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Jacob Wirtschafter is a Cairo-based journalist who reports on the Middle East for USA Today and The Washington Times. Wirtschafter was deputy bureau chief at ABC News in Jerusalem, managing editor at Syria Direct in Amman and a Chevening Scholar at SOAS in London.
Iran Expanding Influence in Syria, Despite Israeli Warnings
Even before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived at the Black Sea resort of Sochi last Wednesday for his sixth consultation in two years with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Moscow’s representative in Tel Aviv laid out a soothing if improbable vision of a Syria free of Iranian troops and Shiite militias.
Egypt, Hamas Continue Flirtation, but to What End?
Egypt and Hamas continue to explore potential cooperation against a common threat in the Islamic State in the Sinai, as well as on the domestic Palestinian scene. Egypt’s Public Intelligence Chief, Khaled Fawzy, hosted the Vice President of Hamas’s political bureau, Ismail Haniya, and his associates Rawhi Mushtaha and Moussa Abu Marzouk for several days of consultations in late January.
