Screenshot taken from JN1.TV
DISQUS comment on: “Warning Syria” (Jerusalem Post)
“Following reported Israeli attacks, forces seem to be concentrating to threaten relative quiet that has characterized Syrian border.” (JPost)
Estimation: It is difficult to believe that the Assad government will open another front now.
The Syrian government – by all public accounts – seems to stand at the beginning of the winning street.
Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah giving a speech on May 9.
DISQUS Comment on: “Hezbollah’s Russian Connection” (Al-Monitor/Jean Aziz)
— “Nasrallah has finally assured his opponents that he is ready for anything now or anytime”
It seems very unlikely he is really ready to go to war and open the box of Pandora. Hassan Nasrallah is too clever a man to subject the whole Levant to a regional conflict.
The next war between Hezbollah and Israel will be the last shoot-out for long, and one of them will fall or at least be severely damaged for a long time. Both sides know that. Israel will turn southern Lebanon into an underground parking lot.
Comment on: “U.S. says Assad will lose battle eventually” (Daily Star)
Syrian President Assad does not represent the whole government.
Ambassador Ford’s comments point in the same direction as Russian Prime Minister Medvedev’s some weeks ago: Preserve the state and force Assad to quit sooner or later. Probably later, giving him enough time to strike a deal with the somewhat secular opposition and eliminate the Islamists.
Still chances are good, Assad will stay for years if he doesn’t fall by the hand of an assassin.
Comment on: “Russia says Assad’s prospects fading” (Daily Star/Reuters)
It is worth noting that PM Medvedev mentions Assad but not the government as a whole or state institutions.
Medvedev’s comments go in line with Russia’s policy on Syria: Strengthen the army, try to facilitate a deal between the Non-Islamist opposition and the government, put down the uprising by force, preserve the country as en entity and convince Assad to step down, once calm has settled.
The Lebanese television station LBC reports that Syrian refugees in Lebanon are facing a hard living in the Chouf district.
Yesterday, former residents of the embattled Damascus “Yarmouk” Palestinian refugee camp staged a protest in Taalabaya, Lebanon, outside the Palestinian cultural center to bring attention to their cause.
They called upon the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Higher Relief Commission, asking for food and shelter.
Citing “Al-Joumhouria” daily, the “An-Nahar” newspaper writes that at least 18 Lebanese influential figures are threatened by assassination, almost all of them exclusively belonging to the March 14 political opposition bloc.
A western diplomatic sources speaking on conditions of anonymity told the daily that among those monitored by potential killers are Christian Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, Christian MP Boutros Harb, Christian former Minster of Defense Elias al-Murr, Future party (Hariri) Sunnite former Prime Minister and now MP Fouad Siniora, Sunnite director of the Internal Security Forces (ISF) Ashraf Rifi and Christian March 14 Secretary General Fares Souaid as well as a range of Future (Hariri) MP’s.
Al-Akhbar: Western intelligence agency did warn Lebanese counterparts of possible impending chemical attack on ventilation system of Rafik Hariri International Airport.
Authorities are searching for suspected perpetrator of Pakistani origin, whose sketch has also been handed to Lebanese authorities.
Maintenance companies urged to be on the watch. (Al-Akhbar/An-Nahar)
