Tag Archive for Syria Unrest

| May 17, 2013
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Israeli air strikes expected on Russian S-300 shipment to Hezbollah

 

WSJ reports: Another set Israeli airstrikes could target a new Russian transfer of Yakhont advanced anti-ship missiles if given to Hezbollah

Russia expediting delivery of its S-300 surface-to-air defense systems to Syria

CIA Director John Brennan in Jerusalem to discuss recent events.

By Shlomo Cesana, David Baron, Daniel Siryoti & Israel Hayom staff

U.S. officials told The Wall Street Journal on Thursday that another round of Israeli airstrikes could target a new Russian transfer of advanced anti-ship missiles in the near future. Israeli and Western intelligence services believe the Yakhont missiles, which have been sold by Russia to Syria in recent years, could be transferred to Hezbollah within days, the newspaper reported on its website Friday.

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Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| May 17, 2013
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Russia will honor commitment to transfer S-300 missiles to Assad

Israel’s PM Netanyahu couldn’t convince Putin to reconsider decision regarding sale of S-300 missiles to Syria.

 

Russian foreign minister reiterates: Russia will make good on commitments.

Yoav Ziitun

 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced Thursday that Russia would remain committed to previously signed arms deal “regarding agreements pertaining to aerial defense weapons.”

(צילום: EPA)

Putin, Netanyahu meet – Photo: EPA

Despite the fact that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flew for a lightning visit to Russia with the clear intent of preventing the sale of S-300 missiles to Assad’s regime, the Russians reiterated two days later that they refused to budge from their commitments. Continue Reading »

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| April 26, 2013
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U.S. President: Syrian gov’t use of chemical weapons a ‘game changer’

In a White House meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Obama says ‘We cannot stand by and permit the systematic use of weapons like chemical weapons on civilian populations.’

By Reuters

 

U.S. President Barack Obama said on Friday that the deployment of chemical weapons by the Syrian government was a “game changer” while noting that intelligence assessments proving that such weapons had been used were still preliminary.

 

Obama and King Abdullah - AP - April 26, 2013

U.S. President Barack Obama listens to Jordan’s King Abdullah II during their meeting – Photo: AP

 

“Horrific as it is when mortars are being fired on civilians and people are being indiscriminately killed, to use potential weapons of mass destruction on civilian populations crosses another line with respect to international norms and international law,” Obama told reporters at the White House. Continue Reading »

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| April 26, 2013
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Hezbollah’s Media Machine

The media has not paid attention to credible political attacks on Hezbollah by Sunni elements in Lebanon. Questions are being asked about Hezbollah’s military force and whether the group is more loyal to outside entities than it is to Lebanon.

By Yoav Limor

The conventional wisdom in the Israeli defense establishment on Thursday night was that Hezbollah’s launch of a drone into Israel earlier in the day was a sign of the group’s distress. Hezbollah has been facing growing criticism for its military involvement in the Syrian civil war and the drone launch was meant to divert attention from that and serve as a reminder to those who have forgotten that Hezbollah is “Lebanon’s shield.”

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| April 25, 2013
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Sunni cleric calls on Lebanese Youth for ‘Jihad’ Against Hizbullah

Sunni cleric Ahmad Assir, said it was a “a religious duty” for Sunni followers to join “armed Jihad in Syria” against the Hizbullah & Syrian regime.

By Elad Benari

 

Lebanese youth from the city of Saida, south of Beirut, began on Wednesday to sign up for “armed Jihad in Syria”, Al Arabiya reported.

Hezbollah terrorists - Photo by EPA

Hezbollah terrorists – Photo by EPA

The youth were responding to a call a day earlier by Sunni cleric Ahmad Assir, who called on Lebanese youth to fight the Hizbullah terrorist group.

Individuals in charge of enlisting the youth told Al Arabiya that “hundreds” have signed up so far and that the number is expected to reach thousands. Continue Reading »

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| April 23, 2013
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French Report: Israel & Jordan working to stop Syrian WMD transfers

Jordan has apparently given Israel permission to enter its airspace to access Syria in order to monitor & possibly act against the movement of chemical weapons

By Israel Today Staff

 

In a demonstration of regional cooperation against shared threats, Jordan this week gave the green light for Israeli drones to use its airspace to enter neighboring Syria in order to monitor the use and movement of chemical weapons.

Report: Israel, Jordan working together to stop Syrian WMDs

Israel Air Force Drone – Photo courtesy IDF Spokesperson’s Office

 

That according to French newspaper Le Figaro, which cited unnamed experts as saying the Jordanians had opened up two flight corridors to Israeli drones. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| April 20, 2013
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Hezbollah marches eastwards to support Assad

Iranian regional allies are mobilizing on behalf of Assad’s regime, with Hezbollah heading further & deeper eastwards, at the risk of provoking a Syrian response.

By JONATHAN SPYER

 

 

 
This week saw a sharp escalation in the emerging confrontation between the Syrian Sunni rebels and the Lebanese Hezbollah organization. This conflict is the result of Hezbollah’s increasingly visible engagement in Syria on behalf of the Assad regime.
Flags of Hezbollah, Assad's Syria

Flags of Hezbollah, Assad’s Syria – Photo: REUTERS/Ali Hashisho

Syrian rebels for the first time this week fired rockets into the Hezbollah controlled Hermel region, adjoining the Syrian border. Two Lebanese citizens were killed and a number of others wounded, as rockets landed in the villages of al-Qasr and Hawsh al- Sayyed Ali.

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| April 15, 2013
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Over 1,000 Hizbullah Terrorists Enter Syria to Fight for Assad

More than 1,000 members of Hizbullah have entered Syria in the past few days in order to render support for regime troops.

