By Michael Travis
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
As always, the task of defending the West against the threat of the "Islamic Bomb" and nuclear terrorism has fallen on the broad shoulders of the Israel Defence Forces. The tiny Jewish Nation, marked for annihilation by consecutive American administrations and condemned to death by the "International Community", has taken military action against Iranian, Syrian and North Korean arms shipments and installations in Syria.
The much touted Russian defence systems have proven no match to superior Israeli technology, being disabled by the flick of a Zionist switch inside the highly modified IAF F-15-E's. Once again, Israel has shown a world of pansies how real men defend their country, and Western civilization.
Kol Ha'Kavod Ha'Aretz Sheli!
WASHINGTON (AFP) -- Israel recently carried out reconnaissance flights over Syria, taking pictures of possible nuclear installations that Israeli officials believed might have been supplied with material from North Korea, The New York Times reported Thursday.
A US administration official said Israeli officials believed that North Korea might be unloading some of its nuclear material on Syria, the Times reported.
"The Israelis think North Korea is selling to Iran and Syria what little they have left," the unidentified official was quoted as saying.
A US defense official confirmed Tuesday that Israel carried out an air strike well inside Syria last week, apparently to send Damascus a message not to rearm Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, did not know the target of the strike, which was conducted Thursday, but said the US military believed it was to send a message to the Syrians.
"The Israelis are trying to tell the Syrians: 'Don't support a resurgence of Hezbollah in Lebanon.'"
Israel fought a devastating 34-day war in July and August 2006 against Hezbollah, whose missile firepower and use of sophisticated weaponry surprised the Israelis.
Did the IAF target Iranian missile batteries in Syria?
'Advisors to Assad pressuring him to respond with force'
Reports say Syria drafting reservists, IAF targeted either Iranian-Syrian missile installation or nuclear facility sponsored by N. Korea
Yaakov Katz , THE JERUSALEM POST
Sep. 11, 2007
The Israel Air Force jets that allegedly infiltrated Syrian airspace early last Thursday apparently bombed an Iranian arms shipment that was being transferred to Hizbullah, CNN reported Tuesday.
A ground operation may also have been part of the foray, according to the network. Neither Jerusalem nor Damascus have confirmed the report. But Damascus has denied the presence of any Israeli ground forces on its territory.
CNN said the operation involved ground forces and that the aerial strike left "a great hole in the desert." Although it did not name a specific source, the network cited "US government officials." The jets have been identified by the Turkish authorities as IAF F15Is, Israel's long-range bomber, after fuel tanks were found in Turkish territory.
The CNN report said the IAF's targets were likely weaponry delivered to Syria that was possibly intended for use by Hizbullah.
CNN's chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, delivered the report and quoted sources saying that Israel was "very happy" with the results of the operation.
Damascus complained to the United Nations about an "aggression and violation of sovereignty," saying Israeli warplanes dropped "military munitions" in Syria, the country's ambassador to the UN said Tuesday.
A US military official described the Israeli incursion as an air strike "deep into Syria" that succeeded in hitting a target. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because it was an intelligence issue, said he did not know what that target was.
Syria has called the incursion a "hostile act," but has been largely silent on the details of what happened. Israeli officials have refused to comment.
Syria's UN ambassador, Bashar al-Jaafari, said Damascus made its complaint in two letters to the UN secretary general and the president of the Security Council. The letters said the Israeli action violated a 1974 agreement reached after the Yom Kippur War.
On Thursday, Syria said its air defense systems had fired on IAF aircraft that had infiltrated its airspace near the coastal city of Latakia.
The government, including the Prime Minister's Office and the IDF, maintained their policy of refusing to comment on the incident following the CNN report.
Syria has been known to be transferring weapons of its own, as well as arms from Iran, to Hizbullah.
During the Second Lebanon War, the IDF discovered a wide range of antitank missiles and short-range rockets being used by Hizbullah that had originated in Syria. Several Iranian-made missiles were also in Hizbullah hands before the war, but these were mostly destroyed by the IDF before being fired at Israel.
Over the upcoming holidays, the IDF will continue to maintain a high level of alert along the Syrian border amid fears that Damascus will respond to the alleged flyover. Defense officials said earlier this week that tensions between the countries had begun to subside, but that there was a need to maintain a high alert "just in case."
Jerusalem Post staff and AP contributed to this report.
JPost.com Staff , THE JERUSALEM POST
Sep. 12, 2007
Advisors to Syrian President Bashar Assad are pressuring him to respond to the alleged IAF attack by "landing a blow to an Israeli target," The Kuwaiti daily Al-Jareeda reported Wednesday.
According to the report, Israel targeted long-range missile batteries that were brought to Syria from Iran.
The report said that five IAF fighter jets carried out the attack
The United States reportedly is pleased by Israel's alleged incursion of Syria last week.
The report followed Syria's charge that Israeli warplanes invaded its airspace Sept. 6 and dropped ordnance -- an allegation that Israeli and U.S. officials declined to confirm or deny.
According to CNN, the Americans believe that the operation may have involved Israeli ground troops as well as aircraft, and that the incursion may have targeted weapons supplied by Iran and passing through Syria en route to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
CNN quoted a U.S. source as saying the Israeli airstrike "left a big hole in the desert" in Syria.
