Israel bombs Russian missiles bound for Syria in Lebanon

[TonyGosling]

Syria Confirms Israeli Jets Bombed Military Site
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=170651578
by The Associated Press - January 30, 2013 2:19 PM
BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian state TV has confirmed that Israeli warplanes bombed a military research center northwest of the capital, Damascus.
U.S. and regional security officials reported the strike Wednesday but did not say where it took place.
State TV says the strike targeted a military research center in the area of Jermana.
It says the strike caused material damage and the center was used to advance Syrian military capabilities.

[TonyGosling]

Israel Attacks Lebanon
http://www.globalresearch.ca/israel-attacks-lebanon/5321145
By Stephen Lendman - Global Research, January 30, 2013
In-depth Report: SYRIA: NATO'S NEXT WAR?, THE WAR ON LEBANON
Lebanon’s Naharnet news site said 12 Israeli fighter jets entered Lebanese air space in the last 24 hours. Flights overflew the Beka Valley.On Saturday, Lebanon’s Al-Mustaqbal daily said a southern weapons storage facility was struck. No official confirmation followed.
Lebanon’s Daily Star headlined “Israel hits target in Lebanon-Syria border area – sources,” saying:
According to four unnamed Western diplomats and regional security sources, “Israeli forces attacked a convoy on the Syrian-Lebanese border overnight.”
Little further information followed. Israel warned earlier about “high-tech anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles reaching Israel’s enemies.” Chemical weapons concerns were raised.
Lebanese military sources reported multiple Israeli incursions into Lebanon’s airspace overnight.
According to one source:
“There was definitely a hit in the border area.” Without elaborating, he said “something happened.”
Another said “The Israeli air force blew up a convoy which had just crossed the border from Syria into Lebanon.”
An IDF spokeswoman said “We do not comment on reports of this kind.”
France’s Le Figaro said Israeli aircraft attacked an alleged weapons convoy traveling from Syria to Lebanon. It’s not clear if it occurred in Syrian or Lebanese territory.
On Sunday, Israeli Vice Premier Silvan Shalom said “The entire world has said more than once that it takes developments in Syria very seriously.”
Negative developments would have to be addressed, he added.
Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said Israel won’t “compromise on the security of the northern front.”
On January 29, Al-Monitor said IDF intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi traveled to Washington to meet US Pentagon officials. Whether doing so is connected to Israel’s attack isn’t clear.
Netanyahu held recent security meetings. Discussions focused on Syrian and Lebanese issues. Cabinet members were told:
“It is necessary to look at our surroundings, both at what is happening with Iran and its proxies, and what is happening in other arenas – lethal weaponry in Syria, which is steadily breaking up.”
Israel Air Force commander, Major General Amir Eshel, said Syria is “falling apart. Nobody has any idea right now what is going to happen in Syria on the day after, and how the country is going to look.”
“This is happening in a place with a huge weapons arsenal, some of which are new and advanced, and some of which are not conventional.”
On January 20, Mossad-connected DEBKAfile said “Israeli aircraft target(ed) Hizbollah missiles in Zabadani. S. Syria.”
Israeli aircraft struck “missile and arms convoys standing ready in southern Syria for transfer to Hizbollah in Lebanon, according to Western sources.”
On Sunday, Israel deployed two Iron Dome missile defense systems. They’re stationed on Israel’s Golan border. Their effectiveness is way overblown.
UN observers monitoring Syria’s border with Israel were withdrawn. At issue is why. Netanyahu’s stoking fear. He does it repeatedly on Iran. Whether he’s got something else in mind now bears close watching.

[TonyGosling]

Israel bombs Russian arms shipment in Lebanon
January 30, 2013
Source: The Atlantic Wire, Alexander Abad-Santos

Update, 2:47 p.m.: Syrian state TV is reporting that the Israeli warplanes bombed a military research center. "State TV says the strike targeted a military research center in the area of Jermana. It says the strike caused material damage and the center was used to advance Syrian military capabilities," reports the AP. U.S. officials have confirmed a strike took place, but so far have not said when — or what, exactly, was bombed.

