Analysts continue to unpack the implications of an interview given last week by Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad to Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV. On some issues – Assad was vague on whether advanced S-300 anti-aircraft missiles had yet been delivered from Russia to Syria. Regarding his desire to have the Arab world...

• Kindle

Israeli officials are casting further doubt on reports made earlier this week that had Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad asserting that Syria had begun to receive advanced S-300 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia. Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon had said Tuesday the missiles still hadn’t been shipped to Syria. Former defense official...

• Kindle

The regime is in the midst of an offensive against opposition forces and has been making steady gains in seizing rebel positions. Fighting has been raging around the strategically critical city of Qusayr, and Free Syrian Army chief Salim Idris fears that an atrocity is looming: Gen Idriss made an...

• Kindle

Hezbollah appears to be shrugging off a 24-hour ultimatum issued yesterday by Free Syrian Army chief Salim Idris instructing the Iran-backed terror group to withdraw from Syria, and is instead pouring extra fighters from Lebanon into the battle raging in the Syrian city of Qusayr: Government fighter jets early Wednesday...

• Kindle

Opposition forces battling the Bashar al-Assad regime have stolen at least two “virtually indestructible” U.N. vehicles in recent months from the U.N. Disengagement Force (UNDOF) along the Golan Heights. The acknowledgment of the thefts by UNDOF will renew speculation that Israel may have to act to reestablish stability amid the...

• Kindle

Russian officials have reiterated today Moscow’s intention to deliver advanced S-300 anti-aircraft systems to Syria. The U.S. and its allies have long urged Russia to forgo the planned transfer, fearing among other things that the missiles would deeply complicate any future Western intervention against the Bashar al-Assad regime. Russia has...

• Kindle

Hezbollah’s stronghold in Beirut was struck by two missiles on Sunday in the aftermath of a fiery speech by Hassan Nasrallah. The Hezbollah chief committed the Iran-backed terror group to bringing victory to the embattled Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad. The New Yorker described Nasrallah’s speech as the formal declaration...

• Kindle

Observers are calling attention to additional dimensions of a speech given Wednesday by Israeli Air Force Chief Amir Eshel. Eshel’s statements received wide attention for his evaluation that Russia would soon provide advanced S-300 anti-aircraft systems to Syria, undermining any future Western efforts to degrade the Bashar al-Assad regime. If...

• Kindle

Clashes between pro-Assad and anti-Assad forces in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli have left at least 16 dead since Sunday. The casualties include both combatants and non-combatants: Security sources identified Abed Sankari and Fawzi Hawshar as the latest fatalities from the overnight fighting, raising the death toll from the...

• Kindle

The report in yesterday’s Sunday Times that Syria had advanced missiles trained on Tel Aviv could create the impression that another Israeli-Syrian war is in the offing. Syria’s heightened level of alert is no surprise. It’s standard practice for the Assad regime to warn that a single bullet fired at...

• Kindle