Syrian rebels battling the regime of President Bashar al-Assad have begun receiving significantly more and better weapons in recent weeks, an effort paid for by Persian Gulf nations and coordinated in part by the United States, according to opposition activists and U.S. and foreign officials. Obama administration officials emphasized that the United States is neither supplying nor funding the lethal material, which includes antitank weaponry. Instead, they said, the administration has expanded contacts with opposition military forces to provide the gulf nations with assessments of rebel credibility and command-and-control infrastructure. “We are increasing our nonlethal assistance to the Syrian opposition, and we continue to coordinate our efforts with friends and allies in the region and beyond in order to have the biggest impact on what we are collectively doing,” said a senior State Department official, one of several U.S. and foreign government officials who discussed the evolving effort on the condition of anonymity.

Washington — The United States should move in to provide ant-aircraft defense systems to South Sudan in order to discourage Khartoum from launching aerial attacks and persuade it into returning to negotiations, former special envoy to Sudan said. Since South Sudan gained its independence from the north in July 2011, it has accused its northern neighbor of bombarding inside its territories and particularly near the border regions. Some of the bombings were confirmed by UN officials and journalists. The alleged bombing campaigns intensified particularly after the outbreak of rebellions last year in the border states of Blue Nile and South Kordofan by the Sudan People Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N). Khartoum persistently accuses Juba of supporting SPLM-N rebels who fought alongside southerners during the north-south civil war. But South Sudan dismissed the allegations.

Ethiopia’s first invasion of Somalia was the major contributing factor in causing the complete breakdown of government in Somalia. It also helped to create Al Shabaab. Five years later, Ethiopian troops are back over the border, in force, hoping to make amends and make sure that Kenya doesn’t get all the glory. Chances are, there won’t be much glory to go round. In an echo of 2006, Ethiopian troops are once again pouring across their eastern border into Somalia. This is round two of the Ethiopian invasion of Somalia, and this time they’ve gone in to clean up the mess they made the first time round. Although the Ethiopian government haven’t confirmed their participation, multiple news agencies are reporting that eyewitnesses have seen 20 or 30 Ethiopian trucks filled with troops in and around the Somali town of Guriel. It’s unclear in what context Ethiopia is framing this incursion, and how significant their contribution will be, but the target is obvious: Ethiopia has joined Kenya and the African Union in the fight against Al Shabaab. There’s an unmistakably historical irony to this. It was Ethiopia – with the tacit support of an overly-paranoid United States – that created the conditions for Al Shabaab to prosper. In the early 2000s, Somalia was mostly – but not completely – under the loose control of the Union of Islamic Courts, a relatively moderate Islamic group which was slowly bringing some semblance of stability and security to a country that hadn’t known peace for decades. But the Islamic Courts soon earned the wrath of the United States, which saw in its emphasis on Islamic law a strong link with terrorism. This was near the beginning of the War on Terror, and the United States still had not made the distinction between the moderate if conservative Islam of groups like the Islamic Courts and, to an extent, Hamas in Palestine, and the militant, almost anarchic fundamentalism of Al Qaeda.

Reports out of Kuwait suggest that Arab states are set to impose a no fly zone over Syria with US logistical support, advancing the prospect of a military assault to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad under a “humanitarian” pretext. “Senior European sources said that Arab jet fighters, and possibly Turkish warplanes, backed by American logistic support will implement a no fly zone in Syria’s skies, after the Arab League will issue a decision, under its Charter, calling for the protection of Syrian civilians,” reports Albawaba, citing Kuwait’s al Rai daily. YNet news, the website for Israel’s most widely read newspaper, also carried the report. As part of a plan to cripple the country’s military forces within 24 hours, the “movement of Syrian military vehicles, including tanks, personnel carriers and artillery,” would all be banned under the terms of the no fly zone.

In public Sunday, President Obama was at a summit unsuccessfully leaning on Russia and China to back diplomatic efforts to curb Iran’s nuke program. In private Sunday, there was more evidence of an efficient and brutal covert operation that continues to degrade Iran’s military capabilities. Iranian officials revealed that one of the 17 men killed in a huge explosion at a munitions depot was a key Revolutionary Guard commander who headed Iran’s missile program. And the IRNA state news agency reported that scientists had discovered a new computer virus in their systems, a more sophisticated version of the Stuxnet worm deployed last year to foul up Iran’s centrifuges.

