Keep your eyes on Lebanon/Damascus/Israel this week!

Israel is flying jets in “mock attacks” over Southern Lebanon.  Israel will deal with the threats coming via Hezbollah in Lebanon, but the main reason for these actions on the part of Israel right now, is to draw Iran out into the confrontation and give Israel a legitimate reason to take out more of Iran’s capabilities.  Right now, Kerry as well as Obama, and Netenyahu are all appealing to Putin to stop selling weapons to Damascus, but Russia has no incentive to stop, and it is very unlikely Putin will change his position because he is set on making Russia the type of ‘major player’ that it was back during the Cold War.  Besides, the money generated is just too good!

I suspect there will be more developments in this arena in the coming days.  Diplomacy and negotiations are not going to cut it.  Israel will do what Israel has to do.

From Moscow to Damascus

Attacks Calculated to Force Iran’s Hand

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Israel Deploys Iron Dome Missile Defenses in the North

PM to convene security cabinet Sunday afternoon; Syrian retaliation for airstrikes is unlikely but always possible, Likud MK says hours after IAF reportedly strikes Iranian missile shipment near Damascus

By Times of Israel staff and AP   0

Apparently bracing for possible retaliation, Israel deployed two Iron Dome missile defense batteries in the north of the country on Sunday morning, hours after it reportedly struck a shipment of Iranian missiles bound for Hezbollah near Damascus.

One Iron Dome battery was deployed in Safed and the other in Haifa. The system has proved highly effective in stopping short-range rocket fire, intercepting 84 percent of the incoming rockets from Gaza that threatened population centers and strategic targets during Operation Pillar of Defense last November.

Related Topics

• Syria
• Damascus
• Iran

Apparently bracing for possible retaliation, Israel deployed two Iron Dome missile defense batteries in the north of the country on Sunday morning, hours after it reportedly struck a shipment of Iranian missiles bound for Hezbollah near Damascus.

One Iron Dome battery was deployed in Safed and the other in Haifa. The system has proved highly effective in stopping short-range rocket fire, intercepting 84 percent of the incoming rockets from Gaza that threatened population centers and strategic targets during Operation Pillar of Defense last November.

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A Syrian state TV report claimed Israeli rockets hit a military research site on the outskirts of the capital at about 2 a.m. Sunday, and smoke could be seen rising from the area, in the second such strike in 48 hours. An unnamed Israeli official told AFP the target was a shipment of Iranian made Fatah-110 missiles that were on their way from Syria to Hezbollah terrorists.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was to convene his security cabinet on Sunday afternoon to discuss the escalating hostilities with Syria. He slightly delayed his scheduled Sunday evening departure for China in order to participate in the meeting.

Army Radio reported Israeli concerns that Hezbollah might seek further Iranian missile shipments, and said the security establishment was therefore remaining on alert.

“rumors on Syrian social media” that 300 or more soldiers stationed at military bases on Mount Qassiyoun near Damascus were killed.

There were no official Syrian reports of casualties in either of the two strikes Friday and Sunday. An unconfirmed report on the Russia Today website cited a local Syrian journalist reporting “rumors on Syrian social media” that 300 or more soldiers stationed at military bases on Mount Qassiyoun near Damascus were killed. “Many Syrians are calling for retaliation as the possibility of a full-scale war with Israel is speculated upon,” this unconfirmed report further claimed.

Activists opposed to the Assad regime reported that a blast hit an ammunition depot in the Qassiyoun mountains late Saturday. It was not clear if that reported incident was related to any Israeli activity. According to a Syrian official who spoke to Al Arabiya, the Syrian regime uses its bases on the mountain to fire missiles at rebel targets in Damascus.

MK Tzachi Hanegbi (Likud), a former chairman of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said Sunday it was unlikely Syria would hit back at Israel over an airstrike inside its territory but did not rule this out. “A Syrian retaliation is always an option,” he conceded, “but apparently it was deemed to be a long shot.”

