I walk through a Tunisian market around midday, at the entrance to the fortress of Sousse, a town about 90 minutes southeast of the capital Tunis on the coast. A man is selling Salafi books and copies of the Quran from a maple wood table, 12 feet long, in front of a small masjid inside the old fortress walls, which were built in the ninth century by the Aghlabid caliph Ziyadat Allah I.

Two men are sitting nearby, at the edge of a dry, broken-down fountain, enjoying the sunny and mild weather. I approach them, along with three Tunisian friends, to ask for an interview. One dismisses me outright, gets up and leaves. He thinks I am in the American mukhabarat (intelligence). The other accepts. I sit next to him, shake his hand, and we both exchange salam alaykum pleasantries.

"Are You Muslim or a non-Muslim?" he asks. 

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A top Egyptian court Wednesday suspended parliamentary elections scheduled to begin on April 22. The Cairo Administrative Court said the electoral law must be reviewed by the Supreme Constitutional Court. Egypt's main opposition group, the National Salvation Front, had planned to boycott the elections, claiming the electoral law favored Islamists and demanding an overhaul to the Islamist-backed constitution. President Mohamed Morsi said it would respect the court's decision, which was another instance of confrontation between Egypt's prerevolutionary judiciary and the Islamist ruling party. The announcement came amid continued violence and turmoil in Port Said over death sentences issued over the 2012 football riots that killed 74 people. On Wednesday, Egypt's interior minister dismissed Port Said's security chief. Meanwhile, Egypt has backed away from making economic policy changes necessary to negotiate a $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund. The delays have come just days after a visit from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry during which he committed $250 million in assistance but urged political collaboration on economic reform.

Syria

The United Nations has begun talks with a group of Syrian opposition fighters in efforts to negotiate the release of 21 peacekeepers from the Philippines. The observers were captured Wednesday in the Golan Heights where they were monitoring the ceasefire line between Israel and Syria. They are being held by the "Martyrs of Yarmouk" rebel brigade in the nearby village of Jamla. The rebel group said Syrian government forces must leave the area before they will release their "guests." They initially claimed they took the U.N. observers to get the Syrian army to stop firing on them and civilians in the area. On Thursday, they said that they had actually rescued the observers from fighting in the area. The British based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported clashes on Thursday in the northern outskirts of the village. The Free Syrian Army (FSA) has condemned the capture of the peacekeepers, and the Philippines has demanded their release. Meanwhile, the humanitarian aid organization Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) released a report on Thursday saying Syria's healthcare system has collapsed. The charity has over 200 staff members working in opposition held territory in Syria. President of Doctors Without Borders Marie-Pierre Allie said, "Medical aid is being targeted, hospitals destroyed, and medical personnel captured." The report said that medical facilities have become tools "in the military strategies of the parties to the conflict." Trained medical staff have fled the war torn country and a large number of hospitals have been closed forcing healthcare work underground, with treatments conducted in caves, basements, and farms.

Headlines

• An investigation by Guardian and BBC Arabic has found Pentagon ties to Shiite police units in Iraq that set up secret detention and torture centers.
• Clashes between anti-government protesters and police on Wednesday night in Tahrir Square sparked the arrests of 160 people.
• Jordan is working to commission two nuclear reactors which it says are necessary to meet energy needs. But the announcement has increased concerns over the risk of regional nuclear proliferation. 
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Syrian opposition forces have reportedly overtaken most of Raqqa, a northern province. They have captured Hassan Jalili, Raqqa's governor and Baath party secretary general and toppled a statue of the late former President Hafez al-Assad. If verified, this would be a major gain for the opposition, and Governor Jalili would be one of the highest regime official captured since the beginning of the conflict nearly two years ago. However, fighting has continued between opposition fighters and pro-regime forces in some areas in Raqqa as well as at the provincial airport, about 40 miles from the city. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported government airstrikes on two targets in Raqqa. Meanwhile, about 39 Syrian soldiers and eight Iraqis were killed Monday in Iraq in an attack by unidentified gunmen in the western Anbar province, in the most serious spillover yet of the Syrian conflict into a neighboring country. The soldiers were among 65 Syrians who had crossed into Iraq after opposition fighters captured the Yaaroubiyah border post. Iraqi soldiers were transporting them to another border crossing when they were ambushed. Also on Monday, a group of Syrians announced the formation of a provincial council for Aleppo after elections were held on Sunday in Gaziantep, a Turkish city. While small governing bodies have been organized in opposition held territories before, this is the first attempt at establishing a province-wide civilian authority. The first priority for the 29-member Aleppo council will be to restore services such as water, utilities, healthcare, and bread.

