"We have the chance to show that America values the dignity of the street vendor in Tunisia more than the raw power of the dictator ... America must use all our influence to encourage reform in the region ... we need to speak honestly about the principles that we believe in, with friend and foe alike."

Which prominent American spoke these words? It was neither Senator John McCain, enthusiast of democracy promotion, nor former President George W. Bush, architect of the Freedom Agenda. It was our realist, pragmatic President Barack Obama, in a major speech on May 19, 2011, during the heady early months of the Arab Spring. The president argued that concentrating mainly on longstanding U.S. security interests was no longer enough. Obama declared that encouraging transitions to democracy was now a "top U.S. priority that must be translated into concrete actions and supported by all of the diplomatic, economic, and strategic tools at our disposal." He announced a three-pronged strategy for the transitioning countries: standing up firmly for democratic values, helping troubled economies, and expanding engagement beyond Arab regimes to newly-emboldened citizens. 

Read on

A series of car bombings have hit the Iraqi cities of Baghdad and Basra on Monday, killing an estimated 48 people. No group has taken responsibility for the attacks which targeted several Shiite districts of the Iraqi capital as well as the oil-rich predominantly Shiite city of Basra, in southeastern Iraq. Bombs exploded at a restaurant and bus stop in Basra, and were followed by about nine car bombs in Baghdad. In a separate incident, 10 police officers were reported killed Sunday at a police station in Anbar Province and additionally, the bodies of five police officers who had been kidnapped were found. About 150 people have been killed across Iraq in the past week in the worst sectarian tensions seen since the withdrawal of U.S. troops in December 2011.

Syria

Fierce fighting continued into Monday between Syrian troops, backed by Hezbollah fighters, and opposition forces over the strategic town of Qusayr. Qusayr, about 18 miles southwest of Homs, links Damascus to government strongholds on the Mediterranean coast, and is also an important supply route for opposition forces and link to fighters from Lebanon, just 6 miles away. Clashes have been ongoing for weeks around Qusayr and government forces launched a major offensive Sunday, making significant advances. Syrian state news agency reported that the government had control of most of the town on Monday, but opposition activists denied reports the town had been overtaken. The fighting has brought the militant Lebanese group Hezbollah to the forefront, and underscores concerns of a spreading regional conflict. Between 30 and 40 Hezbollah fighters were reportedly killed in Qusayr on Sunday. The battle for Qusayr has been sited by government loyalists and opposition activists as a turning point, that according to one activist could, "decide the fate of the regime and the revolution."

Headlines

• The Egyptian army sent reinforcements into the Sinai Peninsula Monday after President Mohamed Morsi ruled out negotiations with the kidnappers of seven security personnel.
• Hundreds of Islamist Ansar al-Sharia supporters, protesting a ban on the groups' annual congress, clashed with police in Tunis who arrested 200 demonstrators and killed one person in the violence.
• Iran executed two men on Sunday who were found guilty of spying for U.S. and Israeli intelligence services.
• Raha Moharrak has become the first Saudi woman to summit Mount Everest, climbing with the group "Arabs with Altitude" and fund raising for Reach Out Asia's education projects in Nepal.
• Thousands of workers from Dubai's largest construction company went on strike Sunday for a second day, joining workers in Abu Dhabi, in a rare protest for increased wages. 
  Read on

A series of bombings across Iraq Wednesday evening killed at least 34 people. Within an hour in the capital Baghdad, 11 explosions, mostly car bombings, killed 23 people and wounded over 100 others, mostly in Shiite districts. Sadr City was hit the worst with three bombs, two of which exploded in busy markets, but attacks were also reported in Kadhimiya, Husseiniya, Mashtal, Baghdad al-Jadida, Saidiya, and Zafaraniya. Additionally, bombings in the northern ethnically mixed city of Kirkuk killed an estimated 10 people. A car bomb exploded near a government building, followed by another car bomb an hour later in the same area. On Thursday, four additional bombs killed at least 12 people in Shiite districts of Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul. No group has taken responsibility for the attacks. There has been a surge in sectarian violence in Iraq since the army raided a Sunni anti-government protest camp near the northern town of Hawija last month, killing an estimated 50 people.

