Israel Makes Indirect Admission to Air Strike in Syria

iStockphoto/Thinkstock(MUNICH) -- Israel finally delivered a public yet coy statement on Sunday about last week's assault on a truck convoy inside Syria.

At a security conference in Munich, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak insisted he could not "add anything to what you have read in the newspapers about what happened in Syria several days ago," seemingly continuing his government’s silence on the issue.

However, Barak then told reporters, "It's another proof that when we say something we mean it.  We say that we don't think that it should be allowable to bring advanced weapon systems into Lebanon, the Hezbollah from Syria, when [Syrian President Bashar al-] Assad falls."

U.S. and Western officials said that Israeli war jets hit the convoy that were carrying surface-to-air missiles from Syria to Hezbollah, a powerful political force in Lebanon and Israel's sworn enemy.  The action was condemned by Syria, Hezbollah, Iran and Russia.

According to Syria's official news agency SANA, Israel struck a military research center northeast of the capital that left several people dead and destroyed part of the facility.

Later, Syrian President al-Assad accused Israel of attempting to wreak havoc in his country in the wake of last week's raid by its war jets.

In his first public comments about the assault, al-Assad argued the attack "unmasked the true role Israel is playing...to destabilize and weaken Syria."

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Syria and Allies Condemn Israeli Air Strike

iStockphoto/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- There was still no word from the Israeli government Thursday confirming an air strike earlier in the week that targeted a truck convoy in Syria that U.S. officials say was carrying missiles to the Hezbollah in Lebanon.

However, Syria, Iran, Russia and the Hezbollah have all condemned the attack, which Damascus initially claimed was an assault against a scientific research facility outside the capital.

The Hezbollah denied that it was receiving arms shipments from its ally, while the Iranian government warned Israel's action would cause "grave consequences for Tel Aviv."

Moscow, another staunch ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, added that the attack "blatantly violates the United Nations Charter and is unacceptable and unjustified, whatever its motives."

According to U.S. officials, Syria was transporting SA-17s to Lebanon.  Meanwhile, there was confusion over whether the Israelis actually attacked a Syrian facility as well as the truck convoy.

In spite of the potential for the two-year Syrian conflict to escalate because of the incident, it's expected that Israel will conduct future preemptive strikes to protect its borders.

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Israel and Syria Differ on Target of Israeli Air Strike

iStockphoto/Thinkstock(DAMASCUS, Syria) -- In spite of evidence to the contrary, the Syrian government on Wednesday accused Israel of conducting an air strike against one of its military facilities in Damascus the day before.

According to a report by Syria's official news service, two workers were killed while the alleged attack "caused significant material damage and the destruction of the complex."

The story contradicts that of U.S. and regional officials who say that Israeli war jets actually bombed a truck convoy suspected of carrying missiles near Syria's border with Lebanon.

While the Israelis would not comment on the report, its leaders have been concerned that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is shipping weapons to Hezbollah, the ruling Islamic militant faction in Lebanon that has called for the destruction of Israel.

Hezbollah has denied that it was preparing to receive any new arms from Damascus.

Regardless of which account is true, the incident could trigger a widening of the two-year Syrian conflict that has cost more than 60,000 lives.  Until this week, Israel has limited its engagement in the civil war, only firing at a Syrian artillery vehicle last year when Syrian mortar shells landed in the Golan Heights.

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Group Charges Syrian Government with Executing Scores of Men

JOSEPH EID/AFP/Getty Images(DAMASCUS, Syria) -- An opposition group is accusing the Syrian government of war atrocities after the bodies of dozens of men were reportedly pulled from a river in the northern city of Aleppo.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it received an amateur video showing the corpses of men between the ages of 20 and 30 being taken from the water and placed in a truck.

According to the group, the victims were killed execution-style with gunshots to the head.

So far, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says that less than 20 of the victims have been identified with the death toll expected to go as high as 80.

The Syrian government has not responded to the video of what appears to be a summary execution.

Throughout the two-year conflict, human rights groups have accused both sides of wanton killings of civilians.

At least 60,000 people have died in Syria since the government crackdown on pro-democracy forces began in March 2011.

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Is Syrian President's Wife Pregnant?

MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP/Getty Images(BEIRUT) -- Amid all the instability in Syria comes word that President Bashar al-Assad's wife is pregnant.

If the report in the Beirut-based al-Akhbar newspaper is true, it would be the fourth child for the president and Asma al-Assad, 37.

Word of the pregnancy was apparently confirmed by Bashar himself during an interview and based on previous rumors that have floated around for the past few months.  His wife is due to give birth in March.

