The Syrian conflict spread in earnest Monday, March 18, when the Syrian Air Force conducted bombing runs over Syrian rebel jumping-off bases inside Lebanon and border valleys used for smuggling men and arms into Syria. debkafile reports exclusively: Syrian ruler Bashar Assad Saturday gave Lebanese President Michel Suleiman 48 hours to sack his chief of staff – or else face air attack. The ultimatum expired Monday. Assad may now be preparing similar treatment for Jordan, timing it for President Barack Obama’s visit this week.

The Yarmouk Complex near Khartoum, which was bombed Wednesday, Oct.  24, by four fighter-bombers, recently went into manufacturing Iranian ballistic surface-to-surface Shehab missiles under license from Tehran, debkafile discloses. Western intelligence believes they were meant as Tehran’s strategic reserve stock in case its own ballistic arsenal was hit by Israeli bombers. No information was available about the comings and goings of Iranian missile specialists to Khartoum, or whether Tehran planned to stage missile attacks against Middle East targets from Sudan.