Syria

The United Nations General Assembly passed a nonbinding resolution on Wednesday condemning Syrian government forces, praising the opposition, and calling for a political solution to end the war in Syria. The vote, however, showed a decline in support for the opposition since a resolution passed in August 2012 -- with 107 votes in favor compared to 133 in the previous vote and a drastic increase in abstentions. Many diplomats expressed increasing concerns over the rise in the presence of Islamist extremists in the conflict. There was also a sentiment that the resolution would not help to convince the Syrian government and opposition to participate in peace talks recently proposed by the United States and Russia. At the beginning of the session, President of the U.N. General Assembly Vuk Jeremic stated, "At least 80,000 have perished since the start of the hostilities, with most of the casualties believed to be civilians." Meanwhile, a BBC correspondent has reported evidence of a chemical attack last month in the northern town of Saraqeb. Eyewitnesses claimed that government helicopters dropped at least two devices containing poisonous gas on April 29. Additionally, doctors at the local hospital said they admitted eight people suffering from breathing problems. The BBC reported it has received videos that seem to support these claims, but is not able to independently verify them. In other news, a video posted on Thursday showed opposition al Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front fighters executing 11 Syrian soldiers they accused of committing "massacres."

Headlines  

• The White House has released over 100 pages of emails on the debate on "talking points" of the administration's first public account of the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya in September 2012.
• Islamist gunmen have abducted seven Egyptian security officers in the Sinai Peninsula Thursday reportedly seeking the release of jailed militants.
• Yemeni kidnappers have released three foreign Red Cross workers and their Yemeni interpreter who were seized Monday in the southern province of Abyan.  
  Read on

The United Nations General Assembly is expected to approve an Arab-backed draft resolution on Syria in a vote on Wednesday. The draft resolution condemns the Syrian government and accepts the Syrian National Coalition as a party to a potential political transition. The draft resolution is opposed by Russia, a strong ally of the Syrian regime, and is not expected to win as many votes as an August 2012 resolution, which passed with 133 countries in favor. A senior western diplomat said that the Islamist factor has added complications and it is not as clear to countries now that the opposition is the winning side. According to another senior diplomat, this draft resolution is stronger than the earlier one, and Russia has complained that it is unbalanced. The draft resolution condemns violence from all sides, and demands that the Syrian government allow for a U.N. inquiry into chemical weapons allegations. Unlike U.N. Security Council resolutions, General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding and cannot be enforced. However, the three Western-backed Security Council resolutions aimed at pressuring the Assad regime have been vetoed by Russia and China. The United States and Russia have been planning for an international conference on Syria they hope to hold in June. Speaking from Sweden on Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said "progress is being made" on bringing together representatives from the Syrian government and opposition. According to Kerry, Assad's regime has given Russia a list of officials that would attend the potential talks. Meanwhile, Syria's Internet is reportedly down for the second time in two weeks. According to Syrian residents and the U.S.-based Internet monitoring company Renesys Corp., Syria went offline at 10:00 a.m. local time Wednesday. Syria's state news agency, SANA, said there were technical problems and maintenance teams were working on the issue.