By Nicholas Blanford/Beirut
A mysterious incident involving Israeli jets over northern Syria last week has revived fears of war between Israel and Syria, just as months of tension between the bitter foes had appeared to be subsiding. The Israeli government is maintaining a rigid -- and uncharacteristic --silence over the affair, which has drawn threats of retaliation from Damascus and a vow to take the matter to the U.N. Security Council. Speculation is rife, but facts elusive, over why Israeli warplanes were over above the arid plains of northern Syria early Thursday. Syria's official news agency last week quoted a Syrian military official saying that Israeli jets had entered Syrian airspace from the Mediterranean, and broke the sound barrier before coming under fire from air defenses. The Israelis, according to this account, had "dropped munitions" over deserted areas before departing. The report did not specify whether the Israelis had bombed any targets. The following day, fuel tanks were discovered inside Turkey near the Syrian border. Other jettisoned tanks were reportedly found inside Syria.
"They dropped bombs over Syria and they dropped fuel tanks on Syrian soil," Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said in Ankara Monday, while briefing Turkish officials on the incident. Turkey, which has strong military and diplomatic ties to Israel, described the overflights as "unacceptable," and has demanded an explanation from the Israeli government.
The Syrians are suggesting that Israel had, albeit discreetly, moved preemptively to reassure Damascus of its intentions before the incident. Muallem told European ambassadors in Damascus at the weekend that last Wednesday -- the day before the incursion -- he had received a "calming message" from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, sent via a top EU official, according to the Arabic Al-Hayat newspaper. Israeli officials have lately sought to defuse tensions by making clear Israel has no plan to attack Syria and reducing troop numbers near the border. But Muallem told the diplomats that Olmert's message was a "preparation for the penetration of planes into Syrian skies, just hours later," Al-Hayat reported. Israeli aircraft routinely breach Lebanese airspace, in defiance of U.N. resolutions, mainly to monitor the activities of Hizballah, and on rare occasions, usually connected to tensions in Lebanon or the Palestinian territories, they have also entered Syrian skies.
But northern Syria is a long way from the traditional Arab-Israeli front line, suggesting that the mission was of sufficient importance to endanger air crews and risk a serious escalation of tensions with Damascus. Mohammed Raad, a senior Hizballah official, suggested that the overflight was an attempt to "identify an aggressive aerial passage" for an air strike against Iran. Analysts long have pondered the potential flight routes Israeli bombers would take in the event of a decision to target Iran's nuclear sites. Given the limitations of aircraft range, one option would be to fly directly across Jordan and/or Saudi Arabia and through U.S.-patrolled Iraqi skies. Neither the Saudis or the Jordanians would shed tears if Iran's nuclear capability were destroyed in an air strike, but they could not afford to be seen as having granted the Israelis safe passage though their skies.
An alternative would be to follow the Turkish-Syrian border eastward to Iraqi Kurdistan, and then on to Iran. According to John Pike of globalsecurity.org, the many technical and political factors in play make it difficult to predict which route the Israelis might choose. "At this level of technical detail, one starts to get thinking about what sort of weapons would be carried, and what sort of drag this imposes and how that affects combat range," Pike told TIME.
Even if it were not related to a bombing route, the purpose of Israel's unusual air mission last week may yet be related to Iran. In August, Syria reportedly received from Russia the first batch of 50 Pantsyr S1E short-range air defense systems, part of an alleged sale worth almost $1 billion. The deal is said to have been financed by Iran, which reportedly will receive from Syria some of the Pantsyr units and deploy them to protect its nuclear facilities. The recently developed Pantsyr, which its Russian manufacturers claim is immune to jamming, includes surface-to-air missiles and 30mm Gatling guns, providing complete defensive coverage for a range of 11 to 12 miles and 6 miles in altitude. Pantsyr batteries could pose a serious challenge to either an Israeli or a U.S. air strike on Iran. So were the Israeli aircraft playing a perilous game of chicken to assess the capabilities of the Pantsyr system in response to their countermeasures? Some in Syria believe so.
"There seems to be a consensus here that the Israelis were testing Syrian air defense systems," Andrew Tabler, Damascus-based editor of Syria Today, told TIME.
Whatever their purpose, the overflights appear to have dashed hopes of cooling Israeli-Syrian tensions. Having absorbed the lessons of Israel's failure to crush Hizballah during last summer's month-long war, Syria has been building up its military capabilities in recent months, purchasing advanced anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles. Veteran Hizballah instructors have been helping train crack Syrian commando units in guerrilla warfare, according to Lebanese intelligence sources. Syria's growing military confidence has been further bolstered by defense agreements with Iran. Some Israelis worry that Syria, sidelined by the U.S. and Washington's Arab allies in regional peacemaking efforts, could launch a lightning strike against Israel in order to push to the top of the diplomatic agenda its ongoing quest to recover territory captured by Israel in 1967.
Hizballah, meanwhile, has spent the past year frenetically restocking its war-depleted arsenal, preparing new lines of defense and recruiting and training hundreds of eager volunteers in anticipation of a second round with Israel. Commentators in Lebanon and Syria believe that Israel's need to restore its battered military deterrence has heightened the prospect of an attack on Syria. Writing in Monday's Syrian state-run Tishreen newspaper, Ezzieddine Darwish said that the Israeli government is seeking to provoke a war with Syria to "wash away the shame of Israel's defeat in Lebanon". Indeed, many Lebanese, Syrians and Israelis are no longer asking if a war will happen, only when and how.
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