By Elad Benari

 

 

Hizbullah is continuing to assist Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad in his fight against the rebels. Over 1,000 members of the Lebanese Shiite terrorist group entered Syria in the past few days via waterways in the Mediterranean Sea, the Saudi daily Al-Watan reported on Sunday.

Hezbollah terrorists - Photo by EPA

Hezbollah terrorists – Photo by EPA

According to the report, around 1,200 fighters arrived at Syria’s Tartus port in order to fight alongside regime troops.

The armed members who arrived from Lebanon to Syria committed “a hideous crime” in the town of Talkalkh, the daily said, adding that tens of thousands of fighters entered from Iraq to aid the Syrian regime. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| April 14, 2013
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Western gov’ts should support the malign dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad

When Assad & Tehran fight the rebels & Ankara to mutual exhaustion, Western support then can then go to helping Syria offer a moderate alternative to today’s wretched choices and lead to a better future.

By  Daniel Pipes

Analysts agree that “the erosion of the Syrian regime’s capabilities is accelerating,” that it step-by-step continues to retreat, making a rebel breakthrough and an Islamist victory increasingly likely. In response, I am changing my policy recommendation from neutrality to something that causes me, as a humanitarian and decades-long foe of the Assad dynasty, to pause before writing:

Western governments should support the malign dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| March 25, 2013
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Fellow Alawites call for rebellion in Syrian army

For the 1st time, fellow Alawites who support the rebellion call for unity among Syrians.

By Reuters

Opposition activists from Syrian’s President Bashar Assad‘s Alawite sect called for his overthrow on Sunday and urged their co-religionists in the army to rebel.

A woman and a child walk by graffiti praising Allah and the Syrian revolution in Aleppo. – Photo by AFP

In the first meeting of its kind by Alawites who support the revolt, delegates distanced themselves from Assad’s crackdown against an uprising in which 70,000 people have been killed.

“We call on our brothers in the Syrian army, specifically members of our sect, not to take up arms against their people and to refuse to join the army,” the delegates said in a statement after two days of meeting in the Egyptian capital. Continue Reading »

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| March 24, 2013
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IDF Jeeps in Golan Hit By Gunfire from Syria

No injuries in the incident. Initial reports haven’t determined whether the gunfire was intentional.

By Gil Ronen

 

Someone on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights border fired a burst of automatic fire at IDF soldiers Saturday. The bullets struck patrol vehicles near Tel Fares in the central part of the Golan Heights, but caused no casualties.

IDF patrol seen from rebel positionIt is still not clear if the gunfire was deliberately aimed at the soldiers, or whether it was meant to hit one of the sides in the Syrian civil war and unintentionally “spilled over” into Israel.

About one month ago, a mortar round fired from Syria struck near Alonei Habashan in the northern Golan. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: ,
| March 12, 2013
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At EU, Peres asks them to recognize Hezbollah as terror organization

In speech to the European Parliament Tuesday morning, Shimon Peres warns that time is running out to curtail Iran’s nuclear ambitions and went on stressing the need of ensuring Syrian biological weapons don’t fall into the hands of terrorist groups.

 

President Shimon Peres called on the European Union to list Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, in an address to the European Parliament in Strasburg on Tuesday.

Israel's President Shimon Peres with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in Brussels at the EC headquarters March 7, 2013. - Photo by Reuters

Israel’s President Shimon Peres with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in Brussels at the EC headquarters March 7, 2013. – Photo: Reuters

 

Peres appealed to the Europeans to recognize terror for what it is, and to save Lebanon from such “terrorist madness”.

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| March 2, 2013
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No injuries as Mortar shells hit Golan Heights Again

Explosions most likely the result of misfire during battles between Syrian rebels & Assad’s forces, at least 3 shells explode in the Golan Heights, very close to the  Syria-Israel border.

Yoav Zitun

 

Second time this week: At least three mortar shells hit open areas in Israeli territories in the southern Golan Heights Saturday. No injuries or damage were immediately reported.

Smoke columns from Explosions near the Syria-Israel border (Archives) – Photo: Eli Ovadia

IDF troops are scouring the area.

According to preliminary evaluations, the hits are most likely the result of Syrian battles’ stray shooting.

According to the IDF Northern Command, the mortar shells hit some 800 meters (roughly 870 yards) from the Israeli-Syrian border. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| March 2, 2013
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WATCH: Rebels show oldest synagogue in Syria destroyed by Assad’s forces

The Jobar synagogue, one of the very oldest in Damascus, is said to have been built in honor of Elijah the Prophet as he was escaping persecution.

 

President Bashar Assad’s forces bombed one of Syria’s oldest synagogues on Friday, Syrian opposition activists report. The synagogue, located in the suburban Jobar district of Damascus, is said to have been built in honor of Elijah the Prophet while he was escaping persecution.

Damascus synagogue destroyed

A sign at the entrance of the Damascus synagogue, taken from the Youtube video below..

According to tradition, the synagogue stands at the site where Elijah the prophet anointed Elisha as a prophet as well. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| February 27, 2013
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No injuries after Syrian mortar shell shot into Golan Heights

Syrian shelling into Israel is believed to be result of errant fire

Israel repatriates 6 Syrian rebels after being treated for wounds. The 7th, with severe wounds, is still under Israeli medical care.

U.N. confirms its staff member is still missing after being last seen near the Syrian-Israeli border.

By Reuters & the Israel Hayom Staff

 

 

A mortar round fired from Syria on Wednesday exploded near Alonei Habashan on the Golan Heights. No one was wounded, according to Army Radio.

The IDF says the Syrians’ repatriation “was completed at an undisclosed location for their own safety.” – Photo: AP

Israeli troops were searching the moshav for additional shells after residents reported hearing other explosions.

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