Exit strategy: Hamas leaders to slip into Jordan after pressure on Amman from Saudis, Qatar

Exit strategy: Hamas leaders to slip into Jordan after pressure on Amman from Saudis, Qatar

Special to WorldTribune.com AMMAN — Despite repeated government denials, Jordan has agreed to accommodate Hamas leaders from neighboring Syria. Islamic sources said Jordan allowed several senior Hamas members to resettle in Jordan from Damascus in late 2011. The sources said Jordan has been under pressure from both Qatar and Saudi Arabia to host the Hamas […]

Report: Israel could take out Iran’s nuclear infrastructure ‘in two days’

Report: Israel could take out Iran’s nuclear infrastructure ‘in two days’

Special to WorldTribune.com WASHINGTON — Israel could destroy Iran’s nuclear infrastructure with three combat air squadrons, a report said. A report by a leading aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israel Air Force could destroy most of Iran’s infrastructure in two days. The report by Yoaz Hendel, a senior adviser to Netanyahu, said […]

Eight strategic factors bearing on 2012, the year of ‘Great Power Impotence’

Eight strategic factors bearing on 2012, the year of ‘Great Power Impotence’

Special to WorldTribune.com By Gregory Copley and Yossef Bodansky, Global Information System Rarely in the past six decades has global context counted for as much in strategic forecasting trend analysis as it does at the dawn of 2012. Reliance on stove-piped analysis of strategic sectors such as economic and financial issues, security issues, politics, geopolitics, […]

TOP 2011 STORIES: Iran issues tough warning to Turkey on Syria

TOP 2011 STORIES: Iran issues tough warning to Turkey on Syria

Special to WorldTribune.com Monday, August 1, 2011 NICOSIA — Iran, stressing its strategic interests, has warned Turkey to end intervention in Syria. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has issued a harsh warning to Turkey to end activities in Syria. In an article in IRGC’s weekly Sobh’eh Sadegh, the elite military force asserted that Turkish forces […]

Syrian rebel forces abduct Iranians, opposition reports ‘massacre’ of 111

Special to WorldTribune.com NICOSIA — Rebels have begun targeting Iranians in Syria amid a sharp escalation in bloodshed in the war against President Bashar Assad. Syrian rebels abducted five Iranians in the central region on Dec. 20. Meanwhile, the Syrian opposition reported the death of 111 people — 250 over 48 hours — in attacks […]

Syria fires new Russian missiles in exercise as ‘warning to Turkey and NATO’

Syria fires new Russian missiles in exercise as ‘warning to Turkey and NATO’

Special to WorldTribune.com NICOSIA — The regime of President Bashar Assad has displayed its new Russian-origin weapons during a military exercise. Western diplomats said Assad’s military fired new missiles and other weapons acquired from Moscow in late 2011 during an exercise that took place on Dec. 20. They said the new weapons included the P-800 […]

Russia sent advanced rockets to Syria due to ‘threats from Turkey’

Special to WorldTribune.com MOSCOW — Russia has delivered an advanced surface-to-surface rocket to Syria. Russian sources said the Kremlin has approved the transfer of the Iskander-E rocket to the regime of President Bashar Assad. They said nearly 100 Iskander rockets arrived in Syria in November as part of Moscow’s determination to bolster Damascus. “These missiles […]

Report: Syrian military deserters say Assad regime specified number of civilians to kill

Report: Syrian military deserters say Assad regime specified number of civilians to kill

Special to WorldTribune.com WASHINGTON — The regime of President Bashar Assad has ordered the military to escalate attacks on protesters and provided troops with guidelines on how many dissidents to kill, a human rights group said. Human Rights Watch asserted that the Assad regime has ordered the military to kill civilians during every protest. The […]

Ambassador: U.S. set to spend $8 billion on military projects in Iraq

Ambassador: U.S. set to spend $8 billion on military projects in Iraq

Special to WorldTribune.com BAGHDAD — Despite the troop withdrawal, the United States expects to be heavily engaged in military projects in Iraq in 2012. U.S. Ambassador to Baghdad James Jeffrey said Washington has been committed to a range of military programs in Iraq that would last up to 2020. Jeffrey said the value of these […]

Report: Venezuela helping Syria’s elite move cash, themselves abroad

Report: Venezuela helping Syria’s elite move cash, themselves abroad

Special to WorldTribune.com WASHINGTON — Syria’s regime-aligned elite has been stashing its fortune abroad to prepare for a hasty exile, an opposition group said. The Reform Party in Syria reported that at least 100 of Syria’s financial elite have been moving their assets abroad to prepare for the collapse of the regime of President Bashar […]