Reshaping the Middle East: why the West should stop its Interventions (2)

Syria: the project of creating a” jungle state” instead gave birth to a powerful Resistance movement By Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai Foreign intervention has pushed many Middle Eastern populations into poverty, at the same time making them more determined to confront and reject the global domination sought by the USA. The number of Middle Eastern […]

Reshaping the Middle East: why the West should stop its Interventions (1)

By Elijah J. Magnier – @ejmalrai Every single foreign intervention has made the Middle East reconfigure itself against the interventionists. It has harshly counter-attacked, creating the opposite of the insurgents’ desired effect. When we look at recent history (the last four decades since the PLO was expelled from Lebanon), the list is cataclysmic. We find […]

What are Russia and Turkey preparing for Syria? A disagreement in Sochi

By Elijah J. Magnier – @ejmalrai The 14thof February meeting in Sochi between the three Presidents (Russia, Turkey and Iran) is not expected to find solutions agreeable to all parties about the two main problem areas left in Syria: northeast Syria (Manbij to Qamishli/al-Hasaka), currently occupied by US forces, and Idlib city and its rural areas occupied […]

Iran to the Iraqis: do not attack US forces unless they refuse to withdraw following a parliamentary decision

By Elijah J. Magnier – US president Donald Trump’s statement of his intention to remain in Iraq in order to “be looking a little bit at Iran because Iran is a real problem” has created a political storm in Mesopotamia among local politicians and groups now determined to put an end to the US presence […]

ISIS could not return after US withdrawal from Syria and Iraq

By Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai The US Intelligence community claims that the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) will return within twelve months of any US withdrawal from Syria and will be able to control a wide sweep of territory. In 2014 ISIS occupied an area the size of Great Britain– analysts claim that ISIS would soon be able to control […]

Netanyahu misleads the Israelis about cross-border tunnels and “Operation Northern Shield”: Is he preparing an electoral war on Lebanon?

By Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai There is much talk in the Levant, in Syria and Lebanon, that Israel, and more precisely Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, is seriously contemplating a large-scale cross-border battle that could escalate into war to ensure his re-election. Notwithstanding his claims of a “tremendous success in “Operation Northern Shield” (ONS) launched last December, […]

Nasrallah challenges world intelligence services with a three-hour live interview

By Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai The leader of Hezbollah Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah challenged world intelligence services, notably the Israelis, who track him by the hour, during a three hour live broadcast interview with al-Mayadeen TV on Saturday. Nasrallah showed he has the technical ability to broadcast live for this length of time without fear of […]

Netanyahu’s election bombing campaign may lead to battle: Syria and Hezbollah have their fingers on the trigger

By Elijah J. Magnier – @ejmalrai Israel has attacked Syria many times during the last seven years of war imposed on Syria. It has run red-lights and broken taboos in order to provoke the “Axis of the Resistance” inside Syria, but has refrained from infuriating Hezbollah in Lebanon. Nevertheless, the most recent Israeli attack has […]

Putin-Erdogan Summit: Idlib and al-Hasaka strongly present and the Kurds are the biggest losers.

By Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai The two presidents, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, are meeting to discuss their long-term strategic-economic relationship. Nevertheless, the situation in Syria and the US claimed withdrawal from the occupied northeast of the Levant is expected to occupy the greater part of their discussion. Both presidents are aware of the […]

Lebanon needs air defence system: multiple attacks on Syria during the Arab Summit in Beirut

Beirut (Lebanon), by Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai Israeli jets carried out several waves of attacks, launching a total of 45 missiles first in daylight on Sunday and then again for 55 minutes after midnight. The Israeli attack on multiple Syrian targets coincided with the one day Arab Economic and Social Development Summit which began on […]

Will Trump and Soleimani trade Iraq for Syria?

Beirut by Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai Trump will pull out US forces in 30 days…. Trump won’t withdraw now… Trump will pull out from Syria in four months…The US forces began withdrawing military equipment but not the personnel… Trump will maintain a 20 mile buffer zone in Syria… All these contradictory announcements have come from […]

Israel has been weakened by the war on Syria: only 5% of the Iranian and Hezbollah arsenal has been destroyed in Syria

Beirut, Lebanon, By Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai Intelligence sources said “Israel wants Syria to return to the era before 2011 when the leaders of the country were less powerful and experienced than they are today after seven years of warfare, the delivery of Russian advanced equipment mostly for air defence, the supply and manufacturer of […]

Russian-Kurdish negotiations in Moscow: Turkey has defined its options and Washington is trying to gain time

By Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai Secret negotiations are ongoing in Moscow and Damascus between representatives of the Syrian Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Russian officials concerning the fate of Kurdish militants in Syria. The Kurdish delegation is hoping that Russia – and not the US – will adopt the role of guarantor of their safety and […]

