Special to WorldTribune.com Compiled by Miles Yu, Geostrategy-Direct.com The regime of Syria’s Bashar Assad has been receiving a steady supply of weapons from Russia to boost its military capability and maintain its survival in the face of growing international condemnation. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov defended his country’s arms shipments to Damascus. “We don’t supply […]
Special to WorldTribune.com WASHINGTON — Congress has been mobilizing to provide U.S. support to the Syrian opposition. Key members of the House and Senate have been urging President Barack Obama to directly help the opposition to the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Several of them said the Obama administration should consider military assistance as […]
Special to WorldTribune.com NICOSIA — Lebanon has been threatened by the revolt in neighboring Syria. Clashes have erupted between supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad in northern Lebanon. Officials said the supporters consisted of Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah operatives as well as Syrian Alawite laborers who have long lived in Lebanon. “The security of Lebanon […]
Sol W. Sanders Minxin Pei, the most original of current Sinologists, makes the point authoritarian/totalitarian regimes inherently prioritize requirements for protecting regime leaders over long-term national interest. To preserve the former’s power, they sacrifice the latter’s needs. In the process, they encourage breakdown in the world order. Beijing is now demonstrating the phenomenon in spades. […]
Special to WorldTribune.com LONDON — Britain, in what could prompt other NATO members to do the same, has decided to equip the opposition against Syrian President Bashar Assad. Officials said the government of Prime Minister David Cameron would begin sending advanced non-lethal equipment to the Syrian opposition. They said this would include communications systems to […]
Special to WorldTribune.com NICOSIA — Syrian rebels have destroyed an oil refinery. State television said a rebel force attacked and shelled the refinery in Homs on Feb. 8. The report said two fuel storage tanks were bombed and set on fire. Syria’s energy sector has become a leading target of the rebel movement, based in […]
Special to WorldTribune.com WASHINGTON — The administration of President Barack Obama has ordered the military to draft options to oust the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Officials said the National Security Council and State Department were directing efforts to review a range of military options to topple the Assad regime in 2012. They said […]
Special to WorldTribune.com NICOSIA — Hizbullah has asserted that its only means of financial and military support stem from Iran. Hizbullah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah said Iran marked the sole supplier of the Shi’ite militia in Lebanon. Nasrallah said Hizbullah was not engaged in illicit financial activity, including drug trafficking and money-laundering. “We have been receiving […]
Special to WorldTribune.com NICOSIA — Hamas, amid threats by the regime of President Bashar Assad, has withdrawn its entire leadership out of Syria. Hamas sources said the movement has ordered the entire 15-member politburo to leave Syria. They said the revolt in Syria has made the country unsafe for its Palestinian wing. “Low-level Hamas members […]
John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may have lambasted Russia’s veto of a Security Council resolution on Syria, calling it a “travesty,” but did she really think for a moment that Moscow was going to ditch an old political ally? Did Hillary moreover really believe that Beijing was going to […]