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman condemned Sunday’s Israeli airstrike, but gave no hint of a possible stronger response from Tehran or its allies.

Ramin Mehmanparast was quoted Sunday by the semiofficial Fars news agency denouncing the attack on the Iranian missiles, which were believed en route to Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. His were the first Iranian comments since Israel launched a first round of airstrikes on Friday.

Mehmanparast urged countries in the region to remain united against Israel.

“As a Muslim nation, we back Syria, and if there is need for training we will provide them with the training, but won’t have any active involvement in the operations,” Iranian general Ahmad Reza Pourdastan said in remarks reported by the official IRNA news agency.

“The Syrian army has accumulated experience during years of conflict with the Zionist regime (Israel) and is able to defend itself and doesn’t need foreign assistance,” he added.

The attacks signal a sharp escalation of Israel’s involvement in Syria’s more than two-year-old civil war between rebels and the forces of President Bashar Assad, a key Iranian ally.

Uzi Rubin, a missile expert and former Defense Ministry official, told the Associated Press that if the target of the reported strikes was a consignment of Fatah-110 missiles, then such weaponry did constitute a “game-changer”: Fired from Syria or south Lebanon, these missiles, he said, could reach almost anywhere in Israel with high accuracy.

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‘Strike in Syria sends a message to Iran,’ says former intel chief

At least some of the actors here take ‘red lines’ seriously, says Amos Yadlin, in a dig at US inaction regarding Assad; Netanyahu stresses imperative to ensure Israel’s security

Syria: Attack on military facility was a ‘declaration of war’ by Israel

By Frederik Pleitgen and Sara Sidner, CNN

updated 6:57 AM EDT, Sun May 5, 2013

An image taken from a YouTube video purportedly shows an explosion on a mountain filmed from a Damascus suburb Saturday.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: A Syrian official says the country will retaliate against Israel in its own time and way
• The Israeli military has not commented on the report
• Israel says it’s not meddling in Syria’s war, but it must protect itself from Lebanese militants
• On Friday, U.S. officials said Israel apparently conducted an airstrike in Syria

Damascus, Syria (CNN) — A Syrian official called an attack Sunday on the nation’s military research facility a “declaration of war” by Israel.

In an interview with CNN, Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al Mekdad said the attack represented an alliance between Islamic terrorists and Israel.

He added that Syria would retaliate against Israel in its own time and way.

Early Sunday morning, a series of massive explosions illuminated the predawn sky in Damascus, prompting more claims that Israel has launched attacks into the war-torn country.

Syria accused Israel of firing rockets into the Damascus suburb of Jamraya, striking the research center, Syrian state-run TV reported. The report claimed that the rocket attack on the research center aided rebels, who have been battling government forces in the region.

The Israeli military would not confirm or deny the Syrian TV claim that Israel had launched rockets.

“We do not comment on these reports at all,” an Israeli military spokesperson said.

The report comes shortly after U.S. officials first told CNN that the United States believes Israel conducted an airstrike against Syria. Two U.S. officials told CNN on Friday that Israel apparently launched an airstrike into Syria on Thursday or Friday. Based on initial information, the United States does not believe Israeli warplanes entered Syrian airspace to conduct the strike.

The Israeli military did not comment on the U.S. claim of an airstrike. But Israel has long said it would target any transfer of weapons to Hezbollah or other terrorist groups, as well as at any effort to smuggle Syrian weapons into Lebanon that could threaten Israel.

“We are watching everything when it comes to the movement of these types of weapons. We have the means to do that,” a senior Israeli defense official told CNN’s Sara Sidner. The official is not authorized to speak to the media.

Shaul Mofaz, a lawmaker with Israel’s Knesset, told Israeli Army Radio that Israel isn’t meddling with Syria’s civil war. But Israel must protect itself from Lebanese militants, he said.

