World View: 80,000 Hezbollah-Trained Syrian Soldiers Ready to Retake Aleppo

This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

• 80,000 Hezbollah-trained Syrian soldiers ready to retake Aleppo
• Hamas rebukes its former ally, Hezbollah, over Syria
• Israel toughens law against ‘Price Tag’ attacks

80,000 Hezbollah-trained Syrian soldiers ready to retake Aleppo

Kuwaiti protesters burn a picture of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah (AFP)

Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s regime’s army, with some 80,000military forces trained by Hezbollah, is preparing to launch a massiveground offensive to recapture the city of Aleppo. Hezbollah and theregime army cooperated two weeks ago in the stunning recapture ofQusair, which was accomplished by flattening the entire city withheavy weapons, killing thousands of civilians, combined with street tostreet fighting by Hezbollah militants. Hezbollah claims that theirfighters will not be participating in the battle of Aleppo, but thatit will be “supervising and providing military tactical advice on howto coordinate and conduct the offensive.” The recapture of Aleppowill mark a significant turning point in the Syrian war, and mightsignal that the end of the war is near, with a significant victory foral-Assad, Hezbollah, Iran and Russia, and significant humiliation forTurkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United States. Al-Arabiya (Dubai)

Hamas rebukes its former ally, Hezbollah, over Syria

The fallout from Hezbollah’s active participation in the Syrian war onthe side of president Bashar al-Assad continues to grow. Most MideastMuslims, both Sunni and Shia, used to love (Shia) Hezbollah because ofits leadership in the “resistance” to Israel. But Hezbollah hasopened a continually growing Shia-Alawite versus Sunni fault that’sbecoming increasingly vitriolic each day. Thus, the official SaudiPress Agency published a statement calling Hezbollah a “loathsome,sectarian” group. And last week, Egypt did an about-face and severedall diplomatic relations with Syria, and the Arab nations in the GulfCooperation Council (GCC) voted to impose sanctions against Hezbollah.On Monday, Hamas, which used to be a close ally with Hezbollah andeven had its headquarters in Damascus, Syria’s capital city, is nowslamming Hezbollah, and demanding that it withdraw from Syria.Sectarian tensions are growing across the Mideast, and the comingbattle of Aleppo, and an expected Shia-Alawite victory, will onlyexacerbate them further. The National (UAE) and Al-Arabiya and Bloomberg

Israel toughens law against ‘Price Tag’ attacks

I’ve reported on several occasions about so-call “price tag” attacksby Jewish settlers on Palestinians in the West Bank. The phraserevenge attacks against Palestinians or IDF soldiers in response tomoves by the Israeli government to evacuate illegal West Bankoutposts, or as retribution for attacks by Palestinians. The attackshave usually been against mosques or other property, and sometimeseven Christian property, but they’ve occasionally crossed the lineinto violence against Palestinians. However, no one has ever beenprosecuted for “price tag” attacks. Israel’s cabinet on Sunday issueda statement saying that “Price Tag” organizations will now bedesignated as “illicit organizations,” which will allow theauthorities to seize properties and bank accounts belonging to groupmembers, and to take more severe measures against them in courts.However, Israel stopped short of designating them as “terroristorganizations.” Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu justified thisdecision by saying that this Jewish group cannot be compared withalso reflect badly on Israel Middle East Monitor and Reuters

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