Regional News

Important story by Mark Perry this morning on Foreign Policy's Middle East Channel: Gen. David Petraeus, the head of U.S. Central Command, reportedly warned the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the White House that the Israeli-Arab conflict is endangering U.S. interests in the region.

We've updated our Iraqi election results page with numbers from Baghdad, Muthanna, Ninewa and Qadisiyah provinces. Note that these are very preliminary results -- the Independent High Electoral Commission has tallied less than 20 percent of the ballots in each of these provinces. You can view the latest results here.

Four explosions struck the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Saturday night, killing at least 35 and wounding around 45, according to Al-Jazeera.

Three of the bombs appeared to be a diversion to a larger blast at a prison that had been targeted during a successful jailbreak two years ago, Reuters reported.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attacks and called them a "message" to NATO commanders who have announced an impending offensive in Kandahar this summer, similar to the just-completed operation in Marja.

I put together a dedicated page for the latest Iraqi election results; we'll update this table whenever IHEC releases new data.

IHEC hasn't released any new results (عربي) today, so the latest official data is still the preliminary results from six provinces reported yesterday.

But the commission did release a statement that generally characterizes the vote in four southern provinces. We already knew prime minister Nouri al-Maliki's State of Law coalition did well in Babil and Najaf provinces. The commission says State of Law is also leading in Dhi Qar, Wassit, Qadisiyah and Muthanna provinces. All four are majority-Shi'ite. None are particularly large; Dhi Qar is probably the only one with a population larger than one million.

More than 30 people were injured yesterday in a sectarian riot (عربي) in Egypt's Matrouh governorate.

The fighting reportedly started when Muslim residents threw stones at Christian construction workers who were building a fence around a lot owned by the El-Shahideen church. The rioters thought the laborers were blocking off the site to build a new church; the workers say they were actually building a fence around a hospice.

Supporters of a "special relationship" between America and Israel -- Aaron David Miller, for example -- often cite two justifications for these close ties: shared values and strategic interests.

The former claim is hard to assess, because it's so subjective. I have Israeli friends who share my personal values, but I'm an agnostic liberal from New York; I wouldn't claim my values are perfectly representative of "American values." I've met other Israelis, those who seem to prefer an elected theocracy to a liberal democracy, whose values I find repellent -- but perhaps other Americans find more common ground with those Israelis.

How about the other question, then? Does America's "special relationship" with Israel serve its strategic interests? Consider a few areas of foreign policy.

Gregg and I have been wondering for a couple of days how the United States would respond to being publicly embarrassed by an Israeli government that seems bent on continuing with the expansion of illegal settlements even as the West tries to organize highly sensitive negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

We didn't have to wait that long: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called up Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a 43-minute phone conversation on Friday morning to rebuke the Israeli leader about the "deeply negative signal" his government sent by approving more settler homes in East Jerusalem. Could this be the first sign of a tougher Obama administration approach toward Israel?

I thought about writing a long rebuttal to these two Aaron David Miller pieces, but after keeping up with a week of tiresome news from Israel I just don't have the energy.

Suffice it to say that his argument -- Obama shouldn't pick a fight with Israel over East Jerusalem settlements, and instead should focus on restarting proximity talks -- is the triumph of process over peace. Miller literally encourages both sides to "continue the dance," to perpetuate the untenable status quo.

We've heard a lot of talk about voter fraud in the days since the election -- but how much of it is legitimate, and how much is simply political parties trying to sow doubts about the election to discredit the winner?

In the wake of Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Israel, a Knesset committee on Thursday endorsed a change to the country's planning procedures aimed at preventing a similarly embarrassing episode of bad timing from occurring again, the AP reports.

Within 24 hours of Biden's arrival, shortly after the Palestinians had agreed to so-called "proximity talks," Israel approved the construction of some 1,600 illegal homes in Palestinian East Jerusalem.

But the proposed change in the Knesset isn't meant to give greater scrutiny to settlement decisions; it's supposed to ensure that the timing of such announcements isn't as embarrassing in the future.

