Free Republic

Advisors to Syrian President Bashar Assad are pressuring him to respond to the alleged IAF attack by "landing a blow to an Israeli target," the Kuwait-based Al-Jareeda reported Wednesday. According to the report, Israel targeted long-range missile batteries that were brought to Syria from Iran. The report said five IAF fighter jets carried out the attack. Israel Radio quoted the Kuwaiti paper to the effect that the group advocating a military response is being spearheaded by Assad's brother in law, who has met in recent days with senior Hizbullah and Hamas officials in an effort to draw up an operation...

Defense minister's advisor: War-torn nation is undergoing de facto partition, potentially leading to Assad ruling over a much-reduced 'Alawistan' A senior Israeli defense official said President Bashar Assad controlled just a fifth of Syria and may end up in charge of a rump state dominated by his minority Alawite sect. "Syria is gone. Syria is dying. The funeral will be declared in due time. This Bashar Assad, he will be remembered in history textbooks as the one who lost Syria," Gilad told an intelligence conference organised by the Israel Defense journal on Monday. "Until now he has lost 75 percent...

A Hezbollah-led assault this week on the rebel-held town of Zabadani near Damascus appears consistent with an Iranian-backed plan for the Syrian regime to withdraw its forces to a more defendable line in the west of the country. For months, analysts have seen a pull back to a “rump state” as inevitable given the exhaustion of the Syrian army, the critical shortage of loyalist fighters, limits on Iranian resources, and territorial gains made this year by rebel forces in the north and south of the country. While that assessment hasn’t changed, President Bashar al-Assad’s regime so far is showing little...