"You are not going to war against the youth, but against the religion of Allah." The statement, which appeared Sunday night on the Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia (AST) Facebook page, was attributed to Abu Iyadh al-Tunisi, AST's emir and the founder of the al Qaeda-linked Tunisian Islamic Combatant Group (TICG). Coming after Tunisian authorities suppressed AST preaching events in multiple cities, the text is part of an escalating war of words and deeds between AST, Tunisian security forces, and the Islamist Ennahda-led government over the past several months, compounded by the September 14, 2012 assault on the U.S. Embassy in Tunis. Al-Tunisi's statement also threatened, in subtle but unmistakable tones, a jihad against Tunisian authorities.

The risk of open conflict may have become even more likely Wednesday after Ennahda leader Rached Ghannouchi announced that AST's annual conference in the city of Kairouan, scheduled for Sunday, would not be allowed to take place, though an AST spokesman vowed Thursday that the event would go forward. But the immediate spark came when Tunisian security forces began striking homemade landmines in the rugged region around Jebel Chaambi near the country's western border with Algeria.

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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. 
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U.S. President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron met in Washington on Monday, reaffirming their commitment to the Syrian opposition. Cameron said his government has not yet made a decision to arm opposition fighters, but committed to double its non-lethal aid over the coming year as well as continue providing humanitarian relief for refugees. Obama spoke about U.S. and Russian efforts to bring together the Syrian government and opposition for negotiations, but injected a word of caution saying, "There are going to be enormous challenges." The Syrian regime and opposition have requested more details about the proposed conference before committing to attend. Obama also noted that he had spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin several times and stated that Russia has an interest in encouraging a stable and democratic Syria after Assad leaves power. Putin is hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for talks on the Syrian conflict on Tuesday. Israel expressed concerns last week about Russia's arms deliveries of advanced S-300 missile batteries to the Syrian government. Meanwhile, an unauthenticated video has been released that appears to show a Syrian rebel eating the heart of a dead government soldier, drawing widespread condemnation. Human Rights Watch identified the man as Abu Sakkar, leader of the Independent Omar al-Farouq Brigade. The U.S. based human rights group said all people responsible for war crimes in the Syrian conflict will be held accountable. A spokeswoman for the opposition Syrian National Coalition said, "we completely condemn this act, which is an affront to human values, Islamic ethics and the ideals of the coalition and the Free Syrian Army."

Headlines

• On Monday, a car bombing close to a hospital in the Libyan city of Benghazi killed several civilians after four police stations were bombed last week which caused damage but no casualties.
• Saudi Arabia's health ministry has confirmed four new cases of the SARS-like coronavirus, with a total of 24 cases since the disease was identified in 2012.
• Israel approved a two-year austerity budget Monday despite large protests; meanwhile Prime Minster Netanyahu has come under scrutiny for his household spending.
• A Turkish fighter jet crashed Monday killing the pilot in the southern Osmaniye province near the border with Syria, but the cause of the crash is unclear.
• President Obama said the U.S. administration called the attack on Benghazi an act of terrorism from the beginning and called the dispute a Republican "sideshow." 
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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. 
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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. 
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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. 
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Government forces and pro-regime militias attacked and raided the predominantly Sunni coastal village of Baida in northwestern Syria on Thursday, killing at least 50 people. According to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the death toll will likely exceed 100, including women and children. It added that many people appear to have been killed in summary execution style shootings or stabbings, and some bodies were found burned. Dozens of villagers remain missing. The attack on the village, near the city of Banias, was spurred by an opposition assault on a bus carrying pro-Assad militiamen, shabiha, killing at least six of them and injuring 20. Regime fighters and shabiha retaliated by surrounding Baida and the nearby town of Maqreb, and attacking them with mortar fire, and then storming Baida. The Syrian military seems to have made significant gains in recent weeks, retaking territory in Homs and several Damascus suburbs. Meanwhile, in a news conference on Thursday, U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel became the first top U.S. official to acknowledge that the Obama administration is considering arming the Syrian opposition. He said, "arming the rebels -- that's and option," but continued that the president is looking at all options. U.S., British, French, Russian, and Chinese officials met with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Thursday to discuss diplomatic options for ending the conflict in Syria. U.N. and Arab League envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi has expressed an intention to resign over the international deadlock on Syria. According to some diplomats he could step down by the end of May.

Headlines  

• The United States has redesigned its largest "bunker buster" bomb with the capacity to destroy Iran's underground Fordow nuclear site, hoping to assure Israel it has the ability to prevent Iranian nuclear weapons development.
• Google has adopted "Palestine" as the tagline for its Palestinian edition saying, "we are following the lead of the United Nations and other international organizations."
• Egypt's birthrate has risen to a 20-year high as Mubarak-era policies lapse.
• Lebanon ratified the first civil marriage which sets an important precedent, despite criticism. 
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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. 
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Iraq's media commission has suspended the licenses of 10 satellite channels, including Al Jazeera, and has accused them of airing "misleading and exaggerated" coverage of recent fighting and "promoting violence." The Iraqi government will not be able to cut the broadcasts of the channels which are based abroad, but it will prevent journalists from the channels from reporting from inside Iraq. All of the channels affected except for one have Sunni financial backers, and most have aired heavy coverage of the Sunni protest movement. Therefore, the move has been largely seen as a crackdown on dissent by the Shiite-dominated government on a growing Sunni uprising. Al Jazeera released a statement saying, "We are astonished by this development. We cover all sides of the stories in Iraq, and have done so for many years. The fact that so many channels have been hit all at once, though, suggests this an indiscriminate decision." More than 200 people have been killed in Iraq since last Tuesday in a spike in sectarian violence sparked by a raid by Iraqi security forces on a Sunni protest camp.

Syria

Syrian Prime Minister Wael Nader al-Halki survived what appeared to be an assassination attempt on Monday in the capital, Damascus. A car bomb exploded near the prime minister's convoy in the central Mezze district reportedly killing six people, including one of his bodyguards. Halki was appointed by Assad in August 2012 after the former Prime Minister Riyadh Hijab defected. Halki doesn't have much power within the Syrian regime, but the attack shows a growing ability of opposition forces to target President Bashar al-Assad's officials. The attack hit an upscale neighborhood that is home to several political figures and where government buildings are located, as well as an important military airport. Meanwhile, U.S. lawmakers have been pushing the Obama administration to act on Syria over a belief that the Assad regime has used chemical weapons in the civil war. Most are hesitant to send U.S. troops to Syria, but are considering a no-fly zone and air campaign. However, U.S. officials are concerned about Syria's formidable air-defense system, which is built and supported by the Russian military.

Headlines

• Five car bombs have reportedly killed an estimated 25 people and injured 97 others in mostly Shiite areas across Iraq as sectarian tensions rise.
• Armed men blocked Libya's Foreign Ministry, Interior Ministry, and a state-owned TV station Sunday demanding fighters who helped in the overthrow of Qaddafi to be hired, and calling for the removal of Qaddafi-era officials.
• Gazan militants fired a mortar shell, which hit an open area in southern Israel on Monday, after retaliatory airstrikes by Israel occurred a day earlier. 
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The minaret of Syria's famous Umayyad Mosque in Aleppo, which was built between the 8th and 12th centuries, has been destroyed during clashes between government troops and opposition forces who have traded blame. The mosque is in Aleppo's Old City, which has been designated as a UNESCO world heritage site. UNESCO described it as "one of the most beautiful mosques in the Muslim world." The minaret dates back to the 11th century. Syria's state news agency, SANA, reported fighters from the Islamist al-Nusra Front caused the destruction, while an Aleppo-based activist said a Syrian tank shell had "totally destroyed" the minaret. The destruction came just over a week after the minaret from the 7th century Omari Mosque was destroyed in the southern city of Daraa. Heavy fighting was also reported near Aleppo on Tuesday over control of the Minnigh military airbase. According to Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, "The rebels, who had laid siege to the airport for months now, entered it for the first time around dawn." Meanwhile, the Syrian government has waged a campaign to convince the United States that it is on the wrong side in supporting the opposition in the Syrian civil war. Regime officials allowed New York Times journalists limited access to Damascus in attempts to convince the West that the opposition is dominated by Islamist extremists. Syrian Prime Minister Wael Nader al-Halqi said, "We are partners in fighting terrorism."