“For Israel, it is very important that the front group for Iran, which is in Lebanon, needs to be stopped,” Mofaz said.

“Everything that goes into the hands of Hezbollah is not directly related to the rebels. Israel never interfered in the past or today in their actions. Nevertheless, I need to say that Hezbollah is deeply involved up to its neck in what is happening in Syria. Hezbollah helps the Iranians navigate against the rebels.”

Neither Hezbollah nor the Lebanese government commented immediately after Sunday’s claims.

Syria: Israel has targeted the defense facility before

Sunday’s report is the second claim by Syria this year of a strike against the government defense research facility,

In January, reports surfaced that Israeli warplanes targeted the Jamraya research facility. The Syrian government has said that airstrike killed two workers and injured five others.

A U.S. official told CNN at the time the Syrian claims were false. The official said Israeli fighter jets targeted a Syrian government convoy carrying surface-to-air missiles bound for Hezbollah. But Syria denied there were such shipments.

Lebanon reports Israeli warplanes overhead

Claims of Israeli foreign presence was not limited to Syria; the Lebanese army said Israel flew warplanes over Lebanon on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Lebanese President Gen. Michel Sleiman condemned the violations as “an attempt to shaken Lebanese stability,” the state-run National News Agency reported Saturday.

The Israeli military had no comment on the Lebanese claim. But an Israeli defense source said, “We will do whatever is necessary to stop the transfer of weapons from Syria to terrorist organizations. We have done it in the past, and we will do it if necessary the future.”

Sectarian violence continues

The latest report of rocket attacks comes as sectarian violence erupted in northwestern Syria. Three consecutive days of killing by mostly Alawite forces have left hundreds of predominantly Sunni residents dead, opposition groups said Saturday.

State media have said their forces were seeking only to clear the area of “terrorists,” the term they have routinely used when referring to rebel forces.

But the U.S. State Department said it was “appalled by horrific reports that more than 100 people were killed May 2″ in Beyda, a suburb of Baniyas.

Several opposition groups said largely Alawite regime forces used tanks, battleships and missile launchers to target largely Sunni neighborhoods in and around the coastal city of Baniyas.

Government forces killed at least 200 people on Friday and Saturday in Baniyas and its suburbs, the opposition Local Coordination Committees said Saturday.

But reliable information has been difficult to obtain because government forces controlled access to the village, the LCC said.

A graphic video posted by activists who said it was shot in the Ras al-Nabaa neighborhood showed people, including an infant, lying lifeless on the ground. Many bore what appeared to be bullet wounds, and some appeared burned. CNN has not been able to confirm the video’s authenticity, as access to Syrian war zones has been severely limited by the government.

State-run Syrian TV reported that government troops and the National Defense militia — an armed Alawite group loyal to the government, “have cleaned the area from armed terrorists” after “they burned civilians’ homes and terrorized the population.” The report was supported by interviews with members of the Syrian army.

U.S. President Barack Obama told reporters on Friday that he did not foresee a scenario of “American boots on the ground in Syria” that would be good for that country or the region. Obama said other leaders in the region want to see al-Assad out of power.

CNN’s Frederik Pleitgen reported from Damascus; Sara Sidner reported from Jerusalem. CNN’s Holly Yan, Barbara Starr and Saad Abedine contributed to this report

With Syria, at Least Israel Seems Ready

This is the second time reports have surfaced that Israel hit Syria’s Scientific Studies and Research Center.

By: J. E. Dyer

Published: April 29th, 2013

Several websites have picked up on a UPI report that the Israeli Air Force attacked a chemical weapons site in the Damascus area on Saturday. (Here’s the original UPI report). The report is unconfirmed by any official source, but it is credible.  There are caveats, however.

The site in question, if it was struck, was probably the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC), long known to be a key facility in Assad’s chemical and biological weapons program.  (See here as well.)

