In summer 2006 the Middle East
was afire with the Israeli-Hizballah-Lebanon
conflict. In summer 2007, a much more enigmatic but profound conflict
has emerged – with the potential to be just as crucial for the future
of the Middle East as last year’s.
On 6 September Israeli warplanes bombed a site in eastern Syria; slowly, details are emerging that the target
was possibly a shipment of nuclear-related materials from North Korea
that had arrived by sea three days earlier. Strangely, Syria’s response has been muted and Israel and the US have been secretive about the event
– even though the Israeli elite seem barely able to contain their delight
with the outcome of the attack. The attack followed an extended period
of Israeli and Syrian military buildup along
the Golan border – with rumours over the summer in Damascus
that a second round of the 2006 war was a prospect. The attack was then
followed by other unusual events, such as a mid-September explosion
at a secret arms facility in Syria.
Other rumours include gossip that Israeli commandos operated on the
ground in Syria,
either during or before the attack.
This seminar seeks to address the key questions surrounding these events.
What assumptions can be made about the Israeli strike on Syria?
How likely is it that Syria has a clandestine nuclear weapons
program, and why would they want one? What sort of support is North Korea likely to be offering Syria,
and why? What is Iran’s
role in all of this? What is the US role? The information is scarce
and the observations preliminary, but the seminar will tackle these
questions and try to shed some light on this very mysterious crisis
currently underway in the Middle East.
Matthew Gray is Sheikh Hamdan
bin Rashid al-Maktoum Senior Lecturer and
Graduate Student Adviser at The Centre for Arab & Islamic Studies
(The Middle East & Central Asia), ANU. |
