The West and Israel have been reluctant to intervene with enough force to tip the balance in the fighting in Syria, but the continued influx of Sunni jihadists to the region and their increasing attacks in neighboring Lebanon and Iraq has some thinking President Bashar Assad’s regime is the better of two evils. Continue Reading »
By Aviel Magnezi
A Syrian teenager who has been hospitalized at the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa has filed a petition with the High Court of Justice in recent days requesting to not send her back to her country.
A Syrian patient in his hospital bed in Israel – Photo: Channel 10 screenshot
The girl claims in the appeal that returning to her homeland may risk her life, and that she had already lost several family members in the battles in which she was injured. Continue Reading »
By Israel Today Staff
Refugee camp resident in Damascus living under ‘suffocating siege’ says Mahmoud Abbas and the Arab world to blame for starvation.
Palestinian in Damascus: ‘I Want Israeli Citizenship’ – Screenshot
Two thousand Palestinians have been killed in Syria’s ongoing civil war, a drop in the bucket compared to the 120,000 estimated overall deaths. But many of those Palestinian casualties are the result of starvation, and many are children. Continue Reading »
By Yossi Aloni
Israel has taken great pride in a recent BBC report regarding the Jewish state’s genuine care for its enemies. The BBC is often seen as biased against Israel, but the report in question had nothing but good things to say about Israel over its selfless care for victims of the ongoing civil war in Syria, a nation still officially at war with Israel.
Israeli medics on Syrian border awaiting to receive wounded civilians – BBC Screenshot
BBC Middle East correspondent Kevin Connolly visited Ziv Hospital in the northern Israel town of Safed and brought back a story of Syrians under fire whose lives were literally saved by their worst enemy. Continue Reading »
By Hassan Shaalan
The Nazareth Magistrates Court rejected Wednesday the appeal of 16 Druze sheikhs filed against an indictment according to which they were accused of illegally entering Syria.
Sheikhs in court – Photo: Hassan Shaalan
The sheikhs crossed into Syria via Jordan in 2010, with the purpose, according to the defendants, of visiting relatives and the gravesite of a Muslim prophet. Continue Reading »
A 4-year-old Syrian refugee from the besieged city of Homs underwent surgery recently at the Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer, the first time a Syrian has been operated on at the pediatric cardiology ward.
Heart-warming success: 4-year-old Syrian heart patient Mohammed Hamudi with his father and Dr.
The Israel Defense Forces has been providing humanitarian aid to Syrians living near the border, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon revealed on Tuesday during a tour of the frontier.
Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon on a tour of the Syrian-Israeli border on Tuesday, December 3, 2013.- Photo: Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry
According to Ya’alon, Israel has sent water and food, including baby foods, across the border, and has been helping the Syrians prepare for winter. Continue Reading »
There was a massive explosion early Thursday morning at an aerial defense base near the city of Latakia in northeastern Syria, Walla reports, based on reports from the Syrian opposition.
Opposition sources said the base, which held anti-aircraft missiles, was destroyed in the blast.
Sources in Syria and Lebanon blamed Israel for the strike. However, they offered alternate versions of events: while Syrian sources said the base was hit by a strike from the sea, Lebanese media outlets reported that Israeli planes were seen in the area before the blast. Continue Reading »
By Yoav Zitun
Gunfire was opened on Tuesday at laborers raising a new border fence on the Israeli-Syrian border, near the Hermonit Post in the Golan Heights.
IDF soldiers on the Syria-Israel border.- Photo: Yaron Kaminsky
No injuries were reported, but a fire has broken out in the area.
Border tension was also registered Monday, as IDF fired at two Palestinians approaching the fence in the northern Gaza Strip.The two were hit, one reportedly killed and the other apprehended by security forces, following a short chase. Continue Reading »
“We now possess deterrent weapons that are more important and more sophisticated than chemical weapons,” Syrian President Bashar Assad told visitors to his palace in Damascus on Thursday.
Syrian President Bashar Assad gives an interview to Venezuelan state TV TeleSUR, Sept. 26. 2013. – Photo: REUTERS/SANA/Handout
He emphasized that he had no need for chemical weapons.
According to the report, which was carried by Hezbollah’s paper Al-Akhbar, Assad said this was because the situation in Syria “has never been better,” as “we created chemical weapons in the ’80s as a deterrent against Israel’s nuclear arsenal.
JERUSALEM – Syrian President Bashar Assad could cling to power for years despite having lost overall control of his country, according to Israel’s top commander on the frontier with Syria.
Yair Golan – Photo: Meshulam Levy/BESA Center
Major-General Yair Golan’s remarks, published on Wednesday in the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, reflected debate in Israel over Assad’s fate, 2-1/2 years into Syria’s civil war, after a US-Russian agreement to force him to give up his chemical weapons.
A Europe-based Syrian-opposition political activist who took part in the early stages of the uprising against the Syrian government told The Jerusalem Post he would like the Syrian and Israeli people to become partners, develop business connections and visit each other’s countries.
An Israeli soldier on the Golan Heights near Syria border – Photo: Reuters
The activist, who goes by the pseudonym Amin Muhammad, is working on forming a liberal Syrian party that would be pro-West and seek the normalization of relations with Israel.
By Elad Benari
A Syrian preacher recently accused Jews of being responsible for all the Muslims’ woes, including the ongoing civil strife throughout the Middle East.
Imam at Umayyad Mosque in Damascus – MEMRI screenshot
The remarks were made in a sermon at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, which aired on Syrian TV on June 28.
They were translated and posted by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
“Let us take a look at the history of mankind, which has recorded the true nature of the Jews, the slayers of prophets and violators of agreements. Continue Reading »
By Sara Gates
A Syrian doctor recently asked Israel for help in saving the life of a critically wounded patient. Continue Reading »
Israeli forces are “maintaining intense intelligence activity” in Syria and have “quietly” begun working with villagers there unallied to either the rebels or President Bashar Assad’s regime amid increasing fears that the Syrian civil war will spill over its borders, The New York Times reported on Thursday.
A United Nations observation tower overlooking Syria is seen near the Kuneitra border crossing between Israel and Syria, on the Golan Heights May 8, 2013.
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