Excerpts: Saudi'Huthis forces continue heavy fire. More Hizbolah aid to
Assad. Syria de facto partition. Rules for foreign Haj pilgrims May 22, 2015

+++SOURCE: Jordan Times 25 May’15:”Saudi forces, Yemen’sHouthis trade heavy
fire, border crossing hit”, Reuters
SUBJECT: Saudi\Houthi forces continue heavy fire

QUOTE:”heavy artillery fire…destroyed part of the main border crossing
between the two countries overnight”

FULL TEXT:CAIRO — Saudi forces and Yemen's Houthi militia traded heavy
artillery fire which destroyed part of the main border crossing between the
two countries overnight, residents said on Sunday[24 May], an escalation of
the two-month war.

The Haradh border crossing, the largest for people and goods between the
world's top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, and its impoverished neighbour, was
evacuated amid shelling which razed its departure lounge and passport
section, witnesses said.Residents of several Yemeni villages in the area
left their homes and fled from the frontier, which has turned into a front
line between the kingdom and the Iran-allied rebels.

Arab air raids hit military bases and weapon stores in the capital Sanaa,
and local officials said a mid-level Houthi commander, Abu Bassam Al Kibsi,
was killed in an air strike in the central province of Raymah.

Saudi Arabia has led an Arab coalition bombing the Houthis and backing
southern Yemeni fighters opposing the group and loyal to the exiled
government in Saudi Arabia headed by President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.The
Sunni Muslim states believe the Shiite Houthis are a proxy for influence by
Iran, but their campaign has yet to reverse the rebels' battlefield gains.

Local fighters combating the Houthis in Yemen's south reported Saudi-led air
strikes on a major airbase controlled by the group in Lahj province and say
they killed eight Houthi fighters in an ambush in Dalea province on
Sunday[24 May].

Residents in the central city of Taiz said Houthi forces and pro-Hadi
fighters fired tank and artillery shells at each other throughout the city
overnight, killing five civilians.

The Houthis seized control of a military base on a strategic mountaintop in
the centre of the city, eyewitnesses said.

A United Nations-backed peace conference set for May 28 in Geneva remains in
doubt, as Hadi's exiled government in Saudi Arabia has expressed reluctance
to attend before the Houthis recognise their authority and quit Yemen's main
cities.

The Houthis have demanded a ceasefire before any talks.

+++SOURCE: Jordan Times25 May ’15:”Hizbollah vows to expand involvement in
Syria’s civil war”, Associated Press
SUBJECT: More Hizbollah aid to Assad

QUOTE:”Nasrallah:’our presence will grow whenever it is required for us to
be present’ “

FULL TEXT:BEIRUT — The leader of the militant Hizbollah group said
Sunday[24 May] that the region is facing “unprecedented danger” from
extremist groups and vowed his militants will expand their involvement in
Syria’s civil war in support of government forces.

Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah spoke during a ceremony marking the 15th anniversary
of Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon, vowing to battle Sunni
extremists groups such as the Daesh group and Al Qaeda. He said such
factions are an “existential threat” to anyone who does not agree with their
ideology.

Hizbollah openly joined President Bashar Assad forces in the civil war in
2013 and its fighters have been taking part in a major battle in recent
weeks against jihadis in the Qalamoun mountain region that borders Lebanon.

“Our presence will grow whenever it is required for us to be present,”
Nasrallah said in comments that came after Assad’s forces suffered several
defeats over the past two months — mostly in the northwestern province of
Idlib and the southern region of Daraa. The western city of Palmyra, home to
a set of historic Roman-era ruins, was captured by the Daesh group last
week.

“We are present today in many places and I tell you we will be present
wherever this battle requires. We are up to it and we are the men for it,”
Nasrallah said speaking from a secret location on a giant video screen.

Inside Syria, a military helicopter crashed earlier Sunday[24 May] at the
northern air base of Kweiras, killing all of its crew, state TV said, as an
activist group said it was shot down by Daesh militants.

The TV report quoted an unnamed military official as saying that the
helicopter crashed as a result of a technical problem while taking off. The
report did not say how many crew members were onboard at the time of the
crash.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Daesh militants
who have been laying siege to the base for months shot down the helicopter.

Kweiras military air base is in the northern province of Aleppo and is close
to the town of Al Bab, which is held by the Daesh group.

The Daesh group posted a statement on a militant website claiming
responsibility for downing the Syrian helicopter.

Syrian rebels have shot down helicopters in the past.

Meanwhile in Damascus, a bomb exploded Sunday morning near the city center
killing a brigadier general and six of his bodyguards, the Observatory said.
It added that the attack was claimed by the ultraconservative Ahrar al-Sham
group.

The Damascus media centre identified the officer as Brig. Gen. Bassam
Mehanna Al Ali.

State news agency SANA reported that a bomb exploded in the area without
giving further details.



+++SOURCE: Jordan Times 25 May ’15:”Syria regime to accept de facto
partition of country”, Agence France Presse
SUBJECT: Syria de facto partition

QUOTE:”Syria’s government appears ready for the country’s de facto
partition”

FULL TEXT:BEIRUT — Weakened by years of war, Syria’s government appears
ready for the country’s de facto partition, defending strategically
important areas and leaving much of the country to rebels and jihadists,
experts and diplomats say.The strategy was in evidence last week with the
army’s retreat from the ancient central city of Palmyra after an advance by
the Daesh group.“It is quite understandable that the Syrian army withdraws
to protect large cities where much of the population is located,” said
Waddah Abded Rabbo, director of Syria’s Al Watan newspaper, which is close
to the regime.

“The world must think about whether the establishment of two terrorist
states is in its interests or not,” he said, in reference to Daesh’s
self-proclaimed “caliphate” in Syria and Iraq, and Al Qaeda affiliate Al
Nusra Front’s plans for its own “emirate” in northern Syria.Syria’s
government labels all those fighting to oust President Bashar Assad
“terrorists”, and has pointed to the emergence of Daesh and Al Nusra as
evidence that opponents of the regime are extremists.

Since the uprising against Assad began in March 2011 with peaceful protests,
the government has lost more than three-quarters of the country’s territory,
according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based
monitor.But the territory the regime controls accounts for about 50 to 60
per cent of the population, according to French geographer and Syria expert
Fabrice Balanche.

He said 10-15 per cent of Syria’s population is now in areas controlled by
Daesh, 20-25 per cent in territory controlled by Al Nusra or rebel groups
and another five to 10 per cent in areas controlled by Kurdish forces.“The
government in Damascus still has an army and the support of a part of the
population,” Balanche said.“We’re heading towards an informal partition with
front lines that could shift further.

‘Division is inevitable’:

People close to the regime talk about a government retreat to “useful Syria”.“The
division of Syria is inevitable. The regime wants to control the coast, the
two central cities of Hama and Homs and the capital Damascus,” one Syrian
political figure close to the regime said.“The red lines for the authorities
are the Damascus-Beirut highway and the Damascus-Homs highway, as well as
the coast, with cities like Latakia and Tartus,” he added, speaking on
condition of anonymity.The coastal Latakia and Tartus provinces are
strongholds of the regime, and home to much of the country’s Alawite
community, the offshoot of Shiite Islam to which Assad adheres.

In the north, east and south of the country, large swathes of territory are
now held by jihadists or rebel groups, and the regime’s last major
offensive — in Aleppo province in February — was a failure.For now the
regime’s sole offensive movement is in Qalamun along the Lebanese border,
but there its ally, Lebanon’s Shiite Hizbollah movement, is taking the lead
in the fighting.

“The Syrian army today has become a Praetorian guard that is charged with
protecting the regime,” said a diplomat who goes to Damascus regularly.He
said the situation had left Syrian officials “worried, of course”, but that
they remained convinced that key regime allies Russia and Iran would not let
the government collapse.

Some observers believe the defensive posture was the suggestion of Iran,
which believes it is better to have less territory but be able to keep it
secure.“Iran urged Syrian authorities to face facts and change strategy by
protecting only strategic zones,” opposition figure Haytham Manna said.

Dwindling regime forces

The shift may also be the result of the dwindling forces available to the
regime, which has seen its once 300,000-strong army “whittled away” by
combat and attrition, according to Aram Nerguizian, a senior fellow at the
US Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

“On the surface, the regime appears to have accepted that it must secure,
hold and defend its core area of control... with its current mix of forces,”
he said.Those are approximately 175,000 men from the army, pro-regime Syrian
militias and foreign fighters including from Hizbollah and elsewhere.

The observatory says 68,000 regime forces are among the 220,000 people
killed since the conflict began.But the new strategy does not indicate
regime collapse and could even work in its favour, Nerguizian said.

“Supply lines would have far less overstretch to contend with, and the
regime’s taxed command-and-control structure would have more margin of
manoeuvre.”

Thomas Pierret, a Syria expert at the University of Edinburgh, said that to
survive, “the regime will have to lower its expectations and concentrate on
the Damascus-Homs-coast axes.”“Militarily, the regime probably still has the
means to hold the southeastern half of the country long-term, but further
losses could weaken it from within.”



+++SOURCE:Saudi Gazettte22 May ’15:”Pilgrims to be fingerprinted in their
homes”

SUBJECT:Rules for foreign Haj pilgrims

QUOTE:“Foreign pilgrims will be fingerprinted in their homes before
departing for the Kingdom”
Note: 7 million pilgrims expected in next 2 months

FULL TEXT:MADINAH — Foreign pilgrims will be fingerprinted in their homes
before departing for the Kingdom, said Minister of Haj Bandr Al-Hajjar in a
statement to the Al-Watan newspaper. Al-Hajjar said that fingerprinting is
part of the Haj system and that foreign pilgrims will be informed about the
new system before they leave their home countries. He added that according
to the new system, pilgrims will be fully aware of their accommodation,
transport and food. He added that the new electronic Haj system will help
facilitate procedures for pilgrims arriving in and departing from the
Kingdom via its airports, seaports and land borders. “The Haj trip will be
easy and fast. Pilgrims will complete all procedures before their arrival,”
he said.

=================
Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA