There wasn't a moderate Syrian opposition before there was one

On Monday, I blogged a report from the Wall Street Journal that claimed that not all of the Syrian rebel troops are Islamists, and that the non-Islamists control substantial territory. Daniel Greenfield reports that the author of the Wall Street Journal report - Elizabeth O'Bagy - has been the source for reports in the past that claim that all the significant Syrian rebel factions are Islamist.

Report from Syria: There are moderates and they do control territory

Elizabeth O'Bagy has been to Syria many times over the past year, and reports that the stories about the rebels being dominated by al-Qaeda are not true. She says that while there are extremists among the rebels, there are also non-Islamists. She believes that an American attack on Bashar al-Assad ought to benefit the non-Islamists.

Contrary to many media accounts, the war in Syria is not

Syrian media publishes target list for Israel, Cyprus and... Turkey

Syrian media has published a list of targets that Syria plans to hit in the event that the United States attacks Syria. The targets are in Israel, Cyprus and Turkey. There's just one small problem: Syria's air force is reported to be on its last legs, and a US attack could be the end of it. This is from the first link.

Aerial photos of the purported targets were released by state
media, 

A proxy war?

Elliott Abrams has an interesting take on the possibility that the United States will attack Syria.

But there are 100,000 or more dead, and that is ignored if our
strikes focus narrowly on the chemical-weapons infrastructure. Most were
killed by bullets or artillery; are we content to watch another 100,000
killed the same way? One need not be a supporter of the “responsibility
to protect”

How the US found out Assad was using chemical weapons

For those of you who keep suggesting that maybe it was the rebels in Syria who used the chemical weapons... it wasn't (and that's not to say that they wouldn't if they had them) (Hat Tip: Memeorandum).

Last Wednesday, in the hours after a horrific chemical attack
east of Damascus, an official at the Syrian Ministry of Defense exchanged
panicked phone calls with a leader of a chemical weapons

Senator Ted Cruz slams Obama on Syria

Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tx) has the clearest thinking I can recall from any US official on what's going on in Syria.

Let's go to the videotape.

Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com

Report: Rebel forces trained by US, Israel and Jordan on their way to Damascus

In an earlier post, based on a report in the French newspaper Le Figaro, I reported that American and Israeli troops were in Syria. That may well be (and likely is) true. But it may not have been what was written in the Le Figaro story. JPost is now reporting, based on a report (the same report?) in Le Figaro, that 300 Syrian rebel troops trained by the US, Israel and Jordan are headed for

Report: American and Israeli troops in Syria

A report in Le Figaro, France's second largest daily, places US, Israeli and Jordanian troops in Syria, along with CIA agents.

From Le Figaro, google translated:


According to our information, the regime's
opponents, supervised by Jordanian, Israeli and American commandos
moving towards Damascus since mid-August. This attack could explain the possible use of the Syrian president to

France calls for armed intervention if chem weapons used in Syria

France is calling for armed intervention if chemical weapons were used in Syria.

"There would have to be reaction with force in Syria from the
international community, but there is no question of sending troops on
the ground," Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on French television
network BFM.

He added that if the UN Security Council could not make a decision, one
would have to be

Experts say nature of attack in Syria unclear, UN inspectors unlikely to be allowed near site

The alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria on Wednesday morning took place 15 minutes from where UN chemical weapons inspectors are located. Here's one of several very graphic videos that have been posted.

Let's go to the videotape.



But the inspectors may never get near the site of Wednesday morning's attack.

The information
coming out of the Ghouta region, where the rebels enjoy

Assad attacks his countrymen with chemical weapons

In an incredibly brazen attack (which the Syrian government is now denying), troops loyal to Bashar al-Assad shot a number of nerve gas-tipped missiles this morning at civilians in a suburb of Damascus. The reason why I call the attack Brazen? UN chemical weapons inspectors are currently in Syria....


15 missiles with nerve gas targeted Juber, Zamalka Ein Tarma, Duma and Mouadamiya #Damascus

Massive influx of Syrian refugees into Iraqi Kurdistan to escape al-Qaeda

To get a sense of what this story is about, look at the picture and look at the mass of humanity crossing the bridge in the background. Some 10,000 Syrians crossed into Iraqi Kurdistan on Saturday after 7,000 crossed on Thursday. But they're not escaping Assad (although they might fear him as well). They're escaping his Islamist rivals from al-Qaeda.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (

Should Syria be divided?

David Ignatius reports - and laments - the fact that Syria is breaking apart.

What this means, said Taqi, is that any attempt to broker a
diplomatic solution must begin with a cease-fire, and with combatants
holding different slices of territory. The future Syria that emerges
will have to be a more decentralized state, reflecting the intense
feelings of communal separation and rage that

Syrian civil war spilling over into Israel?

A surprise IDF drill in the Golan Heights shows that the IDF is preparing for the possibility of the Syrian civil war spilling over into Israel.

A key battalion of the IDF’s Nahal infantry brigade held a surprise war drill
this week, mobilizing troops from around the country to a staging area in the
North, and launching a live-fire exercise together with other army
units.

Lt.-Col. Menny

Assad escapes assassination attempt

Embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad escaped an assassination attempt by rebels on his way to Eid al-Fitr prayer services on Thursday.

Video footage distributed by the Tahrir al-Sham rebels showed smoke
rising from what it said was the Malki district, where Assad and his
close aides have homes. Other activists also reported rocket fire into
the area.Syria's government denied the

Did the IAF hit missiles being hidden in Homs? (With video)

The New York Times reported on Thursday that at least some of the Russian Yakhont missiles that Syria was hiding in Latakia were not in the warehouses when Israel allegedly struck them on July 5. This is from the first link.

While the warehouse was destroyed, American
intelligence analysts have now concluded that at least some of the
Yakhont missiles had been removed from their launchers and

Reports: Israel attacked another weapons convoy headed for Hezbullah

Reports in Arab media, including in media affiliated with the Syrian rebels, claim that Israel attacked another weapons convoy headed for Hezbullah from Syria on Saturday.
Arab media outlets and
websites affiliated with Syrian opposition forces reported on Saturday
that Israeli fighter jets seen flying over Quneitra bombed a weapons
convoy intended to reach Hezbollah.



It was also