The dust resulting from the burning of cement leaves behind an emotion of a dusty fate. It leaves behind a feeling that the person is part of this burnt dust and that this is the color and smell of life.

al-Amin, Hazem.  “War approaches Lebanon.”  Al-Aribya, June 23, 2013.

Hazem al-Amin’s lyrical column in Al Aribya today tells a part of the psychology revolving around the horror in Syria and its creep into Lebanon, starting with the appearance and imposition of blocked roads.

If al-Amin’s captures the queasy zeitgeist of the Lebanese Everyman, AFP’s recent report on Hamas’s latest schizoid split takes it up a notch into the realpolitik attending Syria’s burning: “Syria’s civil war has caused a split within Hamas over whether to cling to Shiite backers Damascus, Tehran and Hezbollah or side with Sunni allies such as Qatar, Egypt and Turkey, analysts say” (AFP, “Syria’s sectarian war causes Hamas split: Analysts”, Ahram Online, June 21, 2013).

The protests ongoing in Turkish circles may have to do with more than the general drift of the state under Erdogan’s autocratic rule: on June 18 (2013), Erdogan met in Ankara with both “Hamas chief in exile” Khalid Mashaal and Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, yet another denting of Turkey’s once shining relationship with Israel (was that all only nine years ago?) and an equally objectionable foray into the worst and most virulent theater of the Islamic Small Wars.

Presumably, the three men whined together over Israel’s consolidation, development, and further establishment of its sovereign lands (Anatolia News Agency, “Turkish PM Erdogan meets Hamas leader Meshal and Gaza PM Haniyeh,” Huriyet Daily News, June 23, 2013).

Earlier this year, the conservative FrontPage Magazine noted the following in regard to Erdogan’s planting his boot in the middle east conflict:

Erdogan was rated as the second most influential Muslim leader of 2012, only behind Saudi King Abdullah. Despite his reputation as a “moderate,” Erdogan has said that Hamas is a “resistance” group, not a terrorist group. He has won the admiration of Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, who said, “Turkey’s support for the people of Syria and Palestine is unforgettable. My brother Erdogan, thank goodness God gave you so much. And you deserve it. You are also a leader in the Muslim world.”

Mauro, Ryan.  “Crowning Erdogan as the New King of Islamists.”  FrontPage, March 28, 2013.

The thing (the “Our Thing”) with Erdogan the Turk and Mashaal the Hamasnik in Exile is to walk on the Sunni side of the street down which the United States, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its sphere, and perhaps half of Hamas seem to have  aligned over Syria in opposition to the dictator Assad, Shiite Hezbollah involvement, and, alas, that Beleaguered But Ever So Crafty Bear Putin.

Bad wars make bad bedfellows, to play on an old saw, and what’s happening in Syria by way of its sectarian facet (“two wasps in a bell jar,” says I) seems to me incomprehensible in its absurdity.

Israel’s policy as articulated by Defense Minister Yaalon in Washington last week seems to remain “Do not intervene; do not interfere.”

Of course the Israelis cannot help themselves when it comes to making anything — Anything! — a little bit better, so now there is an advanced position Israeli field hospital Out There in the Golan, and it has taken in and repaired some injured by way of the combat in which it will not intervene.

From Jordan, Jamal Halaby reports, “900 U.S. Troops in Jordan to Boost Security in Wake of Syria Conflict” (Huffington Post, June 22, 2013).

Jordan’s King Abdullah has been dealing with his own unrest (e.g., al-Samadi, Tamer, “Precarious Calm Prevails Following Jordan Unrest,”  Al Monitor, June 6, 2013).

Two months earlier, a politico challenging King Abdullah of Jordan’s legitimacy noted this in The Jerusalem Post:

Recently, Abdullah met with Assad’s mentor, Russian President Vladimir Putin. Commenting on the king’s meeting with Putin, the Londonbased Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper reported the visit could be the sign of a “major shift in Jordan’s stance on Syria,” noting that the visit took place at the same time Jordan began supplying diesel and drinking water to Assad’s army and reporting that “the King’s intelligence department has been cooperating with Syrian intelligence for the last two months.”

Zahran, Mudar.  “Jodan’s king, Assad and Iran.”  The Jerusalem Post, April 3, 2013.

I have heard some say that Obama and Putin have set out to rearrange the middle east.  I don’t know if that’s so, but whatever their plans, the two between them have got the place churning.

Lest I leave anyone out, say Egyptian youth, for example:

He was young and bright, with an education from Egypt’s premier school of Islamic studies and lucrative job offers in the Gulf.

But Bilal Farag chose a different path, friends say, one that led him to die on a distant Syrian battlefield while fighting Shiite Muslims he regarded as infidels.

Ya Libnan.  “Radical Sunnis rush to join fight against Hezbollah, Iran in Syria.”  June 22, 2013.  (Possibly reprinted from The Washington Post).  Best quote, imho, the one that will wrap this up: ““The Middle East is shifting from a region that was dreaming of democracy to a battlefield between Shiite and Sunni,” Salah said. “It’s very dangerous.”  (The article identifies “Salah” as “Khaled Salah, editor in chief of the secular-minded Youm7 newspaper”).

Welcome the long, hot summer: indeed, the “Arab Spring” has become an Arab Muslim fire zone, and it seems from Ankara to Beirut to Cairo to Gaza (and beyond), sides have been chosen, and all are going to the bonfire in Syria — if it doesn’t come to them first.

Additional Reference

Gilbert, Ben.  “How the Syria conflict is spreading violence to Lebanon.”  NBC News, June 23, 2013.

Ray, John.  “Syria spillover violence threatens ceasefire with Israel.”  NBC News, June 21, 2013.