Israel and Gazans exchange attacks after airstrike

Israeli tank fire has struck suspected rocket launch targets in the town of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip early Monday wounding up to five Palestinians, including children. The attack was reportedly in retaliation for an estimated 30 mortar rounds and rockets fired into Israel’s Eshkol region, which caused no casualties but some property damage. The flare up began on Sunday with an Israeli missile strike on two men suspected by Israel of involvement in terrorist activity, Talat Jerbi and Abdullah Maqawi, critically wounding the two men as well as eight bystanders. The militant group Hamas issued a statement saying, "In response to the injury of civilians in the most recent strike on Rafah, the Qassam Brigades and the al-Quds Brigades fired a number of rockets at enemy positions." According to Israeli military sources, over 470 rockets had been fired into Israel from the Gaza Strip this year prior to Monday’s assault.

Syria

Turkey has continued its response to last week’s border fire for the fifth day as Syrian forces and opposition fighters clashed near Lebanon’s border and in the country’s second largest city of Aleppo. Turkish forces fired eight shells into Syria after a stray shell from fighting in the opposition held border town of Tal Abyad landed near Akcakale, the Turkish town where five civilians were killed on Wednesday. Additionally, clashes in several villages along the Lebanese border leading to the Bekaa Valley have further stoked fears of regional spillover. The Syrian state news reported the army had killed "many terrorists" when they were attempting to infiltrate the Hanano military barracks. The opposition Tawhid Brigade said that its fighters had broken into the compound and were fighting regime forces from the inside. Other reports of fighting on Sunday came from around Damascus, where a police officer was killed by a car bomb, as well as in Homs, and along the Jordanian border in the southern Daraa Province. In unverified reports, opposition forces gained control over a Syrian army outpost near the Turkish border town of Hatay. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have limited arms supply to the Syrian opposition avoiding heavy weapons shipments out of concern from the United States that weapons will fall into the hands of terrorist groups. However, the governments are hoping to receive support from the United States, as well as the United Nations, to supply heavier weapons to aid in the battle against the Syrian regime.

Headlines  

• Kuwait’s emir dissolved the parliament on Sunday for the second time in four months in attempts to end political gridlock.
• Libya’s first prime minister since the fall of Muammar al-Qaddafi, Mustafa Abu Shagur, has been forced to step down after failing to win approval on cabinet appointments.
• Iranian money changers are largely refusing to abide by a fixed dollar rate imposed by the Iranian government after last week’s protests over the currency crisis.
• Iraq executed 11 people Sunday, including 10 Iraqis and one Algerian, bringing the number of people put to death this year up to at least 113 igniting international outrage.

Arguments & Analysis

‘Iran sanctions now causing food insecurity, mass suffering’ (Glenn Greenwald, The Guardian)

"What’s most extraordinary about all of this is that the extreme human suffering caused by US-led sanctions is barely acknowledged in mainstream American political discourse. One reason that Americans were so baffled after the 9/11 attack (why do they hate us?) is the same reason they continue to be so baffled by anti-American protests in the Muslim world (what are they so angry about?): namely, most Americans literally have no idea, because nobody ever told them, that their government’s imposition of sanctions in Iraq led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of children, and they similarly have no idea that the suffering of ordinary Iranians is becoming increasingly substantial."

‘Could Turkey Go To War With Syria?‘ (Charles Recknagel, Radio Free Europe)

"‘The majority of the Turkish population finds the government policy on Syria too hawkish and many people think that what happens in Syria is a concern for the Syrians and the international community should not intervene,’ Ulgen says.

That leaves Ankara thinking in terms of joining a larger international coalition.

Turkey has been among the most vocal members of the Friends of Syria, a group of countries seeking to step up pressure on Assad while the Security Council remains blocked by Russian and Chinese opposition. The Turkish government has called for setting up safe-haven zones and humanitarian corridors to protect Syrian civilians.

Turkey appears most interested in involving its fellow NATO members. It has turned to the alliance each time it has clashed with Syria, calling for — and getting — emergency meetings not only over this week’s border shelling but also over Syria’s downing a Turkish military jet, killing two pilots, in June."

— By Mary Casey