• Israel vows to withhold $400M in tax revenues from Palestinians over statehood drive

    Murat Kaynak / Anadolu via EPA

    Turkish President Abdullah Gul (left) and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (second left) review the honor guard during a welcoming ceremony in Ankara, Turkey, Tuesday.

    By Reuters

    JERUSALEM - Israel will withhold tax revenues from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' administration until March at least in response to his statehood campaign at the United Nations, Israel's foreign minister said. 

    Under interim peace deals, Israel collects some $100 million a month in duties on behalf of the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank -- money that is badly needed to pay public sector salaries. 

    "The Palestinians can forget about getting even one cent in the coming four months, and in four months' time we will decide how to proceed," Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in a speech Tuesday night. 

    Israel says Abbas violated previous peace accords by sidestepping stalled negotiations and securing a Palestinian status upgrade in the United Nations last month. 

    Debts for power, water
    Israel has already withheld the December transfer, saying the money would be used to start paying off $200 million the Palestinians owe the Israel Electric Corporation. 

    Lieberman, a hardliner in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's conservative coalition government, said the Palestinians also had another debt with the Israeli water authority that would have to be paid off. 

    "Israel is not prepared to accept unilateral steps by the Palestinian side, and anyone who thinks they will achieve concessions and gains this way is wrong," he said. 

    Palestinians had a major symbolic victory when the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to recognize them, but the U.S. argued the new status could set back Palestinians in the path to peace. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.

    Hamas leader returns to Palestinian territories for first time since 1967

    Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior Palestinian official, said earlier this month that Israel was guilty of "piracy and theft" by refusing to hand over the funds. 

    The European Union has also criticized Israel for not handing over the cash.


    "Contractual obligations ... regarding full, timely, predictable and transparent transfer of tax and custom revenues have to be respected," it said on Monday. 

    UN upgrades Palestinian status, bolstering statehood claim

    Israel has previously frozen payments to the Palestinian Authority during times of heightened security and diplomatic tensions, provoking strong international criticism, such as when the U.N. cultural body UNESCO granted the Palestinians full membership a year ago. 

    Abbas's U.N. victory was a diplomatic setback for the United States and Israel, which were joined by only seven other countries in voting against upgrading the Palestinians' observer status to "non-member state", like the Vatican, from "entity." 

    Hours after the U.N. vote, Israel said it would authorize 3,000 new settler homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and expedite planning work for thousands more in a geographically sensitive area close to Jerusalem. Critics say this plan would kill off Palestinian hopes of a viable state. 

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  • Obama says US recognizes Syrian opposition coalition

    Bill Pugliano / Getty Images

    President Barack Obama said the U.S. has recognized the Syrian opposition coalition as representing the country's citizens in an interview with ABC News.

    By NBC News staff and wire services

    The United States now considers the Syrian opposition coalition to be the "legitimate representative" of the nation, President Barack Obama said Tuesday.


    "We've made a decision that the Syrian opposition coalition is now inclusive enough, is reflective and representative enough of the Syrian population that we consider them the legitimate representative of the Syrian people in opposition to the Assad regime," Obama said in an interview with ABC News.

    The move, which was widely expected, could give new international legitimacy to the rebels fighting to overthrow the regime of President Bashar al-Assad but stops short of authorizing the U.S. to arm the opposition, something Obama has steadfastly refused to do.

    France, Britain, Turkey and the Gulf states led the way last month in recognizing the opposition coalition. But Washington held off until now, demanding the groups, dogged by splits and rivalries throughout their battle to end the Assad family's long authoritarian rule, do more to coalesce into a unified front.

    Syrian defector: Violence is now part of my kids’ lives

    A formal endorsement by Obama, accused by critics of failing to respond forcefully enough to the bloody Syrian conflict, could mark a new phase in his efforts to isolate Assad, who has defied repeated U.S. calls to step down.

    But Obama made clear that he remains cautious about some of the armed Syrian factions linked to the political coalition and is not ready to start supplying weapons to the rebels, something he has steadfastly resisted despite demands from some Republican critics.

    "Not everybody who's participating on the ground in fighting Assad are people who we are comfortable with," Obama said. "There are some who, I think, have adopted an extremist agenda, an anti-U.S. agenda, and we are going to make clear to distinguish between those elements." 

    Slideshow: Syria uprising

    /

    A look back at the violence that has overtaken the country.

    Launch slideshow

    Winter brings more troubles for displaced Syrians

    Obama specifically singled out the radical Islamist Syrian rebel group Jabhat al-Nusra,  which the United States on Tuesday designated as a foreign terrorist organization that it said was trying to hijack the rebellion on behalf of al-Qaida in Iraq. 

    U.S. officials said the al-Nusra group had claimed responsibility for carrying out nearly 600 attacks in major cities that have killed numerous innocent Syrians during the uprising against Assad.

    U.S. officials said it was an important signal both to the Syrian opposition and its foreign supporters, particularly in the Gulf, that al-Nusra and its ilk cannot play a part in Syria's eventual political transition.

    Tuesday's action came as U.S. officials were set to attend the Friends of Syria meeting in Marrakech, to discuss the Syria crisis, as rebels push forward on the battlefield and move to unify the political opposition.

