The Arab League strongly condemned on Tuesday the Israeli attack against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank. It slammed the heinous killing of 14 Palestinians and injury of 20 others. It warned that this dangerous escalation is another chapter in the open war the Israeli government is waging against the Palestinian people, their properties and sanctities as part of its open policy to destroy any chance to achieve peace. It accused the government of seeking to stoke chaos and violence in the region.
Two worshippers participating in an annual Jewish pilgrimage to a renowned Tunisian synagogue and two members of the security services were shot dead Tuesday in an attack carried out by a police officer, the interior ministry said. Four other visitors to the Ghriba synagogue on the island of Djerba and five more security officers were wounded in the attack before the assailant was also killed, the ministry said.
Iraq came out “victorious” and exhausted after its long war with Iran. Saddam Hussein rejoiced because he lived long enough to see Khomeini reluctantly agree to a ceasefire without achieving his dream of toppling the Baath regime in Baghdad. The general impression was that the regime would now be preoccupied with treating its wounds and paying back its massive debts. No one predicted that Saddam would make the suicidal move of invading Kuwait.
Is it true that Saddam Hussein saved Khomeini’s life when he rejected a suggestion to assassinate him while he was staying in al-Najaf? What about the tale of the explosive that was placed in Khomeini’s pillow at his home in Tehran? These questions, and many more, had remained unanswered for decades. I sought the man who would provide the answers and found them with Iraq’s former intelligence officer Salem al-Jomaili.