Israel Strikes Hizbullah Weapons Shipment in Syria, Obama Says Has Right to 'Guard against Arming' the Party
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
An Israeli airstrike against Syria was targeting a shipment of advanced missiles bound for Hizbullah in Lebanon, Israeli officials confirmed Saturday.
It was the second Israeli strike this year against Syria and the latest salvo in its long-running effort to disrupt Hizbullah's quest to build an arsenal capable of defending against Israel's air force and spreading destruction inside the Jewish state.
U.S. President Barack Obama considered later on Saturday that Israel is justified in protecting itself against shipments of advanced weapons to Hizbullah.
"The Israelis justifiably have to guard against the transfer of advanced weaponry to terrorist organizations like Hizbullah," he said without commenting directly on the reported strike to Telemundo television.
"We coordinate closely with the Israelis, recognizing that they are very close to Syria, they are very close to Lebanon."
Officials said the attack took place early Friday and was aimed at sophisticated "game-changing" weapons, but not chemical arms. One official said the target was a shipment of advanced, long-range ground-to-ground missiles but was not more specific.
It was not immediately clear where the attack took place, or whether the air force carried out the strike from Lebanese or Syrian airspace.
The Israeli officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose information about a secret military operation to the media.
U.S. officials had earlier confirmed the airstrike but said only that it appeared to have hit a warehouse.
Calls to the Israeli military and Defense Ministry were not immediately answered.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly warned in recent weeks that Israel would be prepared to take military action if chemical weapons or other arms that would upset the balance of power with Hizbullah were to reach the Islamic militant group.
Syria's assistant information minister, Khalaf Muftah, told Hizbullah's Manar TV that he has "no information about an aggression that was staged," and said reports of an Israeli air raid "come in the framework of psychological war in preparation of an aggression against Syria."
It's not the first time since Syria's crisis erupted in March 2011 that Israel has intervened struck inside Syria.
In January, the Israeli air force is believed to have targeted a shipment of advanced SA-17 anti-aircraft missiles bound for Hizbullah. Israel has not formally admitted to carrying out that airstrike, though officials have strongly hinted they were behind the attack.
The airstrikes follow decades of enmity between Israel and allies Syria and Hizbullah, which consider the Jewish state their mortal enemy. The situation has been further complicated by the civil war raging in Syria between President Bashar Assad regime and rebel brigades seeking his ouster.
The war has drained Assad's military and threatens to deprive Hizbullah of a key supporter, in addition to its land corridor to Iran. The two countries provide Hizbullah with the bulk of its funding and arms.
Israel and Hizbullah fought an inconclusive 34-day war in 2006 that left 1,200 Lebanese and 160 Israelis dead.
While the border has been largely quiet since, the struggle has taken other forms. Hizbullah has accused Israel of assassinating a top commander, and Israel blamed Hizbullah and Iran for a July 2012 attack on Israeli tourists in Bulgaria. In October, Hizbullah launched an Iranian-made reconnaissance drone over Israel, using the incident to brag about its expanding capabilities.
Israeli officials believe that Hizbullah's arsenal has markedly improved since 2006, now boasting tens of thousands of rockets and missiles and the ability to strike almost anywhere inside Israel.
04 May 2013, 08:02
619
hizbushaitan time is coming to an end.
after they get weakened due t their involvement in Syria, they will become an easy target for the israeli revenge.
04 May 2013, 15:51
27
Kanaan, you just made a new fan.... Me!
En effet, ils sont lâches.... Mais les soldats israéliens aussi. Il y en a pas un pour rattraper l'autre. Clair et net.
Dieu aura raison de ce parti qui utilise son nom à des fins de propagande diaboliques....
الله يلعن بشار
04 May 2013, 09:00
412
the hizb days are numbered,time they became a Lebanese entity and served Lebanon only .That is the only way they will regain the respect of the Lebanese people.
04 May 2013, 11:44
114
@fpm..don't get me wrong ..i never liked them ..everyone has a chance to repent..i would never support any party/group that does another country dirty work.
04 May 2013, 09:19
216
HA has shown that they are nothing more than farsi mercenaries--good riddance to them and their weapons.
and can we finally stop using the term 'resistance' to define them--the only thing they are resisting are the rules and laws of lebanon.
04 May 2013, 09:19
415
HA has shown that they are nothing more than farsi mercenaries--good riddance to them and their weapons.
and can we finally stop using the term 'resistance' to define them--the only thing they are resisting are the rules and laws of lebanon.