Trump retreats from his promise of withdrawal while al-Qaeda makes progress in Syria

By Elijah J. Magnier – @ejmalrai Al-Nusra front – al-Qaeda rebranded as HTS (Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham) – is expanding its influence and military control over entire Syrian cities and villages in northern and western rural Aleppo. Abu Mohammad al-Joulani, the ex- ISIS (the Islamic State terror group) Emir of Syria and the self proclaimed Emir […]

Trump bows to domestic pressure by delaying his withdrawal from Syria; a storm is gathering in the Levant

By Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai In response to domestic pressure, Trump agreed to extend the deadline for withdrawal of thousands of US troops from the northeaster Syrian province of al-Hasaka from the initial 30 days previously announced until April this year. Journalistic warmongers and hawks in think-tanks and among the US establishment have been railing at […]

The Syrian army enters Manbij as Trump follows through on withdrawal: Iraq is next

By Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai The US presidential plane landed in the darkness of the Iraqi military base of Ayn al-Assad in west Anbar with Donald Trump onboard. But by the time his plane took off three hours later, Trump left behind a protocol-political-parliamentary storm in Mesopotamia as Iraqi members of parliament requested the departure […]

Trump is leaving behind a trap for Russia, Turkey and Iran in Syria

By Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai The US executive order of withdrawal from Syria has been signed off on, indicating that President Trump is determined to recall the few thousands US troops in Syria back home. It is well known that regular troops are much more vulnerable during withdrawal operations than in combat or deployment positions. Accordingly, […]

Erdogan does not object to Damascus’s control over al-Hasaka: the Kurds choose between loyalty to Syria or defeat by Turkey

Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai Following President Trump’s decision to withdraw US forces from occupied northeast Syria, the Kurds of al-Hasaka have for the last two days been negotiating with the government of Damascus on how to spare the province from a possible Turkish invasion. Syrian General Ali Mamlouk, the Syrian president’s special security advisor, says […]

Burying the axe of war: the Arabs will recognise Assad, and Arab investment will help rebuild Syria

By Elijah J. Magnier – @ejmalrai Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir made a historical visit to Syria, the first for an Arab leader since war was imposed on Syria in 2011. El-Bashir landed onboard a Russian airplane at Damascus airport, an indication of Moscow’s efforts to bring Syria back into the Arab – and international – fold. […]

New Rules of engagement between Syria and Israel, as Russia changes its position

By Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai Syria will adopt a new rule of engagement with Israel now that Russia has taken a tougher and clearer stance on the conflict between Israel and the “Axis of the Resistance”. Henceforth, Damascus will be responding to any Israeli strike. If it damages a specific military target it will reply with […]

Hezbollah and Israel on full alert on the borders: a popcorn operation!

By Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai Israel just announced the beginning of “Operation Northern Shield” to “destroy Hezbollah cross-border tunnels that pose an imminent threat to the safety of Israel”. Israel sent its Special Forces to protect its army engaged in searching for tunnels in case of a military reaction from Hezbollah. On the other […]

The US has Hezbollah’s allies in its sights, and the “Free Patriotic Movement” is no longer holding the balance.

By Elijah J. Magnier – @ejmalrai US sanctions on Hezbollah and its allies have limited effect; thus, the US is meddling in internal Lebanese politics, hoping to disrupt Hezbollah’s alliance with the Christians of Lebanon. Hezbollah considers the US administration’s sanctions on the group to be an ineffective power play. Hezbollah and its commanders don’t […]

Who boosted Qassem Soleimani’s image and spread Iran’s influence throughout the Middle East?

By Elijah J. Magnier – @ejmalrai Who was it that helped the Iranian General, head of the al-Quds brigade, Qassem Soleimani, to expand his influence and the circle of his allies in the Middle East? How did his name become so well-known and his reputation blown up out of all proportion? Behind Soleimani’s success we […]

Hezbollah in Lebanon: US hegemony is over

By Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai The policy of the US establishment towards Lebanon is evidently changing and unstable, with a President who lacks general knowledge about the Middle East and above all of Hezbollah’s role in the region. It seems President Donald Trump is willing to reduce military support to the Lebanese Army and to […]

After Lebanon 2006, Syria 2011 and Iraq 2014, the “Arab NATO” and a Sunni-Shia war to revive

By Elijah J. Magnier – @ejmalrai All wars initiated or supported by the US establishment – from the occupation of Iraq in 2003, the second Israeli war on Lebanon in 2006, the regime-change in Syria in 2011 and the occupation of a third of Iraq in 2014 – have failed in their goal of stoking […]