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| Assad may prevail against Syrian rebels: Israeli minister |
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.jpg) Syrian President Bashar al-Assad may prevail in the more than two-year-old insurgency, Israel's intelligence minister said on Monday, Reuters reported.
Yuval Steinitz, minister for international affairs, strategy and intelligence, was asked at a briefing with foreign journalists whether recent successes by Assad's forces against the foreign-backed rebels might herald victory for the Syrian leader.
"I always thought that it might be the case that at the end of the day Assad, with a very strong… Hezbollah backing, might gain the upper hand," Steinitz said.
"And I think that this is possible and I thought that this is possible already a long time ago."
Steinitz, who is not a member of Israel's security cabinet but does have access to intelligence updates as well as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ear, said Assad's government "might not just survive but even regain territories" from the rebels.
He declined to comment further on a possible Assad victory, citing Israel's policy of not meddling publicly in Syria.
However, Israeli defense and foreign ministries received Steinitz's remarks coolly.
"This is Steinitz's personal informed - or rather, misinformed - position," said one Israeli diplomat who asked not to be named.
Netanyahu spokesman Mark Regev said Steinitz was speaking for himself and that the Israeli government did not have a formal position on Assad's prospects.
In June 2011, only three months after the Syrian unrest began, then-Defense Minister Ehud Barak, the lone centrist in the previous government also led by Netanyahu, forecast Assad's fall "within weeks".
Last week, Syrian troops established control over the strategic city of Qusayr following weeks of heavy clashes with foreign-backed militants. Syrian troops were backed by forces from the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah during the Qusayr operation.
The Syrian Army is now in control of most of the towns and villages near the border with Lebanon.
There have been reports of heavy clashes between government forces and militants in Aleppo, Lattakia, Idlib, Deir Ezzor and several Damascus suburbs.
The Syria crisis began in March 2011, and many people, including large numbers of government forces, have been killed.
Damascus says the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the militants are foreign nationals.
The Syrian government says the West and its regional allies, such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, are supporting the militants.
In addition, several international human rights organizations say the militants operating in Syria have committed war crimes.
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