Egypt's military rulers are letting Hamas' political leader Khaled Meshaal move his base out of troubled Damascus to the Gaza Strip. The pledge came as an inducement for his signing the Palestinian unity pact with Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah on May 4, as disclosed for the first time by debkafile's intelligence sources.  In Damascus, Bashar Assad's cousin Rami Makhlouf threatened Syria would go to war against Israel if the US and Europe did not back off from supporting the anti-regime uprising. 

Israel celebrates the 63rd anniversary of its independence in good cheer. Neither by word nor hint have its leaders referred to the next challenge facing the country:  Barack Obama, president of Israel's best friend and ally, has picked the Muslim Brotherhood as his chosen partner for promoting American interests in the Arab world. His courtship of this organization, which he regards as moderate, was the rationale, say debkafile's sources, behind his bold decision to get rid of Osama bin Laden.

US President Barack Obama is building an alliance with Turkish premier Tayyip Erdogan to spearhead Washington's evolving Iranian and Middle East policies. Turkey, NATO's only Muslim member, is slated to replace Egypt as America's senior Middle East Muslim partner. The two leaders share the conviction that together they can come up ...

While declaring that they don't aim for power, the Muslim Brotherhood has put up a candidate for the Egyptian presidency. Despite his radical and stormy past, he is being portrayed as a progressive. The generals have countered by approaching Field Marshall Mohamed Tantawi to run against the MB candidate.

The Egyptian prosecutor general's decicion to put deposed Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and his sons on trial -  the former for his life - indicates the powerlessness of the ruling supreme military council in the face of the street. This weakness emboldens the Muslim Brotherhood and opens the door to ...

The uprising against the Assad regime in Syria finally knocked over the Turkish-Iranian-Syrian-Hizballah axis. Erdogan's vision of Turkey as the all-purpose super-mediator vanished into the blue yonder. He is now trying to climb back on the horse through the Muslim Brotherhood chapters of Egypt and Syria.

After weeks of rising tension, Israel and Hamas have taken a step towards a full-blown military confrontation: Saturday, April 2, an Israeli air strike killed three senior Hamas Izz al-Din Qassam Brigades gunmen in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army spokesman said the operation pre-empted a major Palestinian terror-cum-kidnap campaign scheduled for Passover. Hamas warned Israel its "dangerous escalation" would have "consequences." debkafile's sources: The coming conflict will be influenced by the changing forces rising from current Arab unrest.

Israeli living near Gaza woke up Saturday, March 19, to the most massive mortar attack in years – 50 rounds fired in 15 minutes. Two civilians were injured and substantial damage caused to property. Hamas has unusually claimed responsibility, emboldened by the support it has won from a new ally, Egypt, which is also forging new ties with Syria - and the Netanyahu government's disregard of the changing winds blowing in from Egypt including Cairo's de facto recognition of Hamas rule in Gaza.

The resolution the UN Security Council passed Thursday night, March 17 approved not only a no-fly zone for Libya but also "all necessary measures to protect civilians and civilian-populated areas under threat of attack" – a mandate for military steps short of invasion. It was carried by 10 votes with Russia, China, Brazil, India and Germany abstaining. The US, British, French, UAE and Qatar air forces are on standby. If attacked, Libya threatens retaliation against civilian and military targets in Europe and the Middle East.

Iran, Hamas and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood have set up two staging centers ion Khartoum and El Arish, Sinai for grabbing power in Cairo. The Palestinian fundamentalist Hamas has undergone a transformation in the last two years. Today, Tehran has made Hamas an important vehicle for carrying Iranian influence ...

Washington has excellent relations with the Egyptian military rulers but their control of the country is extremely limited. The soldiers would rather desert than obey orders. The police are off the streets and the civilian government goes its own way.

Israeli Navy commandos intercepted the German-owned A.S. Victoria Tuesday, March 15 about 320 kilometers off Israel's Mediterranean coast on its way from the Turkish port of Mercin to Egypt.
The Liberian-flagged vessel was carrying a large consignment of weapons bound for the Palestinian Hamas in the Gaza Strip. debkafile reports the Victoria  collected the weapons at the Syrian port of Latakia, where they had been offloaded by the two Iranian warships which transited the Suez Canal February 22.

The Saudi force that went into Bahrain Monday, March 14, along with UAE and Kuwaiti units, to stabilize the royal regime is larger than reported, consisting of a National Guard brigade, a mechanized brigade of the Saudi army and a tank battalion – altogether 3,500 men. Until recently close American allies, the two Gulf rulers flouted President Obama's policy of supporting popular uprisings, encouraged by Qaddafi gaining the upper hand against Libya's rebels and Washington's constraints against military intervention.

Iran is moving in on the Arab revolt now in its third month. Its agents are whipping together the most radical domestic Muslim elements, Sunni and Shiite alike, as a vehicle for importing its own influence into the heart of the turbulent capitals. With funding from Tehran, Egypt's Muslim ...

President Barack Obama Saturday, March 5, asked Defense Secretary Robert Gates to set out for Cairo on an emergency mission to help Egypt's military rulers regain control of a situation which is slipping into the hands of the increasingly radicalized protesters, debkafile reports. Friday, thousands of protesters seized control of Egyptian security police (Mahabis Namn El Dawla) headquarters, shutting down its operations across the country. Iran is transmitting large sums to the Muslim Brotherhood through Hamas.

The prospects of Egypt resuming its gas supplies to Israel dropped to zero Thursday, March 3 when Egypt's state security prosecutor Abdel Magid Mahmud announced that deposed president Hosni Mubarak would be summoned for questioning next week about allegedly corrupt deals for selling Israel Egyptian gas at knock-down prices, debkafile's Cairo sources report. He also plans to issue arrest warrants against Israeli and American partners in EMG, the firm set up jointly for the gas deal. The military rulers are not interfering.

Failing European will or capability for military action to halt Libya's civil war and remove Muammar Qaddafi, Washington has approached Egypt to undertake a limited operation. Hesitant at first, the military rulers saw the perils continuing Libyan unrest posed Egypt.

The Middle East and North Africa are beset with two civil wars, have brought to power two military juntas, imperil seven regimes, including Pakistan and provided Al Qaeda with fresh fields to conquer.

In their first week in power, Egypt's new military rulers took two steps that had nothing to do with democratic reform. They allowed Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the radical Sunni preacher exiled by Hosni Mubarak ,to return home and lead a victory assembly in Tahrir Square Friday night, Feb. 17 with a call to march on Al Aqsa in Jerusalem. From Qatar, al-Qaradawi repeatedly justified suicide bombings against Israelis. The second was permission for two Iranian war ships to transit the Suez Canal.

The two Iranian warships transited the Suez Canal and have reached the Mediterranean, Iran state TV announced Sunday, Feb. 20.  Cairo is still saying they will sail only Monday.  debkafile reports Tehran and Cairo have connived fake delays to obscure the ships' movements. Egypt's military rulers' permission for their passage was not contingent on an inspection of their freights for banned cargo. Sunday, the region was beset with a sandstorm which would have masked the flotilla from spy satellites.