The New Arab
Israel's defence minister has said Syria's six-year war is coming to an end and one victor has clearly emerged - Bashar al-Assad.
Controversial Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman told Israeli news site Walla! that the regime was clearly victorious over the rebels, in a war that has cost half-a-million lives.
"Assad has emerged victorious in the battle. Suddenly, everyone wants to get closer to Assad," he said.
"I see that there is now a long line of countries applauding and wooing Assad, including Western (and) moderate Sunni Muslim (states)."
War broke out in Syria when regime forces fired on protesters in 2011, leading to mass defections from the army to join the armed opposition. The brutal war has been marked by indiscriminate bombing by the Syrian regime.
The balance shifted in Assad's favour when Moscow joined the war with Russia launching its first air strikes in September 2015.
Iran helped on the ground funnelling in thousands of militia fighters after the Syrian army was decimated from defections and battlefield deaths.
The situation has seen the rebels now contained in Idlib province and limited to pockets of land around central and southern Syria and eastern Damascus.
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/News/2017/10/3/Assad-victorious-in-Syria-war-Israel-defence-minister-claims