The facts on the ground suggest that there is an urging demand for social and political reforms in the country but the situation is not as bad in Syria as in other despotic Arab countries where the hope for reforms is zero. Calling reforms on some levels is one thing but demanding an ouster of the ruler is a horse of a different color. As the situation stands in Syria, there is little demand for the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad. However, Western powers are calling on the Syrian president to step down. The influence of Western media on the international public opinion is so powerful that they are reluctant to see a foreign hand manipulating the events. Reports reveal that the US and Israel have hired Saudi elements and the Saudi-backed Lebanese March 14 forces in order to foment tension in the country, thereby creating a rift between the Syrian people and the government. Washington is monitoring every move with minute precision as the fate of Syria is politically of paramount importance to the empire as it serves as an ally for Iran and poses a danger to the Zionist regime. Indeed there are some parties which follow their interests in the country. Apart from Washington who cherishes the idea of overthrowing the regime of Bashar al-Assad and installing a puppet regime in Syria with the firm intention of serving the interests of the Zionist regime in the region, the Saudi Wahhabis insist on the collapse of the Syrian regime. For Washington and Israel, the ouster of al-Assad will ensure the two regimes’ vantage point in the Middle East to contain the ever-increasing influence of the Islamic Republic in the region and for the Saudis, it serves a similar purpose on a wider scope. In fact, the Saudi Wahhabis hold the Shia Muslims in abhorrence and make every possible effort to create Shiaphobia and Iranophobia in the world.

An Egyptian pipeline supplying gas to Israel and Jordan has been hit with two explosions, making it the seventh assault on the energy route since February. A first blast occurred around 1:00 a.m. Thursday (2300 GMT Wednesday) 40 kilometers west of the town of al-Arish in the north of the Sinai peninsula, AFP quoted an Egyptian security source as saying. Witnesses said they had also seen armed men at the scene of explosion. A second explosion took place near a pumping station in the same sector, causing a blaze. Previous attacks had interrupted gas supplies to both Israel and Jordan several times, but it was not immediately clear what impact the latest attack would have on the energy route.

Sheikh of Egyptian Azmieh cult, Aala Mazi Abulazaem, warned that his followers in Egypt are prepared to “fight shoulder to shoulder with their Iranian brothers,” in case Israel and the West wage a war against the Islamic Republic, IRNA reported on Wednesday. It is impossible for the bullying powers, particularly the US, to engage in a military attack against Iran as they are frightened of Tehran’s military might, Abulazaem pointed out. His comments come in the wake of the recent belligerent rhetoric by Israeli President Shimon Peres who threatened that an attack against Iran is becoming “more and more likely.”

Washington is in the process of concocting a new string of lies pertaining to Iran’s nuclear program with a view to justifying the implementation of punitive bombings. Threats directed against Iran have been ongoing for the last eight years. Fake intelligence has been used to justify these threats. There are indications, however, that this time the Western military alliance is not “crying wolf”. In the wake of the war on Libya, the implementation of an air campaign against Iran is currently on the drawingboard of the Pentagon. The operation, were it to be carried out, would involve the active participation of Britain and Israel.

Brent crude futures are up $1.17 a barrel to $115.73 on continued word that Israel may go it alone and bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities. It is their highest level in nearly two months. Iranian boats take part in naval war game in the Persian Gulf and the Strait Hormuz. But it would be nothing compared to the cost if Israel attacks. In 2006, as Israel and the U.S. began to rattle sabers over Iran’s nuclear program, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards deployed bottom-tethered mines in the Strait of Hormuz, according to a defector. “The plan is to stop trade,” the source told Newsmax. One third of the world’s oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz. The deployment was mentioned in a plan produced by the Strategic Studies Center of the Iranian Navy in 2005. It also called for a single operational headquarters integrated with Revolutionary Guards missile units, strike aircraft, surface and underwater naval vessels, Chinese-supplied C-801 and C-802 anti-shipping missiles, mines, and coastal artillery, according to the intelligence office of the Ministry of Defense in Iran.