Headlines

• A suicide car bombing blamed on al Qaeda militants killed 12 members of the pro-government Popular Committees outside their office in Yemen's southern Abyan province.
• Violence has escalated for a third day in Port Said, Egypt, as a a group of protesters set fire to an interior ministry security services office. President Morsi withdrew police forces.
• New Palestinian-only bus lines between the West Bank and Tel Aviv have sparked controversy in Israel over segregation policies.
• The U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has canceled the Gaza marathon over the refusal of Hamas authorities to allow women to participate. 
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The Egyptian opposition's decision to boycott parliamentary elections looks familiar to those of us who study Latin America, where high profile boycotts have periodically been used by parties who distrust the government in charge of administering those elections. Unfortunately for the Egyptian opposition, the Latin American experience should be seen as a cautionary tale, since boycotts have too often turned into self-inflicted political wounds. The opposition is choosing not to act as a legislative brake on the executive, thereby reducing its own political influence.

Whether in the Middle East, Latin America, or elsewhere, this is the basic scenario. A controversial regime in a politically divided country holds elections and opposition parties must decide whether to participate or withdraw. Both choices require a difficult cost-benefit calculation. 

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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is visiting Turkey on Friday for talks on the conflict in Syria. The meeting comes a day after the United States committed $60 million in direct, non-lethal aid to the Syrian opposition during the "Friends of Syria" conference in Rome. The Syrian opposition responded to the announcement by Kerry, and the expectation that Britain will provide combat gear, as insufficient; they have been appealing for weapons supplies. In recent months, senior U.S. officials have advised President Barack Obama to send arms to moderate factions within the Syrian opposition. However, the White House continues to refuse over fears that the weapons will end up in the hands of Islamist radicals. Head of the opposition coalition, Sheik Moaz al-Khatib stated, "The media pays more attention to the length of the beards of the fighters than the massacres." He said the opposition is working to appoint the head of an interim government that will operate inside Syria, and attempted to quell fears that an Islamist government will take power. A meeting on the transitional government was scheduled for March 2 in Istanbul, but has been delayed for "logistical reason." Meanwhile, over 200,000 Syrian refugees have fled to Turkey.

Headlines

• Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has come under fire from the United States, Israel, and United Nations for his comments made at a U.N. conference on tolerance that Zionism is a "crime against humanity."
• Bahrain sentenced activist Zainab al-Khawaja to three months in prison for insulting a public employee, a day after the U.N. Human Rights Council issued a statement condemning the treatment of "persons exercising their right to freedom of opinion and expression in Bahrain."
• At least eight people were killed and dozens wounded in bombings in Baghdad, a day after a series of attacks killed 22 people around the city.
• Israel's health ministry is investigating accusations that contraceptive injections were given to thousands of Ethiopian immigrant women.
• Iraq has started the design for a $18 billion oil pipeline from the southern city Basra to Jordan's port of Aqaba, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has repeatedly threatened to block. 
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Officials expressed cautious optimism at the end of two days of talks between six world powers and Iran over its disputed nuclear program. Iran and the U.N. Security Council's permanent five members, the United States, Britain, France, China, and Russia, plus Germany, agreed for technical experts to meet in Istanbul on March 18, and to reconvene full negotiations in Kazakhstan on April 5 and 6. The P5 +1 offered to reduce some sanctions on Iran if the country scales back its nuclear program, which the West fears is intended for weapons development. European Union foreign policy chief and the P5 +1 lead negotiator Catherine Ashton said, "The proposals we put forward are designed to build in confidence and enable us to move forward." Iran's lead negotiator, Saeed Jalili said there was a long way to go, but this was a "positive step" and stated, "Some of the points raised were more realistic compared to what they [P5 +1] said in the past." The six world powers want Iran to stop enriching uranium to 20 percent, which can more easily be turned into weapons grade material, and export its current stockpiles of highly enriched uranium. Additionally, they want Iran to shut down its underground Fordo enrichment plant. Western diplomats cautioned that there was no substantive progress, but some analysts say there was an important development, and a major breakthrough was not expected in this round of talks. Meanwhile, the U.S. lawmakers will introduce a bill on Wednesday that will expand sanctions on Iran, and images released Wednesday raised suspicions that Iran is working toward producing plutonium at its Arak facility.

