For years, Syrian Christians had been praying for a revival. ‘But never did we imagine it would come because of war,’ said one church leader. Seven years of civil war has left Syria in ruins. Many of those who came from Christian families left early on in the war, a cause of great despair as church leaders watched their congregants slowly disappear.
Israel’s security cabinet has convened several times in recent days, holding ‘extremely significant’ meetings to discuss developments on the northern border and Iran’s presence in Syria.
Syrian army forces backed by Iranian-backed militias pushed deeper into the last rebel-held enclave near a strategic border area with Israel and Lebanon in a new expansion of Tehran’s influence in the war-torn country.
The Assad regime is gearing up to expand the area it controls in southern Syria, near the border with Israel.
Iran has virtually completed a ‘Shiite Crescent’ of influence across the heart of the Middle East, using a string of battlefield successes to link a network of allies and proxy forces now spanning from nation’s border with Iraq all the way to Lebanon.
Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, the chief commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), issued new threats against Israel on Thursday, vowing that any future conflict will be the Jewish state’s last.
Saad Hariri returned to Lebanon late Tuesday for the first time since he stunned his country by announcing from Saudi Arabia that he was quitting as prime minister more than two weeks ago.
The Palestinian terror group Hamas rejected on Monday an Arab League resolution labeling Lebanon’s Hezbollah a terrorist organisation.
Saudi Arabia warned Sunday that it would not stand idly by in the face of Iranian ‘aggression,’ as Bahrain said the Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah was “in total control” of Lebanon.
Gadi Eisenkot has offered to share Israeli intelligence about Iran with Saudi Arabia, in remarks published in a rare interview with a Saudi newspaper published in London.
Saad Hariri, who resigned as Lebanon’s Prime Minister on November 4, said on Sunday that he is free to leave Saudi Arabia, refuting claims that Riyadh had put him under house arrest.
The Arab League will hold an extraordinary meeting next Sunday at the request of Saudi Arabia to discuss ‘violations’ committed by Iran in the region, according to a memorandum.
The resignation of Saad Hariri as Lebanon’s prime minister has upended the country’s political establishment and escalated a war of words between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Saudi Arabia has ordered its citizens to leave Lebanon immediately, escalating a regional standoff with Iran centred on the fragile state, which it claims is being run by Tehran’s proxy, Hezbollah.
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani warned rival Saudi Arabia on Wednesday that it was making a mistake in aligning with Israel and the United States over Tehran.
Even for a country often used as a battleground by regional powers and their proxies, the sudden resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri has opened a new period of political uncertainty and fear in Lebanon.
The European Union on Wednesday affirmed support for Lebanon following the resignation of Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, echoing U.S. backing for the Beirut government which Saudi Arabia has accused of declaring war.
Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s abrupt resignation over the weekend was bizarre even by the often twisted standards of Lebanese politics: He made the surprise announcement from the Saudi capital in a pre-recorded message on a Saudi-owned TV station.
Iran’s top religious and political leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, urged all Muslims to engage in ‘different methods’ of fighting against Israel.
Hezbollah is planning to withdraw its forces from Syria in 2018 in order to bolster its presence along the border with Israel, Lebanese news site Lebanon 24 reported on Tuesday.