Israel’s Sunday air strikes on military targets in Damascus has led to much speculation about the motives behind the attack and whether Syria – or its Iranian or Hezbollah allies – will respond in kind.

Seema Mustafa, who has just returned from Syria, reports on the increased presence of al Qaeda is Syria and its alliance on the ground with the armed opposition groups.
 

The trajectory of the democratic movement in the Arab world was never going to be straight line with clear goals and objectives. The Arab regimes are not homogeneous; they have medieval Islamist monarchies as in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, secular but completely authoritarian regimes -- both western puppets like Mubarak to anti-west figures such as Bashir al-Assad. Gaddafi falls in a class by himself – originally anti-west but later made up with the west before being discarded and proclaimed an enemy once again.