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  • US denies loss of drone after Iran claims it captured one

    Iran's state TV reports that an unmanned American drone was captured over the Persian Gulf but did not give details of exactly when or where it happened. A spokesman for the U.S. Navy says no drones are missing in the area. TODAY's Tamron Hall reports.


    By NBC News staff and wire reports

    Updated at 5:35 a.m. ET: The U.S. Navy said Tuesday that it had not lost any drones over the Persian Gulf recently after Iran claimed to have captured one in its airspace.

    The semi-official Fars and the state-run IRNA news agencies reported that a U.S. ScanEagle drone was gathering information over Gulf waters and had entered Iranian airspace.

    The agencies said the drone was then captured by a naval unit of the Revolutionary Guards force.

    However a spokesman for U.S. Naval Forces Central Command in Bahrain denied the claim.

    "The U.S. Navy has fully accounted for all unmanned air vehicles (UAV) operating in the Middle East region. Our operations in the Gulf are confined to internationally recognized water and air space," the spokesman said. "We have no record that we have lost any ScanEagles recently." 

    Jim Watson / AFP - Getty Images, file

    Insitu's ScanEagle, an autonomous aircraft system, launches during the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) demonstration day at Naval Air Station Pax River Webster Field Annex in St. Inigoes, Md., on Aug. 10, 2009.

    Last month the U.S. said Iranian warplanes shot at a U.S. surveillance drone flying in international airspace. Iran said the aircraft had entered its airspace.

    The ScanEagle is manufactured by Boeing Co. According to the firm's website, the drone is four feet long and has a 10-foot wingspan.

    NBC's Jim Miklaszewski reports Dec. 5, 2011, on the American stealth drone that crashed in Iran and whether it is giving the Iranians access to a wealth of U.S. technology.

    The Fars report, citing a senior naval officer, said Iran's forces had "full intelligence supremacy over the moves of the foreign forces in the Persian Gulf."

    In April, Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, who is chief of the aerospace division of the powerful Revolutionary Guards, claimed that his government was copying an American spy drone captured by Iran's armed forces last year.

    Related content:
    Drone that crashed in Iran risks secret US technology
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    Iranian jets attack US military drone, Pentagon officials say

    Hajizadeh was quoted as saying that Iranian experts were recovering information from the RQ-170 Sentinel captured in December last year in eastern Iran, al Arabiya News reported.

    Reuters contributed to this report.

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  • Syrians risk lives in battle to protect nation's ancient sites

    Zain Karam / Reuters

    A damaged ceiling is pictured in Bab Antakya district of Aleppo, Syria, on October 2, 2012. Aleppo's Old City is one of several World Heritage Sites in Syria that are considered at risk.

    By Alastair Jamieson, NBC News

    Editor's note: This story includes a correction.

    Updated at 9:15 a.m. ET: Even as civil war tears the nation apart, it seems Syrians can agree about one thing: The need to protect the country’s antiquities and World Heritage Sites that represent thousands of years of human history.

    Rebel fighters and ordinary citizens are risking their lives to document the damage being done to Syria’s ancient treasures and museums, according to Western monitors.


    Now Bashar Assad's regime has joined in. Maamoun Abdul-Karim, director general of antiquities and museums, has launched a campaign, called "MySyria," (in Arabic) asking communities to help protect the nation’s cultural heritage from the civil strife.

    All six World Heritage Sites have now suffered damage as the conflict widens, according to Emma Cunliffe, a volunteer monitor for the non-profit Global Heritage Fund.

    One of oldest cities
    Destruction includes heavy looting of temples and tombs in the trade city of Palmyra and a devastating fire in the medieval souk in Aleppo, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in human history.

    World heritage body UNESCO has led the outpouring of international concern. Aleppo dates back to the 10th century B.C. and the present city is deemed to have "Outstanding Universal Value," by UNESCO.

    Reuters, file

    Demonstrators protest against Syria's President Bashar Assad in the ancient city of Palmyra on November 18, 2011.

    "Pictures and video evidence gathered by people on the ground shows the extent of the damage and prove that none of these sites are now safe from the conflict," said Cunliffe, a postgraduate student at Britain's Durham University.

    'Emergency red list' targets Syria's looted treasures

    Looting, which led to the theft of many of Iraq's national treasures during the conflict that deposed Saddam Hussein, is also a risk in Syria.

    "Large gangs of men turned up at Iraqi sites, totally overwhelming the protection, and looted on a vast scale. If that starts to happen in Syria there will be problems because there's little that can be done about it,” Cunliffe said.

    More Syria coverage from NBC News

    She said each side in the conflict blamed the other for damage to ancient buildings, but it was not easy to verify the claims.

    Cunliffe said many people in Syria made films showing the damage being done to ancient sites.

    She said that one man “who uploaded most of the videos of the damage to the citadel of Qal'at al-Madiq in January to April stopped uploading when the government took the citadel/village in April. I have assumed the worst.”

    Slideshow: Syria uprising

    Osman Orsal / Reuters

    A look back at the violence that has overtaken the country

    Launch slideshow

    New 'intelligence' body set to fight illicit trade in world's priceless treasures

    Abdul-Karim hopes to encourage Syrians to prevent the war from causing permanent damage.

