Binyamin Netanyahu tried tackling Vladimir Putin on the sale of S-300 anti-air missiles to Syria but found that the missiles were already in place and the Russian leader unshakable in his support for the Assad regime – even to backing a war of attrition against Israel.

Binyamin Netanyahu left his meeting with Vladimir Putin Tuesday certain that Moscow had given Assad the go-ahead for his threat to make the Syrian Golan the platform for a war of attrition against Israel with the help of Hizballah armed with advanced weapons and other proxies. The next day, a pro-Assad Palestinian terrorist organization shelled Mt. Hermon. Israel countered swiftly with a threat to remove Assad from power. debkafile: Tehran is also egging him on to launch a war of attrition which appears to have begun.

Saudi Arabia is exploring dialogue with its great regional rival Iran for ending the Syrian conflict and assuring Lebanon’s political stability, after giving up on US policy for Syria, debkafile’s Gulf sources report. Monday, May 13, the Saudi and Iranian foreign ministers got together in Jeddah.

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.

Israel insists its  air force attacks on Syria targeted Hizballah and its Iranian weapons shipments. This does not cover explain the targeting Sunday, May 5, of Mt. Qassioun, moving Assad to threaten a war of attrition. The US plans to follow the Israeli operation with arms supplies for Syrian rebels and US air strikes.

Syria's Faisal Mekdad said the strike at Syria overnight Sunday, May 5, represented a "declaration of war" by Israel.  Russia Today claimed killed at least 300 members of the Syrian Army’s 501st Unit. debkafile: This unit operates the Mt. Qassioun chemical weapon facility.

Israeli rockets early Sunday, May 5, struck the Jamraya military research center just north of Damascus, causing powerful explosions. debkafile: The Israeli operation in Syria is ongoing as the Syrian army continues to pass Scud D and Fateh-110 missiles to Hizballah units fighting in Syria.

Israeli military activity was reported Saturday, May 4 in Lebanon too - and not just over Syria.
US sources said earlier Israeli warplanes had struck targets in Syria including a chemical weapons depot outside Damascus, firing missiles remotely from Lebanese air space and the Golan.

The big news on Syria this week is the surreptitious pact forged in Beirut by Russia’s visiting deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov witgh Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah which covers their collaboration in the war for keeping Bashar Assad in power and guarantees Hizballah a Russian shield against a potential Israeli ...

The thousands of Israeli military reservists rushed to the Syrian and Lebanese borders this week were told they would take part in a drill starting next Sunday. In fact, they opened up the border outposts and other facilities which had been shuttered for years and reactivated them as backing for ...

Iran’s Basij are paramilitary troops trained for crushing urban unrest that jeopardizes the regime in Tehran. They have been deployed in Damascus and are relieving the Hizballah units guarding the Shiite Syrian villages along the Lebanese border.

debkafile reports Hizballah’s elite Al Qods Brigade suffered a grinding defeat – its gravest since first intervening in the Syrian civil war - and heavy losses at al Qusayr in the Homs sector Monday, April 29 in a surprise ambush. The rebels were reinforced by radical Salafists from Lebanon armed with Grad rockets.

Israeli jets were reported flying over Damascus by foreign sources in the last few hours Sunday (April 28). debkafile: Iran is pushing Bashar Assad hard to let Hizballah have sophisticated weapons, including self-propelled SA-17 interceptor missile systems.

President Barack Obama faced a tough decision Friday, April 26, after warning that Bashar Assad’s use of chemical weapons would be “game changer.” His failure to take firm action would render the US president’s red lines meaningless. Israel is concerned by the application of this loss of credibility to a nuclear Iran.

The Free Syrian Army commander informed Secretary of State John Kerry this week that the rebels have not chance of standing up to the superior firepower of the Syrian army and Hizballah.

In a striking reversal, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in Abdu Dhabi Thursday, April 25, that US intelligence now believes the Syrian government has used chemical weapons against its own people.

Israel’s chief of staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz warned Monday, April 22, that tribal and ethnic warfare on the scale of Afghanistan awaited Syria. debkafile: Two heavily armed Hizballah combat brigades are fighting for Bashar Assad south of Homs.

Israel’s leaders are again talking about a unilateral strike on Iran after discovering that contrary to US reports, its nuclear program has picked up speed and after watching the tame US handling of the Korean crisis.

Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon wants America as partner if at all possible for attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities. But if Washington declines and Iran is on the verge of acquiring an operational nuclear arsenal – most probably this year - Israel must go it alone. He plans to do away with the classical divisions, brigades and professional corps like artillery and tanks which characterize a conventional army, and replace them with small, self-contained, armies capable of operating independently under their own air and artillery cover.

After sustaining a succession of setbacks and rejections in the Arab Revolt, Hizballah faces its most agonizing debacle at the hands of its sworn enemies, Israel and the United States, if they go ahead with an operation against Assad’s chemical weapons.