Tag Archive for Syria Unrest

| February 26, 2013
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With Assad loosing control, Israel plans against security threats

Prof. Mordechai Kedar: In the long term Assad’s regime may be replaced by a gov’t more amenable to peace with Israel. But before he falls, Assad might transfer his large stock of WMD to Hezbollah.

JTA SPECIAL REPORT: THE SYRIA SPILLOVER By Ben Sales

 

KATZRIN, Israel  — For nearly 40 years, Israel’s border with Syria has been, perhaps improbably, its quietest.

The two countries technically have been in a state of war since the cease-fire that ended the 1973 Yom Kippur War. But over the past four decades, while Israel’s other borders occasionally have exploded with missile salvos, intifadas, shooting incidents and cross-border terrorist attacks, the Syrian frontier on the Golan Heights has stayed largely peaceful. Continue Reading »

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| February 25, 2013
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Adviser to chief of UN Golan Force kidnapped

Sky Arabia reports that Carl Kampo, Austria-born legal advisor to UNDOF the force monitoring Israel-Syria ceasefire abducted on February 7

Roi Kais, Yoav Zitun

 

Sky Arabia reported Monday that an advisor to the commander of the United Nations force monitoring the ceasefire in the Golan Heights () was kidnapped on February 7.

Israel-Syria minefield border fenceAccording to reports, Carl Kampo is a legal advisor from Austria. No further details were immediately available and the report has not been officially confirmed.

Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Mayadeen TV also quoted reports saying that an advisor to the UNDOF commander was abducted. Several Lebanese media outlets quoted the Sky Arabia report. Continue Reading »

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| February 25, 2013
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Merkel: Russia & China realize Assad’s time is up

Both Security Council Super Powers have always blocked attempts by the West to mount pressure on the Syrian president to end the violence in the nearly 2 year civil war that has killed some 70,000 people.

By Reuters

 

China and Russia are increasingly realizing that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s time is up, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday, as she visited German troops stationed with NATO Patriot missiles close to the Turkish-Syrian frontier.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (R) and Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (R) and Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan address the media after talks in Berlin October 31, 2012. – Photo: Reuters

Merkel, beginning a two-day trip to Turkey, said the missiles, provided at NATO member Turkey’s request, were a signal that the alliance would not tolerate Damascus dragging its neighbors into its conflict. Continue Reading »

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| February 4, 2013
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Lebanese FM, enough ‘talk’ calls for boycott of Israel

FM Adnan Mansour says Israel ‘deserves tough response’ & not ‘calls, statements and condemnation’ for Syria airstrike.

Meanwhile, Arab media reports that IAF bombed a Hezbollah facility in  Tyre, but group denies strike.

By Roi Kais

 

Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour said Sunday that last week’s airstrike in Syria “is aggression against Lebanon.” He further added, “Israel deserves harsh responses and a tough boycott on the economic, political and diplomatic levels.”

SA 17

Speaking before traveling to Cairo to attend a conference of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Mansour said, “Israeli jets continue to invade Lebanon’s airspace every day. We must stand up against the Israeli attacks but not just with calls, statements and condemnation.” Continue Reading »

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| February 3, 2013
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Israel seeks initialization of buffer zone inside Syria

‘The Sunday Times’ quotes military planners as saying a ‘buffer-zone’ plan to protect Israel from global jihadists, much like that of the southern Lebanese security zone (1982-2000), has already been shown to Netanyahu.

By JPOST.COM STAFF

 

 

Israel is considering creating a buffer zone reaching up to 10 miles inside Syria, The Sunday Times quoted sources close to military planners as saying.

Netanyahu surveys Syrian borderThe Times reported that the proposal, intended to protect itself from rebels across the northern frontier, has been presented to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

“A buffer zone set up with the co-operation of local villagers lies at the heart of the plan.

