MUST-READS

• Jabhat Al-Nusra
  U.S. officials consider striking another militant group in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra

  U.S. officials are weighing whether to broaden the air campaign in Syria to strike a militant group that is a rival to the Islamic State and that is poised to take over a strategically vital corridor from Turkey. Extremists from the al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra group were said Monday to be within a few miles of the Bab ­al-Hawa crossing in northwestern Syria on the Turkish border, one of only two openings through which the moderate Free Syrian Army receives military and humanitarian supplies provided by the United States and other backers.

  • Foreign Policy - Washington Cuts Funds for Investigating Bashar al-Assad's War Crimes
  • Lawfare - The Forest and the Trees: Syrian Reactions to Foreign Actions Against ISIS
  • The Hill - Pentagon Urges Caution on Syria Setback
• Saudi Dates
  The Israeli-Saudi date war

  Annual date production in Saudi Arabia is estimated in excess of 1 million tons, and the number of date palms in the country is thought to be about 23 million. Saudi exports to Europe have expanded over the past few years, largely due to dates from the “Medina” variety. According to Saudi sources, the exporters of these dates are mostly target Muslim communities across the continent. The average price for these Saudi dates in the European markets comes to approximately $1,650 per ton, whereas Israeli dates sell for $4,000 on average.

• Sectarian Violence
  Gunmen kill five in Saudi Arabia, six suspects arrested: SPA

  Gunmen shot dead at least five people in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, state news agency SPA reported on Tuesday, in what local residents said was an attack on Shi'ite Muslim worshippers marking one of their most important religious anniversaries.

  • BBC News - Saudi Arabia: Gunmen kill five in eastern Shia region
• Finance
  Moody’s outlook for Saudi banking system remains stable

  The outlook for the Saudi Arabian banking system remains stable, unchanged since September 2009, said Moody’s Investors Service.

• Anti-ISIS Campaign
  Airstrikes against the Islamic State have not affected flow of foreign fighters to Syria

  More than 1,000 foreign fighters are streaming into Syria each month, a rate that has so far been unchanged by airstrikes against the Islamic State and efforts by other countries to stem the flow of departures, according to U.S. intelligence and counterterrorism officials. The magnitude of the ongoing migration suggests that the U.S.-led air campaign has neither deterred significant numbers of militants from traveling to the region nor triggered a spike in the rate of travel among Muslim populations inflamed by American intervention.

  • Washington Post - Syrian regime denounces Turkey for allowing foreign fighters to enter Kobane
  • CBS News - Hagel: All Countries in the Middle East Must Help Stabilize Syria
  • The Guardian - Foreign jihadists flocking to Iraq and Syria on 'unprecedented scale' – UN
  • Reuters - Islamic State fighters kill 220 Iraqis from tribe that opposed them
• Extremism
  Saudi Arabia dismisses Hezbollah accusation of spreading fundamentalism

  Saudi Arabia is a fierce enemy of and not a supporter of terrorism, the head of Saudi National Guard said in an indirect response to accusations by Hezbollah.

• Saudi Oil Policy
  Saudi Arabia Officials Divided on How to Respond to Oilprice Drop

  During past sharp oil price moves, traders watched for statements from high-level Saudi officials that might calm the markets--Saudi Arabia is by far the biggest oil producer within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, pumping some 10 million barrels of crude a day. The 79-year-old Mr. al-Naimi, oil minister since 1995, is usually the kingdom's key spokesman. But this time there's been no clear sign Saudi Arabia might play its traditional role as the oil market's swing producer, by cutting its output to support prices as a counter to booming oil production from North America and sluggish global demand.

  • WSJ - Energy Journal: Oil Market Deafened by Saudi Silence
  • Bloomberg: No Guarantee Saudis to Repeat Price Cut That Drove Oil Lower
  • US News: Analysts: Gas Prices to Drop Below $3
  • Oil Pro - 1981: A Reminder Of Saudi Influence
• Foreign Aid
  Saudi generosity in donations should be utilized to spread our ‘soft power’

  Despite the fact that Saudi financial aid has greatly impacted those less fortunate around the world and assisted the international community to combat terrorism, these initiatives only managed to garner limited international recognition and therefore limited effectiveness in terms of raising the country’s global profile.

• Saudi History
  When Saudi Arabia Ruled the World

  The archeological discoveries in the last decade have radically changed our ideas about the Arabian Peninsula and show what an important cultural crossroads it was during the first millennium, says Dany Chan, the assistant curator for exhibition projects at the Asian Art Museum. The exhibition explores four thematic roads, the first of which is the routes of our earliest ancestors. Because of the artifacts found in archeological digs, including stone tools, some scholars think the early humans out of Africa migrated through what is now Saudi Arabia. 

• Palestine Recognition
  Sweden recognizes Palestine: Biggest country in Western Europe to do so

  Sweden's foreign minister published a piece about the decision today in the Swedish publication Dagens Nyheter. Sweden's goals, she says, are to support moderate Palestinians within Palestine, give leverage to the country in its negotiations with Israel, and give "hope and belief" to Palestinian youth that it will be possible to attain an ultimately satisfactory agreement with Israel without the use of violence.

  • Quartz - All the countries—including Sweden—that now recognize Palestinian statehood
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