Amman: Lebanese Hezbollah militants attacked a Syrian rebel-held town alongside Syrian troops on Sunday and Israel threatened more attacks on Syria to rein the militia in, highlighting the risks of a wider regional conflict if planned peace talks fail.
Activists said it was the fiercest fighting in Syria's two year-old civil war involving Hezbollah, a Shi'ite group backed by Iran which they said appeared to be helping President Bashar al-Assad secure a vital corridor in case Syria fragments.
Speaking from Qusair near the border with Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, activist Hadi Abdallah said Syrian warplanes bombed the town in the morning and shells were hitting the town at a rate of up to 50 a minute. At least 32 people were killed.
"The army is hitting Qusair with tanks and artillery from the north and east while Hezbollah is firing mortar rounds and multiple rocket launchers from the south and west," he said....
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06:23 AM, May 20, 2013
Moscow: Russia and the United States agreed to seek new peace talks with both sides to end Syria's civil war, but opposition leaders were sceptical on Wednesday of an initiative they fear might let President Bashar al-Assad hang on to power. Mindful the conflict may be far from over, Britain has urged fellow European Union states to lift an arms embargo, arguing it would strengthen those rebel groups favoured by...
07:27 AM, May 09, 2013
Moscow/Beirut: Russia and the United States have agreed to bury their differences over Syria and hold urgent international talks to find a settlement that can end the carnage of a civil war that is inflaming the entire Middle East. Visiting Moscow after Israel bombed targets near Damascus and as President Barack Obama faces new calls to arm the rebels, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Russia had agreed to...
05:58 AM, May 08, 2013
Amman: Israel played down weekend air strikes reported to have killed dozens of Syrian soldiers close to Damascus, saying they were not aimed at influencing its neighbour's civil war but only at stopping Iranian missiles reaching Lebanese Hezbollah militants. Oil prices spiked above $105 a barrel, their highest in nearly a month, on Monday as the air strikes on Friday and Sunday prompted fears of a wider spillover of the...
06:10 AM, May 07, 2013
Jerusalem: Israel sought to persuade Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday that its recent air strikes around Damascus did not aim to weaken him in the face of a more than two-year-old rebellion. Officials say Israel is reluctant to take sides in Syria's civil war for fear its actions would boost Islamists who are even more hostile to Israel than the Assad family, which has maintained a stable stand off...
05:30 PM, May 06, 2013
Israel has deployed two anti-missile batteries close to the Syrian border. The move follows another strike from the air against targets in Syria. State TV says Israel was behind the attack that targeted a military research site northeast of Damascus. Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister is calling the strike a "declaration of war". ...
09:58 AM, May 06, 2013
JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made no mention at a public appearance on Sunday of Israeli air strikes on Syria in recent days but spoke pointedly about a commitment to keeping Israel secure. "(My father) taught me that the greatest responsibility we have is to ensure Israel's security and guarantee its future," he said, dedicating a highway interchange named after his late father, Benzion Netanyahu, a historian who died a...
07:09 AM, May 06, 2013
Beirut: Israel rushed to beef up its rocket defenses on its northern border on Sunday to shield against possible retaliation after carrying out two airstrikes in Syria over 48 hours - an unprecedented escalation of Israeli involvement in the Syrian civil war. Syria and its patron Iran hinted at possible retribution, though the rhetoric in official statements appeared relatively muted. Despite new concerns about a regional war, Israeli officials signaled...
06:19 AM, May 06, 2013
Beirut: Israeli warplanes struck areas in and around the Syrian capital on Sunday, setting off a series of explosions as they targeted a shipment of highly accurate, Iranian-made guided missiles believed to be bound for Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group, officials and activists said. The attack, the second in three days and the third this year, signaled a sharp escalation of Israel's involvement in Syria's bloody civil war. Syrian state media...
