Amira El-Fekki is a Newsweek reporter based in Dubai. Her focus is reporting on politics and society in the Middle East. She has in depth knowledge of Arab communities and has covered human rights ...

The opinions, facts and any media content in them are presented solely by the authors, and neither The Times of Israel ... southern Syria to be turned into a second southern Lebanon.

"To be honest, the Alawites clearly ask for international protection," a former Syrian diplomat told Newsweek.

Senior political sources describe Israel’s new security policy as a strategic shift, particularly concerning Arab states with which it has no peace agreements, such as Syria and Lebanon.

By Euan Ward Reporting from Beirut, Lebanon Israel has conducted new airstrikes on Syria’s coast and ground raids in the country’s south, part of a recent wave of attacks that Israel says are ...