    “The war in Syria has hit ... all aspects of life, including antiquities considered the common heritage of all Syrians, regardless of their thoughts or political alliances, whether loyalists or opposition,” Abdul-Karim told news website Al Akhbar following the campaign's launch.

    He said there was also evidence of antiquities being smuggled out of the country.

    'A loss to human civilization'
    Dan Thompson, director of global projects at the Global Heritage Fund, said that there was little that could be done until the fighting stopped.

    A Cluster Bomb reportedly dropped by Syrian government warplanes has killed up to 10 children as they played in a village on the outskirts of Damascus. Warning: There are distressing images. ITV's Bill Neely reports.

    “The continuing damage and destruction of World Heritage Sites and other national antiquities in Syria during the present conflict is not only a loss to human civilization, but also greatly reduces the socio-economic potential these sites offer to local communities and the country as a whole,” he said in a statement.

    "At present, unfortunately, the most anyone can do is to closely monitor and publicize the devastation … and plead for both sides to respect the country’s cultural heritage, as UNESCO has done."

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  • Investigators prepare to exhume Yasser Arafat in murder inquiry

    Investigators have begun to exhume the body of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in an attempt to determine whether he was assassinated by lethal doses of radioactive poison. NBC's John Ray reports.

    By NBC News' Kari Huus and wire services

    Did the late Palestinian leader die of poisoning? This is the nagging question that French investigators hope to answer by exhuming the remains of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Tuesday, eight years after his death in a Paris hospital at the age of 75.

    French judges in charge of the investigation arrived on Sunday evening in the West Bank city of Ramallah, the site of Arafat's mausoleum, in a murder investigation that was opened in August, the French news agency AFP reported.

    Rumors of foul play have long surrounded the sudden demise of Arafat, a champion of Palestinian statehood from the time he was 19, and eventually, the democratically-elected president of the Palestinian Authority.


    Arafat was revered by many Palestinians and Arabs as a freedom fighter, and reviled by many Israelis and its allies as a terrorist for his relentless fight for Palestinian self-determination. But he also had enemies and rivals within the Arab and Palestinian political circles.

    The rapid deterioration of his health and death baffled doctors who were trying to treat him in France, and an autopsy was never performed at the request of his widow, Suha.

    Many Palestinians believe Arafat was poisoned at the behest of Israel — an idea that Israel has rejected.

    But poisoning as a cause of death gained currency after a Swiss institute said it had found high levels of radioactive polonium on Arafat’s clothing, which was supplied by Suha, prompting the French to open a formal murder inquiry.

    Polonium was the substance that killed Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006. Litvenenko was a Russian ex-spy who later became a relentless critic of the Kremlin.

    "It is a painful necessity" to exhume the body of Arafat, said Tawfiq al-Tirawi, who is in charge of the Palestinian committee overseeing the investigation, speaking to reporters in Ramallah on Saturday.

    Slideshow: Arafat's journey

    Tirawi said the Palestinians had "evidence which suggests Arafat was assassinated by Israelis," Reuters reported. 

    Tirawi said separate samples will be taken from the remains by the French and Swiss forensic teams, as well as a Russian team of experts invited by the Palestinians, and that results could take up to several months to be announced. Arafat’s body would be reburied in a military ceremony, he said.

    Not everyone agrees that exhuming the late leader serves a purpose because even if it shows that he was poisoned — which may be hard to establish this long after his death — it won’t reveal who poisoned him. 

    The exhumation and renewed allegations of Israeli involvement could stir further tension between the Palestinians and Israelis, who are observing a truce after a week of fierce fighting in Gaza.

    An editorial in the Jerusalem Post on Monday lambasted the process. 

    "Can we really rely on an impartial forensic investigation now? Too much political capital appears to have been invested in this affair to instill much confidence that everything will be strictly on the up and up. This, moreover, is without even going into the issue of whether all evidentiary material is in fact untainted."

    Another  critic of the exhumation — for entirely different reasons — is Arafat’s nephew Nasser al-Qidwa, who compared the process to "desecration," the AFP reported.

    "No good can come out of this at all," Qidwa told the agency. "It does no good to the Palestinians."

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    Reuters contributed to this report.

     

  • With truce holding, children in Gaza return to school for the first time since fierce fighting began

    Bernat Armangue / AP

    Palestinian schoolchildren walk through debris past a damaged school in Gaza City on Nov. 24, 2012. The school was damaged in an Israeli strike that targeted a nearby building.

    Reuters reports: Hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children headed back to school for the first time Saturday in 10 days, in another indication normal life was returning after cross-border violence in which 166 Palestinians and six Israelis were killed. Full Story

    Ahmed Zakot / Reuters

    Palestinian school girls inspect their school, which witnesses said was damaged in an Israeli air strike, in Gaza City on Nov. 24.

    Mohammed Abed / AFP - Getty Images

    Palestinian schoolboys look through a hole at their damaged school, run by the United Nations, in Gaza City, on Nov. 24.

    Slideshow: Israel and Gaza: 8 days of violence

    Bernat Armangue / AP

    Israel's military said it had accomplished its objectives while Hamas claimed victory after the two sides exchanged deadly airstrikes and rocket attacks for over a week.

