TODAY’S TOP STORY
SYRIAN DIPLOMATS EXPELLED FROM A DOZEN COUNTRIES
Syrian diplomats were expelled from at least a dozen countries, including the United States, Britain, and Germany, on Tuesday in protest of the massacre of more than 100 civilians, nearly half of them children, in Houla, Syria, over the weekend. In Syria, U.N. envoy Kofi Annan called on the Syrian government to take “bold steps” to end the fighting, but was dismissive of the government’s contention that outsiders were responsible for the conflict, reports the New York Times. “The Syrian people do not want their future to be one of bloodshed and division,” Annan said. “Yet the killings continue, and the abuses are still with us today.” U.N. peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said Tuesday there are strong suspicions that pro-Assad fighters were responsible for the Houla killings. ( NYT, Guardian, LA Times, CNN, AP)

The New York Times writes in an editorial that the expulsion of the Syrian diplomats is a good start, but is “still short of the tougher diplomatic and economic sanctions needed to put real pressure on President Bashar al-Assad and his cronies. Russia, in particular, can finally help, or continue to be a roadblock to tougher action.” ( NYT) The Washington Post writes in an editorial that it is time for real U.S. leadership on Syria. “The reality is that the killing in Syria will continue, and the threat to vital U.S. interests across the Middle East will grow, until Mr. Obama stops counting on the likes of Kofi Annan and Vladi­mir Putin to spare him from the responsibility that should be shouldered by a U.S. president. The longer he waits, the greater the cost — in children’s lives, among other things.” ( WaPo)

Breaking News: Charles Taylor, the former president of Liberia, has been sentenced to 50 years in prison by an international court at The Hague for his role in atrocities committed during the civil war in Sierra Leone in the 1990s. ( NYT)

The United States
OBAMA: THE DRONE PRESIDENT
Following yesterday’s blockbuster New York Times report on President Obama’s evolution in the war on terror and his direct role in overseeing the secret terrorism ‘kill list,’ Daniel Klaidman provides more detail in the Daily Beast on the president’s willingness to back the drone program. From an excerpt of his new book, Kill or Capture: The War on Terror and the Soul of the Obama Presidency, Klaidman writes: “Schooled as a constitutional lawyer, [President Obama] had had to adjust quickly to the hardest part of the job: deciding whom to kill, when to kill them, and when it makes sense to put Americans in harm’s way. His instincts tilted toward justice and protecting the innocent, but he also knew that war is a messy business no matter how carefully it is conducted. He saw the drones as a particularly useful tool in a global conflict, but he was also mindful of the possibility of blowback. In this overheated election season, Obama’s campaign is painting a portrait of a steely commander who pursues the enemy without flinching. But the truth is more complex, and in many ways, more reassuring.” ( The Daily Beast)

9/11 military commissions: The motions hearing set for June 12 for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the four other accused 9/11 conspirators has been postponed until August 8. ( Lawfare)

Conflict Zones
IRAN CONFIRMS CYBERATTACK
Iranian officials have acknowledged that a sophisticated virus has infected computers across the country, including computers of high-ranking officials. Iran’s Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Center released a statement warning that the virus, dubbed Flame, was dangerous and designed to steal data from infected computers. “It seems there is a close relation to the Stuxnet and Duqu [Flame] targeted attacks,” the statement said, referring to the Stuxnet virus that damaged centrifuges in an Iranian nuclear facility two years ago. According to the Wall Street Journal, “independent security experts said the scope of its complexity and method of operation suggests Flame was sponsored by a nation-state. It wouldn’t be economically feasible, they argued, for a private corporation to run such a large-scale international cyberattack. Another reason a state is suspected is that the virus is designed to gather information but has no clear monetizing function.” ( WaPo, WSJ, NYT)

PAKISTAN DOCTOR CONVICTED OF MILITANCY, NOT CIA LINKS
Shakil Afridi, the Pakistani doctor who was recently sentenced to 33 years in prison, was convicted of conspiring with an Islamist militant commander, not with helping the CIA, a verdict that will make it harder for Washington to argue for his release, reports the Associated Press. The AP has obtained a copy of the five-page court decision, which was first reported by Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper, on Wednesday. According to the AP, “the verdict said Afridi was guilty of conspiring with a militant group led by commander Mangal Bagh. It said he gave money to the group and treated its leaders at a hospital in Khyber when he was stationed there.” The court reportedly ruled that Afridi's work with the CIA fell outside its jurisdiction, and that he could be tried separately in the future on charges related to that work. ( AP, Guardian)

SOMALI PRESIDENT SURVIVES AL SHABAB AMBUSH ON CONVOY
Somalia’s President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed was unharmed Tuesday when suspected al Shabab militants attacked his convoy outside of Mogadishu. He was traveling back from Afgoye, which African Union and Somali government troops captured on Friday from militants.This was the president’s first trip to the town since it was retaken. ( BBC News, Reuters)

IN YEMEN, AIRSTRIKES BREED ANGER
The Washington Post reports that the escalating campaign of U.S. drone strikes in Yemen “is stirring increasing sympathy for al Qaeda-linked militants and driving tribesmen to join a network linked to terrorist plots against the United States.” Tribal leaders say that civilians are killed in the attacks, despite reports suggesting only suspected militants have been targeted. ( WaPo)

In other Yemen news, the Yemeni army is pressing its offensive on the town of Jaar, which has been in militant hands for more than a year. ( AP)

Afghanistan: Afghan officials are investigating a new poisoning attack on Afghan schoolgirls, the third such attack in the past week. The Taliban has denied responsibility. ( BBC News)

North Korea: The U.S. military has denied a report in Diplomat, an Asia-Pacific current affairs journal, that it has been sending commandos into North Korea to spy on underground military facilities. ( WaPo)

World News
UK: Britain’s highest court ruled Wednesday that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange can be deported to Sweden to face charges of sexual abuse there. ( NYT)

Arguments, Editorials, and Must Reads
Dilip Hiro on why the U.S. needs different approaches toward Afghanistan and Pakistan: For the past 11 years, writes Hiro in the LA Times, “the U.S. and its NATO allies have approached jihadist violence in Afghanistan and Pakistan as a single problem, to be met with a single strategy. But success will require a more nuanced parsing of who is conducting jihad and why, because the jihadists are not a homogenous group.”

Marc Lynch on Egypt’s depressing run-off: “It’s hard to see the upside” of either run-off candidate winning in Egypt, writes Lynch on ForeignPolicy.com. “The first round of the elections really did produce the worst possible outcome, even if it in retrospect seems rather inevitable in light of earlier decisions, such as the [Muslim Brotherhood’s] fielding a candidate and the political center failing to unite around a single candidate. The second round really can’t produce a President who will command wide legitimacy or a popular mandate. Sadly, I suppose that’s about what we should have expected from this disastrous transition. But despair isn’t an option. The focus must remain on seeing through the transition to civilian authority and the drafting of an acceptable constitution.”  

Micah Zenko and Emma Welch on where the drones are: Zenko and Welch attempt to map some of the known U.S. drone bases around the world in a photoessay for Foreign Policy.