Senior Hezbollah Terrorist Killed in Syria

Reports in Lebanese media indicate that Mustafa Amine Badreddine, the second in command of the Shi’ite terror militia Hezbollah, was killed by an Israeli airstrike near the airport in Damascus overnight Thursday. Israeli officials declined to comment on the reports while Hezbollah officials did not mention Israel in their announcement of an investigation into the incident. Badreddine has been accused of war crimes by the International Criminal Court and was also being hunted by several Western and Arab governments for his participation in various terrorist attacks going back to 1982.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu addressed international diplomats, military attachés, religious leaders and others Thursday evening for the traditional annual greeting. During his remarks, he, among other things, implored them to help him arrange a meeting with Palestinian leaders who have refused to negotiate with him for several years. He also listed many of Israel’s achievements and invited the assembled officials to communicate Israel’s eagerness to bless the world to their home governments.

The scandal of anti-Semitism in UK Labor Party was back in the news Thursday as it was revealed that Musabbir Ali, a former campaign officer from East London, was suspended by the Party after posting an article on his Twitter account which claimed, among other things, that “Jews control Britain and are committing genocide on us.”

The Islamic State (IS) terror militia, which many Western officials had begun to say was on the verge of defeat, carried out several stunning attacks this week in Iraq and Syria. Officials in Baghdad said multiple bombing attacks there killed over 100 people this week while the expiration of an internationally negotiated cease-fire in Syria Thursday evening saw an eruption of fighting on several fronts.

One hundred years into the Sykes-Picot Agreement, a growing chorus of voices is asserting its imminent demise. Skeptics say that few of the Arab states’ borders ever made any sense, and the uprisings sweeping through Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen and elsewhere represent the long-overdue death rattle of the post-colonial order in the Middle East.