day of rage [rocks and rockets]

AFP: Hamas calls for "day of rage" in response to death of leader Nizar Rayyan, killed in a targeted airstrike Thursday; so far, mostly sporadic rock-throwing

NYT: Israeli military claims Rayyan was one of Hamas' "most extreme" leaders; that his house stored weapons, had a secret tunnel and served as a communications center. But what's next?
"Israel’s stated goal for its operation is to halt the rocket fire from Gaza and to create a new security situation in southern Israel, where three civilians and a soldier have been killed in rocket attacks in the past six days... But in including symbols of the government among its targets, Israel seemed to be blurring the lines. On Thursday, Israeli warplanes and naval forces bombed the legislative building — a Gaza landmark — and the Ministry of Justice, the Israeli military said."

In Paris, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni rejected a French proposal for a 48-hour ceasefire: “There is no humanitarian crisis in the strip, and therefore there is no need for a humanitarian truce.”
Gdn: the UN would disagree
"Much of Gaza's public infrastructure has been destroyed and the territory is in a "critical emergency" after seven days of devastating bombing with air strikes averaging one every 20 minutes, the UN said yesterday... "By any definition this is a humanitarian crisis and more," said Max Gaylard, the UN humanitarian co-ordinator for the Palestinians. He said there had been on average one air strike every 20 minutes since the bombing began, intensifying at night and covering the whole Gaza Strip."
NYT: more on Gaza's tunnels
Gdn: interactive overview of Israeli air attacks during the conflict's first days and Israel's main political and military options
"Israel says Hamas has been weakened and is facing popular discontent but does not claim it is about to be overthrown. Barring such a drastic development the most likely scenario for the end of this crisis remains a more sustainable ceasefire than the one that ended on December 19. But as Ma'ariv's Shelah put it: "Each side wants the other to reach that point on their knees."
Gdn: poll shows that 52% of Israelis support airstrikes, 19% back a land invasion, and only 20% want a ceasefire
WP: Israeli ground invasion seems more likely as weather clears up, troops amass on border
"Analysts expect Israel to seek a truce with Hamas on terms more favorable to the Jewish state than the ones under the six-month deal brokered by Egypt that expired in mid-December.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit on Thursday floated the idea of using international monitors, or even armed forces, to ensure that any future cease-fire holds. Israel has indicated it would welcome unarmed international observers...

But there is pressure within Israel for the government to continue its campaign, and perhaps topple Hamas altogether. That would almost certainly require a ground operation, which would be likely to raise the death toll substantially on both sides.

"There is no way to take Hamas out without going into Gaza. The problem is the price," said Yaakov Amidror, a retired Israeli major general..."
CNN: to protect against retaliatory violence, Israel closes West Bank entries, men under 50 prevented from entering Jerusalem mosques
CSM: conflict with Gaza may be shifting Israeli opinion leftward, before February's parliamentary elections
IHT: foreign journalists still not allowed into Gaza

WP: Iraqis take control of Green Zone as part of security handover; al-Maliki declares sovereignty restored, but uncertainty abounds
NYT: some violence during handover, including 24 Iraqi tribal leaders killed at a meeting to discuss national reconciliation efforts
LAT: what the transition looks like on the ground: "Sometimes the Americans lead, other times the Iraqis."

"With this relationship you have one battalion commander, an Iraqi battalion commander in the lead. He has an American commander to advise him," said U.S. Army Lt. Col. John Richardson...

U.S. officials say they need their own combat formations out with the Iraqis in order to help mentor them in all aspects of soldiering. They think such "partner units" will be necessary even after June 30, when the security accord calls for all U.S. forces to leave Iraq's cities."
BBC: US soldiers will be playing by new rules
"Iraqis now have the right to prosecute US soldiers for any crimes committed while off-base and off-duty..."
Gdn: Iraqis take over camp of Iranian dissidents, tell them it's time to go
"US troops disarmed the opposition group known as the Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) after the 2003 invasion. They removed hundreds of armoured vehicles donated by Saddam Hussein but kept the camp intact because some Bush administration officials allegedly saw the MEK as a potential tool for regime change in Iran."
WP: reflecting on the next steps

AP: US preparing for 20,000-strong troop surge in southern Afghanistan...
NYT: ...and seeking new supply routes through Central Asia, as alternatives to the Khyber Pass in Pakistan.
"More than 80 percent of the supplies for American and allied forces in Afghanistan now flow through Pakistan... Khyber and the narrow highway that winds through it were once relatively safe, guarded by tribes paid by the Pakistani government that were subject to collective punishment for crimes against travelers, no matter who committed them. But this year militants, including forces led by an upstart lieutenant to the Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud, have largely taken over the area....

