Israel Pounds Damascus With Massive Air Strikes Early Sunday
“The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.” Isaiah 17:1
From JPost: Blasts shock Damascus, Israel blamed by Syrian television for the strikes. IDF spokesman says, ‘we don’t respond to this kind of report.’ One site targeted is the Jamraya military research center; a previous Israeli target.
BEIRUT – Powerful explosions struck the outskirts of Damascus early on Sunday, sending columns of fire into the night sky, and Syrian state television said Israeli rockets had struck a military facility just north of the capital.
Israel declined to comment on the attack, but the blasts occurred a day after an Israeli official said his country had carried out an air strike targeting a consignment of missiles in Syria intended for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
“The new Israeli attack is an attempt to raise the morale of the terrorist groups which have been reeling from strikes by our noble army,” Syrian television said, referring to recent offensives by President Bashar Assad’s forces against rebels.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights quoted eyewitnesses in the area as saying they saw jets in the sky at the time of the explosions.
It said the blasts hit Jamraya as well as a nearby ammunition depot. Other activists said a missile brigade and two Republican Guard battalions may also have been targeted in the heavily militarised area just north of Damascus.
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RED LINE: ISRAELI AIRSTRIKE REPORTEDLY TAKES OUT IRANIAN ARMS IN SYRIA
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting in his Jerusalem office on April 28, 2013 in Jerusalem, Israel. (Photo: Getty Images)
With a second airstrike against Syria in four months, Israel enforced its red line of not allowing game-changing weapons from Iran to reach Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Israeli officials said Saturday.
The New York Times explains:
Iran and Hezbollah have both backed President Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian civil war, now in its third year. But as fighting in Syria escalates, they also have a powerful stake in expediting the delivery of advanced weapons to Hezbollah in case Mr. Assad loses his grip on power.
Israel, for its part, has repeatedly cautioned that it will not allow Hezbollah to receive “game changing” weapons that could threaten the Israeli heartland after a post-Assad government took power.
And as Washington considers how to handle evidence of chemical weapons use by the Syrian government, a development it has described as a “red line,” Israel is clearly showing that it will stand behind the red lines it sets.
“The Israelis are saying, ‘O.K., whichever way the civil war is going, we are going to keep our red lines, which are different from Obama’s,’ ” said Ehud Yaari, an Israel-based fellow of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
But the strike, which one official said targeted a shipment of advanced surface-to-surface missiles, also raises new concerns that the region’s most powerful military could be dragged into Syria’s civil war and spark a wider conflagration.
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Assad "to declare war" on Israel following fresh airstrikes
Reports suggest that Syria's embattled dictator, Bashar al-Assad, is shortly set to declare war on Israel after interventions against the regime
Following evidence of chemical warfare and an increasingly reticent US position, Israel has in recent days taken widely reported steps to neutralise threats emanating from within civil war-torn Syria.
While strikes from Lebanese airspace this weekend are not thought to have been on chemical weapons caches, the recent Israeli intelligence regarding the use of such weaponry is thought to have spurred on a round of strikes, including the latest just hours ago.
The Syrian state news agency SANA, citing initial reports, said early Sunday that Israeli missiles struck a military research center near the capital Damascus.
Syrian state television has reported that a major strike on an ammunition depot in Qassiyoun mountain shook Damascus, while Hezbollah's Al-Manar station claimed the explosion may have been a downed Israeli jet.
Rumours are surfacing online that following the latest volley of attacks on the Syrian regime, President Bashar al-Assad will soon officially declare war on Israel, with speculators pointing to 5am local time for official confirmation. This information continues to persist despite the technical state of war that currently exists between the two states.
Many however, have been quick to dismiss these reports as strictly rumour, with various commentators claiming that such a move would be sure to end Assad's reign of terror in Syria "within a week".
The news of an Israeli intervention in Syria has caught the Obama administration on the back foot, with the US president refusing to comment at length about the strike. Obama said, "The Israelis, justifiably, have to guard against the transfer of advanced weaponry to terrorist organizations like Hezbollah."
The US president made no mention of supposed "red lines" being crossed, despite evidence of Syria's used of chemical weapons against rebel forces. Critics have hit out at Barack Obama in recent days for failing to put forward any coherent strategy to bring the violence in Syria to an end. The inaction, according to some, is another example of Obama's "lead from behind" strategy, the same tactic he employed during the intervention in Libya.
Following evidence of chemical warfare and an increasingly reticent US position, Israel has in recent days taken widely reported steps to neutralise threats emanating from within civil war-torn Syria.
While strikes from Lebanese airspace this weekend are not thought to have been on chemical weapons caches, the recent Israeli intelligence regarding the use of such weaponry is thought to have spurred on a round of strikes, including the latest just hours ago.
The Syrian state news agency SANA, citing initial reports, said early Sunday that Israeli missiles struck a military research center near the capital Damascus.
Syrian state television has reported that a major strike on an ammunition depot in Qassiyoun mountain shook Damascus, while Hezbollah's Al-Manar station claimed the explosion may have been a downed Israeli jet.
Rumours are surfacing online that following the latest volley of attacks on the Syrian regime, President Bashar al-Assad will soon officially declare war on Israel, with speculators pointing to 5am local time for official confirmation. This information continues to persist despite the technical state of war that currently exists between the two states.
Many however, have been quick to dismiss these reports as strictly rumour, with various commentators claiming that such a move would be sure to end Assad's reign of terror in Syria "within a week".
The news of an Israeli intervention in Syria has caught the Obama administration on the back foot, with the US president refusing to comment at length about the strike. Obama said, "The Israelis, justifiably, have to guard against the transfer of advanced weaponry to terrorist organizations like Hezbollah."
The US president made no mention of supposed "red lines" being crossed, despite evidence of Syria's used of chemical weapons against rebel forces. Critics have hit out at Barack Obama in recent days for failing to put forward any coherent strategy to bring the violence in Syria to an end. The inaction, according to some, is another example of Obama's "lead from behind" strategy, the same tactic he employed during the intervention in Libya.
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Israel Bombs Syria: Weapons Bound For Hezbollah Annihilated in Israeli Airstrike
The latest development in the Syrian civil war does not involve the rebels at all. On Saturday, United States officials told NBC News that Israel had conducted airstrikes against targets inside Syria. The Israeli Defense Ministry confirmed these reports later on Saturday.
The conflict in Syria has grown immensely since initial demonstrations in March 2011 that kicked off a violent government crackdown and subsequent unrest in the Middle Eastern nation. This new airstrike from the Israeli military is a prime example of how the conflict has expanded beyond an internal matter to a major regional flashpoint as foreign governments weigh their options regarding the struggle.
The strike was aimed at a shipment of military equipment that was bound for Lebanon, according to the Israeli military. It is suspected that the shipment contained missiles being delivered to Hezbollah guerrillas in the region.
Israel has long stated that they reserve the right to engage in military action if they feel that advanced weapons from the Assad regime would make their way into the hands of those that Israel deems enemies. The strike resembles a similar action that the Israeli military undertook in February.
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-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
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