Heavy fighting in Mogadishu is entering its third day; the violence has already killed 40 people in the Somali capital, and the Shabab militia is apparently trying to surround the Transitional Federal Government and the African Union peacekeepers who support it.

Militants attacking from the north on Wednesday reached to within a mile (2 kilometers) of the presidential place in the heart of the capital, Mogadishu, before African Union peacekeepers in tanks reinforced government troops, residents said.

Hard to tell, as ever, what's really happening in Mogadishu, but it sounds like both sides have basically fought to a stalemate. Shabab can't advance the final mile to the presidential palace -- the one area of Mogadishu that's legitimately under the TFG's control -- and the government, despite launching a barrage of artillery fire at Shabab's positions, can't force the rebels out of the capital.

Update, 12:58 p.m.: IHEC released data for Misan province, too, which we've added to the table.

Original post: IHEC released another batch of preliminary results -- for Erbil, Diyala and Salaheddin provinces -- which also updates yesterday's numbers from Babel and Najaf. A cautionary note: These are not final numbers; only between 18 and 35 percent of the vote in each province has been counted.

Iraqiyya was the big winner in Diyala and Salaheddin provinces. State of Law and the Iraqi National Alliance posted similar results in both provinces; interior minister Jawad al-Bolani's Iraqi Unity alliance did fairly well in Salaheddin, placing second.

In Erbil, the Kurdistan Alliance currently has a clear majority, with more than 90,000 votes. The Gorran movement placed second; two Islamic Kurdish parties followed.

Dozens of people were killed in two explosions that targeted military vehicles in Lahore this morning.

Rescue workers say the death toll was between 25 and 30; most news reports put it closer to 40. Nearly 100 other people were injured.

Two suicide bombers walked up to the vehicles in Lahore's busy R.A. Bazaar area and blew themselves up shortly before Friday prayers were scheduled to begin. The bazaar area houses many army officials, as well as military-run hospitals and schools.

Nobody has claimed responsibility yet for the bombings. But the Tehrik-i-Taliban seems the likely culprit: The group claimed responsibility for a bombing in Lahore earlier this week, which targeted an interrogation building used by the provincial government's Special Investigation Agency. 14 people were killed in that explosion.

U.S. vice president Joe Biden is wrapping up his Middle East trip with a visit to Petra, in Jordan. A little sightseeing might be a welcome relief after a tumultuous week in Jerusalem and Ramallah.

The phrase "turning point" is grossly overused, but this week really feels like a watershed in the region -- and not at all in a good way. Few observers had high hopes for the Israeli-Palestinian proximity talks, but now even that modest dialogue appears off the table. The announcement that Israel is planning another 50,000 homes in East Jerusalem will poison any future talks: How can the Palestinian side negotiate when tens of thousands of illegal homes are considered non-negotiable?

Joe Biden's harsh condemnation of the new construction at Ramot Shlomo -- but the timing of the announcement still made the United States look weak and unwilling to confront Israel.

As many as 21 people were killed today by two U.S. drone strikes in North Waziristan's Madakhel tehsil.

Human Rights Watch -- which everyone knows is hopelessly obsessed with Israel and unwilling to criticize Arab autocrats -- issued a statement today that slammed the Syrian government for its "grow[ing] repression" of activists and journalists and urged Catherine Ashton, the European Union foreign policy chief, to press the issue with Syrian officials during her visit there next week.

David Miliband's MIT speech on Afghanistan yesterday spent a good deal of time on two issues: reconciling the Taliban with the central government in Kabul, and integrating Afghanistan into the region.

On the first point, as expected, Miliband urged Afghan president Hamid Karzai to accelerate his Taliban reintegration and reconciliation programs.

Earlier this week, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh extended an offer of negotiation to southern separatists who have grown increasingly strident about their grievances with Sana'a, but he also sounded a warning.

"I am certain the flags of separation will burn in the days and weeks ahead," Saleh said.

With thousands gathering across southern Yemen to protest today, Saleh got his chance to demonstrate the hard side of the government's carrot-and-stick approach.

The White House finally sent along a copy of U.S. vice president Joe Biden's speech at Tel Aviv University this morning. A full transcript of the speech is posted after the jump.