Continue Reading »
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| February 3, 2013
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Iran Promises Israel ‘Payback’ Through Syrian Proxy

Iran has threatened to attack Israel via Syria and “render the Zionist regime comatose” for attacking the convoy and chemical instillation.

By Chana Ya’ar

 

Iran has threatened to attack Israel in retaliation for the destruction of a chemical weapons processing center near Damascus, using Syria as its proxy.

IAFIranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Deputy Chairman, Brigadier-General Masoud Jazayeri condemned last Wednesday’s air strike on the Jamraya Scientific Research Center, which most of the world assumes was carried out by the Israeli Air Force.

Jazayeri said in a bellicose statement broadcast Sunday on official Iranian Press TV that Syria’s response to the attack on the military research center will “render the Zionist regime comatose.” Continue Reading »

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| February 3, 2013
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Israel will have to strike Syrian convoys again

Syria threatens to retaliate against assumed Israeli aggression

Iran, which supplies arms to Syria, Hamas & Hezbollah said the airstrike would have significant ramification for Israel.

By The Associated Press and Israel Hayom Staff

 

 

An Israeli air attack reportedly staged in Syria this week may be a sign of things to come.

Israeli military officials appear to have concluded that the risks of attacking Syria are worth taking when compared to the dangers of allowing sophisticated weapons to reach Hezbollah guerrillas in neighboring Lebanon.Nasrallah

With Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s grip on power weakening, Israeli officials fear he could soon lose control over his substantial arsenal of chemical and advanced weapons, which could slip into the hands of Hezbollah or other hostile groups.

Continue Reading »
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| February 1, 2013
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UK’s Foreign Secretary Hague, ‘not right to criticize Israel over Syria strike’

British foreign secretary says real issue is a 2 year Syrian civil war, but does criticize int’l community and U.N. for its failure to address the crisis.

By Ynetnews

 

British Foreign Secretary William Hague commented on reports of an Israeli airstrike in Syria and stressed he will not condemn Jerusalem over the matter, the BBC reported Thursday.

William Hague“I’m not going to give any condemnation of Israel or rush into any criticism,” he said in an interview. “There may be many things about it that we don’t know, or the Arab League or Russia don’t know.”

The British secretary said that the real issue is Syria’s civil war which has been raging in the country for the past two years killing a reported 60,000 people. Continue Reading »

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| January 31, 2013
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Will Hezbollah use Chemical Weapons?

Reports of Israeli attack come amid mounting concerns over transfer of Syrian chemical weapons to terrorist organizations.

Israelis in the meantime are making sure their gas masks are up-to-date.

By Ben Sales

 

TEL AVIV (JTA) — Israeli planes reportedly struck a Syrian weapons transport on the Lebanese border amid increasing fears that the country’s chemical weapons stockpile could fall into the hands of Hezbollah.

The strikes, which occurred in the early hours of Wednesday morning, were reported to Reuters by a Western diplomat and anonymous regional sources who said that warplanes had struck the convoy as it passed from Syria into Lebanon. Continue Reading »

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| January 31, 2013
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WSJ: U.S. knew in advance of Syria strike by IDF

Wall Street Journal quotes U.S. gov’t official as acknowledging the IDF strike targeted a convoy of trucks in Syria carrying Russian-made advanced missiles to Hezbollah.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, YAAKOV LAPPIN

 

American officials have told the New York Times that Jerusalem had given the US advance warning of an Israeli air strike at dawn on Tuesday on a convoy carrying weapons in Syria, close to the Lebanese border.

IAF F-16i (Sufa) – Photo courtesy: Israel Air Force

IAF F-16i (Sufa) – Photo courtesy: Israel Air Force

American officials said overnight Wednesday that the strike had targeted a suspected shipment of anti-aircraft missiles, the Wall Street Journal and Times reported.

Wednesday’s strike on the the convoy, which has not been officially confirmed by Israel, came after hours of what Lebanese army sources described as repeated invasions of its airspace by Israeli warplanes.

