U.N. chemical weapons report seems to implicate the Syrian regime

The United Nations has released a long-awaited report investigating the August 21 chemical weapons attack outside the Syrian capital of Damascus. According to the U.N. investigators there was "clear and convincing evidence" that chemical weapons were used "on a relatively large scale, resulting in numerous casualties." While the mandate of the investigators did not permit them to determine who carried out the attacks, the evidence largely implicated the Syrian government. In particular, the munitions, identified as surface-to-surface rockets, and launchers, as well as the direction from which the rockets had been launched, points to government culpability. Russia has maintained that the opposition is responsible and Russian Foreign Minster Sergei Lavrov said Moscow has "serious grounds" to believe rebel fighters provoked the attack. After talks in Russia, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabrius said there seems to be "no doubt" that the regime was behind the chemical attack, and pushed Russia to support a U.N. Security Council resolution on Syria. For the first time publicly, Israel has called for the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Israel’s Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren said, "We always wanted Bashar Assad to go, we always preferred the bad guys who weren’t backed by Iran to the bad guys who were backed by Iran." Meanwhile, Turkish warplanes shot down a Syrian helicopter Turkey that crossed over a mile into its airspace. The Syrian army admitted the incursion saying the aircraft had been monitoring "terrorists" crossing the border. Syria chided Turkey for being "hasty" in attacking the helicopter and accused the Turkish government of trying to escalate tensions.

Headlines

• Israeli Defense Forces killed a suspected Palestinian militant in a raid in the West Bank city of Jenin that sparked violent clashes.
• The Egyptian army recaptured the southern town of Delga, held for two months by militant Islamists blamed for violence against Christians and destruction of homes and religious sites.
• Yemen has extended its National Dialogue over demands from southern secessionists and debates over the number of regions that would be designated in a federal system.
• An Iranian official said that Iranians obtained direct access to Facebook and Twitter Monday, for the first time since the sites were blocked in 2009, due to a glitch not a lift of the ban.

Arguments and Analysis

‘Is Jordan’s "Arab Spring" Over?‘ (Osama Al Sharif, Al-Monitor)

"Jordan’s version of the Arab Spring may be over quietly and unceremoniously. Regional upheavals, especially in Syria and Egypt, have dampened Jordanians’ appetite for drastic change in their own country. A year ago, tens of anti-government protests would take place, especially on Fridays, across the country. Most were organized by the Muslim Brotherhood, but some were led by the Jordanian Youth Movement, or ‘hirak,’ whose slogans often crossed red lines. They called for regime change and accused King Abdullah II of corruption. Many of their leaders are now in prison and some will stand trial in front of the State Security Court (SSC) on charges that range from insulting the king to attempting to overthrow the regime.

But it has been more than three months now since large demonstrations were held in Amman or elsewhere. Last November, when the newly appointed government of Abdullah Ensour floated the price of gasoline and ended state subsidies, thousands took to the streets and the country saw three days of angry demonstrations and clashes with the police. The opposition — an alliance between the Islamists and the National Reform Front (NRF), which is a coalition of leftist and nationalist groups and parties–threatened to further derail austerity measures. But when the government raised the price of electricity last month nothing happened. It was a sign that neither the Islamists nor the rest of the opposition was able to mobilize the street anymore."

‘Libya: Divided they Fail‘ (Karim Mezran and Lara Talverdian, Atlantic Council)

"Attention in Washington to the one-year anniversary of the Benghazi attack that took the lives of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans gives reason to believe that a commitment still exists to assist Libya as it faces grave challenges in trying to achieve the goals of its revolution. For a while, US interest in Libya’s success seemed dormant, particularly in the wake of a cacophonous debate in the aftermath of Egypt’s coup and the use of chemical weapons in Syria. Yet, Libya remains on the agenda, and the presence of Ambassador Deborah Jones at the US Embassy in Tripoli provides new ways for the administration to ramp-up engagement. The question is: with which Libyan counterparts should the United States work to ensure the effectiveness of its diplomatic and programmatic efforts? The forces seeking to weaken the Libyan state may, in fact, pale in comparison to the threat from its own state institutions. If the fledgling democracy’s state institutions do not embrace a spirit of cooperation rather than competition, they will fail to harness the international community’s will to assist the country."

–Mary Casey & Joshua Haber