Word: syria
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...pleased enough with Russia's behavior. "Our view at this point is that the Russians are in the right place on Iran," says a senior U.S. official. The U.S. sees restraint in the way Putin has handled other potential disputes in the region. Russia sold missiles to longtime ally Syria, but the weapons haven't actually been shipped, as far as Washington knows. The Bush administration was less than thrilled when Moscow invited Hamas leaders to visit after they won the Palestinian elections - the organization is still on U.S. and European terror lists. Nevertheless, says the senior U.S. official...
...effective spokesman and fund raiser. Owing to his lobbying, Iran has pledged $100 million in aid to the Hamas-led government, crippled by a five-month economic blockade imposed by Israel and others in the international community. In the past, Israel showed little hesitation in hitting Hamas militants inside Syria with air strikes, and the buzzing of Assad's Latakia palace shows the Israeli military might be prepared to do so again. Mashaal has gone into hiding, Hamas sources say, but is still believed to be in Damascus...
...territory. On Wednesday, while the sonic booms continued, the Israeli Defense Forces began shelling Northern Gaza - a measure taken, officials said, to halt Qassam rocket fire from the area into Israel - and seemed poised to cross into the territory. The Israeli Air Force also buzzed the summer home of Syria's president, a brazen, none-too-subtle message conveying Israel's feelings about Meshal's ongoing residency in Damascus. Potentially further complicating matters is the fact that a militant group in the West Bank has claimed to have kidnapped an Israeli civilian, a claim not yet verified but being taken...
...Abbas to seek some form of a two-state solution, in response to international demands that Hamas recognize Israel. But it isn't Haniyeh and the Hamas leaders in government that are behind the kidnapping; Israel believes the perpetrators are hard-liners taking orders from exiled Hamas leaders in Syria, who oppose the reported shift towards moderation and compromise by Haniyeh and others in government. Whether or not leaders of the Palestinian government are assassinated, the likelihood is that Israeli actions to punish Palestinians for the kidnapping are likely to be met by further escalation from the Palestinian militants...
...understood as an attack on Haniyeh and the negotiations with [Abbas]." The involvement of Hamas's military wing suggests a widening rift within Hamas, with the political leadership in Gaza and the West Bank led by Haniyeh on one side, and the military wing and Hamas leaders based in Syria on the other...