by Stephen Lendman

US policies threaten both nations. Doing so imperils the region and beyond. Syria's now in focus. Iran's turn awaits.

What's likely should terrify everyone wanting America's imperium defeated and peace restored. Doing so remains a distant dream. Potential worst of times loom.

On December 17, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) cited Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa saying continuing armed conflict favors neither side.

Opposition elements can't topple Assad without creating endless violence and chaos, he stressed.

He urged conflict resolution and national unity. "We are not protecting some particular person or regime. We are fighting for the very existence of Syria," he explained.

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by Stephen Lendman

A new Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-I) report is titled "Tortured in Sinai, Jailed in Israel." More on it below.

Separate and unequal defines longstanding Israeli policy. Arabs aren't wanted. Neither are non-Jewish immigrants or asylum seeker. Discriminatory laws target them. Fundamental rights are denied. Redress most often is impossible.

Even torture victims fleeing repression face enormous hurdles to gain entry. Israel spurns international law with impunity. It does what it wants unaccountably. It ignores international law. Protecting refugees and asylum seekers doesn't matter.

Article I of the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees calls them:

"A person who owning to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of their nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail him/herself of the protection of that country."

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