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  • After 8 days of Gaza violence, Israel declares mission accomplished, Hamas claims victory

    Hamas declares a national holiday after the cease-fire with Israel, but sees the halt in fighting as a temporary solution. NBC's Richard Engel reports.

    By Ian Johnston and Andrea Mitchell, NBC News

    Updated at 6:10 a.m. ET: Israel’s military said it had accomplished the objectives of its airstrike campaign against Hamas by causing “severe damage” to its military capabilities after a cease-fire was declared late Wednesday.


    A statement on the Israel Defense Forces website said Operation Pillar of Defense had “damaged and destroyed significant elements of Hamas' strategic capabilities” in the Gaza Strip.

    “Following eight days of operations, the IDF has accomplished its pre-determined objectives for Operation Pillar of Defense, and has inflicted severe damage to Hamas and its military capabilities,” the  IDF statement said.“These actions have severely impaired Hamas' launching capabilities, resulting in a decreasing number of rockets being fired from the Gaza Strip,” it added.

    Meanwhile, people in Gaza declared victory. "Allahu akbar (God is greatest), dear people of Gaza you won," blared mosque loudspeakers in Gaza, according to Reuters. "You have broken the arrogance of the Jews."

    The exiled leader of the Islamist Hamas movement, Khaled Meshaal, said that Israel had been defeated and failed in its "adventure," Reuters reported. "We have come out of this battle with our heads up high," he said.

    And while he said Hamas would respect the truce if Israel did, Meshaal also sounded a warning. “If it [Israel] does not comply, our hands are on the trigger," he told a news conference in Cairo.

    Israel and Hamas agree to Gaza cease-fire

    Even after the cease-fire came into force at 9 p.m. local time (2 p.m. ET) Wednesday, a dozen rockets from the Gaza Strip landed in Israel, all in open areas, a police spokesman said. And in Gaza, witnesses reported an explosion shortly after the truce, but there were no casualties and the cause was unclear.

    Some residents of Israel close to Gaza say deals brokered with Hamas in the past have fallen through, and they worry this one will, too. NBC's Stephanie Gosk reports.

    A top U.S. official involved in the negotiations that led to the cease-fire told NBC News that making it work was going to be a "complicated process."

    Speaking for the administration, the senior official said: "The cease-fire is a big step toward trying to put in place more enduring relationships."

    The official said it was “significant” that Egypt had "stepped up and is playing a crucial role" in the peace talks.
    Asked whether Hamas had been strengthened by the outcome, the official said that Israel got what it wanted, referring to the damage to Hamas’ rocket-firing capabilities.

    Ashraf al-Qedweh, a spokesperson for the Gaza-based health ministry, told NBC News that 162 people had died in Gaza during the conflict, including 42 children and 11 women, with 1,225 wounded.

    Shot dead, dragged through the streets: The fate of an alleged spy in Gaza

    The IDF statement said five Israelis had been killed and 240 injured.

    It listed the military successes of Pillar of Defense, saying the IDF had “targeted over 1,500 terror sites including 19 senior command centers, operational control centers and Hamas' senior-rank headquarters, 30 senior operatives, damaging Hamas' command and control, hundreds of underground rocket launchers, 140 smuggling tunnels, 66 terror tunnels, dozens of Hamas operation rooms and bases, 26 weapon manufacturing and storage facilities and dozens of long-range rocket launchers and launch sites.”

    Americans tied to Israel caught in the chaos of Gaza conflict

    Residents of Gaza return to their homes with hope the cease-fire persists. ITV's John Ray reports.

    It said that 1,506 rockets had been fired from the Gaza Strip toward Israel during the period of the operation with Israel’s “Iron Dome” defense system intercepting 421 of the missiles.

    Tension remained high Thursday with two sirens heard in southern Israel, but no reports of rocket strikes.

    Israeli forces said they had seized 55 suspected Palestinian militants in the West Bank Thursday, Reuters reported.

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    The detainees were from various armed Palestinian factions and included "senior operatives," the army said in a statement, adding that it would "continue to maintain order ... and prevent the infiltration of terrorists into Israeli communities."

    The West Bank is under the sway of U.S.-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of the Fatah movement, but many of its residents are sympathetic with his Hamas rivals. 

    NBC's Lawahez Jabari and Reuters contributed to this report.

    Ali Ali / EPA

    Senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, center, waves to crowds of people celebrating after a ceasefire was announced in Gaza City, Nov. 22, 2012.

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  • Israel arrests suspects in Tel Aviv bus bombing

    Uriel Sinai / Getty Images file

    An Israeli policeman stands above shoes and clothes from a victim at the scene of an explosion on a bus in central Tel Aviv, Israel, Nov. 21.

    By NBC News staff and news services

    Israeli authorities arrested an Israeli Arab on suspicion of planting a bomb in a Tel Aviv bus that wounded 15 people hours before Israel agreed a cease-fire with Hamas in Gaza, police and security officials said on Thursday.

    The Arab citizen of Israel was detained on Wednesday night, they said. Also arrested, police said, were a number of Palestinians affiliated with Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on suspicion of having recruited the Israeli Arab to carry out the bombing.

    Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld did not give names or an exact number of how many people were in custody.


    He said the Israeli Arab notified his Palestinian handlers in the West Bank when the bomb was in place on the commuter bus, and they then detonated the device with a mobile phone.

