Daniel Brode

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“The conventional army loses if it does not win. The guerrilla wins if he does not lose.” Henry Kissinger’s observation, made during the Vietnam War, should be haunting Hezbollah, the Middle East’s most capable guerrilla force, as it becomes embroiled in an increasingly costly effort to save the Assad regime.

In a meticulously planned operation in October, units linked to the Free Syrian Army in the city of Qusayr near the Lebanon border killed Ali Hussein Nassif, who was quickly exposed as commander of all Hezbollah forces in Syria. His death shed light on the extent of the group’s involvement in the conflict.…  Seguir leyendo »

After almost a century of fighting, the nomadic Tuareg people of North Africa are suddenly on the verge of accomplishing one of their premier goals — securing the territory needed to establish the state of Azawad in northern Mali.

The gains are among the unexpected consequences of the fall of Muammar el-Qaddafi in Libya, where many Tuaregs were active during the civil war, and of an alliance between them and Islamists in Mali.

The speed and firepower of the latest Tuareg offensive, which resulted in the seizure of large swaths of territory, was unexpected. Even before the fighting made headlines over the past week, town after town along the northern Mali-Algeria border had been falling to the Tuaregs and their National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad.…  Seguir leyendo »

Russia has been steadfast in its diplomatic support for the embattled regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, even as Assad becomes ever more isolated within the Arab League and the international community.

The Kremlin sent a strong message earlier this month when its aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, anchored off the Syrian port of Tartus. Then last week, Moscow said a draft resolution introduced at the U.N. Security Council by the Arab League calling on Assad to step aside “crosses our red lines.”

Russia’s support for Syria dates back to the days of the Soviet Union. The continuing partnership can be attributed to several factors — historic ties, economic interests and geopolitics.…  Seguir leyendo »