Embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad acknowledged on Sunday his troops are no longer able to defend the entire country due to a “shortage of manpower.” Assad’s rare speech in the capital city of Damascus follows a recent string of rebel advances and comes a day after his government declared amnesty for military deserters and draft dodgers.
Government forces have been hamstrung by defections, desertions, and deaths in the four-year war that’s killed more than 230,000 people.
Assad, who controls less than half of Syria’s pre-war territory, admitted his forces had to give up some areas in order to protect key fronts, but dismissed claims that his government was on the verge of collapse. Read more at the Washington Post.
{CB Frommer-Matzav.com}
Israel should take over Syria. According to many pshatim, Eretz Yisroel extends all the way up into current day Syria. Look in the midrashim as to how the Shivatim were given their portions in Eretz Yisroel upon entering. It goes past current day Beirut.