The West and Israel have been reluctant to intervene with enough force to tip the balance in the fighting in Syria, but the continued influx of Sunni jihadists to the region and their increasing attacks in neighboring Lebanon and Iraq has some thinking President Bashar Assad’s regime is the better of two evils. Continue Reading »
By Ari Soffer
A resident of the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights was shot in a suspected terrorist attack as he stood near to the border with Syria Saturday.
The 19 year-old man, said he clearly heard a gun fire before being hit in the foot by a bullet, apparently fired from the Syrian side of the border.
The victim was admitted to hospital in light-to-moderate condition.
The IDF and local police have launched an investigation into the incident, saying that at this point they are unaware of any unusual incidents along the northern border. Continue Reading »
The IDF said Saturday that a blast the previous evening on the Golan Heights was from a bomb detonated as patrolling troops passed by, but that there were no casualties.
An investigation of the incident, which took place near the Syrian border, concluded that “the explosion was caused by a concealed explosive device operated against Israeli soldiers,” a statement said.
No casualties were reported from the explosion, but a military vehicle suffered some minor damage. Continue Reading »
There was a massive explosion early Thursday morning at an aerial defense base near the city of Latakia in northeastern Syria, Walla reports, based on reports from the Syrian opposition.
Opposition sources said the base, which held anti-aircraft missiles, was destroyed in the blast.
Sources in Syria and Lebanon blamed Israel for the strike. However, they offered alternate versions of events: while Syrian sources said the base was hit by a strike from the sea, Lebanese media outlets reported that Israeli planes were seen in the area before the blast. Continue Reading »
Israel is responsible for “all Lebanese who have gone missing,” Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah declared in a speech in southern Beirut on Monday, according to the group’s Al-Manar TV website.
Hezbollah supporters gesture as they listen to Nasrallah on October 29, 2013 as be broadcasts from his secret underground bunker. – Photo: REUTERS
Speaking on a large screen, he also said that Syrian events were affecting everything in Lebanon, the website reported.
By Yoav Zitun
Gunfire was opened on Tuesday at laborers raising a new border fence on the Israeli-Syrian border, near the Hermonit Post in the Golan Heights.
IDF soldiers on the Syria-Israel border.- Photo: Yaron Kaminsky
No injuries were reported, but a fire has broken out in the area.
Border tension was also registered Monday, as IDF fired at two Palestinians approaching the fence in the northern Gaza Strip.The two were hit, one reportedly killed and the other apprehended by security forces, following a short chase. Continue Reading »
By equating Israeli-Palestinian violence with an Iranian nuclear bomb, US President Barack Obama in his speech Tuesday morning before the UN General Assembly appeared at first glance to have blown this conflict out of all reasonable proportions.
US President Barack Obama addresses the 68th UN General Assembly in New York, September 24, 2013. – Photo: REUTERS
Hard to imagine how continued violence in Jerusalem or Ramallah could compare to a mushroom cloud from Tehran.
A series of explosions last week at a critical Syrian port was the result of airstrikes by Israeli warplanes, multiple U.S. officials told CNN on Friday.
Israel Air Force F-16i (Sufa) – Photo Courtesy: IDF Spokesperson’s office
Regional media widely reported the predawn explosions at Latakia on July 5, but no one had oficially claimed responsibility.
Three U.S. officials told CNN the target of the airstrikes were Russian-made Yakhont anti-ship missiles that Israel believes posed a threat to its naval forces. Continue Reading »
The Free Syrian Army claimed Monday that the Israel Air Force had destroyed a warehouse holding Russian S-300 anti-aircraft missiles east of the city of Homs in western Syria. The rebels’ claim has not been corroborated by any other independent source.
S-300 anti-air missile system mounted on a trailer [Archive] – Photo: Reuters
In a Facebook post titled “The new Israeli strike,” the rebels alleged that “the brave Syrian regime has conceded that a new Israeli strike targeted a warehouse containing Russian S-300 missiles and launchers.
Senior Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) officials met in Riyadh on Thursday to coordinate sanctions in the six member states against Lebanon’s Shiite Hizbullah terror group over its support for the Syrian regime, AFP reported.
Hizbullah flag – AFP photo
The meeting was “to develop mechanisms to monitor movements, financial transactions and business operations of Hizbullah,” said Bahraini deputy interior minister Khaled al-Absi, according to the news agency.
The GCC monarchies decided on June 10 to impose sanctions on Hizbullah, targeting residency permits and its financial and business activities in reprisal for the group’s armed intervention in Syria. Continue Reading »
Israeli and U.S. military officials are coordinating how to target and destroy Syrian president Bashar Assad’s arsenal of unconventional weapons under assorted scenarios, Israeli military and intelligence officials told TIME Magazine.
One scenario would be the sudden removal of Assad from the scene, the magazine said. “That would prompt the allies to launch operations on the estimated 18 depots and other sites where WMDs are stored,” Israei military and intelligence officials said.
“Search and destroy operations would also be launched if the weapons appeared to be about to fall into the hands of the rebels, which include Islamist extremists aligned with al-Qaeda.” Continue Reading »
The radical axis of Iran, Syria and Hezbollah has crossed all red lines recently, Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman Avigdor Lieberman said on Tuesday.
Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman Avigdor Lieberman – Photo: AP
Speaking at a meeting of his committee, Lieberman said that Iran was moving at a “crazy pace” toward obtaining a nuclear weapon, and that he hoped Israel would be able to make the correct decisions. Continue Reading »
Syrian forces fired into Israeli territory on Monday night, the third such incident this week. At approximately 1:00 AM, Syrian forces fired at IDF troops patrolling near Tel Fares in the central Golan Heights. No one was wounded, but an army jeep was damaged.
Stray mortar shell lands in Israel’s northern Golan Heights – Photo: Gil Eliyahu
Following the incident, the Artillery Corps returned fire with precision Tammuz missiles. IDF officials said that a military response to the firing incidents on the border was being considered in detail and in accordance with a situation assessment in progress. Continue Reading »
By Elad Benari, Canada
If Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad will start a war with Israel, he will be “finished”, former Military Intelligence head, Maj. Gen. (res.) Amos Yadlin, said on Friday.
“There is pressure on Assad to respond [to recent Israeli airstrikes in Syria], but he will be finished if he starts a war,” Yadlin, who now heads the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), told Channel 10 News.
“We must not think that what worked several times will always work,” he added, referring to alleged Israeli airstrikes in Damascus targeting weapons meant for Hizbullah. Continue Reading »
UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. peacekeeping chief says armed men broke into a U.N. outpost in a buffer zone separating Israel and Syria early Wednesday and abducted three U.N military observers.
Herve Ladsous told a group of reporters Thursday that the unarmed observers were held for about five hours and released unharmed.
It was the third abduction of U.N. peacekeepers in the tense border region since March when 21 Filipino peacekeepers were held for three days by rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Continue Reading »
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