Mideast Week in Review

By Michael Isenberg.

Trump gives up on Syria.

Six dead in Temple Mount-related violence.

Saudi miniskirt woman.

Trump gives up on Syria: A couple weeks ago, I wrote that President Trump had gotten “suckered” by President Vladimir Putin of Russia at the G2 summit in Hamburg. They agreed to a partial Syria ceasefire which primarily benefited Putin and his puppet, Syrian president Bashar Assad. The deal made no sense, in light of US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s contention at the time that US policy was to topple Assad, as it has been since the Obama Administration.

It has all become clear now.

On Wednesday, The Washington Post reported that the Trump Administration planned to end CIA support to the allegedly moderate rebels fighting Assad.

In other words, the Trump Administration has given up on Syria, which will allow Assad—and Putin—to win.

This is a huge story, and yet it has gone almost unnoticed, except among those sad and pathetic individuals who still haven’t come to terms with Hillary Clinton’s 2016 electoral loss and think that this latest turn of events proves…something.

The Post writes that this decision was made a month ago, before the G2 Summit. So apparently Secretary Tillerson was less than completely honest in Hamburg regarding US objectives.

The end of the US attempt at regime change in Syria is a mixed blessing. It will alleviate the suffering of the Syrian people—somewhat. The daily torture of war will come to an end and with it, the refugee crisis. Syrians will be able to get back to something resembling a normal life. Alas, it will be life under the brutal Assad dictatorship.

Furthermore, it means that the US will leave its allies among the Syrian rebels in the lurch, just as we did to the South Vietnamese a generation ago. Many will be killed by the Assad regime. “We are really cutting them off at the neck,” said Charles Lister of the Middle East institute. The harm to the credibility of the United States will have consequences, as it did in the post-Vietnam years: no one wants an ally they can't rely on.

Not a good situation, but in all fairness to Mr. Trump, he didn't have a lot of options. Mr. Obama left him with a mess. It would have been far better if the Obama Administration had not gotten the US involved in the first place. In my humble opinion, that caused the war to drag on far longer than it would have otherwise. The same outcome—an Assad victory—could have been achieved years ago, without the hit to US credibility, possibly before ISIS broke out in 2014, probably before the surge in Syrian refugees to Europe in 2015.

“Beware of entrance to a quarrel,” Polonius cautioned in Hamlet. “But being in, bear't that the opposed may beware of thee.” Tragically, when it came to Syria, the United States did neither.

Read more—

Trump ends covert CIA program to arm anti-Assad rebels in Syria, a move sought by Moscow (Washington Post)

 

Six dead in Temple Mount-related violence: Last week, Palestinian gunmen murdered two Israeli policemen near the Temple Mount, home to the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque. In the wake of the shooting, the Israeli government closed the area, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. Two days later it was reopened with new security measures—metal detectors—in place. The Temple Mount is a flashpoint for Palestinian conflict with Israel and as I predicted that wasn't the end of it.

Here are this week's developments:

Muslims continue to refuse to enter the area, instead praying just outside its gates.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has cut off relations with the Israeli government until the metal detectors are removed.

On Friday, three Palestinian protesters were killed in clashes with police.

Also on Friday, a Palestinian man entered a Jewish home in Halamish, in the West Bank, stabbed and killed three Jewish residents and wounded a fourth before being shot by a neighbor. According to the BBC, the assailant, Omar al-Abed, had earlier “posted on Facebook linking his actions to events at Jerusalem's holy site.”

Read more—

East Jerusalem: Palestinians killed as holy site tensions soar (BBC)

Three Israelis stabbed to death in West Bank attack (BBC)

 

Saudi miniskirt woman: Last weekend, a video appeared on Snapchat of a woman with an exposed midriff and wearing a miniskirt, strolling around an old fortress in Saudi Arabia's Ushayqir Heritage Village. Because her attire was in defiance of Saudi laws requiring women to be covered in public, the video drew the attention of police, who identified and question her. The case has now been referred to prosecutors. Too bad—I had been hoping she would get away with it. Although, given how few details there seem to be about her in news accounts, maybe she did. Official accounts are not always reliable.

Read more—

Saudi police question miniskirt video woman (BBC)

Michael Isenberg writes about the Muslim world, medieval and modern. His forthcoming novel, The Thread of Reason, is a murder mystery that takes place in Baghdad in the year 1092 and depicts the battle for the Muslim soul between those who embrace science and tolerance, and those who would throw in their lot with mysticism and persecution instead.