Gulf markets plunge overstates Syria risk
Source: Gulf Times (Read full story)
Gulf economies are not as vulnerable to the effects of a widening of the conflict in Syria as steep falls in their stock markets this week suggest. Rising tension over a potential US-led military attack against Damascus over a chemical weapons attack last week triggered a 7% plunge in Dubai’s stock market on Tuesday, its biggest one-day fall since the emirate’s corporate debt crisis of 2009; the market fell a further 1.3% on Wednesday. Saudi Arabia’s share market, the Arab world’s biggest, is down 5.4% this week. Its drop on Tuesday was the largest since late 2011. But it is not clear that any expansion of the Syrian conflict would have much impact on the six economies of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC). Gulf States have strengthened their finances and made contingency plans since a dispute over Iran’s nuclear programme flared up three years ago.
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US finds its single Syria partner in France
Source: Khaleej Times (Read full story)
The United States found itself with only one major partner — France — in its plans to strike Syria over its alleged use of chemical weapons, after its staunchest ally Britain had to beg off following a stunning rejection of military force by Parliament. The collapse of support puts pressure on President Barack Obama as resistance to the mission grows at home — and comes with the irony that Paris was the most vocal critic of the US-led invasion of Iraq. French President Francois Hollande pledged backing Friday for Obama’s plans to hit the Damascus regime. “The chemical massacre of Damascus cannot and must not remain unpunished,” Hollande said in an interview with the newspaper Le Monde, published on Friday, as UN experts in Damascus began what is expected to be the last day of their probe into the alleged attack.
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Obama, Cameron make a case for Syria strike
Source: The Peninsula Qatar (Read full story)
President Barack Obama and his allies sought to convince cautious lawmakers and the public of the need to strike Syria although officials conceded yesterday they lacked conclusive evidence that President Bashar al-Assad ordered his forces to use chemical weapons against civilians. Obama’s top national security officials were due to brief Congress on Syria later yesterday and Britain said armed action would be legal, but any intervention looked set to be delayed until UN investigators report back after leaving Syria tomorrow. Syrian opposition sources said Assad’s forces had removed several Scud missiles and dozens of launchers from a base north of Damascus, possibly to protect them from a Western attack, and Russia was reported to be moving ships into the region. But expectations of imminent turmoil eased as the diplomatic process was seen playing out into next week, and the White House emphasized that any action would be “very discrete and limited,” and in no way comparable to the Iraq war.
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US faces delays over Syria raid
Source: Gulf Daily News (Read full story)
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Some of the UN chemical weapons experts will travel from Syria tomorrow to different laboratories around Europe to deliver “an extensive amount of material” gathered, UN spokesman Farhan Haq said. While the mandate of the UN team is to determine whether chemical agents were used in the attack, not who was responsible, Haq said the evidence might give an indication of who deployed gases. Obama has ruled out putting American forces on the ground in Syria or setting up a no-fly zone over the country. He’s also said any US response to the chemical weapons attack would be limited in scope and aimed solely at punishing Assad for deploying deadly gases – not at regime change. The most likely military option would be Tomahawk cruise missile strikes from four Navy destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Meanwhile, Obama spoke to German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Obama Set for Limited Strike on Syria as British Vote No
Source: The New York Times (Read full story)
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The vote was also a setback for Mr. Obama, who, having given up hope of getting United Nations Security Council authorization for the strike, is struggling to assemble a coalition of allies against Syria. But administration officials made clear that the eroding support would not deter Mr. Obama in deciding to go ahead with a strike. Pentagon officials said that the Navy had now moved a fifth destroyer into the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Each ship carries dozens of Tomahawk cruise missiles that would probably be the centerpiece of any attack on Syria. Even before the parliamentary vote, White House officials said, Mr. Obama decided there was no way he could overcome objections by Russia, Syria’s longtime backer, to any resolution in the Security Council.
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