1) MEMRI reports on a recent spat between the Palestinian Authority and Al Jazeera.
“Fatah and PA spokespersons accused Al-Jazeera of waging a campaign of incitement and slander against the PA in the service of Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. The PA’s clash with Al-Jazeera came to a head when Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the PA’s presidency spokesperson and information minister, sent a letter to the Al-Jazeera management threatening legal measures against the network. Articles in the PA press slammed Al-Jazeera, accusing it of serving the agenda of the Muslim Brotherhood, Islamist elements and Qatar and seeking to spark internal wars throughout the Arab and Islamic world.”
2) At the National Interest, Rany Ballout introduces a new Hizballah media channel.
“Confrontational and often accusatory, Al-Mahatta, a Lebanese YouTube channel, is emerging as a de facto digital mouthpiece for Hezbollah. Its aim is to consolidate its influence by gaining a broader digital audience while continuing to cater to its well-established constituency in Lebanon.
The success of this channel should come as no surprise, as many members of Al-Mahatta’s team are either originally from or still affiliated with Al Akhbar—a Beirut-based, daily leftist Arabic newspaper widely regarded as a mouthpiece for Hezbollah.”
3) At WINEP, Ishtar Al Shami discusses ‘The Reality of Normalization with Assad: Syrians’ Perspectives’.
“The real question in light of these developments is to what extent Assad is willing and able to abide by the conditions imposed by the Arab League in order to rejoin the fold. The most important of these conditions involve the Syrian refugee crisis and the Syrian state’s trafficking of the drug Captagon.”
4) The JCPA brings an interview with a Kurdish general.
“Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has launched multiple attacks on targets in the autonomous Kurdish region in the north of Iraq for the past two years. The Mullah regime and its affiliated media outlets regularly accuse Iranian Kurdish groups based in Iraqi Kurdistan of inciting unrest in Iran’s Kurdish region; it accuses them of committing “terrorist” activities inside Iran and working with Israel. Iran has also claimed that Mossad has bases in Kurdistan, Iraq.”
