Russia and Turkey Cooperating in Syria

A Russian warplane fired missiles into a building in northern Syria on Thursday, inadvertently killing three Turkish soldiers and wounding several others during a joint operation involving forces from both countries. The incident, which is being classified by Moscow and Ankara as an accident, highlighted the increasing cooperation between the two countries in Syria and on several other issues throughout the Middle East.

Britain’s House of Commons passed a resolution on Thursday that condemned Israeli settlement activity and affirmed UN Security Council Resolution 2334 which, among other things, classifies the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City as part of “occupied Palestine”. The legislation was one of many such statements by various Western governments in recent days following the passage in Israel’s Knesset of a bill retroactively legalizing thousands of housing units built on land in the West Bank which has disputed ownership.

Hundreds of thousands of people turned out in Teheran’s Azadi (Freedom) Square Friday to mark the 38th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran which saw the current clerical regime come to power. The rally featured fiery speeches by Iranian leaders in which they, among other things, boasted of the invincibility of the military forces at their command and dismissed the warnings of Western governments regarding their need to curtail support for terrorism, massive human rights abuses and their renegade nuclear program.

A third night of riots by Ultra-Orthodox (haredi) Jewish men blocked traffic on major roads throughout Israel Thursday evening, with the most serious incidents centered in Jerusalem and its suburbs. The riots came in response to a member of the “Jerusalem Faction” of a haredi community centered in the capital being arrested by Military Police after he refused to complete a bureaucratic process most haredi men go through to secure a deferment from military service. Rioters battled police at key intersections in Jerusalem on Thursday, calling police officers “Nazis” and making other insulting remarks. 31 individuals were reportedly arrested.

Articles in this edition of Strategic Assessment cover topics ranging from the effect of the new Trump Administration on US-Israel relations to the rising power of Iranian proxy terror militias including Hezbollah and Israel’s relations with Turkey and India, the global BDS movement and more. (PDF)