Syria

The United States is considering a shift in policy on Syria as Russia looks to the United States to urge the Syrian opposition to participate in peace talks. According to U.S. officials, the administration is considering sending opposition fighters body armor and armed vehicles, and additionally might provide military training. The United States has avoided sending weapons to the rebels, but has provided communications equipment to the opposition and given millions of dollars in humanitarian assistance. In a meeting in Berlin between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Russia called for the United States to urge for the Syrian opposition to drop President Bashar al-Assad's resignation as a precondition for direct talks with the Syrian regime. Meanwhile, according to a Human Rights Watch report released Tuesday, the Syrian government fired at least four ballistic missiles last week, hitting  civilian neighborhoods in the northern city of Aleppo. Human Rights Watch estimated that more than 141 people were killed in the strikes including 71 children. This is the first time in the  two-year conflict that the regime has fired as many missiles into residential areas.

Headlines

• After several months of talks with the Turkish government, imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan has drafted a ceasefire proposal to end the 28-year insurgency.
• Egypt's main opposition party, the National Salvation Front, said it will boycott parliamentary elections scheduled to begin in April. They have been criticizing the election law for favoring Islamists.
• Former Iranian chief prosecutor and close ally of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Saeed Mortazavi, is being charged over the deaths of anti-government protesters in 2010.
• Egypt has suspended hot air balloon flights in Luxor as the investigation continues into Tuesday's deadly crash, the company's second in 18 months. 
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A new round of talks began on Tuesday in Kazakhstan between Iran and world powers. Negotiators from Iran are meeting with the U.N. Security Council's permanent five members -- the United States, Britain, France, China, and Russia -- in addition to Germany. International powers suspect Iran of working to develop nuclear weapons, but Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. There is little optimism that this round of talks will yield a breakthrough. However, both sides have recently offered concessions. The spokesman for European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who is leading the dialogue, said "We have prepared a good and updated offer for the talks, which we believe is balanced and a fair basis for constructive talks." The United States proposed limited sanctions relief, and Iran said it was prepared to make an offer. Sanctions have taken a severe toll on Iran's economy, but they have not succeeded in pressuring Iran to temper its nuclear ambitions. In fact, Tehran announced technological advances just this week.

Opposition forces in Syria see a week of significant gains

The Syrian opposition has abandoned its boycott of talks in Rome on Syria. Head of the Syrian National Coalition Moaz al-Khatib said he would lead a delegation to the "Friends of Syria" meeting in Rome this week. However, the largest faction within the coalition maintained it would not participate, saying opposition forces have waited long enough for Western assistance. On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, said the Obama administration is considering new options to increase support to the Syrian opposition, and insisted that the United States would not leave them "dangling in the wind wondering where the support is or if it's coming." Saudi Arabia has been financing the purchase of Croatian arms which it has been reportedly funneling to opposition fighters since December. Meanwhile, a deadly explosion and heavy clashes were reported in Damascus, Syria's capital. Additionally, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, clashes between opposition fighters and government forces are endangering the historic Umayyad Mosque in the northern city of Aleppo. 