Update, 12:43 p.m.: The Israeli attack and the target of the attack have been confirmed by a U.S. defense official, and yes, it appears Israel was aiming for a weapons convoy. " Israel conducted an airstrike inside Syria overnight near the border with Lebanon, hitting a convoy of trucks," reports the AP, gleaning information from U.S. defense officials. The AP adds:

The regional officials said Israel had been planning in the days leading up to the airstrike to hit a shipment of weapons bound for the Islamist militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon. They said the shipment included sophisticated, Russian-made SA-17 anti-aircraft missiles, which would be strategically "game-changing" in the hands of Hezbollah.

Original post: Israeli forces attacked a target on the Syrian-Lebanese border overnight, reports Reuters, possibly out of concern that the Syria civil war is spilling over onto its neighbors. "The sources, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue, had no further information about what might have been hit or where precisely the attack happened," reads the Reuters report. According to Al Monitor's Laura Rozen, the target was an alleged weapons convoy. Israel's Haaretz newspaper hasn't confirmed the attack, but they are reporting that the Lebanon says that Israeli Air Force jets breached Lebanese air space.

The attack comes one day after Israeli defense sources told Reuters's Dan Williams they were concerned that Syrian weapons, both chemical and conventional, might fall into hands of Hezbollah in Lebanon. Williams wrote:

Israeli officials have also voiced concern about Syria's advanced Russian-supplied weapons, including anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles. Israel fears that should such weapons fall into the hands of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon, this could dent the Jewish state's superiority in any future confrontation.

Just this past Sunday Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced the same concerns—that there would be a risk of chemical weapons landing into Hezbollah's hands, hinting at the need for an Israeli intervention. A spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Forces would not comment on the attack.

[TonyGosling]

Another chief fear among Israeli security officials is that Hezbollah could get its hands on Syrian SA-17 anti-aircraft missiles. If that were to happen, it would change the balance of power in the region and greatly hinder Israel’s ability to conduct air sorties in Lebanon.

Israel believes that Damascus obtained a battery of SA-17s from Russia after an alleged Israeli airstrike in 2007 that destroyed an unfinished Syrian nuclear reactor.

Israel Military Intelligence Chief Aviv Kochavi is in Washington for consultations at the Pentagon, including with Joint Chiefs of Staff head Martin Dempsey.

Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom said Sunday that such transfer of arms to Hezbollah “would be crossing a line that would demand a different approach.”

The Lebanese army report did not mention if the planes entered Syrian territory, although the area of Lebanon where the flights reportedly took place borders southern Syria. The report of the flights was not corroborated by an Israeli source.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-jets-reportedly-penetrate-lebanes e-airspace/

[Disco_Destroyer]

It would seem they hit Syria too check Syria thread

[Disco_Destroyer]

Just as:- Escalation then is the hardliners only option now!

Israel must remove all Jewish settlers from occupied West Bank - UN inquiry

http://rt.com/news/un-israel-remove-settlements-161/

[Disco_Destroyer]

What ******* and preemptive strike doesn't lmao

[TonyGosling]

FSA and Israel attack Syrian research center
Voltaire Network | 1 February 2013
http://www.voltairenet.org/article177353.html

Western media relayed disinformation by Israeli sources announcing that their army had attacked a Syrian military convoy transporting weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon. According to the press articles, Sam-7 missiles or chemical weapons ready for deployment were allegedly part of the shipment.

In fact, the Israeli Air Force bombed a research center located in Jemraya in the suburbs of Damascus, on Wednesday afternoon, January 30, 2013. There were no Sam-7’s or chemical weapons housed at the center. Indeed, the destruction of Sam-7 missiles would have set off explosions visible from the capital. As for the destruction of chemical weapons ready for use (that is to say whose components have already been mixed) would have caused a disaster.

An unofficial Syrian source told Voltaire Network that a few days earlier the Syrian Arab Army had seized some sophisticated Israeli material used by the Contras, which it stored in the research center where it was to be taken apart and analyzed.

This is probably the material that the Israelis intended to destroy before being taken to Russia or Iran. The Center was first attacked by ground commandos of the Free Syrian Army who were pushed back. Then, the Israeli Air Force intervened directly to carry out the work that the Contras were unable to achieve.

Israeli planes flew in very low from Lebanon. They soared from behind Mount Hermon and penetrated Syrian airspace only very briefly.