Excerpts: Anti-Israel Holocaust survivors re Gaza conflict. Iran 'not open
for business'.Syria willing share fight against ISIS.Jordan foils terror
plots against U.S. and Israel.IS fighters seize Syrian air base August 25,
2014

+++Al Arabiya News 25 Aug. ’14: “Holocaust survivors blast Israel over Gaza
conflict”, by Staff Writer
SUBJECT: Holocaust survivors re Gaza conflict
QUOTE:”posted as an advert in the New York Times by left-wing organization,
the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network”
FULL TEXT:Israel’s attacks on Gaza have been condemned by more than 300
Holocaust survivors and their descendants as a “massacre,” the BBC reported
on Sunday.

The statement has been posted as an advert in the New York Times by
left-wing organization, the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network.

The ad, calling for the Gaza blockade to be lifted and Israel to be
boycotted, was signed by 40 Holocaust survivors and 287 descendants and
other relatives.

"As Jewish survivors and descendants of survivors and victims of the Nazi
genocide we unequivocally condemn the massacre of Palestinians in Gaza and
the ongoing occupation and colonization of historic Palestine," the
statement said.

The move came in response to an advertisement by Holocaust survivor Elie
Wiesel which compared the Palestinian movement Hamas to the Nazis.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has done the same, voicing the
slogan "Hamas is ISIS. ISIS is Hamas" at a news conference, on Twitter and
even at his weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday.


+++SOURCE: Al Arabiya News 25 Aug ’14:”Iran not open for business: David
Cohen U.S. Undersecretary of Treasury”
SUBJECT: Iran ‘not open for business’
FULL TEXT:Iran will not be open for business before a comprehensive
agreement with Western powers is reached over its nuclear program, David
Cohen, U.S. Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial
Intelligence, said in an interview aired by Al Arabiya News on Monday.[25
Aug.]

“It is certainly premature if anyone is entering in business deals today
that are contrary to the sanctions that remain in place,” Cohen told Al
Arabiya’s senior presenter Nadine Hani.

“We understand that there is, as you say, enthusiasm in the business
community about the possibility that the sanctions will be lifted and that
there will be new opportunities in Iran. The only way that is going to come
about, however, is if there is a comprehensive agreement,” Cohen added.

+++SOURCE: Al Arabiya News 25 Aug.’14:”Syria ‘ready’ yo work with U.S.
against ISIS”, by Staff Writer,Agence France Presse and Reuters
SUBJECT: Syria willing share fight against ISIS

QUOTE: “Syria FM Muallem added that Syria was willing to participate in such
efforts as part of a regional or international coalition”

Syria said on Monday[25 Aug.] that it is “ready” to work with the United
States and other world powers in fighting terrorism, as its ally Russia
urged Western and Arab governments to overcome their distaste for President
Bashar al-Assad.

“Syria is ready for cooperation and coordination at the regional and
international level to fight terrorism and implement U.N. Security Council
resolution 2170,” Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem told reporters in
Damascus.

He confirmed, in response to a question, that the country’s willingness to
do so would extend to cooperating with the United States and Britain.

“They are welcome,” he said.

Muallem added that Syria was willing to participate in such efforts as part
of a regional or international coalition, or on the basis of bilateral
cooperation.But, he said, “We must feel that the cooperation is serious and
not double standards.”“Any violation of Syria’s sovereignty would be an act
of aggression.”

His comments come as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) advances in
several parts of Syria, including Raqqa province, where it seized the army’s
last provincial outpost on Sunday[24 Aug.].

Muallem’s statements also came shortly after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov urged Western and Arab governments to overcome their distaste for
Syrian President Assad and engage with him to fight ISIS insurgents.

In comments likely to irritate Washington, Lavrov said the United States had
made the same mistake with Islamic State as it had with al Qaeda, which
emerged in the 1980s when U.S.-backed Islamist insurgents were fighting the
Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

“I think Western politicians are already realizing the growing and
fast-spreading threat of terrorism,” Lavrov said, referring to Islamic State
advances in Syria and Iraq.

“And they will soon have to choose what is more important: a (Syrian) regime
change to satisfy personal antipathies, risking deterioration of the
situation beyond any control, or finding pragmatic ways to unite efforts
against the common threat.”

