NEWS MAX: Israel sought to persuade Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday that its recent airstrikes around Damascus did not aim to weaken him in the face of a more than two-year-old rebellion. Syria called the attacks tantamount to a “declaration of war,” but did not outline how it would retaliate.
Officials say Israel is reluctant to take sides in Syria’s civil war for fear its actions would boost Islamists who are even more hostile to Israel than the Assad family, which has maintained a stable stand-off with the Jewish state for decades.
But Israel has repeatedly warned it will not let Assad’s ally Hezbollah receive hi-tech weaponry… (more)