Headlines

• Palestinian militants fired a rocket from Gaza into southern Israel, breaking a November truce that ended eight days of fighting. The militants said the rocket was fired in retaliation for the death of a Palestinian man imprisoned in Israel.
• Egypt's prosecution is an investigating the hot air balloon explosion and crash near Luxor that killed an estimated 18 people, mostly Asian and European tourists.
• A member of the U.N. peacekeeping force in the disputed Golan Heights between Israel and Syria has been reported as missing.
• Tunisia has arrested a suspect and an alleged accomplice in the killing of opposition leader Chokri Belaid, whose murder sparked protests and a political crisis in Tunisia. 
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Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has finally issued dates for the new parliamentary elections, due now to begin April, and end in July, over staggered rounds. Voices within the opposition have begun to splinter apart over participation; the presidential candidate that never was, Nobel Prize winner Mohammed ElBaradei, has already called for a boycott. Looming in the distance, however, is the key reality around what the country is going to look like in a few months time -- and if a civilian led Egypt is still a reality. Indeed, ElBaradei recently reminded the international community of the stakes in this regard, explicitly indicating that holding elections in April would risk placing the country into a state of "total chaos and instability," resulting in a military intervention. He said, "If Egypt is on the brink of default, if law and order is absent, [the army] have a national duty to intervene."

ElBaradei was not advocating the intervention of the military -- he was simply pointing that it may happen as a natural consequence. Nevertheless, a certain scenario has been making the rounds around some elements within the political elite in Egypt's opposition -- some, it should be noted, rather than all or most. It goes something like this:

Morsi has made a mess of the transition to democracy, and even though he was elected, he has failed in his duty. The political turmoil and polarization are proof enough of that -- the economic disaster that is about to fall upon Egypt will simply be the logical consequence of all of that, and will ensure that the military intervenes to save the country. When the military does so, the Muslim Brotherhood might put up a little bit of a struggle, but they'll fold pretty quickly in order to assure themselves a political future in Egypt. Alternatively, they might fight a little bit, but the military will make short shrift of them, and they will then be shunted underground, ending for once and for all this abysmal experiment of Islamist rule in Egypt. The military, having understood the mistakes it made during Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi's reign, will be far more suave this time around, and will set the stage for a new constitution, and a new presidential election, before it departs the scene. The international community will cluck, cluck, perhaps, but will quietly be satisfied, as they also never wanted an Islamist regime to emerge. The opposition will then provide an alternative leadership that can lead Egypt forward.

It is an interesting scenario, to say the least -- but it is not terribly realistic, let alone ethical. The military may indeed intervene, as it might under any regime that contributes to the instability of Egypt -- it did so under Mubarak, and it may do so again. However, Morsi is not Mubarak. The military intervened when it was clear the overwhelming majority of the country wanted Mubarak to go -- demonstrating in massive protests, in which millions of people over several weeks showed that they would not accept anything less than his departure. The same cannot be said for Morsi. He is certainly unpopular -- and with very good reason -- but the vast majority of Egyptians haven't shown they want him to have the same fate as Mubarak.

If the military were to intervene, moreover, no one should expect it to be a walk in the park. When Mubarak was forced to resign by the military, his own establishment, including those who had the arms, turned against him. The police force would not fight against the military, and that was that. In a scenario in which the Muslim Brotherhood is forced from power -- a movement, living in an existential moment, that already feels the world is out to get it -- it is hard to see the MB not reacting with force. It would eventually lose against the combined forces of the military and the police -- but it would not be pretty. It would be a betrayal of the revolution of Tahrir forever, if any "revolutionaries" wanted such a bloodbath in order to put aside their political opponents.

If the military then takes control, the assumption that this leadership would be that much different from the previous Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) is not certain, to say the least. The former SCAF under Tantawi, regardless of the media assertions to the contrary, was incredibly popular in Egypt. Among the political elite, whether opposition or MB, it had a varied reputation -- but across the country, the military's standing was solid. It may thus believe that there are actually not many errors to correct for, and another transitional phase may not prove to be all that much better than the last one. Of course, no one knows how it will behave -- only that in general, the military will look out for it's own interests, which include the stability of Egypt, as well as the fortification of military independence and autonomy.

To assume that the opposition leadership has the ability to provide a genuine alternative that can steer the country better may turn out to be wishful thinking -- in general, political leadership in Egypt has been indescribably lacking for the masses of Egyptians. This goes just as much for the opposition, which does not enjoy as much blame as the MB for the political turmoil, as it is not in power -- but is still hardly stellar by comparison.

What is generally true is that the international community would, in all likelihood, cluck, cluck, and let things unfold as it will -- as long as Egypt remains stable. The failure of Egypt is simply not an option, for broader political, economic, and security considerations.