The blogger, “Mossomo” at Flopping Aces put together an excellent timeline back in February on the events leading up to a previous unconfirmed report that the IAF had struck the SSRC.  This strike was reportedly conducted on 30 January 2013. Hours later, Israel targeted a truck convoy west of Damascus which was carrying sophisticated new surface-to-air missiles for Hezbollah in Lebanon.

I doubt the convoy’s cargo itself was related to the chemical weapons site; if Israel went after both targets in January, it was because they were close, geographically, and Israeli military authorities wanted to maximize the gain from a rare and dangerous penetration of Syrian air space.

But it’s not actually clear that the SSRC was hit at the end of January.  David Barnett at Long War Journal was among many who picked up a few days afterward on satellite imagery shown by Israel’s Channel 2, which seemed to show the SSRC completely unscathed, after the date of the reported attack.  Barnett concluded that the IAF probably meant to attack only the truck convoy, which was in a parking lot close to the SSRC at the time of the strike.

If the IAF actually attacked the SSRC on 28 April, the urgency of hitting it may relate to the battle being waged in its vicinity at this very moment.  According to the Lebanese Daily Star, Assad’s forces are engaged in an all-out assault to retake the area around the compound from the rebels.  Fighting in the immediate vicinity of the SSRC increases the danger that its inventory will fall into rebel hands – and thence into the hands of Islamist jihadists, including Hezbollah, Hamas, and al Qaeda.

It’s also possible that Israel attacked something near the SSRC on Saturday, but not the SSRC itself.  One factor arguing for that assessment is that attacking the SSRC would be a big job.  There’s a lot of industrial square footage to thump; the IAF would want to put more than a couple of strike fighters over the target.  Ideally, there would be sequential strikes; I would envision two strike-fighter pairs delivering an initial ordnance package, followed by another wave of pairs an hour later delivering a second one.  Additional restrikes could well be necessary – if, that is, the objective is to “k-kill” the installation, or destroy it completely so that it could not be reconstituted within a timeframe useful to the current civil war.

If that’s not the objective, it’s hard to think of one that would justify putting IAF aircraft in Syrian air space in order to strike the SSRC.  Either you go in to take it out for the duration of the civil war, or you don’t hit it at all.

So perhaps the IAF visits have been for other purposes, and the SSRC hasn’t been hit.  Assad’s forces hold the compound itself and they may well be using it to marshal other kinds of military equipment, which, like the truck convoy in January, can from time to time present a lucrative target for the IAF.

It’s hard to say, without any idea of how big the reported attack was on Saturday.  If the Israelis did attack the SSRC, however, it’s a good bet that they did whatever was necessary to achieve a useful effect.  In our brave new world, someone will put out satellite imagery in a few days, and then we’ll have a better idea.

Originally published at the Optimistic Conservati

Via: The Jewish Press

Did Israel already strike in Syria?

Reports of Israeli Attack on Syrian Chemical Weapons Site

There were many reports that Israeli jets flew over Syrian President’s palace on Saturday, but did they also bomb a chemical weapons site nearby?

By: Lori Lowenthal Marcus

Published: April 29th, 2013

Did the Israeli Air Force bomb a chemical weapons site outside Damascus on Saturday?
Photo Credit: IDF blog

According to reports from the main Syrian opposition group, the Free Syria Army, the Israeli Air Force bombed a chemical weapons site in Syria, near Damascus, on Saturday, April 27.

The Israeli jets flew over Syrian President Basher Assad’s palace, as reported elsewhere, and then allegedly struck a chemical weapons compound nearby.

Although there were reports that Syrian defense forces fired at the IAF, the Israeli jets left Syrian airspace unharmed.

Last week the Israeli military published intelligence findings that President Bashar Assad’s forces had used chemical weapons repeatedly in recent months. The U.S. was initially reluctant to embrace those findings, and even after admitting that Syria had used chemical weapons “on a small scale,” was remained reluctant to take immediate action.

