Tag Archives: Syria

Second Front opens in the Sunni-Shia War

The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) organization swept into the city of Mosul in western Iraq last week.  No one has any right to be surprised. ‬ ISIL has held a large swath of western Iraq since January … Continue reading

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ISIS’ ‘Islamic State’ is born

Jerusalem Post, 13/6 In a stunning and deeply significant development, the fighters of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) organization this week captured the city of Mosul. They then moved on to take Tikrit unopposed and according to … Continue reading

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Disaster in the Levant: the Syrian Civil War in its fourth year

Fathom Magazine, 2/6  The Syrian Civil War is now grinding on into its fourth year. Over 150,000 people have died, and tens more are being killed every day in the ongoing fighting. Millions have lost their homes. Many will almost … Continue reading

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A most discreet intervention

Jerusalem Post, 30/5 Israel offering limited assistance to rebels in southern Syria Since the outbreak of the civil war in Syria in 2011, Israeli officials have observed events to the north with caution and concern.  The concern has derived from … Continue reading

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ISIS committing Atrocities against civilian population in northern Syria

PJmedia, 27/5.  Co-authored with Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi   Evidence is mounting that the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is systematically committing atrocities in eastern and northern Syria, its areas of control. While individual incidents of brutality have been … Continue reading

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Wars Within Wars

Weekly Standard, 16/5 With Syrian presidential elections scheduled for June, the incumbent and shoo-in for reelection, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, is campaigning on the promise that 2014 will be the year in which military operations in Syria end. However, the … Continue reading

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Assad’s boasts vs. Syrian reality

Jerusalem Post, 11/4.  Syrian President Bashar Assad this week said that he expects that in the course of 2014, major military operations in Syria will end.  Following this, all that will remain will be the need to deal with the … Continue reading

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War Across the Borders

PJmedia, 28/3 It has become a commonplace to claim that the unrest in the Arab world is challenging the state borders laid down in the Arab world following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1918. This claim, however, is … Continue reading

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Israel-Syria Border Escalation

Jerusalem Post, 21/3   This week’s events on the Israel-Syrian border are testimony to the extent to  which the effective disintegration of the Syrian state is producing a new  security reality in the North. Once, Syrian President Bashar Assad’s  regime … Continue reading

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Not Quiet on the Northern Front

New York Daily News, 11/3.  (Co-authored with Benjamin Weinthal)   The disintegration of the Syrian state into warring enclaves is bringing with  it new challenges and threats for Israel. Alarm bells have now been sounded on  Israel’’ shared northern border … Continue reading

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