All of this should not come as a surprise to any political force within Egypt -- whether the opposition or the MB. However, the uncomfortable truth is that the way to avoid this outcome is not in the opposition's court. Even if it were to disavow, and actively be against any military involvement in politics, its weight is negligible in that regard -- the military will come or not come according to its own calculus, not that of the opposition. The Egyptian presidency is what makes the difference in Egypt in terms of averting the realization of this scenario. The presidency must be aware that within the opposition, the broad majority would want to avoid any further turmoil in Egypt. They no longer need political allies who are simply willing to back up the government -- the presidency need partners who are willing to serve in a genuine national salvation government that resolves the political turmoil on the one hand, and sets into motion an economic recovery immediately. As the days go on, that all becomes more and more difficult -- and the likely scenarios become less and less palatable, for everyone.

Dr. H. A. Hellyer, a non-resident fellow at the Project on U.S.-Islamic World Relations at the Brookings Institution, and ISPU, is a Cairo-based specialist on Arab affairs and West-Muslim world relations. Follow him on Twitter@hahellyer.

Violence has escalated in the West Bank as over 10,000 Palestinians gathered on Monday for the funeral of Arafat Jaradat, 30, who died in Israeli custody on Saturday. The Israeli Defense Forces detained Jaradat for allegedly throwing stones and maintained that the cause of death is unclear. The investigation is ongoing, but Israel had initially cited cardiac arrest. According to the Palestinian minister of prisoner affairs, "The signs that appeared during the autopsy show clearly that he was subjected to sever torture that led immediately to his death." Jaradat's death came after days of protest in the West Bank over Israel's treatment of Palestinian prisoners. Four prisoners who have been undergoing a hunger strike were joined on Sunday by the 4,500 Palestinians in Israeli jails and Palestinians have continued protests across the West Bank. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made "an unequivocal demand" to the Palestinian Authority to calm protests and transferred $100 million in tax revenue it had been withholding to the Palestinian Authority.

Syria

Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said Syria is ready to hold talks with the armed opposition, speaking from Russia on Monday, in the clearest yet offer for negotiations. The regime and the opposition in recent weeks have softened their positions and said they are prepared for some sort of contact. Moaz al-Khatib, head of the opposition Syrian National Coalition said he had not yet been in contact with the Syrian government about talks, and is waiting for communication. However, spokesman for the coalition, Khalid Saleh, told the Guardian that the opposition rejects the offer as "empty" and "deceitful." U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is hoping to meet on Thursday in Rome with the Syrian opposition, along with foreign ministers from Europe and the Middle East. However, the Syrian National Coalition said it would boycott the "Friends of Syria" meeting. The coalition said it is also turning down talks in Washington and Moscow, protesting the international community's "shameful" failure to stop violence in Syria. Last week was particularly bloody for Syria with a series of bombings in the capital Damascus and three missile strikes in the northern city Aleppo.  

Headlines  

• Protester Mahmood Aljazeeri, 20, died in a hospital after being hit in the head by a tear gas canister thrown by police. He is the third protester to die during demonstrations that occured in Bahrain last week.
• Israel's Defense Ministry announced that Israel and the United States successfully tested the Arrow 3 anti-missile system.
• The United States and other world powers will offer Iran some relief in sanctions during talks over the country's disputed nuclear program set for this week in Kazakhstan. 
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Yemen's joint Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakkol Karman might serve well as a poster child of the Arab Spring, but the outcome of the Yemeni transition does not make a good model -- if there is one at all. Events throughout 2012 certainly did not fulfill the expectations of the revolutionary youth who have consistently returned to the streets of Sanaa, Taizz, and Aden. Former President Ali Abdullah Saleh has continued to exert some influence in Yemeni politics: as head of the former regime party General People's Congress (GPC); through his connections in the military and bureaucratic apparatus; by maintaining healthy ties in the main tribal confederation, the Hashid, that has dominated Yemeni politics since the 1970s; and in being propped up by Saudi support. Yet, with President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and Saleh-rival Ali Mohsen increasingly consolidating their position, the end game might just have begun for the Saleh connection. As stated by Saleh, politics in Yemen is like dancing on the heads of snakes. With Saleh out of office, his former vice president on the verge of consolidating his grip on the presidency, and military strongmen as power brokers in a volatile security framework, the lead dancer is gone, but the snakes are still there. 

