Lebanon Feature: Is Hezbollah's Syria Policy A Regional and Domestic Mistake? (Barnard)

Lebanese man with poster of Hezbollah's Sayyid Hassan Nasrullah and Syrian President Assad, 11 January 2012 (Photo: Louai Beshahra/AFP)

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Though Hezbollah’s base in Lebanon remains strong, it runs an increasing risk of finding itself isolated, possibly caught up in a sectarian war between its patron, Iran, the region’s Shiite power, and Saudi Arabia, a protector of Sunni interests in the Middle East. Its longtime ally, Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, has distanced itself from the Assad government, moving its headquarters out of Damascus, and Sunni revolutionaries in Syria have explicitly denounced Hezbollah as an enemy. At home, its Lebanese rivals sense a rare opportunity to erode its power.

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Turkey Video Feature: Will the "Coup Trial" Heal Political Wounds? (Al Jazeera English)

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Earlier this week in our Turkey Live Coverage, Ali Yenidunya covered the trial of plotters of a 1980 military coup, including 94-year-old former President Kenan Evren and 86-year-old former commander of the Air Force Tahsin Şahinkaya.

Al Jazeera English's Inside Story asks if the trial will heal political wounds or cause further tensions. Guests are Ergun Babahan, a columnist for Turkey's Star newspaper; Hassan Koni, a professor of International Law at the University of Culture; and Akin Unver; a lecturer in Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University.

Bahrain Video and Photo Special: Friday's "Free Alkhawaja Protests"

A visual round-up of the day's marches and rallies in Bahrain for detained hunger striker Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, from the thousands who gathered across the island to the security forces' attempts to disperse the protests and prevent demonstrators from reaching Pearl Roundabout, the symbolic centre of the challenge to the regime:

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The Latest from Iran (6 April): Is Tehran Pulling Out of Nuclear Talks?

Iran Special: Forget the News --- Let's Tell Scary Stories
Iran Feature: Bush Administration Trained MKO "Terrorists" From 2005
The Latest from Iran (5 April): How Serious Are the Economic Problems?

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1845 GMT: All the President's Men. Mohammad Dehghan, a member of the Presiding Board of Parlament, has declared that if the Arbitration Council asks Saeed Mortazavi --- the Presidential aide recently named head of the Social Security Fund --- to resign, he must do so.

Mortazavi's appointment has been challenged because he was the Tehran Prosecutor General during the abuses and killings at the Kahrizak detention centre in summer 2009.

Dehghan and other MPs have called for the impeachment of Minister of Labor Abdolreza Sheikholeslami, who has supported Mortazavi, if the Presidential aide does not stand down.

1815 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. See if you can spot the common theme in Friday Prayers across Iran and the Number One person who is being addressed: "Political Arrogance of the Foreign Anti-Iran Movement"; "America's Involvement with Arrogance"; "America's Threats"; "Bringing Up The Topic of Negotiations With America is Tragic"; "We Cannot Deal with America"; "Negotiating with America Does Not Have Any Meaning".

Former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, are you listening?

Just to drive the point home, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said in Tehran Friday Prayers, "[Making decisions on] the case of the U.S. falls within the authority of the Supreme Jurisprudent [Supreme Leader], and no person is in a position to express views in this regard and take action. I believe those who think that we should negotiate with the leading (member) of the (global) arrogance, namely the U.S., either have a simplistic view or have been intimidated.”

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Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A Kingdom on Edge

1937 GMT: These protests in Talbiseh, Homs, write, "Curse your soul, Bashar," in candles:

1923 GMT: A Syrian activist has this report:

BREAKING: Violent clashes ongoing b/w the #FSA & regime army close to the central prison in #Hama #Syria الله ينصركم

— Sumayya Saleh (@Sumayya92) April 6, 2012

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Iran Special: Forget the News --- Let's Tell Scary Stories

Reuters sets aside its news coverage of Iran to tell a very scary story

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Despite the break for New Year, there is no shortage of significant stories coming out of Iran this week. Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani has resumed his challenge to the Ahmadinejad Government, especially over economic issues. Former President Hashemi Rafsanjani has published a wide-ranging commentary implicitly criticising the Government on foreign affairs, including relations with the US and Saudi Arabia, human rights, and the economy; he has drawn criticism from a range of Iranian politicians and clerics, including a representative of the Supreme Leader. And, if internal affairs are too complex, there is the headline possibility that Tehran is backing out of nuclear talks.

But it takes daily attention and no shortage of reading, including of the Iranian press, to cover and draw out the significance of these developments. And really, can a battle over support payments for subsidy cuts hold the attention of readers and viewers?

Wouldn't it be easier to tell a scary story? Especially if US officials are handing you the script?

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Iran Feature: Bush Administration Trained MKO "Terrorists" From 2005 (Hersh)

Mujahedin-e Khalq LogoFrom the air, the terrain of the Department of Energy’s Nevada National Security Site, with its arid high plains and remote mountain peaks, has the look of northwest Iran. The site, some sixty-five miles northwest of Las Vegas, was once used for nuclear testing, and now includes a counterintelligence training facility and a private airport capable of handling Boeing 737 aircraft. It’s a restricted area, and inhospitable—in certain sections, the curious are warned that the site’s security personnel are authorized to use deadly force, if necessary, against intruders.

It was here that the Joint Special Operations Command conducted training, beginning in 2005, for members of the Mujahideen-e-Khalq, a dissident Iranian opposition group known in the West as the M.E.K.

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Yemen Feature: The Unresolved Economic Crisis (Salisbury)

Yemen's economy, fragile and sclerotic at best, effectively ground to a halt in 2011. A series of explosions damaged a major oil pipeline which is the source of most of the country's fuel. The ensuing shortage of diesel fuel, used to transport goods across the country and to pump most of the country's water, led to a sharp increase in the price of food and water. The government was forced to import fuel and hemorrhaged foreign currency reserves normally used to settle the hefty import bill that covers most of the wheat and rice eaten in the country.

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Bahrain Opinion: Why Abdulhadi Alkhawaja May Die On Hunger Strike

Alkhawaja's ongoing hunger strike a test not only for his strength but for the movement inside his country, for the regime over it, and for the allies of that regime. If Alkhawaja dies and the world continues its silence in the face of repression against Bahrainis who have continued to protest for over a year, this would effectively be a blank check for the regime to arrest, abuse, and even kill. 

But if Alkhawaja's strike manages to make the world take notice of Bahrain, then the hope for reform might live. 

Even if he does not.

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Bahrain Document: Maryam Alkhawaja "My Father is Dying"

Today, April 5th, is my fathers birthday. Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, the man who dedicated himself to fighting for human rights, who trained tens of other activists, is known as the Godfather of human rights in Bahrain. My father, who was beaten unconscious in front of his family, arrested, then severely tortured for months. My father, sentenced to life imprisonment in a military court. My father, on his 57th day of hunger strike as his only way of protesting the daily human rights violations of the Bahraini regime against the people of Bahrain.
 
My father, Abdulhadi Alkhawaja is dying to live. Literally.
 
This is what propels my activism. This is why I will continue to fight.

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