NYT | Near Damascus, Hezbollah fighters are defending the shrine of Sayida Zeinab, revered by Shiite Muslims, from encroaching Sunni rebels. To the north, they are not just part of a Syrian government drive to take back the strategic town of Qusair, rebels say, they are leading it. On Tuesday, Syrian opposition activists reported that rebels had killed 15 Hezbollah fighters in Qusair. But they also said the rebels were besieged in the town and in danger of losing it, after black-clad Hezbollah fighters swept them from surrounding villages.

Zerohedge.com | In the aftermath of last night’s second attack in two weeks by Israel on Syria, the immediate response has so far been muted, with Syria condemning the aggression as an act of war. According to UPI, Syria “vowed to retaliate after an apparent Israeli airstrike on the capital Damascus early Sunday. A government official said on CNN the attack on a military research facility was “an act of war” that the government would not take lightly. “Syria is a country that does not accept insults and it doesn’t accept humiliation,” said Omran Zoabi, Syria’s information minister.

AntiWar.com | Secretary of State John Kerry has joined the chorus of Israeli officials condemning Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for mentioning the term “Zionism” in passing in a criticism of Islamophobia at a recent UN event, calling the comment “objectionable.” Kerry’s comments came at a meeting with Erdogan in Ankara, and he claimed to have provided a more thorough rebuke in secret to Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, telling him the comments were a “hostile act.”

Infowars.com | The Times of Israel reports that president Obama will tell Israel’s prime minister Netanyahu during a visit next month that a “window of opportunity” for a military strike on Iran will open in June if current diplomatic efforts fail. Israeli TV reported on Monday that the United States will tell Israel to “sit tight” on the sidelines and keep a low profile as it attacks Iran’s nuclear facilities.

AntiWar.com | More and more confirmations are coming across the media that the White House not only green lit Israel’s Wednesday attacks on Syria, but that they have offered a blanket approval for future strikes. The Wednesday attacks targeted several different sites in Syria, and the Syrian government has shown footage of the aftermath of an attack on a military research facility, one which experts claim was regularly visited by Russian military personnel.

AFP |  Israel on Tuesday became the first country to boycott a UN Human Rights Council review of its rights situation, sparking heated debate among diplomats on how to respond. "I see that the delegation of Israel is not in the room," council president Remigiusz Henczel told the delegates at the United Nations in Geneva. The Jewish state is not a member of the council but like all 193 UN countries it is required to undergo Universal Periodic Reviews (UPRs) of its human rights situation.

Telegraph | A Palestinian schoolboy killed by Israeli gunfire near the West Bank separation barrier had been reacting to insults shouted by soldiers with loudhailers before he was shot, eyewitnesses have said.The claim contradicts an account given by the Israeli army, which says 16-year-old Samir Awad was shot after cutting through a section of the security fence as he tried "infiltrate into Israel".

WND | Israeli special forces continue to operate inside Syria to track the country’s nonconventional weapons as well as any such weapons that may be in possession of the rebels, according to informed Middle Eastern intelligence sources.The sources confirmed a London Sunday Times report from last month that also noted Israeli special forces were on the ground in Syria working as spotters to track the regime’s stocks of chemical and biological weapons.

BusinessInsider.com | In March President Barack Obama reportedly offered Israel bunker-buster bombs and other advanced weapons in exchange for a postponing an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities until 2013. At the time the White House denied that any such agreement was proposed or reached.  Bunker-busters are essential for an attack on Iran's underground nuclear facilities since they can penetrate Tehran's world renowned reinforced concrete.

Business Insider | The oddly named project will cost up to $100 million, take more than two years to complete, and can only be built by workers from specific countries with proper security clearances. Palestinians need not apply. When complete the well-guarded compound will have five levels buried underground and six additional outbuildings on the above grounds, within the perimeter. At about 127,000 square feet, the first three floors will house classrooms, an auditorium, and a laboratory — all wedged behind shock resistant doors — with radiation protection and massive security.

By Sean Gallgher | ArsTechnica | The United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency has admitted that data from a retired server at its Vienna headquarters was stolen and posted to a hacker website. A group calling itself Parastoo allegedly stole the data in an effort to draw attention to Israel's nuclear weapons program and as a protest against attacks on Iran's nuclear efforts—including the use of the Stuxnet worm and assassinations of Iranian nuclear researchers.

Truth Dig | Gaza is a window on our coming dystopia. The growing divide between the world’s elite and its miserable masses of humanity is maintained through spiraling violence. Many impoverished regions of the world, which have fallen off the economic cliff, are beginning to resemble Gaza, where 1.6 million Palestinians live in the planet’s largest internment camp. These sacrifice zones, filled with seas of pitifully poor people trapped in squalid slums or mud-walled villages, are increasingly hemmed in by electronic fences, monitored by surveillance cameras and drones and surrounded by border guards or military units that shoot to kill. These nightmarish dystopias extend from sub-Saharan Africa to Pakistan to China. They are places where targeted assassinations are carried out, where brutal military assaults are pressed against peoples left defenseless, without an army, navy or air force. All attempts at resistance, however ineffective, are met with the indiscriminate slaughter that characterizes modern industrial warfare.

ChuckBaldwinLive.com | Let me begin by saying, I’ve been an evangelical Christian since I was a child. I’ve been in the Gospel ministry all of my adult life. I attended two evangelical Christian colleges, received honorary degrees from two others, and taught and preached in several others. I’ve attended many of the largest evangelical pastors’ gatherings and have been privileged to speak at Christian gatherings–large and small–all over America. I have been part of the inner workings of evangelical ministry for nearly 40 years. I think I learned a thing or two about evangelical/fundamentalist Christianity in America. With that said, I’m here to tell you: I don’t like what I see happening these days.