June 20, 2013 – ‘Syrian Rebels: We’ve Received Heavy Weapons from Saudis’: The first delivery of heavy weapons has arrived on Syria’s front lines following President Barack Obama’s decision to put Western military might behind the official opposition, rebels told the British Daily Telegraph. More have now arrived, confirming reports that the White House has lifted an unofficial embargo on its Gulf allies sending heavy weapons to the rebels. “We now have supplies from Saudi Arabia,” a rebel source said. “We have been told more weapons are on their way, even higher-end missiles.” European Union foreign ministers agreed at the end of May to lift an arms embargo in order to supply weapons to Syrian rebels, but British Foreign Secretary William Hague said at the time that “no immediate decision” would be made on sending arms to the rebels. ”Terrorists will return to Europe with fighting experience and extremist ideologies,” President Assad told the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/169117#.Up9x2MTuK5U
November 7, 2013 – Saudi Arabia to spend millions to train new rebel force – Syrian, Arab and western sources say the intensifying Saudi effort is focused on Jaysh al-Islam (the Army of Islam or JAI), created in late September by a union of 43 Syrian groups. Diplomats and experts warned that there are serious doubts about its prospects as well as fears of “blowback” by extremists returning from Syria. The Saudi intelligence chief, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, is also pressing the US to drop its objections to supplying anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles to the JAI. Jordan is being urged to allow its territory to be used as a supply route into neighbouring Syria. (The Guardian)
November 10, 2013 – ‘The CIA is Leading Massive Arms Deliveries to Rebels in Syria, Saudi Arabia is Training Terrorists’:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/cia-is-leading-massive-arms-deliveries-to-rebels-in-syria-saudi-arabia-training-terrorists/5357531
November 30, 2013 – Terror Actions in Syria – Saudi Colonel Captured by Syrian Army:
http://www.aydinlikdaily.com/Saudi-Colonel-Captured-by-Syrian-Army-144518+…Graphic Video……Saudi lieutenant colonel killed in Syria Warning – Item 18+…Graphic Video……Saudi lieutenant colonel killed in Syria might contain content that is not suitable for all ages. By clicking on CONTINUE you confirm that you are 18 years and over. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=bed_1373652652
December 6, 2013 – Pentagon approves $1.1 billion Raytheon missile sale to Saudi Arabia:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/06/us-raytheon-saudi-missiles-idUSBRE9B50SF20131206
December 12, 2013 – ‘No one is expecting a tank invasion of Saudi Arabia anytime soon, but the kingdom just put in a huge order for U.S.-made anti-tank missiles’:
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/12/12/why_is_saudi_arabia_buying_15000_us_anti_tank_missiles_for_a_land_war_it_will_ne#sthash.otwdA4hc.dpbs
December 17, 2013 – Saudi Arabia Will Go It Alone “Saudi Arabia has global responsibilities and we will act to fulfill these responsibilities, with or without the support of our Western partners”
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/18/opinion/saudi-arabia-will-go-it-alone.html?hp&rref=opinion&_r=0
In 2010, the US made the largest arms sale in its history, selling $60 billion’s worth of jets and attack helicopters to the Arab kingdom. Saudi Arabia is also a major exporter of oil to the US, though its highly unlikely OPEC would support a slow down or boycott over the kingdom’s political gripes with the US. Israeli personnel in recent days were in Saudi Arabia to inspect bases that could be used as a staging ground to launch attacks against Iran, according to informed Egyptian intelligence officials…
http://www.presstv.com/detail/2013/11/17/335123/israel-s-arabia-united-against-iran/
Latest News Syria 
Syria’s Women, Many Raped In Refugee Centres, Long To Return Home
26/10/2013
Many Syrian women would rather return to their war-torn homeland than endure the violence, rape and other sexual assaults they are experiencing as refugees, a humanitarian charity has said.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/10/26/syria-women-rape_n_4166185.html
Dr. Buthaina Shaaban, a woman with a vision
Buthaina Shabaan was born in 1953 in a small town called Am-Massoudiah, which belongs to Homs. Graduating as the top student in Homs and receiving the fourth highest score in Syria for the secondary school exam in 1971, she met the new leader of Syria, Hafez Assad, who awarded her a scholarship to complete a university degree. Even though her familly was strict, her father, an Arabic teacher, allowed her to study at Damascus University. She was the first female student to major in English, and she received another grant to continue her studies in Britain. In 1977, she earned an MA degree from Warwick University, where she also finished her PhD degreee. Her PhD dissertation was on the English poet Shelley, who is well-known for his revolutionary political and poetic visions as in his poem ‘Revolt of Islam,’ about someone who has ‘a resolution to confer the boons of political and intellectual freedom on his fellow-creatures’.
Demonstrating a great deal of fearlesness and independence, she maried, against the will of her family, an Iraqi national whom she met during her doctoral study in Britain.
After graduation, Shabaan taught for two years (1982-1984) in Algeria, before going back to Damascus to start a career as a professor in comparative women’s literature and a writer exposing and agitating against the hindrances of women.
Shabaan’s high achievements in school and her membership in the Ba’ath party from an early age attracted the attention of President Hafes Assads, who invited her to do a simultaneous translation for his meeting with former US Secretary of State, Warren Minor Christopher.
Dr. Assaad Al-Saleh is an Assistant Professor of Arabic and Comparative Literature at the Department of Languages and Literature & Middle East Center, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah.