February 6, 2018
Jerusalem (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (click here) paid a rare visit to the occupied Golan Heights on Tuesday, peering across the nearby border into Syria and warning Israel’s enemies not to “test” its resolve.
Netanyahu has been cautioning against any attempt by Iran to deepen its military foothold in Syria or construct missile factories in neighboring Lebanon.
Lebanon’s top three leaders accused Israel on Tuesday of threatening the stability of the border region between them amid rising tension over territorial and maritime boundaries....
He has been given the gift of war by Assad that Netanyahu wanted. The Prime Minister is hoping the USA is not far behind. He should measure his response to Assad, he might start a war he can't finish.
June 22, 2018
Beirut (Reuters) - Syrian government helicopters (click here) dropped barrel bombs on opposition areas of the southwest on Friday for the first time in a year, a war monitor and rebel officials said, in defiance of U.S. demands that President Bashar al-Assad halt the assault.
Assad has sworn to recapture the area bordering Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and the army began ramping up an assault there this week, threatening a “de-escalation” zone agreed by the United States and Russia last year.
The United States on Thursday reiterated its demand that the zone be respected, warning Assad and his Russian allies of “serious repercussions” of violations. It accused Damascus of initiating air strikes, artillery and rocket attacks.
A big offensive risks a wider escalation that could draw the United States deeper into the war. The southwest is of strategic concern to U.S.-allied Israel, which has this year stepped up attacks on Iran-backed militia allied to Assad....
The Free Syrian Army (FSA) are not terrorists.
...Abu Bakr al-Hassan, spokesman for the rebel group Jaish al-Thawra, which fights under the banner of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), said the munitions had been dropped on three towns and villages, and that war planes had hit another.
“I believe (the bombardment) is testing two things: the steadfastness of the FSA fighters and the degree of U.S. commitment to the de-escalation agreement in the south,” he told Reuters.
Syrian state television said on Friday that army units had targeted “lairs and movements of terrorists” in the area....
