MIDEAST UPDATE: 1.14.17 - Kerry, Abbas warn of an 'explosion' of violence with Jerusalem embassy move

Kerry, Abbas warn of an 'explosion' of violence with Jerusalem embassy move - By Michael Wilner  - http://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Kerry-warns-of-an-explosion-of-violence-with-Trump-embassy-move-477736

 

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas offered similar warnings to the incoming Trump administration over the weekend: Moving the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem would ignite a violent uprising that no one would be able to control.

 

In an interview with CBS, Kerry - preparing to leave the State Department after engaging in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict intensely for four years - said the violent movement would extend beyond the West Bank.

 

"You'd have an explosion, an absolute explosion in the region, not just in the West Bank and perhaps even in Israel itself, but throughout the region," Kerry warned.

 

"The Arab world has enormous interest in the Haram al-Sharif, as it is called, the Temple Mount, the Dome [of the Rock], and it is a holy site for the Arab world."

 

Aides to President-elect Donald Trump say he is interested in moving quickly to relocate America's embassy to Jerusalem, Israel's seat of government and its declared "eternal and undivided" capital. The Palestinians insist that east Jerusalem, or al-Quds, would have to be the capital of a sovereign state of Palestine under any two-state solution to the decades-old conflict.

 

"We heard a lot of statements relating to moving the US Embassy, which we hope are not correct and will not be implemented, but if implemented then the peace process in the Middle East, and even peace in the world, will be in a crisis we will not be able to come out from," Abbas said, according to an official Palestinian news agency, Wafa.

 

" We say to those who said it, and this is the US president-elect, Donald Trump," he continued: "We invite you to visit Palestine, especially Bethlehem, next year, and that this statement is not on your agenda because any statement or position that will disrupt or alter the status of Jerusalem is a redline and we will not accept it."

 

Abbas's statements come just days after senior Fatah officials stated in an interview that the Palestinians would start a "new violent uprising" if the embassy were moved to Jerusalem.

 

Warnings are coming in fast to Trump and his transition team, filled with figures who support the move, including David Friedman, a leading bankruptcy lawyer and confidante to Trump who is his choice for ambassador to Israel.

 

Several Jordanian officials have warned of "catastrophic" consequences should the US proceed with the move, with one calling the action a "redline" in the bilateral relationship.

 

Jordanian Information Minister Muhammad Momani warned that the relocation of American personnel would be a "gift to extremists" and would "inflame the Islamic and Arab streets."

 

 

Mystery blasts in Damascus: Syria accuses Israel - http://www.debka.com/article/25887/Mystery-blasts-in-Damascus-Syria-accuses-Israel

 

There were two unclaimed explosions in Damascus overnight Thursday and early Friday (Jan.12-13) - one at an officers club in Damascus and the second at Mezzeh airport, which Syria alleged was the work of the new Israeli S-35 stealth aircraft firing across the border from a point over the Sea of Galilee.

 

There was no claim to either of the attacks.

 

The standard Israeli policy of striking any Iranian arms shipments for Hezbollah in Lebanon when they cross through Syria would not longer be applicable to any such air strike, if indeed one was launched..

 

The Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah deploys 9,000 elite fighters in Syria to fight for Bashar Assad. Its Iranian arms supplies no longer need to risk being trucked through Syria to Lebanon; they can be delivered directly to Hezbollah bases in Syria without exposure to Israel air strikes.

 

Indeed, should the pro-Iranian Hezbollah decide to go back to shooting missiles at Israel - or using Iranian-supplied unconventional weapon - it has new launching pads readily available in Syria from those very bases. They are located in the Qalamoun mountains in western Syria and at Zabadani, a Syrian ghost town near the Damascus-Beirut highway, which the Lebanese terror group has made its military center.

 

Both would be obvious targets for Israel to attack rather than Damascus' Mezzeh airport.

 

Tehran, having grasped from bitter experience that Mezzeh is under close surveillance by Israeli intelligence, no longer uses its facilities. Instead Iran flies arms shipments for Hezbollah to Beirut by commercial aircraft, which Israel prefers not to attack, or overland through Iraq to northwestern Syria, where the consignments are picked up and transferred to Lebanon by sea.

 

So if an Israeli F-35 air strike on the Damascus airport should be confirmed, its target would not have been Iranian and Hezbollah military supplies. Mezzeh is the site of a sterile zone set aside for the exclusive use of President Bashar Assad, his family and his top military and intelligence chiefs. It also houses laboratories for developing and manufacturing unconventional weapons, as well serving as the main command center for the 4th Division, whose Republican Guard unit protects the president, his family and members of the ruling caste.

 

In the first attack, a suicide bomber blew himself up Thursday night at the officers' club in the heavily policed Kafra Sousa district of Damascus. At least ten people were killed and dozens injured. Located there are the homes of many Assad loyalists in the security and military establishments, as well as top secret facilities.

 

The ability of a suicide bomber to penetrate one of the most heavily secured locations in Damascus and blow up at an exclusive regime watering hole raises questions about the inner workings of the Assad regime.

 

Some unknown hand struck into the heart of that regime in the space of a few hours - not once, but twice.The Assad regime used its standard scapegoat, Israel, for covering up embarrassing and inexplicable occurrences.

 

However, debkafile's military and intelligence sources disclose that the regime has reached an awkward crossroads. The Russians have taken charge of the Syrian war and no longer bother to consult with the Syrian president or Iran on its conduct. They are deeply immersed in preparing the Syrian peace conference they are sponsoring which is scheduled to open at Astana, Kazakhstan on Jan. 23.

 

If Moscow coordinates its Syrian strategy with anyone, it is Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, but even then only to a limited extent.

 

The Syrian ruler and Iran, after being sidelined by the Russians, are following their example. Both have taken to holding their cards close to their vests and operating under in close secrecy.

 

In an attempt to pierce the resulting aura of mistrust spreading over the staunch Iranian-Syrian alliance, Ali Shamkhani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran and one of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's closest confidants, was sent to Damascus Sunday, Jan 8, to find out what is going on there

 

The mystery deepened further Friday morning, when Syrian state media ran photos of a big blaze - which may or may not be authentic - to illustrate the alleged Israeli attack on Mezzeh airport.