The Obama administration’s slowcoach policy on Syria has given Iran and Hizballah unfettered access to intervene in the Syrian civil war, magnifying its lethality and prospects of its spilling over into Israel, Turkey and Jordan, says debkafile. It will further deteriorate when Washington’s expectations of an international conference are not recprocated by Moscow.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has a novel plan for peace talks on two simultaneous tracks – Israel versus the Palestinians and, for the first time in its history, Israel facing the Arab League, debkafile reports exclusively. After obtaining Arab approval for “minor border amendments,” Kerry says more work remains to be done before talks.

The Free Syrian Army commander informed Secretary of State John Kerry this week that the rebels have not chance of standing up to the superior firepower of the Syrian army and Hizballah.

North Korea has reportedly warned Japan that Tokyo would be the first target of a nuclear attack, in response to Japan’s orders to its armed forces to shoot down any North Korean missile that heads toward its territory. Japanese defense officials did not confirm their naval alert so as not to “show their cards” to North Korea. In Seoul Friday, April 12, US Secretary of State John Kerry said: “We will stand with South Korea and Japan against these threats. And we will defend ourselves," he said.

John Kerry faces more obstacles than realistic prospects for his many small steps toward reviving the Middle East peace process and bring Hamas as well as Abu Mazen to the negotiating table. For this he is counting on help from the Turkish prime minister and Qatari emir.

Korean tensions again shot up Tuesday, April 9, with Pyongyang’s warning of a ballistic missile launch Wednesday at the Pacific and advice to foreigners to leave the South in case of war. In Tehran, the president unveiled two additional uranium-processing facilities at the central town of Ardakan, 120 km from large uranium mines in Saghand. Iran now threatens to quit the Non-Proliferation Treaty and so, debkafile reports, carry on developing nuclear weapons away from international oversight like its North Korean partner.

When he visits Ramallah Monday, April 8, US Secretary of State John Kerry will try and talk Mahmoud Abbas) out of launching his “civil intifada (uprising)” against Israel without guns on April 15,  the eve of Israel’s national Day of Remembrance for its War Dead and Independence celebrations. debkafile:  Taking a leaf out of Yasser Arafat’s textbook,  Abbas plans to accompany the peace talks Kerry is trying to set up next month with Palestinian unrest.  But there is no guarantee that his intifada won't explode into violence.

Tehran’s intercession in the Korean crisis on the side of its ally in Pyongyang was predictable, even while the US preferred to ignore their close interrelations.  And so, on Friday, April 5, Deputy Chief of Iran's Armed Forces Brig. Gen. Masoud Jazayeri stepped forward to point the finger at the US, saying: “The time for Washington’s bullying and extortion is long past.” His words came at the very moment that Iranian intransigence brought  the latest six-power meeting on its nuclear program to its customary dead end.

Borrowing from Yasser Arafat’s textbook, Mahmoud Abbas plans to stage the third intifada – he promises the Americans a civil campaign without guns – to precede and accompany his first talks with Israel in two years to take place in mid-May under the US aegis.

Moscow talks delayed as Assad holds out for victory in the coming chemical war. The rebels are meanwhile receiving financial aid for buying arms from US and Russia alike.

Visiting US Secretary of State John Kerry talked at length to Egyptian President Morsi in Cairo, Sunday, March 3, about Egypt’s calamitous economic straits, relations with Israel, democratization and essential reforms. Morsi nodded politely but, debkafile reports, was completely wrapped up in the ongoing plan he and the Muslim Brotherhood had hatched for Islamizing Egypt and seizing 100 percent of parliament in the next election – April or June. Washington warns that delay in coming to grips with the economic crisis would be suicidal.

John Kerry begins his stint as US Secretary of State with the recognition that there is only one way to prevent Islamist groups from taking over the Syrian rebel movement while also preserving US influence in the rebel camp: and that is by working with the Russian plan for Syria. debkafile reveals that this plan is based on drawing armistice lines for dividing Syria up into sectors controlled variously by Syrian opposition groups and Assad loyalists. Russia and America will jointly oversee those sectors.

Jerusalem is unhappy about Obama’s new appointments to his Middle East desks. They are uniformly anti-interventionist, anti-military engagement and unsympathetic to Israel’s security concerns.