Headlines

• Iraqi gunmen killed 12 people in an attack on at least nine liquor stores in the Zayona district of eastern Baghdad on Tuesday.
• Rival Palestinian factions, Fatah and Hamas, have agreed to form a national unity government and hold legislative and presidential elections within three months.
• The International Criminal Court is opening a preliminary examination into Israel's raid in 2010 of a humanitarian aid flotilla bound for the Gaza strip, in which nine Turks were killed.
• Libyan officials have said that an explosion near a hospital on Monday may have been "an accidental" blast of a car carrying explosives.
• Turkey's ruling Islamist party has proposed a parliamentary bill curbing the consumption and advertisement of alcohol. 
  Read on

Syria has denied responsibility for two car bombings on Saturday in the Turkish border town of Reyhanli that killed an estimated 46 people and injured 100 others. Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said his country "did not commit and would never commit such an act because our values would not allow that." Turkish police have arrested nine Turkish citizens suspected of having a connection with the attacks. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the people responsible for the bombings were from an "old Marxist terrorist organization" with ties to the Syrian regime. He said the attacks were a breach of Turkey's "red line" and called on the "international community to display a common stance against the regime, immediately and without delay." Concerns over the spread of the Syrian conflict continue to increase, and anger has heightened in the predominantly Sunni town that is housing tens of thousands of Syrian refugees. Meanwhile, the rebel Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade reportedly released four Filipino U.N. peacekeepers who had been posted in the Golan Heights and were abducted last Tuesday. The brigade said the soldiers were held "for their own safety." The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has released a new estimate for the death toll in the Syrian conflict, saying that 82,257 have been killed since fighting began in March 2011. In February, U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay said the death toll was approaching 70,000.

Headlines  

• A Russian-made Yemeni fighter jet crashed into a residential district of the capital, Sanaa, on Monday, killing the pilot and injuring at least 18 people in the third such incident in the past year.
• Iran's Guardian Council has accused Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of violating the election law by accompanying Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie as he registered for the upcoming presidential election.
• Egyptian security forces arrested three suspected al Qaeda linked militants for planning an attack on a Western embassy in Cairo, likely the U.S. embassy.
• Egypt's El-Watan newspaper said one of its reporters broke through security lines to interview former President Hosni Mubarak, for the first interview since his ouster in February 2011.
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week amid concerns that Russia may sell an advanced missile defense system to Syria. 
  Read on

Filipino Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said he recommended to President Benigno Aquino that he withdraw its peacekeeping forces from the Golan Heights after four soldiers were abducted Tuesday. The Syrian rebel Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade said it is holding the soldiers "for their own safety" and has posted two videos of the men to show that they have not been harmed. Two months ago, 20 Filipino peacekeepers were seized from the same area by Syrian rebels and were held for a few days before being released. The peacekeepers were used to demand the pullback of Syrian regime forces. A total 342 Filipino soldiers are posted in the Golan Heights. The group comprises about one third of the U.N. Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) which has been monitoring the ceasefire line between Israel and Syria since 1974. Del Rosario said the soldiers were being held as human shields against attack by Syrian government forces and their exposure was "beyond tolerable limits."

Syria

British Prime Minister David Cameron is planning to use meetings in the coming days with Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Barack Obama to discuss the crisis in Syria and suggest that an international conference be held in Britain. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with the Russian president and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov this week and announced a joint plan for a conference. However, while meeting with Jordanian officials in Rome on Thursday, Kerry said that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad could not be part of a "transitional government" in post-war Syria, which could pose a challenge to the agreement made with the Russians. Earlier, Kerry had said the situation was a matter for the Syrian people to decide. Meanwhile, in a televised speech, Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah, increased tensions with Israel saying the Syrian government would respond to recent Israeli airstrikes near Damascus by supplying Hezbollah fighters with weapons. Nasrallah was not clear about the type of arms, but said they were "unique weapons that it had never had before" and that it would "change the balance" of power with Israel. On Thursday, Syrian officials said they would retaliate for the Israeli strikes last weekend. Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad told Agence France-Presse they would "not allow this to be repeated" and "would respond immediately to any Israeli attack."