Russia has been Assad’s most prominent international backer in the civil war
that broke out in early 2011 and in which the United States and the West, as
well as many Gulf and Arab states, backed the rebels seeking to oust him.

ISIS has now emerged as the strongest rebel faction, capturing large areas
of both Syria and Iraq and declaring a caliphate on the territory it
controls.

“At the start the Americans and some Europeans rather welcomed (Islamic
State) on the basis it was fighting against Bashar al-Assad. They welcomed
it as they welcomed the mujahideen who later created al Qaeda, and then al
Qaeda struck like a boomerang on Sept. 11, 2001,” Lavrov said.

“The same thing is happening now,” he said, adding that the United States
had only started fighting the group after it began rampaging across Iraq and
approaching the capital Baghdad.

The United States has conducted more than 90 air strikes against Islamic
State in Iraq, and Washington is considering taking its fight against the
militants to neighbouring Syria.

Damascus said on Monday[25 Aug] it must be involved in coordinating any air
strikes on its territory.

Backing this stance, Lavrov said: “If... there are plans to combat Islamic
State on the territory of Syria and other countries, it is indispensable
that it is done in cooperation with legitimate authorities (there).”

Having long been denounced by Washington and others for protecting Assad,
Lavrov made clear that Russia now feels vindicated.

“At one time we were accused of supporting Bashar al-Assad and preventing
his overthrow.... Now no one is talking about that,” he said.

The Americans and Europeans were now starting to acknowledge “the truth they
have long recognised in private conversations: namely that for the region
and for the interests of the West, the main threat is not the regime of
Bashar al-Assad but the possible threat of seizure of power by terrorists in
Syria and other states of the region.”




+++SOURCE: Naharnet (Lebanon) 25 Aug.’14:”Jordan Charges 8 with Recruiting
Hizbullah Fighters, Planning anti-U.S. and Israel ‘Terror Plots’ “ , Agence
France Presse
SUBJECT: Jordan charges 8 with recruiting Hizbullah fighters ,planning
anti-U.S. and Israel ‘terror plots’
FULL TEXT:Jordanian military prosecutors on Monday[25 Aug.] charged eight
suspects, including a Syrian fugitive, with plotting to attack U.S. soldiers
and Israel's embassy in the kingdom and recruiting people to join Hizbullah.

"State security court prosecutors accused the eight men with plotting to
carry out terrorist acts, including attacks against U.S. soldiers in 2006
and the Israeli embassy in Amman," a court official told Agence France
Presse.

"The suspects, seven Jordanians and a Syrian fugitive, also recruited people
to join Hizbullah," he said, adding that the group was arrested in May last
year.

The official gave no further details, but said the suspects face life
imprisonment if convicted.

Jordan is home to around 600,000 Syrian refugees.

In May, the military tribunal handed jail terms of between four and 20 years
to 11 people it convicted of plotting to attack the U.S. embassy for
al-Qaida in 2012.

SourceAgence France PresseNaharnet



+++SOURCE: Jordan Times 25 Aug.’14:”Islamic State fighters seize Syrian air
base”, Reuters
SUBJECT:IS fighters seize Syrian air base
QUOTE:”Syria is calculating that the IS push to reshape the Middle East will
eventually force a hostile West to deal with President Assad as the only way
to tackle the threat”
EXCERPTS:BEIRUT — Islamic State militants stormed an air base in northeast
Syria on Sunday, capturing most of it from government forces after days of
fighting over the strategic location, a witness and a monitoring group said.

Fighting raged inside the walls of the Tabqa air base, the Syrian army's
last foothold in an area otherwise controlled by IS, which has seized large
areas of Syria and Iraq.. . .

Raqqa on the Euphrates River is IS' stronghold in Syria. The group, a
radical offshoot of Al Qaeda, has taken three Syrian military bases in the
area in recent weeks, boosted by arms seized in Iraq. . . . Syria is
calculating that the IS push to reshape the Middle East will eventually
force a hostile West to deal with President Bashar Assad as the only way to
tackle the threat, sources familiar with Syrian government thinking have
said. . . .

Activists have accused the Syrian army of avoiding confrontations with IS
because it has weakened rival rebel groups also battling Assad.

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Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA