“Hafiz Assad stole $17 billion during his 29 years ruling Syria, and he wasn’t interested in money,” a Syrian banker told Field. “Since Bashar took over in 2000, he ran Syria as a racket. Every transaction, every service was taxed. The war turned Syria into a full black market economy. Bashar’s thugs are estimated to have made hundreds of millions of dollars just from prisoners that they tortured and killed since 2013.”

“We are in a new phase of the Middle East’s regional conflict,” a Western diplomatic source told Field. On Wednesday [27 November 2024], Syrian armed groups based in the northwestern province of Idlib launched a major offensive towards Aleppo, Syria’s second city.

“Israel has a once in a century opportunity. ‘To make itself safer’, ‘to destroy Iran and its so-called Axis of Resistance’, ‘to expand Israel’s current territory and create Eretz Israel [Greater Israel]’, call it what you will, this Israeli government, which is itself extra-ordinary, can re-draw borders, move millions of people and re-shape the region in a way that it has never had before.” A Western diplomat based in the region told Field.

“Israel had discussed attacking Iranian military targets with allies, including the UK, prior to Saturday morning’s attack,” according to a Western diplomat briefed on the situation. Israeli open sources state that 20 military sites were hit and Iranian officials have confirmed that four Iranian soldiers were killed, who were believed to be operating at air defence sites.

“An attack on thousands of Hizbullah operatives simultaneously is a declaration of war,” wrote the Israeli journalist Avi Issacharoff in Israeli daily Yediot Aharanot today. Issacharoff is now famous as a co-creator of Fauda (“Chaos”), a gritty Israeli drama series covering an undercover Israeli military unit that dresses as Palestinians, the Musta’aravim (those who pretend to be Arabs). Yesterday’s attack in Lebanon could have come straight from the scriptwriters.

“We are edging ever closer to war across the Blue Line between Israel and Lebanon. It’s not in anyone’s interests but that doesn’t mean it’s not going to happen,” an Israeli analyst told Field over the weekend.

“Iran isn’t going to attack again. It’s all up to Israel what happens next,” a Western security source told Field."

There’s a 50-50 chance of a war between Hizbullah and Israel”, a Western security source based in the region told us 10 days ago.