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Assad slams the door on Obama and on talks with Israel DEBKAfile Special Report August 14, 2009, 12:39 PM (GMT+02:00) Better friends than ever The Syrian ruler Bashar Assad has publicly rejected Barack Obama's overtures for a Washington-Damascus détente - which was supposed to hinge on detaching Syria from Iran - and blocked the path to peace talks with Israel. Next week, Assad flies to Tehran, announcing his purpose is to strengthen ties between the two countries. Follow the sequence of events leading to this breakdown of Obama's Middle East program in DEBKAfile Exclusive Report below.  Full article

No Israeli soldier kidnapped, IDF finds after exhaustive search DEBKAfile Special Report August 14, 2009, 1:51 AM (GMT+02:00) After a witness reported seeing an Israeli soldier being bundled into vehicle by two men near Ben-Gurion airport Thursday, Aug 13, security roadblocks were thrown up and backed up traffic for miles in an expanded area of central Israel delimited by Kesem Exchange on Highway 6 and the Modi'in- Jerusalem Highway 443 including the southern outskirts of Tel Aviv. Exhaustive checks in IDF units and road vehicles bbelied found that no soldier was missing and the claim false.  More... New Fatah ruling body cuts out overseas representation including Gaza DEBKAfile Special Report August 13, 2009, 5:43 PM (GMT+02:00) Abu Maher Ghneim DEBKAfile's analysts note that while fervently promoting the "right of return" for the 1948 refugees, the 2,300 delegates to the Fatah conference elected only one overseas member; Fatah delegates from Jordan, Syria, the Persian Gulf, Yemen, North Africa - and even the Gaza Strip absentees - did not get a look in past the solid phalanx of West Bankers. Ex-prime minister Ahmed Qurai, who lost his seat, charged the election was heavily rigged - "It was worse than Iran," he said, supported in this claim by a large number of delegates.  More...