This Week in the Middle East: February 7, 2015

It was perhaps the most gruesome video released yet. The Islamic State this week captured the horrifying murder this week of a Jordanian pilot being burned alive in a video mirrored in the style of a Hollywood snuff film. This story tops our week in review.

ISIS Burns Jordanian Pilot Alive

(Image via The Daily Beast)

ISIS has released a video of Jordanian pilot Muadh al Kasasbeh being burned alive in a cage. Al-Kasasbeh’s F-16 fighter aircraft crashed near Raqqa, Syria on December 24 during amilitary intervention against ISIS. The Jordanian president promised to retaliate with an “earth-shattering” response.

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Hamas Leader Calls On Lebanon, Syria Branches to Attack Israel

(Image via Yahoo News)

A senior Hamas leader called Wednesday for the formation of Palestinian militant groups loyal to his Gaza-based Islamist movement in refugee camps in Lebanon and Syria to attack Israel.

Mahmud Zahar told reporters in the Gaza Strip that the Lebanese and Syrian branches of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ armed wing, should launch attacks on Israel “to help us liberate Palestine.”

He also denied “any interference” by Hamas in Egypt, which last month declared the Brigades a terrorist group and accused it of aiding a spate of militant attacks on security personnel in the restive Sinai Peninsula. “Our guns are always trained on the enemy,” Zahar said, referring to Israel.

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Rockets Fall on Damascus

The Tweet above reads: “A warning to all Muslims living in Damascus, we are about to rain hundreds of rockets on Damascus on a daily basis as a response for the recent massacre by the government.”

The Syrian government recently shelled a civilian market killing about 60 civilians, and indeed Jaysh Al Islam kept their promise and fired hundreds of rockets at Damascus. However, Jaysh Al Islam failed to hit anything relevant, and only succeeded in increasing the brutality of the government in Ghouta.

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Rat Infested Fish Market Shut Down

(Image via Daily Star)

Beirut Governor Ziad Chebib shut down the famous Karantina fish market in the Lebanese capital Thursday after finding dead rats and insects around the kiosks. Chebib said his decision to raid the fish market came after a report from the health department of the Beirut Municipality that revealed the appalling health and sanitation conditions in the market.

Read more here.

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