    "The investigation is still under way, and other arrests are expected," the Shin Bet internal security service said in a statement. 

    Wednesday's bus bombing had raised the possibility that Palestinians had slipped in from the nearby West Bank to carry out the attack.

    Some residents of Israel close to Gaza say deals brokered with Hamas in the past have fallen through, and they worry this one will, too. NBC's Stephanie Gosk reports.

    While Hamas rules Gaza, a fenced-off enclave under Israeli blockade, the U.S.-backed Palestinian Authority governs in parts of the West Bank not under Israeli occupation. But many of its residents are sympathetic with his Islamist Hamas rivals who govern Gaza and reject permanent peace with the Jewish state.

    After cease-fire, both sides claim victory

    Earlier on Thursday, the Israeli army said that 55 suspected Palestinian militants had been arrested in the West Bank, citing a need to maintain calm after a truce ended the Gaza fighting.

    The detainees were from various armed Palestinian factions and included "senior operatives," the army said in a statement, adding that it would "continue to maintain order ... and prevent the infiltration of terrorists into Israeli communities".

    Hamas declares a national holiday after the cease-fire with Israel, but sees the halt in fighting as a temporary solution. NBC's Richard Engel reports.

    Israel launched an air offensive against Hamas and other Gaza militant factions on Nov. 14 with the declared aim of stopping their rocket fire into the Jewish state. The sides entered an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire on Wednesday night.

    During the Gaza conflict, two Palestinians were shot dead during anti-Israel demonstrations in the West Bank that turned into confrontations with the army.

    According to NBC News, some 162 Palestinians died and more than 1,200 were wounded in the conflict; five Israelis were killed and 240 were wounded.

    NBC staff and Reuters contributed to this report.

    Slideshow: Israel and Gaza: 8 days of violence

    Bernat Armangue / AP

    Israel's military said it had accomplished its objectives while Hamas claimed victory after the two sides exchanged deadly airstrikes and rocket attacks for over a week.

    Launch slideshow

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  • Why Hezbollah is sitting on 40,000 rockets and missiles and sitting out the Gaza conflict

    A flurry of violence hit Gaza Tuesday as Israel bombed a Gaza bank and targeted the homes of militants. Hamas responded with more than 100 rockets. NBC's Richard Engel reports.

    By Robert Windrem, NBC News senior investigative producer

    Mohammed Zaatari / AP file

    Hezbollah supporters fix the party's flag on top of their rockets near the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon, in this July 2007 photo.

    ANALYSIS

    For a week, Israel and Hamas have engaged in a war in and around Gaza, one in which thousands of rockets and bombs have been expended, scores have died, and tens of thousands have been forced to take cover. But to the north in Lebanon, Hezbollah, the Islamic militia that rained destruction on Israel in a 2006 war, held its fire. Why?


    The consensus among U.S. government analysts and academic experts is that Hezbollah, which has controlled the Lebanese government for more than four years, believes discretion is the better part of valor. As it has in the past, as in Israel's Cast Lead Operation against Hamas at the end of 2008, Hezbollah decided against creating a diversion that would have helped its like-minded but only sometime ally.

    Roger Cressey, NBC News analyst and former deputy counterterrorism director for the National Security Council, notes that Hezbollah is now essentially the government in Lebanon and has different responsibilities, different agendas. "There has never been a correlation between events in Gaza and Hezbollah's strategic decision-making," says Cressey.

    That doesn't mean Hezbollah wants to make peace with Israel, just that it's biding its time, and more importantly that, in the words of more than one analyst, "it has no dog in this fight."

    "Hezbollah is now the party in control of the Lebanese government," Dr. Robert Danin, Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow, told journalists in a conference call Tuesday. "That has a way of moderating one's behavior. If they attacked Israel, they know they would be taking the state of Lebanon to war."

    Danin said Israel has made the distinction known to Hezbollah.

    So Hezbollah is working off its own timetable, say analysts. The group has several equities it must be concerned about: Its political position in Lebanon, where as noted it is part of the governing party; the stability of one of its biggest protectors, the Assad regime in Damascus; and uncertainty over the political future in Iran, which has been its main protector and weapons supplier.

    US seeks ‘durable outcome’ in Gaza truce talks, Clinton says in Israel

    Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is attempting to bring about a ceasefire, or to prevent Israel from invading Gaza while convincing Egypt's president to pressure Hamas to stop firing rockets. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.

    "Hezbollah's focus is elsewhere," added Danin. "Its relationship with Iran, its relationship with the Assad regime ... Hezbollah is in a very vulnerable position. Without Syria, it would lose its lifeline to Iran."

    If a Sunni government emerges in Syria, it would make Hezbollah's control of Lebanon even more complicated, even tenuous.  "It is ironic that with instability in Jordan and trouble in Gaza, Israel's border with Lebanon is its most stable," Danin said.

    In short, say analysts, the bar is set high for Hezbollah to get directly involved in the Gazan conflict ... with one exception: Hezbollah might move if it felt its arsenal of more than 40,000 rockets and missiles was threatened.

    Both Israel and Hezbollah have to know that the success of the Iron Dome anti-rocket and missile system could, in the long term, dilute the value of that stockpile and could make Israel more confident in pursuing the Lebanese group.  

