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 Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak have made a big deal about the security benefits they say Barak Obama is offering for a second, 90-day moratorium on settlement construction.  However the delivery date of the second lot of 20 F-35 stealth warplanes is 2020 – ten years from now! So how will they help Israel stand up to current security threats from Iran, Hizballah, Syria and Hamas? The Obama letter of commitment is meanwhile delayed.

Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu convened his inner cabinet Saturday night, March 12, to discuss the spiraling crisis with Washington and his first response.
debkafile's military and Washington sources report: The Obama administration is considering withholding from Israel military items urgently needed in case of a flare-up of hostilities with Iran and its allies. This would further ratchet up the row over the added 1,600 homes in ...