Continue Reading »
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| January 30, 2013
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Foreign reports: Israel Air Force hit target on Syria-Lebanon border

Arab media claim IAF fighter jets conducted 3 separate aerial incursions into Lebanon overnight. US website says target was weapons convoy; IDF remains hushed

By Roi Kais

 

“Israeli forces have attacked a target on the Syrian-Lebanese border overnight,” foreign and Arab media sources alleged Wednesday, saying that 12 IAF jets breached Lebanon’s airspace on Tuesday.

IAF F-16i (Sufa) – Photo courtesy: Israel Air Force

The US-based Al-Monitor website quoted Lebanese sources as saying the target was a weapons convoy traveling near Syria’s border with Lebanon. The report has not been corroborated by any Israeli source and the IDF refused to comment on the matter. Continue Reading »

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| January 30, 2013
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Israel preparing for possible war in north

This week the IDF deployed 2 of its vaunted Iron Dome anti-missile systems to the northern port city of Haifa in anticipation of armed action.

Israel cannot accept a situation where Hezbollah holds the threat of chemical weapons over its citizens.

 

By Israel Today Staff

 

Israel is growing increasingly concerned that Syria’s ongoing civil war is going to result in open conflict between Jewish state and either Syrian forces or Lebanon’s Hezbollah terrorist militia.

Israel’s border with Syria – Photo: Israeltoday.co.il

Israel has warned that if Syria’s stockpile of chemical weapons finds its way into Hezbollah hands, Israeli forces will take preemptive action. Continue Reading »

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| January 29, 2013
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Syria’s chemical/biological arsenal is now within Hezbollah reach

PM Benjamin Netanyahu met with a U.S. delegation about the developments in Syria, reporting that the potential outcomes facing Israel are “bad, bad& worse”.

Just off the Syrian coast, Russian navy conducts large-scale training exercise.

By Shlomo Cesana & Daniel Siryoti

Israel continued to warn the world on Monday of the potentially devastating outcome if Syria’s chemical arsenal falls into the hands of rebels, or worse, Hezbollah, as Lebanese media outlets reported that the Lebanese terror group had already obtained some chemical weapons and long range missiles.

Footage of Hezbollah fighters in Syria on Monday. – Photo: Channel 10 News

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who on Sunday met with a delegation from the U.S. Continue Reading »

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| January 28, 2013
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Israel is at ‘Battle Stations’

The State of Israel will not tolerate Hezbollah or any of the global jihad movements taking possession of Syria’s chemical or biological weapons, but any premature military operation could give the embattled Syrian regime an excuse to turn their weapons on Israel.

By Yoav Limor

It is hard to overstate the severity of the Syrian threat, and the sharpness of the pounding headache created by it. Every possible scenario is dangerous, and any choice available to Israel goes from bad to worse.

Israel Air Force F-16 fighter planes. - Photo: AFP

Israel Air Force F-16 fighter planes. – Photo: AFP

Recent reports out of Syria indicate the immediacy of the issue.

Continue Reading »
Category: Israel News | Tags: ,
| January 28, 2013
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Palestinians flee catastrophe in Syria to catastrophe in Lebanon

“We go from catastrophe to catastrophe, from refugee camp to refugee camp, but at least we are alive,” Umm Sami said in Ein el-Hilweh, Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp, near the southern port city of Sidon.

By

 

Then she told her sons they were leaving their home in the Yarmouk refugee camp in the Syrian capital for neighboring Lebanon, where they would wait out Syria’s civil war.

Palestinian children who fled their houses in the Yarmouk camp

“There will be no more martyrs for Palestine in my family,” the 45-year-old widow said. “This war is a Syrian problem.”

Now safe in Lebanon, Umm Sami and her family have joined thousands of other Palestinian refugees who have found shelter in the country since the uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad erupted nearly two years ago. Continue Reading »

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