    Violence continues in Israel and Gaza amid hopes of cease-fire

    That is unlikely happen for a while. Danin explained that Iron Dome, which has been so successful in knocking down Hamas rockets, is not designed to take out the long-range rockets and missiles in the Hezbollah arsenal. However, Israel does have a follow-on system, known as Magic Wand, based on the same basic technology, which could be effective against Hezbollah's rockets and missiles. Problem is that it won't be ready until 2015.

    "Iron Dome would not have the same kind of effectiveness against Hezbollah's arsenal," added Danin. But that arsenal were used against Israel, "Hezbollah knows it would pay a high price."

    Americans tied to Israel caught in the chaos of Gaza conflict

    What about unleashing the Islamic Jihad Organization rather than rockets and missiles? "No reason to unleash the IJO in support of events in Gaza," said Cressey. It wouldn't be very effective and "they know they will pay a significant price."

    There are other reasons for Hezbollah not to take such risky action, say both Danin and Cressey. As Cressey points out, Hamas is Palestinian, while Hezbollah is Lebanese.  So their missions are different, even if their animosity toward Israel is the same. 

    Bottom line on Hezbollah for Cressey: “They will only take only action if it's in their organization's strategic interest, and events in Gaza do not apply."

    Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has undertaken the difficult task of helping to shepherd a possible ceasefire. Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi, meanwhile, is playing a key role as an intermediary with Hamas, a group labeled by the U.S. as a terrorist organization. NBC's Stephanie Gosk reports.

     

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  • Obama: Israel has 'every right' to defend itself from Gaza missile attacks

    President Barack Obama spoke on the unrest in the Middle East while on a trip to Asia. The president's trip is meant to put a focus on foreign policy, with the president making a tour of the region, including Myanmar and Cambodia. NBC's Chuck Todd reports from Bangkok.

    By NBC News staff and news services

    President Barack Obama said Sunday that Israel has “every right” to defend itself against missile attacks by militants inside Gaza but warned that escalating the offensive with Israeli ground troops could undermine any hope of a peace process with the Palestinians.

    "Let's understand what the precipitating event here that's causing the current crisis and that was an ever-escalating number of missiles that were landing not just in Israeli territory but in areas that are populated, and there's no country on Earth that would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside its borders,” Obama said at press conference in Thailand at the start of a three-nation tour in Asia.


     

    “So we are fully supportive of Israel's right to defend itself from missiles landing on people's homes and workplaces and potentially killing civilians."

    He added: "Israel has every right to expect that it does not have missiles fired into its territory. If that can be accomplished without a ramping up of military activity in Gaza, that's preferable. It's not just preferable for the people of Gaza. It's also preferable for Israelis, because if Israeli troops are in Gaza, they're much more at risk of incurring fatalities or being wounded."

    Netanyahu: Israel prepared for ‘significant expansion’ of Gaza operation

    More than 50 Palestinians have been killed and hundreds more wounded in the four days of Israeli assaults. Egyptian officials are working on securing a truce between Israel and the Palestinian factions, which could help avert a war both sides say they are prepared to fight. NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.

    Obama directed some of his comments to the heads of state of Egypt and Turkey, both countries that are supportive of the Palestinians. “Those who champion the cause of Palestinians should recognize that if we see a further escalation of the situation in Gaza than the likelihood of us getting back on any kind of peace track that leads to a two-state solution is going to be pushed off way into the future,” he said.

    Obama's comments came as Israel's campaign against Hamas militants in Gaza blasted into its fifth day. Israel is at a crossroads of whether to launch a ground invasion or pursue Egyptian-led truce efforts, and Obama sought to clearly defend the U.S. ally's military rights while pushing for a halt in the violence.

    Key players in the Israel-Gaza cross-border conflict

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Sunday that Israel was prepared to significantly expand its military operation in Gaza. Obama has been lobbying Netanyahu along with the leaders of Egypt and Turkey to try to halt the crisis -- including stopping rocket strikes on Israel.

    Slideshow: Israel, Gaza violence escalates

    Ammar Awad / Reuters

    Two sides exchange deadly airstrikes, rocket attacks.

    Launch slideshow

    He said Israel was justly responding to "an ever escalating number of missiles that were landing not just in Israeli territory, but in areas that are populated. And there's no country on earth that would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside its borders."

    Obama said Palestinians will have no chance to pursue their own state and a lasting peace with Israel as long as rockets are fired into Israel. He said he hoped for a clearer process over the next 48 hours -- showing how much the Mideast conflict had intruded on his diplomatic mission to Asia.

    NBC News' Shawna Thomas and The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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  • Israel kills Hamas military chief, 7 others in airstrike, officials say

    Israeli leaders indicate that a new offensive against Islamic militant commanders is underway. NBC's Martin Fletcher reports.

    By Lawahez Jabari, NBC News and NBC News staff

    Updated at 10:46 p.m. ET: TEL AVIV -- The head of the militant wing of the Palestinian Hamas movement and seven others were killed as Israel launched a series of airstrikes in Gaza Wednesday, officials said.


