Operation HOREV – the Israeli winter offensive from December 1948 until January 1949 – practically ended Israel’s War for Independence (also known as the 1948 Arab-Israeli War), with an Israeli victory that forced Egypt to seek ceasefire and to negotiate a settlement with the fledgling nation. From HOREV Day 1 on 23 December 1948 until HOREV Day 16 on 7 January 1949, this title presents Israeli Air Force missions during Operation HOREV in heretofore unseen depth and detail. This title chronicles Israeli Air Force sorties during Operation HOREV; from Austers and Pipers to C-46s and C-47s; from Messerschmitts, Spitfires and P-51s to Beaufighters and B-17s; Israel Air Force operations are detailed spanning the timeline of the conflict down to every unearthed sortie in depth, and shown in a way that Israeli Air Force operations during Operation HOREV had never been presented before. This level of detail has been made possible by extensive use of contemporary documentation. The detailed text is supported by numerous photographs and color profiles. Middle East@War - following on from our highly successful Africa@War series, Middle East@War replicates the same format - concise, incisive text, rare images and high quality color artwork providing fresh accounts of both well-known and more esoteric aspects of conflict in this part of the world since 1945.

In August 2015, the government of the Russian Federation embarked its military forces on an intervention in Syria. Ever since, there is no end of discussions about Russian military capabilities and intentions – in Syria and beyond. To many, the performance of the Russian military – and especially the Russian Air-Space Force (VKS) – in this war was a clear demonstration of advanced technology, improved training, fearsome firepower, and great mobility. To others, the military operation only experienced limited success and exposed a number of weaknesses. Foremost between the latter are aircraft ill-suited to the necessities of expeditionary warfare, and a gross lack of advanced weaponry and equipment. While the military component of their intervention can only be described as providing clear evidence that the Russian military is in no condition to directly challenge the NATO’s eastern frontiers, it cannot be denied that through this action Moscow instrumented a turning point in the Syrian Civil War, and indeed one on geo-strategic plan. Organized and run in cooperation with very diverse allies – ranging from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps of Iran (IRGC), Hezbollah of Lebanon, the Kurdishan Workers Party (PKK) and a myrad of local warlords and their armed militias – their combination of intentional bombardment of insurgent-controlled parts of Syria, and indirect protection for the IRGC’s own military intervention in the country from a possible counter-intervention of the West, the Russians did succeed in saving the regime of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Through this, this campaign created an absurd precedent in newest a brutal dictatorship involved in systematic elimination of hundreds of thousands on industrial scale, and frequently with help of chemical weapons, was even made popular within circles of far-right and far-left alike around the World. In turn, the resulting flow of refugees destabilized the European Union and large parts of the NATO – two parties considered the actual primary opponents by the government in Moscow – and increased the popularity of the President Vladimir Putin to unprecedented levels. Illustrated by over 130 photographs, maps and color profiles, ‘Moscow's Game of Poker’ is providing a clear outline of the participants in this extremely complex conflict, and areas it impacts. It is providing a unique and in-depth study of Moscow’s political aims, strategy, doctrine, target selection process, military technology and tactics, day-by-day operations, and the way the Russian Federation cooperates with diverse local allies. This story is told in combination with an exclusive insight into the similar campaign run by what is left of the Syrian Arab Air Force.