Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. AFP archive photo
Since Oct. 8, neither the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip nor the tensions between Israel and Hezbollah have elicited any major reaction from the Syrian regime. While the situation in Lebanon deteriorated badly over the weekend, and the country teetered on the brink of all-out war after Monday’s Israeli strikes in the south and the Bekaa Valley — which killed at least 569 people and wounded more than 1,600 others — Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad remained impassive.On the official social media accounts, not a word was said about the situation in Lebanon. The latest announcement by the presidential office on Twitter has been about the appointment of Faisal al-Miqdad as vice president and the formation of a new cabinet.The silence on the Lebanese situation is all the more striking given that Hezbollah is not Hamas. The fact that the...
Since Oct. 8, neither the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip nor the tensions between Israel and Hezbollah have elicited any major reaction from the Syrian regime. While the situation in Lebanon deteriorated badly over the weekend, and the country teetered on the brink of all-out war after Monday’s Israeli strikes in the south and the Bekaa Valley — which killed at least 569 people and wounded more than 1,600 others — Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad remained impassive.On the official social media accounts, not a word was said about the situation in Lebanon. The latest announcement by the presidential office on Twitter has been about the appointment of Faisal al-Miqdad as vice president and the formation of a new cabinet.The silence on the Lebanese situation is all the more striking given that Hezbollah is not Hamas. The fact that...