Group items tagged

Iraq and Syria have both recalled their ambassadors in a deepening rift over claims Damascus was harbouring militants who bombed Baghdad.

The two Arab neighbours only revived diplomatic links in 2006, after more than 20 years of mutual hostility.

In a separate development that appeared to run counter to the confession, a statement from an extremist Islamist militant group, that is violently opposed to the secular Baathists, has claimed responsibility for the attacks. The Islamic State of Iraq, known to be an al-Qaeda umbrella group, said it had carried out the bombings to "wreck the bastions of infidelity" in Baghdad. The statement was posted on Tuesday morning on a website commonly used by extremist militant groups.

Syria’s opposition movement is in shambles. Obama’s victory changed the calculations of the opposition in exile. US government supplied MEPI money, which sustained some, has dried up. But mostly, Syrians, who had hoped that President Bush would “reform the greater Middle East” as promised, understood it was not to be. President Assad is firmly in control at home; the Iraq fiasco has re-legitimized authoritarianism in the Middle East, at least tmeporarily; and Obama has little choice but to engage with America’s erstwhile enemies in the region, as he is now doing.

Iraqi security forces have taken control of the base camp of an exiled Iranian militia group, after a two year campaign by Tehran to persuade Baghdad to expel them.Police officers used water cannons and tear gas to seize the base, known as Camp Ashraf and pledged today to evict up to 3,500 people living there. All are members of the Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) militia, which has in the past been prescribed by the United States and the European Union as a terrorist group.