    Hamas spokesman Fauazy Brehom told NBC News that Ahmed Jabari was killed in the attack by Israeli forces. Jabari was the most senior commander of Hamas' military wing, the Ezzidine Al-Qassam Brigades. 

    A statement from the Al-Qassam Brigades said that Israel had “opened the gates of hell.”

    President Barack Obama spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Wednesday, urging him to avoid civilian casualties. The president reiterated the United States' support for Israel's right to self-defense following rocket attacks launched from Gaza.

    Obama also spoke Wednesday with Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi because of the country's central role in preserving regional security. Obama condemned the rocket fire from Gaza into Israel and reiterated Israel's right to self-defense. The two leaders agreed on the importance of working to deescalate the situation quickly and they agreed to stay in touch in coming days.

    In a frequently updated live blog chronicling the attacks, the Israel Defense Forces claimed it had targeted "dozens" of Hamas’ medium-range underground rocket launch sites and other weapons storage facilities. The report said Israel had also intercepted 17 rockets fired from Gaza.

    "If I were a senior Hamas activist - I would look for a place to hide," IDF spokesman Brgi. Gen. Yoav (Poly) Moredechai said in a statement published online.

    Moredechai said the possibility of a ground invasion would not be ruled out, and emphasized that all options remain on the table. "Infantry brigades have been shifted in preparation for the operation," his statement read. "All options that allow us to cause seriously damage to Hamas and the other terrorist organizations are on the table."

    A statement from the Israeli embassy blamed Hamas for launching 150 rockets at Israel's south over the past week.

    Darren Whiteside / Reuters

    Smoke rises after Israeli air strikes in the northern Gaza Strip on Nov. 14. Israel launched a major offensive against Palestinian militants in Gaza on Wednesday, killing the military commander of Hamas in an air strike and threatening an invasion of the enclave that the Islamist group vowed would "open the gates of hell."

    "Israel has the right and duty to defend itself from terrorist attacks designed to kill thousands of its citizens," Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren said. "We are sending an unequivocal message that our citizens will not be hostage to terrorist missile fire and cross-border attacks. The scope of the IDF's defensive operation depends on Hamas and whether it takes the decision to cease firing missiles on our neighborhoods and homes."

    Jabari is the most senior Hamas official to have died due to Israeli military action since the killing of Saeed Seyam four years ago.

    Sources at the Kamal Adwan and Al-Shifa hospitals said a total of eight people had been killed and 80 injured.

    A statement on the IDF website said that Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz had “approved an expansive strike against terrorist organizations in Gaza.”

    Ali Ali / EPA

    Emergency services extinguish the burned out destroyed car of Qassam top leader Ahmed Jabari after an Israeli air strike in Gaza City on Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012.

    “As a part of the program, a short while ago, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) struck Ahmed al-Jabari and other senior officers of Hamas' Military Wing, who were involved in planning and implementing dozens of attacks, including the kidnapping of SFC [Israeli soldier] Gilad Shalit,” it said.

    The airstrike took place in central Gaza, according to the statement, which was headlined "Chief of Hamas' Military Wing Ahmed al-Jabari assassinated." The headline was later changed to "Senior Hamas operative targeted," and the statement dropped the reference to Shalit.

    The statement quoted IDF spokesman Mordechai as saying military action began following the "intolerable situation in the south of the country, and seeks to harm terrorist organizations operating in the Gaza Strip."

    'Forward base for Iran'
    The IDF later announced it had begun "Operation Pillar of Defense." Israel confirmed there had been several airstrikes.

    Hamas Office via Reuters, file

    Ahmed Al-Jabari, top commander of Hamas armed wing Al-Qassam brigades, poses for a picture after a prisoner swap deal between Hamas and Israel, in Cairo, in this October 18, 2011 file photo.

    In another update, the statement said the IDF had "targeted a significant number of long range rockets sites ... owned by Hamas. This deals a significant blow to the terror organizations' underground rocket launching capabilities and munitions warehouses that are owned by Hamas and other terror organizations."

    "The Gaza strip, has turned it into a forward base for Iran, firing rockets and carrying out terrorist attacks against Israeli citizens. The IDF will continue to target terrorist sites that are used to carry out terror attacks against Israeli citizens," it said.

    "The IDF will continue to target sites that are used for carrying out terror attacks against the citizens of Israel while improving their daily security," it added.

    An IDF statement Monday said more than 120 rockets fired from Gaza had hit Israel since Saturday and that the Israeli air force had responded with airstrikes on a number of sites. 

    Jabari had survived numerous assassination attempts in the past and had served close to a decade in an Israeli jail, according to NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin.

    He was widely considered the second most important figure within Hamas' overall structure after Khaled Mishaal, the head of the organization’s political bureau.

    Uriel Sinai / Getty Images

    Israeli children play games at a bomb shelter on Nov. 14 in Netivot, Israel. Israel Defense Forces launched aerial attacks on targets in Gaza that killed the top military commander of Hamas.

    Jabari was instrumental in negotiations about the release of Shalit, Mohyeldin said. Jabari was rarely seen in public and even more seldom filmed but he was seen accompanying Shalit to the border crossing with Egypt ahead of his handover.

    US reacts; Israeli ambassador leaves Egypt
    U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the United States "strongly" condemns the rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israel.