The pregnancy is welcome news to the family and its supporters although it will likely have no bearing on the future conduct of the two-year civil war that has left more than 60,000 people dead.

Bashar has vowed to remain in power despite international pressure to step down while opposition forces remain equally determined to overthrow the president's 12-year regime.

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Iran, Russia Denounce Missile Batteries on Turkey's Border with Syria

iStockphoto/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- NATO's deployment of Patriot missile batteries in some areas of Turkey's border with Syria has not just disturbed Damascus but also its close allies, Russia and Iran.

Last year, NATO members approved the batteries as purely defensive measures in case the two-year conflict between President Bashar al-Assad's forces and rebel fighters spills over into Turkey.

However, Moscow and Tehran see the deployment of missiles and about 400 troops from the U.S., Germany and the Netherlands as a provocative move that could make the Syrian civil war even more explosive.

In fact, Ali Akbar Velayati, a top aide to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned on Saturday that any incursion into Syria would also be considered an attack on Iran.

The border shared by Turkey and Syria has been volatile, with Syrians fleeing to refugee camps and supplies moving from Turkey into Syria to assist the rebel cause.

While occasional mortar shells have strayed into Turkey, no Syrian missiles have entered into its airspace as of yet.

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UN Warns of Major Food Shortages in Syria

BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- The growing humanitarian crisis in Syria resulting from the two-year civil war now includes dramatic food shortages and steep price increases on everyday supplies.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization warned on Wednesday that Syria’s farming sector was now in "tatters" with wheat and barley, staples of the Syrian diet, in rapidly diminishing supply.

Having seen the devastation firsthand, FAO Director of Emergencies Dominique Burgeon said, "I was very saddened by the situation.  The mission was struck by the plight of the Syrian people."

Much of the warfare between government and rebel forces has taken place in Syria's northern agricultural belt near the major cities of Aleppo and Idlib.  With opposition fighters cutting off supply routes, city residents have been particularly susceptible to food shortages.

Meanwhile, the conflict has also jeopardized the livelihoods of many of the tens of millions of Syrians whose jobs are tied to agriculture industry.

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Small Group of Russian Expatriates Forced to Leave Syria

iStockphoto/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- In what may be a portent of things to come, about 100 Russians who live in Syria are getting ready to go back to their homeland.

The Russians were described as having lost their homes due to the ongoing fighting in Syria.  They arrived in Lebanon on Tuesday and were flown into Moscow.

Russia has previously dropped hints that it may have to eventually order a large-scale evacuation of its population living in Syria, numbering around 30,000.  However, there has been no official announcement of this happening even as violence continues to escalate between the Syrian government and rebels in a bloody conflict that has gone on for two years.

Despite Moscow's inaction, there is deep concern that longtime ally, President Bashar al-Assad, won't be able to hold onto power for much longer.

There could be increased pressure to evacuate Russians from Syria if the government falls and the country enters a sustained period of instability.

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Bashar Al-Assad's Mother Leaves Syria

Sasha Mordovets/Getty Images(DAMASCUS, Syria) -- Will Syrian President Bashar al-Assad soon follow his mother out the door?

According to various foreign published reports, his mother, Anisa Makhluf, has gone to live with al-Assad's only sister, Bushra al-Assad, in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

It was last July that Bushra al-Assad's husband and the president's brother-in-law, Gen. Assef Shawkat, was killed by a bomb blast in Damascus, along with three other high-ranking members of the Syrian regime.

The departure of Bashar's mother could be considered a major blow to the Syrian leader since he relies heavily on the advice of family members.

Bashar's only living brother, Maher, heads the Syrian army's Fourth Brigade, which has battled rebel forces who are determined to remove the president from power.

In another sign of Bashar's declining influence, large groups of businessmen and wealthy Syrians with close links to the government have also sought refuge in Dubai.

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Activists Accuse Syrian President's Followers of Killing Dozens

Alessio Romenzi/AFP/Getty Images(DAMASCUS, Syria) -- As many as 106 Syrians were reportedly killed this week when pro-government forces besieged the village of Haswiyeh outside the city of Homs.

Activists said on Thursday that the alleged onslaught by troops and their followers actually occurred two days earlier.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the fighters showed no mercy to the villagers, killing men, women and children and burning their homes to the ground.

The activists also claimed that the purported massacre, which has been denied by the Syrian government, had a sectarian motive to it.

The victims were Sunni Muslims, the human rights group said, while many of the attackers were apparently from a nearby Shiite-dominated village.

President Bashar al-Assad belongs to an off-shoot Shiite sect while the majority of rebels are believed to be Sunni.

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