A second report emanating from Syria potentially supported the claims that Israel struck the chemical weapons site, although this report did not mention Israel’s purported role.

This report from Lebanon’s Daily Star discussed heavy fighting near the “Scientific Studies and Research Centre on the foothills of Qasioun Mountain in the northern Barzeh district,” which, according to American defense experts, is a way Syrians are likely to refer to the chemical weapons site.

A retired U.S. naval intelligence officer, J.E. Dyer, believes it is possible Israel engaged in the strike.  For one thing, as noted in the Daily Star report – Assad’s forces are engaged in an all-out effort to retake the area around the SSRC compound from the rebels. Given the fighting in the area, the danger increases that the chemical weapons inventory would fall into rebel hands, “including Islamist jihadists, including Hezbollah, Hamas and al Qaeda.”

But Dyer had several caveats.  First, she said, taking down the SSRC would be a big job, likely requiring sequential strikes. “There’s a lot of industrial square footage to thump; the IAF would want to put more than a couple of strike fighters over the target.”

And Dyer doesn’t imagine Israel would take the risk of entering Syrian airspace and fail to complete a specific job.  “Either you go in to take it out for the duration of the civil war, or you don’t hit it at all,” is how she put it.

Therefore it is possible the IAF attacked something else near the SSRC on Saturday. Perhaps there was a discrete reachable target that presented itself and Israel took the opportunity to reduce the dangerous materials so close to her own border.  This could have been an attack like the one in late January when Israel struck a truck convoy near Damascus which was moving sophisticated  Russian-made anti-aircraft missiles for Hezbollah in Lebanon

The Jewish Press

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Israel knows Obama is all talk and no real action on their behalf.  They will do what they have to do.

This could be the night Damascus becomes a ruious heap

Report: Israeli Aircraft Spotted Over Assad’s Palace

April 28, 2013 11:48 am 2 comments

Author:

Zach Pontz

Two Israeli Defense Force-Air Force F-15I Ra’am aircraft.

A spokesman for the rebel military in Syria has said that Israeli Air Force jets were spotted flying over Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s palace in Damascus as well as over security and military installations, according to Israel’s Channel 2.

The planes were spotted Sunday morning, the spokesman said. He added that no anti-aircraft shots were fired at the jets.

Last week several Western nations, as well as the rebel army, confirmed that evidence suggesting that chemical weapons had been used by Assad’s regime had been gathered. The use of chemical weapons by Assad, considered a “red line” by U.S. President Barack Obama and Israel, have ratcheted up tensions even further in the region.

Syrian Opposition Publishes it’s own News!

 

Syrian opposition’s print revolution

Click above to read article.

Click HERE to go to The Shaam Syrian Opposition News (Arabic/English)

Click HERE for Shaam News Network on Facebook

Battle for Damascus is Nearing!

Syrian opposition: Conflict will be decided in summer

YNet.com

Senior American columnist David Ignatius believes post-Assad era will be just as unstable, dangerous; claims US influence limited

Yitzhak Benhorin

WASHINGTON - Syrian opposition sources believe that the battle for Damascus is nearing and that the conflict with forces loyal to President Bashar Assad will be decided this summer.

 

Following a number of meetings with leading opposition figures in Turkey, David Ignatius published Wednesday a piece in the Washington Post claiming that in “absence (of) some diplomatic miracle” the Syrian conflict is likely to culminate in chaos and bloodshed.

 

Related stories:

• Syria’s 8-year-old rebel exposed
• Report: Rebels 2 km from Assad’s largest WMD cache
• Syrian opposition’s print revolution

 

The writer’s first conclusion is that the US will have only minimal influence on the situation, even if it does in fact decide to boost support for opposition forces.

 

His second conclusion is that in the period following Assad’s fall, Syria will be plunged into chaotic disarray, no less violent and unstable than the current situation. Bands of Muslim rebels will vie to gain control over Assad’s weapons arsenal, including chemical.

