As the Syrian dictator bombs and gases civilians, tortures his citizens, terrorizes Lebanon, and keeps Hizballah’s supply lines open, the Obama administration has backed away from assurances that the U.S. would support his ouster. To the contrary, writes Tony Badran, American officials have been working surreptitiously to keep Assad in power:

Behind the scenes, administration heavies like Rob Malley, President Barack Obama’s favorite regional troubleshooter, Brett McGurk, [a diplomat tasked with coordinating international efforts against Islamic State], and others have been moving heaven and earth to ensure that the [Assad] regime prevails militarily in Aleppo and elsewhere on the Syrian battlefield. In fact, as Russia and its allies on the ground appear to be mobilizing for a push on Aleppo, the administration’s response has been to give them full cover, falsely claiming that the city is being held primarily by the Nusra Front. Then last Monday, the State Department spokesman John Kirby practically advised rebel groups in Aleppo to move out of their positions in the city lest they “get hurt.” . . .

While Obama’s Syria policy might appear like a response to recent events, it is continuous with a longstanding White House position. Proposals that would leave Assad as president, but with supposedly limited authorities, have been regularly floated since 2012, the year of Obama’s famous red line. . . .

[T]he Obama administration and its claque in the press have been [willing] to ignore the river of blood that Assad continues to leave in his wake. . . . Nor is Assad’s blood lust confined to Syrian civilians who oppose his rule—he murders plenty of other people too, including Americans. Shortly after taking power, Assad began directing jihadists from the world over via Syria to Iraq in order to kill American soldiers following the 2003 U.S. invasion of that country. Assad’s intelligence services directed the same network to do hits and detonate bombs in Jordan and Lebanon. . . .

And now, with near a half-million dead, millions of refugees, many deliberately ethnically cleansed, he gets to be part of a “political transition” in Syria and help draft a new “constitution” and run in “elections” that he will organize.

On Tuesday, a Hizballah drone attack injured three people in northern Israel. The next day, another attack, targeting an IDF base, injured eighteen people, six of them seriously, in Arab al-Amshe, also in the north. This second attack involved the simultaneous use of drones carrying explosives and guided antitank missiles. In both cases, the defensive systems that performed so successfully last weekend failed to stop the drones and missiles. Ron Ben-Yishai has a straightforward explanation as to why: the Lebanon-backed terrorist group is getting better at evading Israel defenses. He explains the three basis systems used to pilot these unmanned aircraft, and their practical effects:

These systems allow drones to act similarly to fighter jets, using “dead zones”—areas not visible to radar or other optical detection—to approach targets. They fly low initially, then ascend just before crashing and detonating on the target. The terrain of southern Lebanon is particularly conducive to such attacks.

But this requires skills that the terror group has honed over months of fighting against Israel. The latest attacks involved a large drone capable of carrying over 50 kg (110 lbs.) of explosives. The terrorists have likely analyzed Israel’s alert and interception systems, recognizing that shooting down their drones requires early detection to allow sufficient time for launching interceptors.

The IDF tries to detect any incoming drones on its radar, as it had done prior to the war. Despite Hizballah’s learning curve, the IDF’s technological edge offers an advantage. However, the military must recognize that any measure it takes is quickly observed and analyzed, and even the most effective defenses can be incomplete. The terrain near the Lebanon-Israel border continues to pose a challenge, necessitating technological solutions and significant financial investment.