Headlines

• At least 19 people, including Iraqi police and Sunni militants, were killed in an attack by gunmen in Mosul, and gunmen have overtaken Suleiman Beg, a Sunni town north of Baghdad, in increased violence sparked by a raid Tuesday on a Sunni protest camp.
• The British government has signed a treaty with Jordan, which, if ratified, will permit Britain to deport radical cleric Abu Qatada and will ensure Jordan will provide him with a fair trial.
• One of two suspects in an alleged plot to derail a passenger train in Canada, Chiheb Esseghairer, rejected Canada's authority to judge him in court on Wednesday saying the criminal code is not a "holy book." 
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France's embassy in Tripoli, Libya's capital, was hit Tuesday by what appeared to be a car bomb, wounding two French guards and several residents. The explosion destroyed the reception area of the embassy on the ground-floor and the perimeter wall, as well as nearby homes and shops. A French embassy official said, "We think it was a booby trapped car." French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said deaths and greater injury were avoided because the explosion occurred before embassy staff would have been arriving for work in the morning. French President Francois Hollande condemned the attack and said, "France expects the Libyan authorities to shed light on this unacceptable act so that the authors are identified and brought to justice." No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, which was the first on a diplomatic mission in the city since the ouster of Muammar al-Qaddafi. Other similar attacks have been primarily in the eastern city of Benghazi, such as the September 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate.

Syria

Gunmen in an opposition held area of northern Syria have abducted two Christian bishops. Yohanna Ibrahim, head of the Syriac Orthodox Church in Aleppo and Boulou Yaziji, leader of the Greek Orthodox Church in Aleppo, were reportedly kidnapped when they were doing "humanitarian work in Aleppo countryside," according to Syrian State TV. A member of the opposition Syrian National Coalition, Abdulahad Steifo, said the two men were abducted on the road to Aleppo from the opposition held Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey. While several prestigious Muslim clerics have been killed since the uprising in Syria began over two years ago, these are the most senior Christian leaders to be caught up in the conflict. Meanwhile, Israel's senior military intelligence analyst, Brig. Gen. Itai Brun, made a statement Tuesday that Syrian government forces have used chemical weapons. Brun's comments came a day after U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, while visiting Israel, said U.S. intelligence agencies were still investigating suspected chemical weapons use in attacks on March 19 near Damascus and Aleppo. Brun said, "To the best of our understanding, there was use of lethal chemical weapons. Which chemical weapons? Probably sarin." On Monday, Hagel said the use of chemical weapons by Syrian forces would be a "game changer."

Headlines

• A raid by Iraqi security forces on a camp in Hawija of Sunni anti-government protesters early Tuesday sparked clashes, killing at least 23 people, however reports are conflicting.
• Iran has denied ties to al Qaeda after Canadian police claimed a planned attack on a passenger train was linked to an al Qaeda group in Iranian territory. 
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Heavy clashes have continued across Bahrain between anti-government protesters and security forces ahead of the Formula One Grand Prix set for Sunday. Bahrain's main opposition society al-Wefaq has called for major protests to be held Friday. Pro-democracy groups have demanded the race be canceled over the kingdom's poor human rights record and slow pace of reform. Bahrain's crown prince, Prince Salman bin Hamad Isa Al Khalifa, has admitted his country is "not perfect" but insists progress is being made, and that "we are in a much better position than last year." He urged Bahrainis not to politicize the race. F1A President Jean Todt, said in an email, it is "our firm belief that sports, and the F1 Grand Prix, can have a positive and healing effect in situations where conflict, social unrest and tensions are causing distress." On Friday in a joint statement, F1's chief executive and commercial-rights holder, Bernie Ecclestone maintained that Bahrain is a safe place to race and said the event will go on as scheduled.