The officials said delicate negotiations were under way not only with the Central Asian states bordering Afghanistan but also with Russia, to work out the details of new supply routes... But the new supply arrangements could leave the United States more reliant on cooperation from authoritarian countries like Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, which have poor records on democracy and human rights."
NYT: the Taliban kills 20 Afghan police officers, targets high-profile defector in Musa Qala, Helmand Province.
"The attack on Mullah Salam was emblematic of the fight for Musa Qala, long a Taliban stronghold and a center for opium smuggling... [It] was precipitated by a last-minute switch of allegiance by one of the area’s police chiefs, Abdul Manan, who took 15 of his gunmen with him. Mr. Manan and his men joined the attack against his former boss."

Manan explained the reason for his shift in allegiance: "I saw the bad behavior of infidels, I saw the bad behavior of Afghan forces, so that’s why I joined the Taliban... It was a shame working with this government, which seeks the support of non-Muslims. I am a Muslim, and I should support Muslims. I will carry on jihad against them in the future."
NYT: corruption in Afghanistan worsening, "contributing to the collapse of public confidence in [the Karzai] government and to the resurgence of the Taliban"

NYT: Army-wide review possible of violence committed by soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan
"Focusing attention on soldiers charged with killings is a shift for the military, which since the start of the war in Iraq has largely deflected any suggestion that combat could be a factor in violent behavior among some returning service members..."

Maj. Gen. Mark Graham, responsible for a similar inquiry in Colorado, said the Army is "looking for a trend, something that happened through their life cycle that might have contributed to this, something we could have seen coming."

NYT: Sri Lankan military takes Kilinochchi, rebel capital; suicide attack killing 3 in Colombo is assumed retaliation
"Over the last several months, the military has advanced steadily into rebel-held territory, first sweeping the L.T.T.E. away from the northwestern coast and then pushing them further into the northeast.

As the fighting has spread, more and more civilians have been displaced from their homes, cornered deeper into rebel-held areas and forced to sleep in temples and schools and some only in makeshift lean-tos in paddy fields. The United Nations has been allowed to send food rations to what it estimates to be over 200,000 civilians displaced by the war...

The test now is whether the government, now that it seems to have cornered the rebels militarily, can deliver a political solution acceptable to its Tamil minority."
Reuters: possible effects for the future of the Tamil Tigers
"The diplomatic currency on which the Tigers had long traded -- that they are defending a minority -- suffered in December when Human Rights Watch accused them of mistreating and forcibly recruiting the Tamils they say they represent. Many analysts say Prabhakaran may order bombings or air raids in Colombo, but will not be able to reverse military gains as spectacularly as he did in the 1980s and 1990s. The military and analysts expect the Tigers to increasingly go underground as they lose turf, changing back into the guerrilla group they started as and away from the conventional force they have become. In a possible sign of things to come, a suspected rebel suicide bomber killed three airmen in Colombo hours after Kilinochchi fell."
Gdn: reminds us that the government captured Kilinochchi before and the Tigers took it back; suggests the military's next major target likely to be Mullaitivu port

CNN: terrorist attacks in India kill 5; United Liberation Front of Asom suspected author

NYT: after the resignation of Somalia's president, new opportunity or status quo?
"The scramble to succeed Mr. Yusuf could set off an ugly clan-based political melee. By contrast, the prime minister and other top Somali officials could give the post to a moderate Islamist leader, who might be the unifying figurehead that Somalia so desperately needs.

Or it may simply be too late because so much of the country has already fallen into the hands of powerful, hard-line Islamists who behead opponents and have, on at least one occasion, stoned to death a teenage girl who said she had been raped."
BBC: the International Maritime Bureau says anti-piracy efforts off Somalia are working...
LAT: ...as an Egyptian ship is seized and Malaysia comes to the rescue of an Indian tanker
CSM: China sees this as a chance to boost its naval power

NYT: the LRA massacres some 200 people in Congo
"[T]he rebels are known as excellent jungle fighters. They often carry solar panels on their backs to power their satellite phones and they can live on very little food and water. In the past several weeks, they seemed to have eluded the government troops and airstrikes.

In the process, they have raided several Congolese villages, possibly to signal that they are still a lethal force to be reckoned with. According to United Nations officials, the rebels struck a village called Faradje on Thursday, killing 40 people. Over the next two days, they attacked two more villages, Doruma and Gurba, killing 149 more people.

Ugandan military officials have said that most of the victims were women and children, who were cut into pieces. A rebel spokesman denied responsibility for the killings, telling Agence France-Presse that the rebels were not in the area."

LAT: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev eliminates jury trials for "crimes against the state"
"The law does away with jury trials for a range of offenses, leaving people accused of treason, revolt, sabotage, espionage or terrorism at the mercy of three judges rather than a panel of peers. Critics say the law is dangerous because judges in Russia are vulnerable to manipulation and intimidation by the government."

New Yorker: challenges facing aid workers in eastern Chad