Voices From the Region: Israel, Hamas, Syria, Saudi Arabia

“This is a real declaration of war. The enemy will pay a heavy price for its crime and will regret the moment it thought of perpetrating it.” – Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman for Hamas, in response to the Israeli strike that killed Ahmed al-Jaabari, head of the military wing of the organization

“The days we face in the south will, in my estimation, prove protracted…The homefront must brace itself resiliently…There are preparations, and if we are required to, the option of an entry by ground is available.” – Israeli brigadier-general Yoav Mordechai after Israeli air strikes killed Hamas’ Jaabari

"I announce that France recognizes the Syrian National Coalition as the sole representative of the Syrian people and thus as the future provisional government of a democratic Syria and to bring an end to Bashar al-Assad’s regime.” – French president Francois Hollande

“Is the regime waiting for an explosion in Jordan so his end will be like the Egyptian end or the Tunisian end? We are insisting on creating the Jordanian spring with a Jordanian flavor, which means reforming our regime and keeping our Hirak [protest movement] peaceful.” – Zaki Bani Irsheid, vice chairman of Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood, in an interview before the latest demonstrations erupted this week over cuts to energy subsidies

“The Doha meeting was a declaration of war. These people (the opposition) don’t want to solve the issue peacefully through the mechanisms of the UN.” – Syrian deputy foreign minister Faisal Muqdad

“Teach me. Invest in me. Let me work. I don’t get it…My friends are all in the same situation. What’s wrong here?” – Manar Saud, a Saudi woman, on the high unemployment rate among women in Saudi Arabia

“The plane appeared in seconds, dropped a bomb and killed children…Here is total chaos.” – Nezir Alan, a doctor in Ras al-Ain after a bombing  that wounded at least seventy people in Syria

“I’m in favor of targeted killings…It is a policy that led Hamas to understand, during the suicide bombings, that they would pay the price should (the bombings) continue.” – Israeli opposition lawmaker Shaul Mofaz

“The ball is in Israel’s court…The resistance factions will observe Israel’s actions on the ground and will act accordingly.” – Khalid al-Batsh, a leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad