Word: syria
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...terrorism offenses after Italian authorities established their ties to an extremist network operating in France and Belgium. The Italian magistrates in charge of the investigation say evidence collected against the two men indicates they had "planned and organized terrorist attacks and guerrilla actions." Ayachi, 62, who was born in Syria, was previously known to authorities as a radical imam who oversaw a reputedly extremist mosque in Belgium. Like Ayachi, Gendron - described as a 33-year old computer specialist - has been a resident of Belgium for several years. (See pictures of a jihadist's journey...
...Italian and French officials now say they believe the pair had been trying to furtively return to Europe from Syria, where they had picked up the five Palestinian and Syrian illegals as volunteers for their suspected planned attacks. "We know what kinds of activities [Ayachi and Gendron] had been up to after watching them for months, and they'd never run illegal aliens into Europe before," says a French counter-terrorism official. "You can be pretty sure if they were arrested by the Italians bringing five illegals in when they did, it wasn't to organize a little round...
Ironically, some of the best friends to Christians in the Middle East have been at odds with America and the West. The secular societies that formed in the 1950s and '60s in opposition to Israel - especially the Baathist regimes in Iraq and Syria, and Egypt under Nasser - were pretty good protectors of religious pluralism. About 5% or 6% of Iraq's population in the 1970s were Christian, and some of Saddam Hussein's most prominent officials, including Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, were Christians. But since the American invasion of Iraq, Christians have fled in droves, and constitute less than...
...softened our stance for two basic reasons. First, our policy of shooting and stonewalling wasn't succeeding in either eradicating terrorist movements and their patrons or moderating them. Second, U.S. policymakers decided that movements like the Baathists and the Taliban and regimes like those in Syria, Iran and North Korea are fundamentally different from al-Qaeda. They are different because their goals are national or regional, not global. The Baathists want to run Iraq again; the Taliban wants to reclaim power in Afghanistan; the Iranians want to perpetuate their dictatorship and wield influence across the Middle East. Those goals...
...poorly-equipped that when it tried to put down a jihadist uprising in 2007, it had to hand roll bombs off of vintage Vietnam-era helicopters. In the past, such a weak Lebanese army was in the best interest of all the major regional players - from Iran and Syria to Israel and the U.S. - who used the country as a battlefield to settle their own scores. But there is an emerging consensus on all sides that Lebanon needs its own sovereign security forces to keep the country from being inundated by the Sunni jihadist insurgents who pose a threat both...