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Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has called for parliamentary elections to begin April 27, eliciting concerns from opposition parties. According to the presidential decree issued Thursday, the elections for parliament's lower house will take place over four stages through the end of June. The new People's Assembly will then be expected to convene on July 6. The previous body was dissolved in June 2012 after the January elections for the lower house were deemed unconstitutional. Morsi's Islamist Freedom and Justice Party, which took around 40 percent of the vote in the initial elections, expressed satisfaction with the decision while opposition parties have shown alarm. Head of the main opposition bloc, the National Salvation Front (NSF), Mohamed ElBaradei said, "Morsi's decision to go for parliamentary elections amid severe societal polarisation and the eroding state authority is a recipe for disaster." The NSF called for opposition parties to meet on Friday to discuss Morsi's announcement. 

Syria

Syrian warplanes targeted Damascus International Airport a day after attacks killed an estimated 90 people across the capital. There have been no immediate reports of casualties from Friday's attacks, which hit the towns of Beit Sahm and Shebaa near the main airport road south of Damascus. According to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, there was also fighting in the opposition held areas of Daraya and Moadamiyeh, south of Damascus. No one has taken responsibility for Thursday's car bombing that hit near the offices of the ruling Baath Party as well as the Russian embassy and killed at least 53 people and injured over 200. The government has blamed "terrorists;" the opposition has claimed the regime is responsible. Russia has accused the United States of applying a double standard for blocking a U.N. Security Council statement condemning the car bombing.

Headlines  

• Tunisia's ruling Ennahda has named Interior Minister Ali Larayedh as its candidate for prime minister, following the resignation of Hamdi Jebali Tuesday.
• The International Atomic Energy Agency reported Thursday that Iran seems to be advancing construction of a research reactor at Arak, which could be used to produce plutonium for nuclear arms.
• Over 60 people have been injured in clashes between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers in the West Bank during protests over four Palestinian prisoners on a hunger strike.
• Yemeni security forces shot and killed three activists on their way to a southern independence rally in Aden and 34 other people were injured in clashes. 
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Tunisian Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali resigned Tuesday after failing to push through his plan for a new technocrat government. Jebali dissolved the government as political tensions heightened after the February 6 assassination of opposition leader Chokri Belaid. Jebali had said he would step down if his ruling Islamist Ennahda Party rejected his proposal. After a meeting with President Moncef Marzouki on Tuesday he said, "I vowed that if my initiative did not succeed, I would resign and I have done so." He did not rule out returning to the government, but insisted it be inclusive and free from political infighting. On Monday, head of Ennahda Rachid Ghannouchi put forward an alternative proposal for a government mixed with politicians and technocrats and said that there was consensus that Jebali remain as prime minister. The continued political instability in Tunisia has further jeopardized the country's fragile economy. On Tuesday, Standard and Poor's downgraded Tunisia's credit rating, citing "a risk that the political situation could deteriorate further amid a worsening fiscal, external and economic outlook."

Syria

According to Syrian state media, a football player was killed after two mortar shells hit the Tishreen stadium in Damascus's al-Baramkeh district. The attack came a day after two mortars reportedly exploded outside one of President Bashar al-Assad's palaces in the capital's northwestern district of Muhajireen. Opposition activists said that the Free Syrian Army fired up to seven mortar rounds at the Tishreen Palace. No casualties have been reported. Assad has two other palaces in the city. Opposition fighters previously claimed to have fired rockets at the presidential palaces, but the attack on Tuesday was confirmed by the Syrian government. Meanwhile, the death toll from Monday's rocket attack on Aleppo has risen to an estimated 31 people. According to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, it was "likely a surface-to-surface missile" that had been fired into the opposition held Jabal Badro district of the northern city. On Wednesday, Russia reported that one of two planes of humanitarian assistance it is sending to Syria has landed in the port of Latakia. On their return to Russia, the planes are expected to be filled by Russia citizens wishing to evacuate from Syria.

