Israel 'Confirms' Syria Raid, Assad Lashes out
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Israel on Sunday implicitly confirmed it staged an air strike on Syria this week, as President Bashar Assad accused the Jewish state of trying to "destabilize" the strife-torn country.
Four days after an air raid which Damascus said targeted a military complex near the capital, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak spoke to reporters in Munich but refrained from directly confirming that Israel staged the strike.
Barak told the Munich Security Conference it was "another proof that when we say something we mean it."
He added: "We say that we don't think that it should be allowable to bring advanced weapon systems into Lebanon, the Hizbullah from Syria, when Assad falls."
Wednesday's air strike targeted surface-to-air missiles and an adjacent military complex believed to house chemical agents, according to a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Damascus has threatened to retaliate, further fueling fears of a regional spillover of the country's 22-month conflict which the U.N. says has already left more than 60,000 people dead.
Forty-eight hours after the reported strike, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told AFP Washington was increasingly concerned that "chaos" in Syria could allow Hizbullah to obtain sophisticated weapons from Damascus.
Ahead of the air raid, Israeli officials cranked up the rhetoric about Syria's arsenal, which includes chemical agents, warning of dire consequences if they end up in the hands of the Iran-allied Hizbullah.
Israel and Hizbullah fought a devastating war in the summer of 2006.
In Damascus, Assad on Sunday accused Israel of seeking to "destabilize" Syria, state news agency SANA reported.
The raid "unmasked the true role Israel is playing, in collaboration with foreign enemy forces and their agents on Syrian soil, to destabilize and weaken Syria," he told Saeed Jalili, who heads Iran's Supreme National Security Council.
Iran has joined U.N. Security Council members Russia and China in consistently backing Assad's regime throughout the almost two year-long conflict which has also forced more than 650,000 people to flee Syria.
Moscow is one of Assad's last remaining allies, and its support for the fight against rebels seeking to overthrow his regime "is becoming more solid each day," the paper said.
Russia has blocked three U.N. Security Council resolutions threatening sanctions against Assad over the crackdown in Syria, and has been accused by the armed opposition of being partly responsible for the bloodshed.
On the ground, violence raged across the country a day after at least 145 people were killed, a watchdog said, adding that 73 of them were civilians.
In the eastern city of Deir Ezzor, Islamist rebels made fresh advances on Sunday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
"For months, the battle in the east, bordering Iraq, was focused on the countryside. Now the rebels have moved into the city and they are advancing fast," said the Observatory's Rami Abdel Rahman.
In the northern city of Aleppo, army rocket fire destroyed a five-storey building, killing at least seven civilians, said the Observatory, which relies on a broad network of activists, doctors and lawyers for its information.
03 February 2013, 14:49
79
Let them kill each other, let also Hizballah and wahabists shoot each other.... We'll bury more of those false jihadists. False prophets... The only genuine resistance in 2013 has one name . Which one? FSA!
03 February 2013, 16:18
510
the ASSad army has been bombing Lebanon border villages on a daily basis, didn't hear a word fro your master nasrocrap or aoun.
03 February 2013, 19:15
59
FT does not consider Lebanese people of all sects and affiliations as Lebanese.
only m8 guys are Lebanese in his eyes. he said it on various occasions.
so do not expect anything logical to come out of his sick inexistent mind.
04 February 2013, 00:09
33
so let the Lebanese government deal with these supposed ambushes...by the way, you know who uses that excuse that they're bombing other counties because they're harbouring terrorists? Israel and the US, your and ASSad's boyfriends...
04 February 2013, 01:13
32
"my view of lebanese transcends sects."
sure we believe you, when all your posts show the contrary... nice try but as usual void and empty like your brain....
04 February 2013, 13:01
10
eh la2 "wahhabis and alQaeda" are israeli allies...makes LOTS of sense..
the strike was to prop up support for the regime because Israel does not want ASSad to go, the regime has not fired a shot against Israel in decades.
03 February 2013, 14:49
10
come on retaliate ya jaben to see if your army can do something or its duty is only to butcher unarmed civilians
03 February 2013, 15:14
48
False Propaganda! Masters of torte & deceit!! Fathe & Son regime had & are still causing CHOAS not only to Lebanon but the whole Middle East. I say get rid of the BEAST!
