Ten years ago this week, our friend and colleague Samir Kassir was murdered outside his home, likely at the instigation of individuals who are alive and well in our republic of lies. Since then many of us have felt his absence often. His presence would have been valuable in helping to guide us through the… اقرأ المزيد
On Tuesday evening, in an address marking the one-year anniversary since Lebanon has been without a president, Prime Minister Tammam Salam made a perceptive comment. He warned that the absence of a president had caused damage to the country’s formula of sectarian coexistence, and perhaps even threatened Lebanon’s very existence. Salam may have missed the… اقرأ المزيد
The latest story from Syria this week, published by The Daily Telegraph, was that Ali Mamlouk, the head of Syria’s National Security Bureau, had been placed under house arrest for having had contact with Turkish intelligence and Rifaat Assad, the exiled uncle of Bashar Assad. Almost immediately the story was debunked, and Wednesday Mamlouk was… اقرأ المزيد
There were contradictory statements this week as to whether Hezbollah would proceed with an offensive in Qalamoun. An unidentified “security source” told this newspaper, “Hezbollah, after an in-depth military assessment, concluded that there was no need for a costly wide-scale offensive.” Often, a security source means someone from the military, meaning the statement was… اقرأ المزيد
| The Daily Star President Bashar Assad’s regime is beginning to crumble despite assistance from Iran and its allies. However, such a prospect did not prevent the recent liquidation of Rustom Ghazaleh, once the head of Syria’s military intelligence network in Lebanon. The Syrian regime’s loss of Idlib and Busra al-Sham in recent weeks, followed… اقرأ المزيد
In recent months there has been much talk of a Hezbollah offensive in the Qalamoun district of Syria. The expectation was that it would take place some time in spring. However, there have been so signs of when, or if, this will actually happen. Last February Iran organized a pair of offensives in Syria –… اقرأ المزيد