 

The Free Syrian Army conducted a mapping of the different rebel and opposition forces, their ideological background and their different benefactors. The document was handed to the US State Department. According to the document, most of them have Islamic roots in neighboring Arab countries and enjoy the strong support of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.

 

Ignatius noted that despite the fact the conflict is over two years old, the rebels have failed to consolidate a central command.

 

“Gen. Salim Idriss, commander of the Free Syrian Army,” which numbers around 50,000 fighters, Ignatius claims, “has tried to coordinate the fighters. But this remains a bottom-up rebellion, with towns and regions forming battalions that have merged into larger coalitions. “

 

Rebels on Aleppo (Photo: EPA)

 

The largest “umbrella” group currently fighting Assad is Jabhat al-Tahrir al-Souriya al-Islamiya, which commands a force of 37,000 fighters from different regions in Syria.

 

This group enjoys Saudi support, and, according to Ignatius, the group’s members are not “hard-core Islamists but are more militant than the political coalition headed by Sheik Moaz al-Khatib, who last week claimed Syria’s seat in the Arab League.”

 

Second in line in terms of strength, numbering 13,000 forces, is the most radical and Islamist of all rebel groups, comprised of “hard-core Salafist Muslims,” also Saudi backed and funded by “wealthy Saudi, Kuwaiti and other Gulf Arab individuals. Rebel sources count 11 different brigades from around the country that have merged to form this second coalition.”

 

The third rebel group, funded mainly by Qatar, is Ahfad al-Rasoul and has around 15,000 forces.

 

However, “the most dangerous group in the mix is the Jabhat al-Nusra,” numbering around 6,000, which the columnist says “is an offshoot of al-Qaeda in Iraq.”

 

Jabhat al-Nusra fighters (Photo: Reuters)

 

This group fears the West and its counterterrorist culture, and hence has been keeping a low profile, for now, and will perhaps join forces with the Salafist group at some point in the not so distant future.

 

The well connected columnist writes that “the best hope for US policy is to press the Saudi-backed coalition and its 37,000 fighters, to work under the command of Idriss and the Free Syrian Army.”

 

This would, according to rebels, strengthen and legitimize Idriss, and according to Ignatius, “bring a measure of order (that) would open the way for Idriss to negotiate a military transition government that would include reconcilable elements of Assad’s army.”

 

He concludes by citing rebel sources who claimed they are currently developing “plans to train Syrian police, purify water supplies and teach forces how to dispose of chemical weapons — all pending approval. Such plans offer the best chance for mitigating the Syrian disaster. What is the United States waiting for?”

“Master plan” underway to help Syria rebels take Damascus with U.S.-approved airlifts of heavy weapons

AMMAN, Jordan Mideast powers opposed to President Bashar Assad have dramatically stepped up weapons supplies to Syrian rebels in coordination with the U.S. in preparation for a push on the capital of Damascus, officials and Western military experts said Wednesday.

Leaked Footage on the Ground in Damascus, scud launch

Footage of SCUD missile being launched from Nassriyaو Damascus countryside military base وwent viral online today . In the video we see militants preparing to fire the missile as they countdown to ten. Destination however is unknown,it is according to activists likely to have hit the northern territories under rebel hold.
The Assad regime had conducted several SCUD attacks targeting the northern cities of Aleppo,Deir Ezzour and liberated Arraqqa which fell under rebels grip today.
“The fear now is that the regime will hit Scud missiles indiscriminately at Raqqa to punish the population,” said Nawaf al-Ali, the Raqqa representative in the Syrian National Coalition.
Scud is a series of tactical ballistic missiles developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War,three districts in the rebel-held eastern part of Aleppo and the nearby city of Tel Rifat were hit by ballistic missiles on February 22, 2013, flattening up to 20 houses in each of the places hit.

http://shabab.ayyam.org/en/content/video-leaked-footage-scud-being-launched-regime-military-base