The Obama administration and Israel’s Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon on a visit to Washington backed away Friday, June 14, from any effective response to the Syrian ruler’s proven use of chemical weapons against rebel forces. On the ground, debkafile’s military sources reported Hizballah and Syrian army movements were detected heading toward the Golan and the Jordanian border from the military concentrations building up in the last two weeks around the nearby town of Deraa. Those sources also concluded that Hizballah has been awarded “limited-use” chemical weapons

Moscow is determined to position Russian troops on the divided Golan as part of the UN force policing the separation sector because, said the Russian lawmaker Aleksey Pushkov Monday, June 10, “we cannot exclude… large-scale Syrian-Israel action.” He warned that if Assad was replaced by radical Islamists, he would seem like “an angel from heaven.” Vladimir Shamanov, Russian Airborne Troops chief, disclosed that a new brigade, dubbed “a peacekeeping unit,” had set up for the Golan and armed with MI-24 combat helicopters.

The Kremlin pointedly disclosed President Vladimir Putin’s chat with Binyamin Netanyahu on Syria Friday June 7 - their third conversation in a month. debkafile: The frequent communications between the Russian and Israeli leaders speak volumes about who is calling the shots for Syria and the region.

The UN rejected President Vladimir Putin’s offer Friday, June 7 of Russian peacekeepers to replace the Austrian contingent to be withdrawn from the Golan. debkafile: Putin saw an opportunity to place Russian troops face to face with the Israeli army as a barrier against anti-Assad military intervention from Israel. 

When Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon informed a Knesset panel Monday, June 3 that Syrian rebels still occupied  four Damascus districts, debkafile’s intelligence sources reported the battle for the Syrian capital was all but over.  Senior IDF officers: Flawed intelligence may lead to faulty decision-making.

Senior Israeli intelligence sources insisted to debkafile Thursday May 30 that Syria had still not received any Russian S-300 anti-missile batteries – contrary to Syrian President Bashar Assad’s claim that the first batch had arrived. Israel says it will destroy them before they are operational.

Tuesday, May 21, after an exchange of fire on the Golan, Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said: “Last night we destroyed a Syrian army position which fired on an Israeli patrol.” Damascus earlier took responsibility for the attack and threatened to strike back for Israeli reprisals. 

The Syrian war is set for its next stage, the spillover of hostilities from Syrian Golan into Israel. debkafile: This is the consequence ...

As the Syrian army makes further gains against rebel forces, debkafile reports Hizballah and Israel appear to be in the process of relocating their lines of confrontation from Lebanon to Syria. An Israeli enclave is forming around the IDF medical facilities on the Golan, while Hizballah is taking command of three pockets.

After the Damascus units, the Syrian army has distributed protective suits to units in southern Syria and the Golan, amid evidence that chemical weapons have already been used in the Damascus region. As signs abound of both sides’ readiness for chemical warfare, Israeli troops have started handing out atropine injections and IVs against sarin and VX nerve agents to rebels fighting Syrian troops on the Golan and along the Israel-Syrian border - Israel’s first intervention in the Syrian conflict to date.

In fierce battles with Syrian troops, Al Qaeda’s al-Nusra front is spearheading the rebels’ advance on two Syrian army chemical weapons depots - at the Al-Safira base in the north and the Dumeir facility 40 km northeast of Damascus. Tuesday, April 2, Israel’s top security officials were on the Golan to inspect the IDF Golan border units’ state of readiness. On his first visit to the territory as defense minister, Moshe Yaalon said Israel would prevent the proliferation of weapons that “could threaten us.”

The Al Musanna Brigade of al Qaeda’s Syrian arm, Jabhat al-Nusra, captured the highly strategic intersection of the Syrian, Israeli and Jordan borders, just east of the Golan, on Passover Eve, Monday, March 25, debkafile reports exclusively. The jihadists have also seized Wadi ar-Raqqad which marks the Golan’s eastern boundary and is one of Israel’s water sources. Next door, Iraqi Al Qaeda is preparing to push trucks loaded with Chlorine gas-CI trucks into Syria for the jihadists to use against Assad’s forces.

Al Qaeda’s Syrian wing, Jabhat al-Nusra, led a Syrian rebel operation Wednesday, March 13, to occupy Golan and cleanse it of Syrian troops, so as to be prepare for its use for cross-border attacks on Israel and Jordan – possibly during US President’ Barack Obama’s visits on March 20-22.  debkafile: An Iron Dome battery will be installed at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport to secure Obama’s arrival, making him the first US president to be guarded by Israel’s anti-missile system against possible al Qaeda attack from More...