Lost the original.

Oh well.

Another time, but it's not a one way trip with the cannibalism.

Phil

It's just that he does not like the other guys

No ill take your word for it. Does that excuse cold blooded murder?

Personally I don't think you can compare the conflicts, both how exactly they started and how the respective governments reacted. Yes, you can pick up on activities since both started equally as bad as one another but it is the extreme level in which Assad insists the family business must continue at any cost.

School kids in Daraa writing grafitti and one of said children being shot dead to this a couple of days ago;

This bomb was dropped on it's people by it's own president;

https://twitter.com/TheMoeDee/status/3356326725818...

This could not and will not happen in Bahrain due to at least one fact in that the US Fleet are based there.

Phil

EU helps ignite oil war between factions

What an absolute f'ing mess.

Aside from the genius military strategy of fighting the war by throwing millions of dollars at Jabhat al-Nusra, this paragraph caught my eye:

So, Iraqi tanks have already crossed in to Syria and the Kurds control Al Hasakah, presumably also controlling the NE area that directly borders on to the Kurdish autonomous region of northern Iraq. Would it be cynical of me to suggest that whatever the outcome in Syria, the Kurds will be none too willing to give this area back?

I think your assumption that Israel has just woken up to this is very much incorrect. None of this is exactly a major shock to those who know more about ME politics than just the basic reports we see on mainstream media here.

One pof the nice things though about ME politics is the general predictablity of Israel. They cannot morally or strategically allow Hesbollah to get more sophisticated weapons and will do what they ened to to try to prevent that. They simply have no choice so the consequences are not terribly important. However, they will I imagine have US support for doing that.

As for supporting Assad, no need. Nor is there a need to support the rebels. If they support one and the other wins they have a far more difficult position so the logical thing to do is hammer anything they can that will hobble Hesbollah interests and stay uninvolved wioth the rest as they have tended to with the whole Arab spring.

Even them calling for intervention, or making any show of support for eithr side would be extremely destabilising for the region so why would they do so until the outcome is much clearer.

Perhaps, but the rest of the world is a little less concerned about rockets being chucked at them by whichever side wins! Realistically, whatever happens runs a strong risk of strenghtening Hezbollah and indeed Iran. That is the key concern in Israel and that is what their foreign policy, both publically stated and otherwise, will focus on I suspect.

If Assad falls, I think it could play in Hezbollah hands long term. A power vacuum with Iran ready to help fund Hezbollah perhaps....

The thing is, Assad provides land, routes for weapons people and funds etc and possibly more to Hezbollah. I know fairly little about buying and smuggling weapons in the terrorist world but I assume that Iran will find other ways if need be.

Interestingly, if Assad survives, Hezbollah now have a significant footprint in Syria and much in the same way that cost Lebannon dear so to will it cost Assad. Only true winner in this situation stands to be Iran which is exactly why Israel will, IMHO, focus all its energies in that direction.

I agree the land route thing would presumably make life more difficult but weapons seem to manage to get to those who want them so I am sure they have other ways. Could be wrong though, my knowledge of gun running is a tad limited :-P

The thing that makes Hez so interesting is that they never seem to lack for manpower. Even if they get even more involved in Syria, Hezbollah is at heart a very intelligantly organised semi-army and I would imagine their leaders and indeed those in Iraq would not want to see that force degraded too much as they are really the only ones who can do the kind of action they do against Israel.

The ground to air weapons are not just a threat if theyland up with Hezbollah although I think you are probably right that air power will be more and more important on Israels border with Lebannon. Israel learnt a very hard lesson in the 67 war when it initially struggled to deal with the Egyptian army as they had some very sophisticated anti aircraft weapons. Air power is absolutly vital to Israels military, both offensive and defensive. If they fall into the hands of Hezbollah and end up, as they almost certainly will, ensconced and fired from civilian areas then Israel faces a significant political and military issue. I do wonder if they will not use the Hezbollah involvement in Syria and the distraction that presumably creates to create a little trouble of their own.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/pomegranate/2013/05/syrias-fighters-0