Nicholas Blanford has been a correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor, writing on Lebanon and other areas of the Middle East, since 2002. He has covered Lebanon’s complex and turbulent politics, including the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri, the 2006 Hezbollah-Israel war and the uprising in Syria. He has also reported for the Monitor from Iraq, Syria, Qatar and Kuwait. He is author of “Killing Mr Lebanon: The Assassination of Rafik Hariri and its Impact on the Middle East” (I.B. Tauris, 2006) and “Warriors of God: Inside Hezbollah’s Thirty-Year Struggle Against Israel” (Random House, 2011). https://www.newsdeeply.com/syria/contributor/nicholas-blanford/rss en Government & Pro-Government Forces Opposition Groups & Rebel Forces Wed, 07 Dec 2016 10:08:04 +0000 Nicholas Blanford https://www.newsdeeply.com/syria/articles/2016/12/07/analysis-with-aleppo-poised-to-fall-syrias-assad-is-set-to-rise https://www.newsdeeply.com/syria/articles/2016/12/07/analysis-with-aleppo-poised-to-fall-syrias-assad-is-set-to-rise A victory in Aleppo would put the Syrian regime in a potentially advantageous position to recapture the “essential Syria” – the western half of the country, writes journalist Nicholas Blanford. Diplomacy & Foreign Affairs Fri, 30 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000 Nicholas Blanford https://www.newsdeeply.com/syria/articles/2015/10/30/has-russian-intervention-made-situation-more-clear https://www.newsdeeply.com/syria/articles/2015/10/30/has-russian-intervention-made-situation-more-clear Amid a renewed diplomatic push in Vienna that includes the United States, Iran, and European and Middle East powers, deep divisions remain over Syrian President Assad’s future.