INSS Insight Report

by Yiftah Shapir and Zvi Magen, INSS

In December 2011, Syrian military forces held several exercises with live ammunition that were covered extensively by the Syrian media. Exercises of such scope and media prominence are unusual in Syria and were clearly meant by Bashar Assad's regime, currently under heavy international pressure, to display resolve and deterrence towards anyone considering attacking Syria.

INSS Insight No. 308

The Mashal Pronouncement on Popular Struggle: Revolutionary Indeed?

by Yoram Schweitzer and Shlomo Brom, INSS

At the end of the Interim Leadership Forum in Cairo, Hamas leader Khaled Mashal stated that Fatah and Hamas should turn over a new leaf and recognize the errors of the past. He also declared that Hamas intends to adopt the strategy of popular resistance that was used in the past year in various Arab countries. These comments have raised hopes that the desired change has occurred and that Hamas is seeking to alter its historical path, i.e., to cease engaging in terror (in its terms, the strategy of armed struggle) and wage its struggle through non-violent means.

Editor, INSS Insight

Yehuda Ben Meir

INSS Insight is published through the generosity of

Sari and Israel Roizman, Philadelphia
ends