Headlines  

• Israeli's Tzipi Livni is the first to join Netanyahu's coalition, set to be named justice minister, saying she will "leave no stone unturned" to become part of a government "that commits to bringing peace."
• Saudi Arabia has sworn in 30 women to the previously all male Shura council, marking the first time women have been permitted to hold political office in the kingdom.
• Israel released part of a report on Tuesday on the death of Prisoner X, identified last week as Australian born Benjamin Zygier.
• U.S. think-tank the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) has released a report finding that the attainment of nuclear weapons by Iran is unlikely to trigger a Middle East arms race. 
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Opposition forces have claimed control of the northeast province of Hasaka which produces most of the country's oil. Opposition fighters have reportedly captured the town of Shadadah, near the province's capital, seizing state security and military intelligence compounds as well as the Jbeysa oil fields. The attack was led by the Islamist opposition group al-Nusra front. In three days of fighting, an estimated 100 government soldiers were killed, as well as 30 al-Nusra fighters and dozens of civilian employees of the Syrian Petroleum Company. An estimated 40,000 people have fled the town. This attack has not yet been verified, but if true, it comes amid other recent strategic gains for opposition fighters. Opposition forces captured Syria's largest hydropower dam and a military airbase in the north, along with undamaged aircrafts. Additionally, rebel fighters reported shooting down three government air force warplanes on Thursday. If verified, it could be the largest one-day loss of warplanes for the regime since the beginning of the conflict nearly two years ago. Meanwhile, government forces and opposition fighters have continued battling for Aleppo's international airport, where over 150 regime troops and rebels have been killed.

Headlines

• In a policy shift, the United States has called for the release of opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi from house arrest ahead of Iran's presidential elections.
• Egypt's main opposition bloc, the National Salvation Front, and the Salafist al-Nour Party have called for the resignation of Prime Minister Hisham Zandil's cabinet and the formation of a new government.
• Suspicions are growing over the case of Australian-born suspected Mossad agent Ben Zygier. He was reportedly involved in an Australian investigation into the use of Australian passports by Israeli intelligence.
• A police officer was killed as protests and violence escalated in Bahrain on Thursday after the death of a teenager. 
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Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr has ordered a review of his ministry's handling of a 2010 case in which an Australian man, allegedly a Mossad agent, reportedly hanged himself in a secret Israeli jail. On Wednesday, Carr admitted that the Department of Foreign Affairs knew about the detention of the man referred to as Prisoner X, who the report revealed is likely Ben Zygier. He changed his name to Ben Alon in Israel. Initial reports of his death were leaked in 2010, but the story was highly censored by Israel. On Tuesday, Israeli news organizations were forced to remove content concerning the case, but the ban was partially lifted on Wednesday after Knesset members raised questions. Israel's prime minister's office has declined to comment. According to ABC, Zygier was 34 when he died, and was married to an Israeli woman with two young children. It is unclear why he was incarcerated. He was held at the Ayalon high security prison in central Israel, in a wing constructed to hold Yigal Amir, the Israeli who assassinated former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, with a surveillance system installed to prevent suicide.  

Syria

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay addressed the U.N. Security Council Tuesday calling for action to resolve the conflict in Syria, saying the death toll is approaching 70,000. Severe fighting has continued in Damascus. The government has targeted opposition positions in the neighborhood of Jobar as well as the suburb of Daraya. Russia said it will continue its weapons supplies to the Syrian regime, saying "in the absence of sanctions" it will fulfill its "obligations on contracts for the delivery of military hardware" which it maintains are not offensive weapons, but mainly air defense systems. Meanwhile, Qatar has decided to hand over the Syrian embassy in its capital Doha to the opposition Syrian National Coalition.

Headlines

• Iran has announced it is upgrading its centrifuges ahead of renewed negotiations on its nuclear development program set to begin Wednesday.
• Hundreds of Egyptian police began a strike protesting against President Mohamed Morsi on Tuesday, shutting down headquarters at about seven provincial capitals in a rare case of open dissent.
• Egyptian security forces have flooded smuggling tunnels between the Sinai and the Palestinian Gaza Strip in efforts to shut them down, angering Hamas leaders.
• Debt stricken carrier Bahrain Air has announced it will shut down amid political unrest while leaders enter into a new round of reconciliation talks. 
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