Washington – More than 50 State Department diplomats have signed an internal memo sharply critical of U.S. policy in Syria, calling for military strikes against President Bashar al-Assad’s government to stop its persistent violations of a cease-fire in the country’s civil war.
Jerusalem – Israel is currently investigating the possibility that the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade, an ISIS-affiliated group fighting in Syria’s civil war in the southern Golan Heights region, possesses chemical weapon, according to a report by Israel’s Channel 10.
Dozens of members of Hezbollah were killed last week in Aleppo in an “accidental” chemical attack carried out by the Syrian military, diplomatic sources reported to the Kuwaiti newspaper “Al-Jarida.”
President Reuven Rivlin’s office refused to confirm or deny a report that appeared in Yediot Aharonot on Wednesday to the effect that while in Russia last month, Rivlin asked President Vladimir Putin to use his influence with Syria in order to return the remains of master spy Eli Cohen to Israel.
The fractured situation in Syria is looking even more bleak as forces allied with different parts of the US defense establishment are fighting against each other.
A militant Kurdish organization released a statement on its website earlier this week claiming responsibility for the deadly suicide bombing that took the lives of 37 people in the Turkish capital of Ankara.
President Vladimir Putin ordered a partial pullout of the Russian military from Syria Monday, voicing hope the move will contribute to the success of Syria peace talks.
An image released Sunday appears to show an Israeli-made drone flying over Syria. Israel Air Industries (IAI) sold the same model of drones to Russia, which may explain the aircraft’s presence in the country.
Vermont Senator and self-declared socialist Bernie Sanders has tapped retired US Army Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson as a foreign policy adviser for the dark horse candidate’s presidential campaign.
Foreign reports attributing strikes against the Syrian regime to the IDF may only rarely elicit a military response, such as a barrage of rockets, however they certainly result in a direct threat to Israel’s security systems.