09:16 PM, May 05, 2013
Beirut: Israel carried out its second air strikes in days on Syria early on Sunday, a Western intelligence source said, in an attack that shook Damascus with a series of powerful blasts and drove columns of fire into the night sky. Israel declined to comment, but explosions hit the city a day after an Israeli official said his country had carried out an air strike targeting a consignment of missiles...
01:28 PM, May 05, 2013
Beirut: The Lebanese Hezbollah's political council has said the group stands ready to engage in the fight to prevent Syria's collapse as well as being controlled by Israel and the US, a media report said. Ibrahim Amin al-Sayyed, head of the council, said the reason behind being involved in the Syrian crisis was that "we do not accept Syria being under control of this (Israeli-US) axis", Xinhua reported. He said...
10:07 AM, May 05, 2013
Jaipur: A delegation from Rajasthan led by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot now visiting Israel held talks with officials on cooperation in agriculture, horticulture and water resources, a statement issued here said on Sunday. Cooperation in water management, particularly drip and sprinkler irrigation in water-deficient Rajasthan, was also discussed, the statement said. "Israel is among the front-runners in desert agriculture management. With cooperation from Israel, coordinated management of horticulture and water...
04:55 AM, Apr 29, 2013
Brussels: US Secretary of State John Kerry urged NATO on Tuesday to prepare for the possible use of chemical weapons by Syria on the same day that a senior Israeli military intelligence official said Syrian President Bashar Assad had used such weapons in March 2013 in his battle against insurgents. It was the first time Israel had accused the embattled Syrian leader of using his stockpile of nonconventional weapons. The...
07:28 AM, Apr 24, 2013
Istanbul: The United States asked Turkey's leader to delay a Gaza Strip visit so as not to upset US efforts to revive Ankara's ties with Israel and Middle East peace talks, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who has for years spoken of his desire to visit the Palestinian enclave, said last week he planned to go in late May 2013 after an...
02:00 AM, Apr 22, 2013
Washington: President Barack Obama on Tuesday said that an independent Israel has no greater friend and ally than the United States, as he marked the 65th anniversary of Israel's independence. "On the 65th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel, I join my fellow Americans in wishing the Israeli people a joyous Independence Day. On this date 65 years ago, the Jewish people realised their dream of the...
01:20 AM, Apr 17, 2013
New Delhi: Seeking to avoid allegations of favouritism and scams in acquisitions, the Defence Ministry is planning to put an end to single-vendor tenders and is expected to issue directions to the Services headquarters soon in this regard. The Ministry is considering formulation of a policy in this regard and it is expected to be reflected in the forthcoming new version of the Defence Procurement Procedure, which will be given...
09:21 PM, Apr 14, 2013
Jerusalem: Israel shut a crossing with Gaza after rockets were fired from the Hamas-ruled territory at the Jewish state on the day it commemorated the Holocaust. The military said it closed the Kerem Shalom terminal on Monday. Another crossing would be open for humanitarian cases only, it said. Israel has blockaded the coastal territory since the Islamic militant Hamas took over in 2007. Israeli police said several rockets were fired...
01:00 PM, Apr 08, 2013
Israel and Turkey agreed to restore full diplomatic relations on Friday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized in a phone call for a deadly naval raid against a Gaza-bound international flotilla in a dramatic turnaround partly brokered by President Barack Obama. Joint interests between the two countries, including fears that the Syrian civil war could spill over their respective borders, and some cajoling by Obama made the time ripe to...
11:57 AM, Mar 23, 2013
President Barack Obama was greeted with calls of "We love you" when he visited Cairo in his first term, seeking to turn the page on the Bush era with talk of a new beginning for ties between the United States and the Muslim world. Four years on, Egyptians who attended the Cairo University speech feel let down, a view that hardened when Obama, who has had a volatile relationship with...
11:44 AM, Mar 23, 2013
Israel and Turkey agreed to restore full diplomatic relations on Friday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized in a phone call for a deadly naval raid against a Gaza-bound international flotilla in a dramatic turnaround partly brokered by President Barack Obama. ...
07:33 AM, Mar 23, 2013