Headlines  

• New York prosecutors have accused eight men of leading one of the largest cyber bank thefts ever spanning 27 countries and stealing $45 million from two Middle East banks.
• Radical Islamist cleric Abu Qatada said he would voluntarily return to Jordan if the parliament ratifies a treaty with Britain, which has been "determined" to deport the international terror suspect.
• A Finnish couple and an Australian student abducted in December 2012 in Yemen, reportedly by al Qaeda militants, were released near the Omani border overnight Wednesday.
• Iran has announced a new attack drone, the Epic, capable of surveillance and offensive missions according to Iranian media.
• Three men were arrested at a demonstration of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews at Jerusalem's Western Wall protesting a group of women praying in garments traditionally worn by men. 
  Read on

Kurdish rebel fighters from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) have begun their withdrawal from southeastern Turkey as stipulated by a peace deal negotiated between Turkey and PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan in March. Over 40,000 people have died in the conflict, which has spanned nearly three decades. There are an estimated 2,000 PKK fighters in Turkey, and they will withdraw in phases over the course of about four months. The PKK expressed concern over an apparent increase of Turkish troop movements and reconnaissance drones on Tuesday. During a negotiated withdrawal in 1999, the Turkish military ambushed Kurdish fighters, killing an estimated 500 people. Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtas said, "We have no doubt about the state but fear provocation from dark forces." There was, however, no sign of military activity on Wednesday. The first fighters are expected to arrive in northern Iraq's Qandil mountains in a week. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has criticized the timeline of the withdrawal, stressing that the fighters should disarm before leaving. But, this was rejected by the PKK, which feared the departing forces would come under assault.

Syria

After meetings on Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei V. Lavrov announced a plan to arrange an international conference aimed at ending the over two year conflict in Syria which has killed over 70,000 people. Kerry said their intention is to convince representatives from the Syrian government and the opposition to attend. He continued that the United States and Russia want to hold the peace conference "as soon as practical, possibly, hopefully as soon as the end of the month." The move seemed to be an optimistic step as the United States and Russia have not been able to agree to unified efforts on Syria. Lavrov said the United States and Russia were committed to a deal that would assure the "sovereignty and territorial integrity" of Syria. Kerry and Lavrov did not offer details on how they would get the warring parties to the negotiating table, nor did they elaborate on why they expect these efforts would be any more successful than those taken in the past. Meanwhile, four Filipino U.N. peacekeepers were seized Tuesday "by an unidentified armed group" while they were on patrol along the ceasefire line between Syria and Israel in the Golan Heights. The Islamist opposition group Martyrs of Yarmouk reportedly published a photo of the four men, and said they were being held for their own safety. The Martyrs of Yarmouk abducted 21 Filipino peacekeepers in the Golan in March, and released them after holding them for three days.

Headlines

• British physicist Professor Stephen Hawking has joined the academic boycott of Israel, pulling out of President Shimon Peres's annual conference over Israel's treatment of Palestinians.
• Suspected al Qaeda militants ambushed and killed three Yemeni air force pilots Wednesday when they were in a car traveling to the Al Anad air base, which is jointly used with the United States.
• Israeli police detained Jerusalem's top Muslim cleric Muhammad Hussein over reported disturbances ahead of Jerusalem Day, when Israelis mark the city's "reunification" during the 1967 Six-Day War.
• U.S. Republican lawmakers are continuing their inquiry into the 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi, focusing on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. 
  Read on

