The fire was first set in the Persian Gulf in December 2009 - long before Vice President Joe Biden took offense over Israel's announcement of 1,600 new homes for East Jerusalem.
In its next issue out Friday, DEBKA-Net-Weekly discloses the trouble simmered under the surface after President Barack Obama abruptly shut down a secret US-Israel cooperative project against Iran going strong for two years.
Don't miss exclusive revelations about this project and the aftermath of its demise.
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debkafile's military sources: The first major Palestinian defection to the Shiite Hizballah of 2,000 armed men has given Iran and its proxy a large foot inside Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah organization in Lebanon and the West Bank and swelled Hizballah's fighting strength by some 15 percent.

Barack Obama is still going easy on Iran and Syria after both their presidents publicly ridiculed
his administration and secretary of state Hillary Clinton's appeal for Damascus to loosen its ties with Tehran.

The White House is going through with a decision to post the first US ambassador to Damascus in five years, while berating Israel day after day for the past week.
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The Palestinian and Israeli Arab masses failed to show up in Jerusalem for the Day of Rage, called for Tuesday, March 15 in a bid to stir up a third uprising (intifada) against Israel. No more than 500 teenagers were out on the streets. Around 14 policemen and three dozen Palestinians were injured in clashes - none seriously, and 60 arrested. In case of more trouble, a high police alert will be maintained until the weekend.
 

Prime minister Nouri al-Maliki was injured in an attempt on his life last Thursday, March 11, debkafile discloses. His armored convoy came under an RPG-automatic fire attack after a bomb hit his car. US and Iraqi authorities have blacked out the incident, but our sources learn he is being treated at the American military hospital for moderate-to-serious injuries, lifting the chances of his main rival Iyad Allawi to become Iraq's next prime minister.

 

debkafile's exclusive sources report that already Friday, March 12, Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu gave in to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's peremptory demand for a moratorium
on construction in East Jerusalem for the duration of talks with the Palestinians in the indirect and direct stages.  He issued the relevant instructions Sunday.

 

While exploiting Israel's ill-timed announcement of 1,600 new homes in East Jerusalem for concessions to the Palestinians, debkafile's Washington sources report Washington will keep twisting the Netanyahu government's arm until it toes the line on Iran. Obama's acceptance of Iran's nuclear program is spurned not only by Israel but also by Saudi Arabia and the moderate Arab regimes. But the president is pushing for endorsement before campaigning for US midterm elections to Congress.

 

Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu convened his inner cabinet Saturday night, March 12, to discuss the spiraling crisis with Washington and his first response.
debkafile's military and Washington sources report: The Obama administration is considering withholding from Israel military items urgently needed in case of a flare-up of hostilities with Iran and its allies. This would further ratchet up the row over the added 1,600 homes in ...

The crisis in US-Israeli relations took a sharp turn for the worse Friday night, March 12, with a phone call from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warning Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu that the relationship was at risk. debkafile reports: He was given to understand that Israel must make sweeping concessions to prove its interest in renewed talks with the Palestinians, including in Jerusalem, and accept the Obama administration's line on Iran.

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Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak warned that Hizballah and its 45,000 rockets - including "some which many sovereign countries do not have" - are directed by Iranian and Syrian civilian and military officials already present in Lebanon.  He termed the differentiation between Hizballah terrorists, the state of Lebanon and their sponsors artificial. Iran's nuclear program aims at jumping straight into the second- or second-and-a-half generation of nuclear warheads."