    "There is no justification for the violence that Hamas and other terrorist organizations are employing against the people of Israel," Toner's statement read. "We call on those responsible to stop these cowardly acts immediately. We support Israel's right to defend itself, and we encourage Israel to continue to take every effort to avoid civilian casualties."

    Egypt's foreign minister called Israel's airstrikes on Gaza a dangerous escalation at a critical time for the region, and called on the Israeli government to quickly halt the offensive.

    Egypt's ruling Freedom and Justice Party condemned the killing of Jabari, and said Israel was using the military operation as a card in its own political game, ahead of elections in January. The party called on the international community and Arab states to act immediately to stop the massacre against the Palestinian people, adding that Israel's attacks were meant to create instability in the region.

    Airport sources in Egypt confirmed to NBC News that the Israeli ambassador and other Israelis were leaving Cairo Wednesday night.

    The U.N. chief also called on Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants to prevent an escalation of hostilities, urging both sides to ensure civilians will be protected, a U.N. spokesman said Wednesday.

    "The Secretary-General calls for an immediate de-escalation of tensions," U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said, adding that it was a reiteration of Ban's already-stated position.

    "Both sides should do everything to avoid further escalation and they must respect their obligations under international humanitarian law to ensure the protection of civilians at all times," he told reporters.

    A Palestinian rocket fired from the Gaza Strip struck a house in southern Israel today, causing damage but no injuries. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

     

    Related content:
    Israel, Gaza agree to hold fire after latest round of fighting
    Israel warns of tough response after Gaza rocket hits house
    Israel fires into Syria for second day, scores 'direct hits'

    NBC's Ian Johnston, Ayman Mohyeldin, NBC News staff and Reuters contributed to this report.

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  • Source: Back-channel talks but no US-Iran deal on one-to-one nuclear meeting

    Digital Globe / AP file

    A 2004 satellite image provided by DigitalGlobe and the Institute for Science and International Security shows the military complex at Parchin, Iran, about 19 miles southeast of Tehran.

    By Andrea Mitchell, NBC News

    A senior administration official told NBC on Saturday that there have been back-channel talks between the U.S. and Iran about meeting bilaterally on the Iranians’ nuclear program – but that no meeting has been agreed to.


    Expanding on a statement issued by the White House after The New York Times reported that there was an agreement, the official says that the backchannel talks have been done in full consultation with the allies – the P5 + 1 and Israel.

    The official pointed out that there have been bilateral talks in the past – but that Iran refused to even meet with the P5 +1 during the recent United Nations meetings. He said the Iranians know there will be no agreement unless they give up their nuclear program.

    Asked about the impact on Monday's foreign policy debate between President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney, the official said the administration is not happy that the story came out before the debate, but said the American people might be happy to know the administration is willing to explore all possibilities to get Iran to give up its nuclear program.

    The Times, citing a senior administration official, said Iranian officials had insisted that the talks wait until after the presidential election so that they would know which president would be negotiating with them. The Times said: "Reports of the agreement have circulated among a small group of diplomats involved with Iran."

    But in a statement Saturday evening, National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said the U.S. and Iran had no such agreement: 

    It's not true that the United States and Iran have agreed to one-on-one talks or any meeting after the American elections. We continue to work with the P-5+1 on a diplomatic solution and have said from the outset that we would be prepared to meet bilaterally. The President has made clear that he will prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and we will do what we must to achieve that. It has always been our goal for sanctions to pressure Iran to come in line with its obligations. The onus is on the Iranians to do so, otherwise they will continue to face crippling sanctions and increased pressure.

    World powers accuse Iran of covertly using its uranium enrichment program to produce nuclear weapons. The Iranians insists the research and development is for projects to generate electricity and produce medical isotopes.

    EU agrees on wider Iran sanctions

    A six-country alliance of Western powers, including the United States, has been attempting to negotiate with the Iranians, with occasional concessions by Iran and assertions that it’s willing to engage with the alliance. Despite the protracted dialogue, diplomats hope that a negotiated settlement can be reached, with international sanctions providing an incentive.

    In October 2009, the U.S and the Iranians agreed in Geneva that Iran would send its enriched uranium to Russia for safekeeping, in exchange for an agreement for enough nuclear fuel for its Tehran medical research reactor. However, the deal fell apart when Iran's negotiators returned home. Iranian officials told NBC News that their supreme leader, the Ayatollah Khomeini, told them they had gone beyond their instructions. That experience has made the White House wary of any agreement that is not blessed by the supreme leader, the sole authority over nuclear decisions in Iran. 

    The sanctions began to bite this summer. Hyperinflation in Iran is pushing up prices daily and the dramatic slide in the value of the rial against the U.S. dollar led to unrest in Tehran earlier this month, when angry currency traders clashed with security forces.

    The European Union on Monday ratcheted up its sanctions, prohibiting transactions between Iranian and European banks and banning imports of Iranian natural gas, among other measures. 

    Netanyahu: Draw 'clear red line' to stop Iran

    Israel, believed to have the Middle East's only atomic arsenal, sees a nuclear-armed Iran as a threat to its existence and has expressed frustration over the failure of diplomacy and sanctions to rein in Tehran. Western nations fear that a possible strike against Iran's facilities by Israel would lead to wider conflict.

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