Israel launched airstrikes early Sunday into Syria for the second time in three days raising concerns of the spread of the Syrian conflict. Israeli jets reportedly hit several critical military facilities near Damascus, killing dozens of elite troops near the presidential palace, according to a Syrian military official. Opposition activists and fighters, as well as residents, said the airstrikes hit Republican Guard bases and long-range missile storehouses, as well as a military research center at Jamraya, which U.S. officials have said is Syria's main chemical weapons facility. The attacks came after a strike early on Friday on a weapons facility at Damascus International Airport, which security sources said had Iranian missiles, which were to be transferred to Hezbollah in Lebanon. An anonymous senior Israeli government official said, "If we don't take action now, we will be on the receiving end of those missiles."  Israel hasn't confirmed Sunday's attacks, and the White House declined to say if it believed Israel was responsible for the airstrikes. Syria condemned the strikes as a "declaration of war" and threatened retaliation, saying it was open to "all the options." While some analysts believe Syrian retaliation is unlikely, as a precaution, Israel deployed two of its Iron Dome missile defense batteries to its northern border and closed civilian flights to the northern Israeli city of Haifa. Meanwhile, with the increased speculation that chemical weapons have been used in the Syrian conflict, the head of the U.N. Independent Commission of Inquiry on Syria Carla del Ponte said there is "strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof," that opposition fighters have used sarin gas. She did not elaborate as to when or where deadly nerve agent may have been used. Free Syrian Army spokesman Louay Almokadad dismissed the statement insisting the opposition fighters do not have nor want chemical weapons, and "don't have the mechanism to launch these kinds of weapons."

Headlines

• Libya passed a "political isolation" law, which would ban from office officials who had held a senior position under Qaddafi, in a move which could unseat Prime Minster Ali Zidan.
• China is hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for separate talks, showing a desire for a greater role in the region.
• A Kenyan court has sentenced two Iranians to life in prison after being convicted last week of possessing explosives, which they allegedly planned to use to attack Nairobi and Mombasa in 2012.
• Iraqi provincial election results show Prime Minster Nouri al-Maliki's coalition ahead in seven out of 12 provinces, including the capital, Baghdad. 
  Read on

In the fall of 2012, three mothers, along with their infant children, begin serving one-to-two-year prison terms in Iran. Their crime? Being Baha'is in the birthplace of their faith. In February 2012, a man is jailed without charge in Saudi Arabia. Why? According to authorities, for his own safety because he allegedly "disturbed the public order" by tweeting comments deemed to insult the religious feelings of others. In December 2012, an atheist blogger is sentenced to three years in prison in Egypt. His offense? Posting online content that allegedly "insulted God and cast doubt on the books of the Abrahamic religions."

These are just some of the many examples of the contempt that governments in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) often exhibit toward freedom of religion or belief. Since the onset of the Arab Awakening in early 2011, religious freedom conditions have not improved, but declined. While larger hopes for justice and democracy are experiencing convulsive birth pangs, majority and minority religious believers alike face increasing government repression in many MENA countries; sectarian violence is on the upswing; and violent religious extremism is fueling regional instability. 

Read on

In a press conference on Tuesday, U.S. President Barack Obama signaled he is considering sending weapons and ammunition to Syrian opposition forces. This would be a policy shift for the administration, which has up until now provided only non-lethal and humanitarian assistance. The statement came just days after U.S. intelligence reports suggested that chemical weapons were used in Syria. Obama has said the use of such weapons would be a "game changer," but he has maintained that there needs to be "hard, effective evidence" before considering military action against Syria. He said there are a number of options that have been prepared for him, which have not been deployed. According to anonymous officials, these include a "no-fly zone" over Syria and targeted missile strikes. Additionally, the president insinuated that the United States would not act unilaterally. On Monday, Obama met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, to convince Russia, a longtime ally of Syria, that the likely use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government should lead Putin to end his support for the Syrian regime. Meanwhile, in a televised speech Tuesday, the leader of the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, said the group is ready to protect the Syrian regime. Nasrallah said, "Syria has true friends in the region and the world that won't permit Syria to fall in the hands of America, Israel, and [extremist] groups." He stated that members of Hezbollah were "providing appropriate aid" to Syrian government forces. The opposition Syrian National Coalition denounced the "threats" from Hezbollah, and accused the group of backing government fighters in Shiite villages along the border between Syria and Lebanon.

