Free Republic

Veteran journalist and Middle East analyst Ehud Yaari recently came out with the disturbing statement that just across the northern border, the Iranian military is becoming firmly entrenched in the Syrian Golan. Yaari noted that for the past two months, these combined forces besieged the city of Daraa, occasionally shelling the city. Inside the city are rebel groups who refuse to surrender. The Syrian army intends to exile the rebels to the Turkish-controlled region to the north. Russian attempts at mediation have failed. Daraa holds particular significance as it was the scene of the first protests against the Assad regime...

The massive disposal effort, which U.S. military officials call unprecedented, has unfolded largely out of sight amid an ongoing debate inside the Pentagon about what to do with the heaps of equipment that won’t be returning home. Military planners have determined that more than $7 billion worth of equipment — about 20 percent of what the U.S. military has in Afghanistan — will not be shipped back, because it is no longer needed or would be too costly to send home. That has left the Pentagon in a quandary about what to do with the items. Bequeathing a large share...