By Benjamin Kerstein, Algemeiner— Under the pressure of continuing IAF air strikes, Iran is beginning to drawn down its military presence in Syria, unnamed Israeli security officials were quoted as saying on Tuesday. The Israeli news site Walla cited the officials saying, “For the first time since Iran entered Syria, it is reducing its forces…
By JPost— In her first press briefing, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley came out swinging. After sharing with reporters impressions from her first Security Council meeting on Middle East issues (“it was a bit strange”), Haley vowed that the US would no longer turn a blind eye to the UN’s outrageous bias…
By Noam Amir, Maariv— Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said on Tuesday that in the IDF’s next conflict he would instruct the army to use full force, and not take any half measures. Speaking at a conference held by the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, Liberman said, “The next conflict to break out…
By MARK LANDLER, NY TIMES— In a clear warning to Syria to stop the transfer of advanced weapons to Islamic militants in the region, a senior Israeli official signaled on Wednesday that Israel was considering additional military strikes to prevent that from happening and that the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, would face crippling consequences if…
By MICHAL SHMULOVICH, TIMES OF ISRAEL— Iran has convinced Syria to allow Hezbollah to open a “new front” against Israel in the Golan Heights, the London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Hayat reported Wednesday. Tehran, seeking to prevent the fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government, asked Damascus if Hezbollah could set up a new military front against…
By ISRAEL HAYOM— Syria will “give Hezbollah everything” in recognition of its support and will follow the terror group’s model of “resistance” against Israel, a Lebanese newspaper on Thursday quoted President Bashar al-Assad as saying, AFP reported. Assad’s comments, published by Al-Akhbar, reportedly came during meetings with Lebanese visitors in Damascus and appeared intended to…
By SAMARA GREENBERG, JEWISH POLICY CENTER— According to a report in the German weekly Der Spiegel, the Syrian army in August is believed to have test fired missile systems using empty shells devised for delivering chemical agents. The tests, according to witnesses, took place near Syria’s largest chemical weapons facility, the Safira research center, where…
By REUTERS— Any use of chemical or bacterial weapons by government forces in Syria would trigger a “massive and lightning fast” response from the West, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Monday. “We talk about this, in particular with our American and British partners, and follow it closely on a day-to-day basis. “Our response…
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH, GATESTONE— If Muslim fanatics cannot tolerate moderate and secular Muslims, why should they be expected to accept those who belong to other faiths? As all eyes were turned this week toward Sinai, where Muslim fundamentalists killed 16 Egyptian border guards while they were having the Ramadan fast-breaking meal, Christian families were…