Headlines

• At least 15 people have been killed in bombings across Iraq on Wednesday, targeting police and a group of government-supported Sunni fighters.
• Kurdish negotiators held talks with Iraqi officials for the first time in almost two years, but Kurdish troop movement into Kirkurk, the site of recent clashes, overshadowed the meeting.
• U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said an Arab League plan to restart talks with Israel is "a big step," but the Palestinian negotiator said the longstanding conditions for resuming talks remain. 
  Read on

A powerful explosion hit the Marjeh district of central Damascus Tuesday, killing at least 13 people and injuring 70 others, according to Syrian state TV. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that nine civilians and three security men were killed and stated that the death toll is likely to rise. The blast hit near a hotel, shopping center, and a former interior ministry building and was followed by sporadic gunfire. The explosion came from a booby-trapped car. It is not clear who was behind the attack, or what was the intended target. The attack came a day after a car bombing in the Damascus neighborhood of Mezze, which targeted Syrian Prime Minister Wael Nader al-Halki, who survived the attack. Opposition fighters have increased attacks on Syria's capital, but neither rebels nor the government forces have made significant gains.

Headlines

• An Israeli airstrike on Gaza killed a Palestinian militant on Tuesday hours after an Israeli settler was stabbed, shot, and killed by a Palestinian man at a West Bank bus stop in a recent escalation of violence.
• Between 20 and 30 armed militants have surrounded Libya's Justice Ministry, stepping up demands for barring Qaddafi-era officials from government offices.
• UAE President Sheikh Khalifa al-Nahyan is visiting Britain amid concerns over three jailed British men who were allegedly tortured by Dubai police.
• Egypt withdrew from global nuclear talks on Monday in Geneva, accusing other countries of not acting quickly enough. 
  Read on

U.S. officials have stated they believe that the Syrian government has used chemicals weapons, which may bring into question President Barack Obama's "red line" on Syria. In a letter to congressional leaders on Thursday, the White House stated that U.S. intelligence agencies assessed "with varying degrees of confidence" that the regime of Bashar al-Assad had used the chemical agent sarin gas on a small scale. Several officials went further to say that the intelligence agencies expressed medium to high confidence of their assessment. According to officials, the assessment was based on tests from soil samples and blood drawn from people who had been injured in the attacks in March near Aleppo and Damascus. The White House, however, is treading cautiously and said that "given the stakes involved" it would need "credible and corroborated facts" before Obama would take action. During his visit to Jerusalem last month, Obama said that the use of chemical weapons in Syria would be a "game changer" for U.S. involvement. U.S. administration officials said that the Pentagon has prepared a variety of options intended to secure chemical weapons stockpiles. A White House official said, "all options are on the table in terms of our response." The United States is joining Israel, France, and Britain in suggesting that the Assad regime has deployed chemical weapons. British Prime Minister David Cameron said there is "limited but growing evidence" that government forces have used chemical weapons, adding that "It is extremely serious, this is a war crime." 

Headlines  

• The Israeli military reported Thursday it shot down a drone off its northern coast near the border with Lebanon, bringing suspicions upon Hezbollah, which has denied responsibility.
• Iraqi soldiers have retaken the Sunni town of Suleiman Beg after gunmen retreated; meanwhile a roadside bomb killed four people outside a Sunni mosque in southern Baghdad, in four days of escalated violence.
• After nearly three decades of fighting, which has caused the deaths of about 40,000 people, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has said it will withdraw from Turkey beginning May 8.
• Jerusalem's district court ruled Thursday that women could not be arrested for praying at the Western Wall wearing prayer shawls, a practice Orthodox Jews say is reserved for men.
• Egypt's Pope Tawdros II, in his first interview since eight people were killed earlier this month in Muslim and Christian sectarian violence, said the Muslim Brotherhood led government is neglecting Christians. 
  Read on

