Navigate to News section

Daybreak: Bin Laden Dead, Hamas Mourns

Plus, Israel suspends fund transfers, why Syria’s a huge prize, and more in the news

by
Marc Tracy
May 02, 2011
Syrians in the town of Banias protest the regime.(-/AFP/Getty Images)
Syrians in the town of Banias protest the regime.(-/AFP/Getty Images)

• Perhaps you’ve heard: Osama Bin Laden is dead. Here is the Times obituary. More at 10. [NYT]

• Ismail Haniyeh, head of Hamas in Gaza, condemned the assassination of the jihadist leader—“the killing of an Arab holy warrior”—while Palestinian Authority President Abbas welcomed his death. These are the two guys who are to sign that deal. More on this, too. [JPost]

• Israel suspended its usual tax transfers to the P.A. after the reconciliation deal was announced, pending a guarantee that Hamas would get none of the money. Apparently Israel thinks Hamas is a jihadist group out for blood. I wonder what gave them that idea. [NYT]

• Why the fall of President Assad in Syria would prove much more chaotic and consequential than that of President Mubarak in Egypt. [WP]

• Assad’s regime continued to make war against protesters in Deraa and elsewhere. [AP/WSJ]

• The long-banned Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood formed a political party in order to jockey for seats in the September parliamentary elections. [LAT]

Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.