Iran and Syria opens the door to Israeli talks with Syria, something the U.S. has reportedly been strictly against, according to several Israeli analysts.

The summit in Annapolis is being seen by some observers as a success -- not just because it set the stage for a promised 13 months of serious Israeli-Palestinian peace talks but because of what some believe is a new Middle East dynamic on the horizon. Others, though, insist this is nothing more than a mirage.

“It’s not every day you see an Israeli prime minister speak and the Saudi foreign minister applaud,” said Asaf Shariv, Israel’s consul general in New York.

Moshe Maoz, a professor of Islamic and Middle Eastern studies at the Hebrew University and former director of the Harry S Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace in Tel Aviv, is a recognized expert on Syria and Lebanon. Maoz, 64, and the father of two, lives with his wife in Jerusalem. He was interviewed while visiting New York as Secretary of State Madeleine Albright prepared for her visit this week to Damascus.

As Syrian President Hafez Assad was buried Tuesday following a fatal heart attack three days earlier, all eyes shifted to his son Bashar to see if the military and political establishment that thrust him into his father’s shoes would remain loyal to him.
Leaders in several countries also expressed the hope that Bashar, 34, a British-trained ophthalmologist, would break the stalemate that has prevented a Syrian-Israeli peace treaty.