Church sources in Aleppo and Damascus said the two bishops abducted on Monday remain missing, despite reports they had been freed. Armed militants reportedly seized Yohanna Ibrahim, head of the Syriac Orthodox Church in Aleppo and Boulou Yaziji, leader of the Greek Orthodox Church in Aleppo, in a contested area of northern Aleppo. Syrian officials have blamed a "terrorist group" while opposition fighters have denied any involvement, claiming they are working to find the bishops who are the most senior Christian figures yet to be caught up in the Syrian war. A Christian advocacy group and Al Jazeera reported Ibrahim and Yaziji were released on Tuesday, however later on, Abdel-Ahad Steifo, a Syriac member of the Syrian opposition, told Al Jazeera the bishops were still being held by their abductors. A source from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Damascus also said there was no indication of their release. Meanwhile, U.S. officials said that investigations have yet to produce conclusive evidence to confirm Israel's claims that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons. Brig. Gen. Itai Brun, Israel's senior military intelligence analyst, has cited photographic and other forms of evidence of the use of chemical weapons. However, White House spokesman Jay Carney stated, "We have not come to the conclusion that there has been that use." The Syrian regime has prevented a U.N. investigation into the alleged chemical weapons use. Soil samples were reportedly smuggled into Britain and suggested "some use of chemical weapons," however there was no evidence of who might have employed them.

Headlines

• An estimated 15 people have been killed in Iraq on Wednesday, including 12 security forces and gunmen, in apparent retaliation for Tuesday's raid by security forces on a Sunni protest camp.
• U.N. special rapporteur on violence Juan Mendez has expressed "deep disappointment" over what he said was "effectively a cancellation" of his trip to Bahrain, just days after a U.S. State Department report on human rights violations in the Gulf country was released.
• In hearings in Canada on Tuesday, Chiheb Esseghaier and Raed Jaser denied involvement in a plot to derail a train which officials say had support from al Qaeda in Iran.
• U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel arrived in Egypt on Wednesday for talks that are expected to focus on preserving strong ties with the Egyptian military. 
  Read on

Iraqis voted Saturday in provincial elections in the first polling since the withdrawal of U.S. troops in December 2011. While violence has increased since the beginning of the year and over a dozen candidates (mostly Sunnis) were killed prior to the election, polling went without any major incidents. However, turnout was low with only about 50 percent of Iraqis coming out to cast their ballots, and many Iraqis expressed frustration, apathy, or disgust toward the emerging political elite. About 8,138 candidates are competing for 447 provincial council seats. However, not all of Iraq's provinces planned on participating in Saturday's election, and two largely Sunni provinces were prevented from voting due to a security risk posed by anti-Maliki protesters, according to the Shiite-led cabinet. According to Iraqi officials, preliminary results from the election may be released Wednesday. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's State of Law coalition is expected to perform well.

Syria

Syrian opposition activists reported a "massacre" in a Damascus suburb on Sunday. After five days of fierce fighting in Jdaidet al-Fadl, a strategic town near a Syrian military base between Daraa and Damascus, at least 80 people were estimated killed, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, including three children and six women. However, the death toll is expected to be much higher as bodies were difficult to identify. According to the opposition Local Coordination Committees (LCC) at least 450 bodies were found in the town, about 300 of whom were civilians and 150 members of the Free Syrian Army. Syria's state news agency SANA said government forces "inflicted big losses on terrorists in Jdaidet al Fadl and destroyed weapons and ammunition and killed and wounded members of the terrorist groups." On Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced $123 million in U.S. assistance to Syrian opposition forces, including non-lethal military equipment.

Headlines

• Egypt's Justice Minister Ahmed Mekki resigned Sunday over pressure from both Muslim Brotherhood supporters wanting to "cleanse" the judiciary and opposition activists accusing him of abandoning reform.
• Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel won Sunday's Grand Prix in Bahrain amid limited protests and heavy security.
• Kuwait has granted bail for former MP and popular opposition leader Mussallam al-Barrack, who was sentenced to five years in prison for insulting the emir.
• According to Iranian media, a new round of talks on Iran's disputed nuclear program is planned with the International Atomic Energy Agency for May 21, but the date has not been confirmed. 
  Read on