One of the key battles in Syria is for control of Qusayr, currently under rebel control.  Via NY Times, Syrian Forces and Hezbollah Fighters Press Assault on Key City:

Official Syrian and Hezbollah news outlets said...

It will be easy — and likely correct — to assert that this is another Islamic terrorist attack.

But I think it is more than that.

This is what we see in Syria.

A very up close and personal bloodletting and then triumphal braggadocio.

Like the Syrian rebel fighter who

Michael Weiss at Lebanon NOW reports, Rise of the militias:

The use of chemical weapons and Obama’s fudged “red line” has given way to gruesome footage of a schismatic Syrian rebel commander biting into the lung of a slain Hezbollah fighter and vowing revenge against Assadist soldiers. Such is the international press’...

1) Syria considerations

Last week former executive editor of the New York Times, Bill Keller wrote Syria is not Iraq. The gist of his argument is that he trusts President Obama but shouldn’t have trusted President Bush. It’s a silly argument. However, as Dexter Filkins reports, Keller’s thinking is mirrored in...

1) Bill Keller’s truism

Former executive editor of the New York Times, Bill Keller states the obvious, “Syria is not Iraq.” In short, Keller argues that he trusts President Obama’s instincts. However since he offered a mea culpa for having once supported the Iraq war, his arguments leave some skeptics unconvinced.

Bill Keller...

The enormous mushroom cloud, the earth-shaking earthquake-like reverberations, the secondary explosions.

We’re heard a lot of noise from Syria, but relatively little about casualties.

The NY Times reports over 100 dead soldiers:

The attack, which sent brightly lighted columns of smoke and ash high into the night sky above the Syrian capital, struck several...

1) The Israeli “message”

Why is it that threats against Israel are regularly downplayed by the media?

‘Everywhere an #Iranian embassy exists, they plan terror on #Jews, #Israelis‘ ow.ly/kJZlH

— Israel Hayom English (@IsraelHayomEng) May 6, 2013

Typical of this phenomenon is...

Syria Explodes

Professor Jacobson has previously reported on two Israeli strikes: one against Hezbollah and one against Syria.

What’s going on?

Classic thing about the strike...

For the details at the start of the bombing, take a look at last night’s post, Reports – large explosions in Damascus (Update – Syria blames Israel), which has embedded videos and Twitter accounts.  The Twitter feed now is at the bottom of this post.

This morning various news reports confirm that...

1) The proof?

Yesterday I noted that the New York Times seemed eager to relegate an article about the administration’s reluctance to believe that Assad had employed chemical weapons to the ash heap of history. In a new editorial, Ill-considered advice on Syria, the New York Times view has changed a...

Iran is declaring a red line in Syria on the use of chemical weapons … by insurgents.

I think this is more believable than Obama’s red line on use by the government.

Iran already is deeply involved in backing Assad, but needs an excuse to perpetrate a full-blown intervention.  That excuse might be...

1) The New York Times, Syria, Chemical Weapons and the Obama Administration

Last week the editors of the New York Times asked Were Chemical Weapons Used in Syria?

It would be alarming if Mr. Assad crossed a line few others have crossed. Within one minute, nerve agents like sarin can trigger eye pain,...

Next in Syria

Why hasn’t the United States acted more strongly against Bashar Assad?

Read: nyti.ms/12Ke82b on Assad’s effort to sell his line to the US. Then this on why WH has already bought it: mme.cm/887R00

— Tony Badran (@AcrossTheBay) April 25, 2013

The New York Times reports on Syrian efforts to influence American thinking.

As...

The use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime was supposed to be a red line.

Two days ago, when Israel suggested chemical weapons had been used, it was dismissed as Israel trying to maneuver U.S. policy.

The U.S. now has evidence that such weapons were used, and that...

1) The red line?

Back in December, NBC News reported that Syria had loaded chemical weapons onto planes and was prepared to use them against civilians.

Syria prepared to use chemical weapons against own people; military awaits final orders, US officials tell @nbcnews nbcnews.to/RCH3Cz

— Breaking News (@BreakingNews) December 5, 2012

Late last week the...