Syria

The United Nations Security Council has reached agreement on a non-binding statement on the Syrian conflict, after the prodding of U.N. humanitarian officials who have said the war has sparked a humanitarian catastrophe. In a U.N. Security Council briefing, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, and Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Valerie Amos, said 25 percent of Syria's population of 22 million people is internally displaced, and 1.3 million people have fled the country. Amos appealed to the U.N. Security Council to approve cross-border relief operations to address humanitarian needs inside Syria. The security council has been deadlocked since the beginning of Syria's uprising in March 2011, but reached a rare consensus issuing the statement saying, "The escalating violence is completely unacceptable and must end immediately," continuing that it "urged all parties to ensure safe and unimpeded access for aid organizations to those in need in all areas of Syria." Meanwhile, U.S. intelligence agencies are investigating what some U.S. officials believe to be the first credible indications that chemical weapons have been used in fighting in Syria. According to four senior U.S. officials, witness accounts and preliminary testing of samples from Syria have increased suspicions that Syrian forces have used chemical agents. However, other U.S. officials are skeptical, concerned that Syrian opposition forces could have tainted the samples.

Headlines  

• An estimated 32 people were killed and 65 others wounded in a suicide bombing inside a busy café in Iraq's capital Baghdad Thursday night ahead of the April 20 provincial elections.
• The U.S. Defense Department is expected to announce next week a $10 billion arms deal with Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, as a means to counter Iranian threats.
-- By Mary Casey

Two rockets fired from the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt hit the southern Israeli resort town of Eilat on Wednesday morning. Israeli media reported that a third missile possibly landed on the outskirts of the city, and two others might have hit the neighboring Jordanian resort city of Aqaba. However, Jordanian authorities said that no rockets had hit the city. The small militant Salafi group Magles Shura al-Mujahdin claimed responsibility for the attack, and some Egyptian security sources said the rockets had likely been launched from Egyptian territory. Another Egyptian security source said, "There is not yet any evidence indicating these rockets were fired from Egypt." According to the Israeli military, the rockets, which hit a construction site and an open area, did not cause any casualties or damage. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) deployed its Iron Dome missile defense system to the city two weeks ago, but while it tracked the incoming rockets, it did not intercept them "for operational reasons," according to an Israeli military spokeswoman. There has been increased concern over the insecurity in the Sinai since the Egyptian revolution that ousted former President Hosni Mubarak, and Eilat was targeted by three rocket attacks in 2012, although there were no injuries.

Syria

Fighting has paused in Aleppo, Syria's biggest city and one of the main battlegrounds in the civil war. The temporary truce, the first in the area in months, is to allow for Red Crescent workers to collect 31 bodies, mainly civilians killed by government snipers, which have been decomposing amid the rubble of the al-Sakhour district in north Aleppo. According to activists, heavy fighting continues in other neighborhoods and near Aleppo International Airport. Additionally, a government rocket reportedly killed an estimated 12 people in the Syrian village of Eastern Buwaydah, between Homs and the Lebanese border, on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Belgian police raided 48 homes and arrested six people suspected of recruiting jihadist fighters to join the conflict in Syria. The presence of foreign fighters in Syria has been increasing. Most of the fighters are believed to come from Turkey, Jordan, Iraq, and North Africa. However, According to the British based International Center for the Study of Radicalization, between 140 and 600 Europeans are suspected to have gone to Syria since early 2011, which is estimated to be between seven and 11 percent of the total number of foreign fighters. U.N. and Arab League envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi plans to sever his ties with the Arab League, according to anonymous diplomats. The diplomats said that the Arab League's recognition of the Syrian opposition have jeopardized the envoy's neutrality. Brahimi is scheduled to brief the U.N. Security Council on Friday on the situation in Syria, which is expected to be "another bleak report."

Headlines

• The British government has requested permission to appeal to the Supreme Court in efforts to reverse a ruling preventing the deportation to Jordan of Islamic cleric Abu Qatada.
• Rescue teams are heading to the remote border region between Iran and Pakistan after a powerful earthquake hit the regionTuesday and is expected to have killed dozens of people. 
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Commentators have offered numerous theories for what caused the Egyptian and Tunisian revolutions and who participated in them. They range from youth and their chronic unemployment, to liberal activists and their demands for civil rights, to workers and absolute levels of material deprivation. Stories of individual participants and analyses of specific groups taking part in the uprisings have provided much insight into this question, but only a representative sample of participants can help weigh the importance of different factors driving protesters. The latest wave of the Arab Barometer, a nationally representative survey administered in the wake of the protests, provides some answers. 

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