03 February 2013, 16:19
22
I agree Josh. I am more M14 than anything, but question the Sunni alliance we have at times, because they seem to be more dangerous than than Iran and Hizbollah towards Christianity. Its a tough situation pick your poison.
04 February 2013, 03:41
01
when you read the history u can find how wrong u r unfortunately i don't think u know what m14 and the Sunni's have in common.talking about poison its what ur prejudice brain toward the Muslim's in general.thank GOD we dont have many people like you.
03 February 2013, 16:20
36
oh yeah, ASSad father and son have show how Alawites LOVE life...count the massacres ya zakzak
04 February 2013, 00:12
15
Read how Alawites treated their women throughout history, please don't talk unless you have some sort of knowledge. Alawites have the absolute WORST history in how they treat their women.
03 February 2013, 16:51
45
Assad still believes that using the old rhetoric of accusing Israel could still grant him a pass to repress his people.
03 February 2013, 17:58
12
Dear Josh as to answer your question i am a Lebanese Christian free of his choices (means not a Dhimmi...like you guys in Syria, sorry I had to say it)
I can tell you that here 95% of our Sunnis brothers have nothing to do with the one you describe on the contrary it is an armed militia friend with the alawis that is bombing alcohol shops in Tyre,& Nabatieh
I can tell you what the alawi brought to us as Christians because this may not be thought in the University of Saasaa.
part 2 to foollow...
03 February 2013, 18:00
13
- 1976: destruction of Damour by Saika (Syrian proxies)
- 1978 : pressuring of Franjieh so that he leaves the lebanese Front and divide Xtian areas in 2
- 1978: horrendous bombing of Ashrafieh..
- 1981: besiege and bombardment of the first Xtian city in Lebanon Zahle
- 1982: assasination of Bachir Gemayel revered untill today by 80% of Xtians no need to say more.
- 1983: Given weapons to PSP and maximum help in weapons and men to expulse the Xtians from Shouf & Aley
- 1984: Help drive the legal Lebanese army out of West Beirut by pressuring and bombing presidential palace
- 1985: Given weapons to Amal and Pa;estinians and maximum help in weapons and men to expulse the Xtians from Iklim Kharoub and East Saida
- 1986: Helped Hobeika occupying East Beirut for some hours
- 1989: Bombed the free area under the legal authority of Gen Michel Aoun
- 1989: Killing of Rene Moawad to elect their men
- 1990 : illegal occupation of Baabda and expulsion of Gen Aoun
part 3 to follow
03 February 2013, 18:02
14
- 1992: did not respect Taef agreement that stipulates Syrian withdrawal
- 1992 & 1996: election boycotted by Xtians because the electoral districts were tailored to marginalise them
- 1994: Bombing of Xtian church to falsly accuse their last opponent S Geagea
- Disarmed all militias except Hizbullah because they are their proxies
- 2000: pressured our government n0t to send the army South to keep creating trouble in the south
- 2004: Pressuring and threatening the MP to amend our constitution to re-elect their lapdog E Lahoud a guy hated by 95% of Xtians
Part 4 to follow
03 February 2013, 18:02
14
So I am trying hard dear Josh to seek where our Sunni lebanese brothers can even have done 5% of what alawis butcher did to weaken our community
I do not seen any harm in large scale in Tripoli, west Bekaa , Saida, West Beirut apart those carried by amal, ahmad Jibril or PSP none of them Lebanese Sunni and all of them assad proxies.
Oh yeah maybe Assir goes skiing in Faraya but the point is those guys do not carry weapon and do not try to influence Lebanese interests by sticking to Iran or Syria
03 February 2013, 22:10
11
I don't think you'll find too many people disagreeing with you. It was the Sunni Turk butchers who killed almost 1.5 million Armenians, Assyrians, Kildanies.
04 February 2013, 05:44
01
Assad is the "beast from the Middle East" ! He will not go anywhere before starting War World III.
04 February 2013, 09:57
00
Pure Entertainment. You're army only good at murdering unarmed civilians. Stop your threats.