04 May 2013, 12:42
91
Information fausse destinée à remonter le moral des Takfiro-wahhabistes qui perdent depuis deux semaines toutes leurs positions dans l'Ouest, le centre, le sud et une partie du Nord. Il n'y a eu aucun bombardement de l'aviation Sioniste en Syrie. Vos amis sionistes ne vous seront pas d'une grande utilité dans cette guerre.
04 May 2013, 22:38
11
T'es grave coco. Tant de mépris pour des gens est nuisible pour la santé. Le contact humain est plus important qu'un drapeau... Qui est juste un bout d'étoffe colorée.
Offrir du thé à qui que ce soit est crucial. Il est plus que temps de préparer la paix même en temps de guerre!! Et puis, qui est le gouvernement (en général) pour interdire à X ou Y de fréquenter Z. J'en ai marre de ces lois socialistes liberticides.
04 May 2013, 12:50
91
Il y a à peine un mois le Sayyed disait qu'il n'importait plus depuis un moment d'armements parce que les stocks étaient pleins...donc c'est peut-être un convoi d'armes à destination des rebelles qui a été bombardé non? lol...très probable vu l'intelligence de vos copains...ils sont capables d'avoir donné les coordonnées d'un de leurs convois par erreur..ils sont spécialistes des erreurs et des "Allllahou akbar" à très forte voix..pour ne pas se faire remarquer....:)...tu me suis?
04 May 2013, 13:30
00
Or the idiot Nasrallah and his sheep. They fire back and get half the country destroyed.
04 May 2013, 14:09
00
Yes I'm an Israeli who is looking for a quiet border. a border used to be till Lebanon opened its gates for armed terrorist groups expelled from Jordan and found a warn nest to act against Israel from Lebanese soil.
I'm sure most of the Lebanese people think same as me.
If Lebanon is looking to live in peace and return to be the Switzerland of the Med. Bless you. but if Lebanon will choose once again to make the mistake and support terror actions against Israel we won't be standing quiet while our towns and civilian being bombed by those drug dealers.
I Wish all the best to the prosperity and a sovereign beautiful Lebanon as used to be.
04 May 2013, 14:13
23
FT and Phoenix: I agree with you on this point. At this crucial time, the very existence of the Christians in Lebanon is threatened. All Christian parties must set aside their differences and unite under a set of common denominators. Coordination is a must now.
04 May 2013, 15:19
92
Kanaan, your weird. Are you being serious or are you one of those "israelis" whos hired to post such pro-israeli things on forums? What you say makes no sence. Why don't you tell israel to do the stopping instead? Your like the S.O.B who tells a raped woman its her fault she got raped cuz she left the house!! No sane person would post such things because they truly believe it, only those who have propaganda agenda would post such things. I realize there are diffirent opinions and that one can be against hezballah without being a "israeli" but you take every opportunity to do PR for israel. That is suspicious.
04 May 2013, 15:46
26
The woman got raped because she was wearing a miniskirt and was sexy. Not because she left he house. Beleive me, when a Dahye girls leaves home, she isn't at risk. The smell of nylon and sweat because she's dressed as a ninja is an adequate repulsive.
04 May 2013, 16:06
21
FT, that's exactly what I meant to write. You put it much clearer than I did.
04 May 2013, 16:11
18
and Zapata supporters went by the motto "Reform, Freedom, Law and Justice"--none of those 4 words describe HA or Nasrallah, so your point is moot.
04 May 2013, 17:41
00
Idiots fighting over whose God is better is a sign of mental illness.
04 May 2013, 22:48
11
Oui oui, on a des terroristes libanais... Ça existe. Ça s'appelle Hezbollah, ça s'appelle Samaha... Among many other. Ma tiz3al, sheikh Assir will join the list soon.
05 May 2013, 00:24
00
Free Spirit, where do you get ur information from? Ur thoughts are very naive and I dare say dangerous. Hizbollah would help the Syrian government even if Assad was from the planet Mars. It's geopolitics, not religion - politicians use religion to get backing, and generally people feel the need to belong to something (ur going to need to ask an anthropologist why that is). So pls refrain from spreading naive comments - understand that Hizbollah is a socialist movement based on certain principles of Islam - the EXACTLY the opposite of what what Baath party represents (dictatorship based on secular pan-Arab nationalism backed by Soviet/now Russia). They used to be enemies and now they're friends, it's a game of chess between superpowers and we, my friend, are just pawns.
05 May 2013, 00:37
12
T'as raison sur toute la ligne. J'ajouterai même que Bachar et natanyahou partagent le même lit.
