Middle East and Surrounding Areas: Escalating

Attack on Israeli tourist bus in Bulgaria kills 7

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) -- Israel vowed to strike back at Iran for a brazen daylight bombing Wednesday that killed at least seven people on a bus full of Israeli tourists in Bulgaria.



Rebel bombing strikes at heart of Syrian regime

BEIRUT (AP) - Rebels penetrated the heart of Syria's power elite Wednesday, detonating a bomb inside a high-level crisis meeting in Damascus that killed three leaders of the regime, including President Bashar Assad's brother-in-law and the defense minister.

The unprecedented blow to the ruling dynasty could mark a turning point in the civil war, suggesting that those once close to Assad are turning against him. The bombing follows some of the worst bloodshed in Damascus of the 16-month uprising, a growing list of high-ranking defections and mounting frustration by world leaders over their inability to find a diplomatic solution.

The White House said the bombing showed Assad was "losing control" of Syria.

Obama, Putin talk as U.S. says Assad losing grip on Syria

(Reuters) - The United States said on Wednesday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was losing control of his country and urged Russia and the international community to get behind a political transition plan to avert sectarian civil war.

A look at the 3 Syrian officials killed in bombing

The blast that ripped through a high-level security meeting in the Syrian capital of Damascus on Wednesday killed three senior officials in President Bashar Assad's regime.


MI6 CHIEF: IRAN 'TWO YEARS AWAY' FROM NUCLEAR WEAPONS

The head of British Secret Service spoke publicly about covert action in Iran for the first time this week. Sir John Sawer, head of MI6, the British equivalent of the CIA, said joint operations by the British, Americans and Israelis had stalled but not stopped the Iranian regime's attempt to build a nuclear bomb.

Taliban bomb destroys 22 NATO supply trucks in Afghan north

MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A bomb planted by the Taliban destroyed 22 NATO trucks carrying supplies to their forces in northern Afghanistan, the Taliban and police said on Wednesday.

Eighteen fuel trucks and four supply vehicles were parked in Aibak, the capital of Samangan province, when a bomb ripped through them, wounding one person, local police said.


Israel's Netanyahu loses key coalition partner

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel plunged toward a political crisis Tuesday after the largest party in the government quit, leaving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in charge of a hard-line coalition opposed to most Mideast peace moves.

The moderate Kadima Party voted to pull out of the government in a feud over attempts to reform the country's military draft. The move, just two months after Kadima joined the coalition, appeared to push the country closer to early elections, a scenario that would paralyze Mideast diplomacy for months.

Even if Netanyahu manages to hold the truncated coalition together, the sudden crisis has broader implications for Mideast peace, leaving him in charge of a narrow parliamentary majority dominated by religious and nationalist hard-liners who oppose concessions to the Palestinians.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary