1) Why didn't Abbas answer Olmert?
Last week Avi Issacharoff reported on a recent interview he had with Ehud Olmert in The Tower. Much of the story was known, but Olmert provided some new specifics about his offer to Abbas and Issacharoff obtained a map that...
Posted by William A. Jacobson
on May 25, 20136 Comments
I mentioned the other day how the fight in Syria wasn't going quite as easily as many predicted for Hezbollah, with it suffering heavy losses even trying to take a modestly-sized border city, Will Qusayr be Hezbollah’s Stalingrad?
As of the latest reports, rebels are still in control of parts of al-Qusayr, but the situation is very murky with pro-Assad sources proclaiming victory and anti-Assad forces denying. Hezbollah officials are quoted as admitting the fight is much tougher than expected, and today saw round-the-clock shelling of the city.
(video added)
Against that backdrop, Hezbollah's leader proclaimed that it was in the fight in Syria to the bitter end, as reported by The NY Times, Hezbollah Leader Orders Full Fight to Save Assad:
The leader of the powerful Lebanese militant group Hezbollah on Saturday decisively committed his followers to an all-out battle in Syria to salvage the rule of President Bashar al-Assad, saying that Hezbollah was fighting abroad to “immunize” Lebanon from an Israeli invasion he said would surely follow if Syrian rebels prevailed.
“It is our battle, and we are up to it,” the leader, Hassan Nasrallah, declared, in his most direct embrace yet of a fight in Syria that Hezbollah can no longer hide now that dozens of its fighters have fallen recently in and around the strategic Syrian town of Qusayr. Outgunned Syrian rebels have held on for a week there against a frontal assault by Hezbollah and Syrian forces.
The speech was delivered via videotape on the 13th anniversary of the end of Israel’s 15-year occupation of southern Lebanon after years of battling Hezbollah’s guerrillas, which the group considers its greatest victory. Mr. Nasrallah seemed to be preparing his followers for the heavy price in lives and political capital that the organization could pay as it embarks on an unprecedented intervention in a neighboring country, a move that could deeply destabilize Lebanon.
On his party's involvement in the battles alongside Assad's forces, he said: “A political and economic world war was launched on Syria and thousands of fighters were sent without anyone complaining.”
“Meanwhile, Hizbullah's involvement was considered a foreign interference,” he noted.
Nasrallah explained that Syria is the resistance's backbone: “We cannot stand still and let the break the resistance's main supporter.”
Nasrallah said Hizbullah fighters joining the war in Syria are not forced “go willingly and aspire to take part in the resistance.”
“You will find tens of thousands of fighters that are ready to take all fronts and participate in the battles. No one is forced into the war,” he assured.
The leader of the Lebanese Sunni opposition, Saad Hariri, mocked Nasrallah's speech,
Posted by William A. Jacobson
on May 23, 201315 Comments
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 the government offensive was making rapid headway in retaking Qusayr, a strategically...
Posted by William A. Jacobson
on May 17, 201311 Comments
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...
Posted by David Gerstman
on May 14, 20130 Comments
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,...
Posted by David Gerstman
on May 07, 20137 Comments
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...
Posted by William A. Jacobson
on May 06, 20136 Comments
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...
Posted by David Gerstman
on May 06, 20134 Comments
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 the headline Airstrikes Tied to Israel May...
Posted by David Gerstman
on May 05, 20138 Comments
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 on Damascus is how it will be spun by Assad. He'll argue it's "PROOF" he's facing a takfiri-Zionist alliance.— Phillip Smyth (@PhillipSmyth)...
Posted by William A. Jacobson
on May 05, 20134 Comments
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...
Posted by David Gerstman
on April 30, 20137 Comments
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...
Posted by David Gerstman
on April 29, 20137 Comments
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...
Posted by David Gerstman
on April 26, 20137 Comments
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...
Posted by William A. Jacobson
on April 25, 201311 Comments
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,...
Posted by David Gerstman
on April 22, 20134 Comments
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)...
Posted by David Gerstman
on April 18, 20131 Comment
1) Syria and contiguity
Jacques Neria writes in Stalemate in the Syrian Civil War:
While Assad has survived so far, he has not been able to quell the rebellion, the economy is in shambles, and so are most of the areas hit by the civil war. Hundreds...
