FROM IAN MASTER'S BACKGROUND BRIEFING--IT'S HEARD ON KPFK LOS ANGELES

May 5 - A Syrian Reaction to Israel's Bombing; The Likely Regional Repercussions; What Happens When U.S. Presidents Draw Red Lines

Full Program	LISTEN TO FULL PROGRAM
Part 1	We begin with an update on today’s pre-dawn strikes by Israel on the Assad regime’s strongholds on Mount Qasioun that overlooks Damascus, where the regime’s Praetorian Guard led by the dictator’s brother Maher Assad was targeted. Syrian-born Middle East specialist at the National Defense University Murhaf Jouejati joins us to discuss what was targeted and how people in the war-torn nation’s capitol might react to the hated enemy Israel bombing the hated Assads.
Part 2	Then we examine the regional implications of Israel’s intervention in a bloody and stalemated civil war that the U.S. is reluctant to get sucked into, although that may be just what Israel is trying to do. Dr Rachel Kleinfeld, the founding President of the Truman National Security Project, who was appointed by Secretary Clinton to the Foreign Affairs Policy Board that advises the State Department, joins us to discuss the likely repercussions of Israel’s entry into this tortured proxy war.
Part 3	Then finally we speak with Daniel Bymanabout his article in Sunday’s New York Times “Mr. Obama, Don’t Draw That Line”. He is a professor at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and the author of “A High Price: The Triumphs and Failures of Israeli Counterterrorism”. We will discuss the trap the president has set for himself by drawing a red line on Syria and what the ramifications are if the U.S’s bluff is called and we don’t act.