The situation in the Middle East is furiously escalating with each passing day.
While today's news of Israeli financial support for Syrian insurgents came out of left field, our earlier assessment following the report of "turmoiling" Syrian rebels in the aftermath of the Qatar crisis still stands, namely that "the next major regional conflict appears set to be between Saudi Arabia and Iran. All it needs is a catalyst."
The man suspected of using a van to attack worshipers at a London mosque has been identified as 47-year-old Darren Osborne, a father-of-four from Cardiff, Wales. Police have confirmed that he will be charged with the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorism and attempted murder.
While a statement from the Metropolitan police says does not mention the attacker's name but confirms he is being charged as a terrorist...
Earlier, when discussing why the Syrian "rebels" fighting Assad are in "turmoil", we said that as a result of the ongoing Qatar crisis the various Saudi and Qatari supply chains supporting the rebels, both in terms of weapons and funding, had dried up due to the diplomatic fallout involving Qatar and Saudi Arabia. "Together with Turkey and the United States, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have been major sponsors of the insurgency, arming an array of groups that have been fighting to topple Syria's Iran-backed president."
Shortly after Russia's deputy foreign minister slammed the US downing of a Syrian Su-22 jet as an "act of aggression" and "support for terrorists", Russia announced that starting June 19 it was halting all interactions with the US under the framework on the "memorandum of incident prevention in Syrian skies", the Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday, thereby assuring the probability of even more deadly escalations between Russia and the US-led coalition.
Russia slammed yesterday's downing of a Syrian fighter jet by the US-led alliance - the first such escalation since the start of the conflict in 2011 - which CENTCOM said was "in defense of partners from the Syrian Democratic Forces", with Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov saying on Monday the attack was an "act of aggression" and assistance for terrorists that the US is fighting against.