Reyhanli is a town on the Turkish side of the border with Syria. Nothing special to write about this sleepy coastal town, until two days ago that is. Out of the blue, two car bombs exploded there, leaving a trail of blood and misery with 43 innocent civilians dead.

The...

Hassan Nasrallah, the General Secretary of the Hezbollah terror organization in Lebanon, is a self-styled hero. He credits himself with a "win" over Israel in the summer of 2006 conflict between Israel and his army. He publicly admitted that, had he known the results of the conflict, he would not...

First, there was a somewhat bizarre miscommunication between two very close allies, the U.S. and Israel. A senior Israeli intelligence official publicly related to the use of chemical substance by the Assad army against unarmed Syrian citizens. This was not a sweeping statement, rather a careful reference to local and...

In Syria, unlike Las Vegas, what happens there does not stay there. So, as predicted many times in this blog, the crisis is having obvious and increasingly dangerous regional implications.

The Kurdish component, with the Iraqi-Turkish dimension of it already a major factor on the ground, as the northeast of...

The recent announcement by an Iraqi Al-Qaeda group about a merger with the pro Al-Qaeda Syrian Jabhat Al-Nusrar (the victory front), has refueled both the debate about Western intervention or lack thereof in the Syrian civil war, as well as the discussion about what Syria in the post-Assad era will...

In the early days of Israel, the search for energy sources was of paramount importance. It was so because Israel was under siege by all its neighbors, and the very supply of oil was constantly threatened, let alone that the Arab boycott of the new state was designed to deter...

President Obama's visit in Israel was a resounding PR success, judging by various indicators of Israeli public opinion, but as the dust settles, it becomes very clear that the visit was also an impressive diplomatic achievement. All the president's men can feel satisfied by the decision of PM Netanyahu to...

For three days this week Israel is a state under siege. Jerusalem is almost paralyzed due to President Obama's visit, Tel-Aviv is still moving , but nearly choking with excitement, as the second best soccer player in the world, Christiano Ronaldo, arrived with the Portuguese national team to play lowly...

Four days before his mandate to establish a new government expires, and a week before President's Obama visit to Jerusalem, Benjamin Netanyahu is putting the finishing touches on his new cabinet. Not as big a drama as unfolded in another city of eternity, but still an important milestone in the...

This week marks two important dates in the modern history of Syria. One: on March 8, 1963, 50 years ago, the Ba'ath Party took over in Syria in a bloodless coup, something that needs to be emphasized as we see the atrocious bloody drama unfolding in Syria these days, as...

Predicting troubles in the Middle East in general, and with regard to the Israeli-Palestinian situation in particular, is a safe bet. This is the region of the world where troubles are the rule, and good news is the exception. So, there is nothing new about predicting/anticipating a third Palestinian intifada...

According to press reports in Israel, PM Netanyahu is facing growing difficulties in forming a new government, something that should come as no surprise to keen observers of the Israeli political scene, as well as to readers of this blog. The results on January 22nd created a complicated situation, and...

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a very busy man these days. He sends a monkey to space, if anyone believes that (and I, for one, do not), and then he is photographed near a new Iranian aircraft, billed as one of the most advanced in the world, which looks more like an...

The previous chemicals scare about Syria, according to which Bashar Assad was going to unleash this lethal weapon against his own people was proven to be a false alarm. This was predicted by this blog, and there still are no signs that the dictator, even at his moment of extreme...

Jeffrey Goldberg is a well-respected and reliable American journalist, known for his good connections in both the White House and the corridors of power in Jerusalem. He wrote just few days ago that behind closed doors President Obama and his team strongly criticize PM Netanyahu for his policy about announcing...

The Israeli-American relationship is one of the most hotly debated issues concerning America's foreign policy at large, and questions relating to the Middle East in particular. It may be that "Jews are news," it may be any other reason, but no one can ignore the often-tensed and ferocious tone attached...

All the polls taken in Israel ahead of the upcoming Knesset elections indicate a static situation, so far as the division between right and left is concerned. The only significant changes are inside the two main blocks, that of the current coalition and that of the opposition. So far as...

The upcoming Israeli elections, scheduled for January 22nd, seem to be a non-event. Contrary to many campaigns in the past, which always were depicted by the contestants as "crucial" and "historic," this campaign can be well defined as lukewarm, if not outright as "boring."

It may be that Israel follows...

Mikhail Bogdanov, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister, was the center of worldwide attention yesterday, following a statement he made which was perceived as a major departure from Russia's hitherto staunch support for Bashar Assad. Then came the usual stream of "clarifications," semi-denials and "out of context" explanations by Russian governmental sources,...