Damascus could take “a surprise decision to respond to the aggression of the Israeli warplanes”, Syrian ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul-Karim Ali said a day after Israel struck against Syria.

“Syria is engaged in defending its sovereignty and its land,” Ali told a website of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Syria and Israel have fought several wars and in 2007 Israeli jets bombed a suspected Syrian nuclear site, without a military response from Damascus.

Diplomats, Syrian rebels and regional security sources said on Wednesday that Israeli jets had bombed a convoy near the Lebanese border, apparently hitting weapons destined for Hezbollah. Syria denied the reports, saying the target had been a military research center northwest of Damascus.

Hezbollah, which has supported Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as he battles an armed uprising in which 60,000 people have been killed, said Israel was trying to thwart Arab military power and vowed to stand by its ally.

“Hezbollah expresses its full solidarity with Syria’s leadership, army and people,” said the group which fought an inconclusive 34-day war with Israel in 2006.

Israel has remained silent on the attack and there has been little reaction from its Western backers, but Syria’s allies in Moscow and Tehran were quick to denounce the strike.

Russia, which has blocked Western efforts to put pressure on Syria at the United Nations, said that any Israeli air strike would amount to unacceptable military interference.

“If this information is confirmed, then we are dealing with unprovoked attacks on targets on the territory of a sovereign country, which blatantly violates the U.N. Charter and is unacceptable, no matter the motives to justify it,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Iranian deputy foreign minister Hossein Amir Abdullahian said the attack “demonstrates the shared goals of terrorists and the Zionist regime”, Fars news agency reported. Assad portrays the rebels fighting him as foreign-backed, Islamist terrorists, with the same agenda as Israel.

“It is necessary for the sides which take tough stances on Syria to now take serious steps and decisive stances against this aggression by Tel Aviv and uphold criteria for security in the region,” Abdullahian said.

An aide to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday that Iran would consider any attack on Syria as an attack on itself, but Abdullahian made no mention of retaliation.

Hezbollah said the attack showed that the conflict in Syria was part of a scheme “to destroy Syria and its army and foil its pivotal role in the resistance front (against Israel)”.

BLASTS SHOOK DISTRICT

Details of Wednesday’s strike remain sketchy and, in parts, contradictory. Syria said Israeli warplanes, flying low to avoid detection by radar, crossed into its airspace from Lebanon and struck the Jamraya military research centre.

But the diplomats and rebels said the jets hit a weapons convoy heading from Syria to Lebanon, apparently destined for Assad’s ally Hezbollah, and the rebels said they – not Israel – hit Jamraya with mortars.

The force of the dawn attack shook the ground, waking nearby residents from their slumber with up to a dozen blasts, two sources in the area said.

“We were sleeping. Then we started hearing rockets hitting the complex and the ground started shaking and we ran into the basement,” said a woman who lives adjacent to the Jamraya site.

The resident, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity over Israel’s reported strike on Wednesday morning, said she could not tell whether the explosions which woke her were the result of an aerial strike.

Another source who has a relative working inside Jamraya reported that a building inside the complex had been cordoned off after the attack and that flames were seen rising from the area after the attack.

“It appears that there were about a dozen rockets that appeared to hit one building in the complex,” the source, who also asked not to be identified, told Reuters. “The facility is closed today.”

Israeli newspapers quoted foreign media on Thursday for reports on the attack. Journalists in Israel are required to submit articles on security and military issues to the censor, which has the power to block any publication of material it deems could compromise state security.

Syrian state television said two people were killed in the raid on Jamraya, which lies in the 25-km (15-mile) strip between Damascus and the Lebanese border. It described it as a scientific research centre “aimed at raising the level of resistance and self-defense”.

Diplomatic sources from three countries told Reuters that chemical weapons were believed to be stored at Jamraya, and that it was possible that the convoy was near the large site when it came under attack. However, there was no suggestion that the vehicles themselves had been carrying chemical weapons.

“The target was a truck loaded with weapons, heading from Syria to Lebanon,” said one Western diplomat, echoing others who said the convoy’s load may have included anti-aircraft missiles or long-range rockets.

The raid followed warnings from Israel that it was ready to act to prevent the revolt against Assad leading to Syria’s chemical weapons and modern rockets reaching either his Hezbollah allies or his Islamist enemies.

A regional security source said Israel’s target was weaponry given by Assad’s military to fellow Iranian ally Hezbollah.

“This episode boils down to a warning by Israel to Syria and Hezbollah not to engage in the transfer of sensitive weapons,” the source said. “Assad knows his survival depends on his military capabilities and he would not want those capabilities neutralized by Israel – so the message is this kind of transfer is simply not worth it, neither for him nor Hezbollah.”

Such a strike or strikes would fit Israel’s policy of pre-emptive covert and overt action to curb Hezbollah and does not necessarily indicate a major escalation of the war in Syria. It does, however, indicate how the erosion of the Assad family’s rule after 42 years is seen by Israel as posing a threat.

Israel this week echoed concerns in the United States about Syrian chemical weapons, but its officials say a more immediate worry is that the civil war could see weapons that are capable of denting its massive superiority in airpower and tanks reaching Hezbollah; the group fought Israel in 2006 and remains a more pressing threat than its Syrian and Iranian sponsors.

Bron Yahoo  News

“The United States is committed to the security of Israel, and it is vital to U.S. national interests to assist Israel to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defense capability,” the Pentagon said in a statement. The deal is expected to sail through formal approval by legislators.

The Boeing-made Joint Direct Attack Munitions are complex electronic guidance devices fitted onto missiles to make them vastly more accurate. Precision air-strikes were the main tactic employed by Israel during the 8-day attack on Gaza last month.

10,000 explosive charges are also part of the contract. Of these, 3,450 are one ton bombs, 1725 bombs weighing 250 kilograms with the rest being BLU-109 and GBU-39 bunker busters.

The Gaza bombardment, which Israel says it started in response to more than 2,000 Palestinian rockets launched this year, has been costly for both sides.

Palestinian authorities said that the cost of 120 buildings destroyed and 8,000 damaged buildings amounted to $1.2 billion.

Meanwhile, military operation Pillar of Defense cost Israel around $760 million. Officials estimate the conflict also indirectly cost the country $1.8 billion in lost tourist revenues.

More than 180 Palestinians were killed in the conflict and six Israelis.

Bron: Rt.com

The Russian Black Sea Fleet is approaching the Gaza Strip in order to evacuate Russian citizens from the conflict area, RIA Novosti cites a source in the Russian Navy.

Israel started a military operation against Hamas on November 14th. The parties agreed to sign a ceasefire on Novermber 21st.

Bron: vestnikkavkaza.net

“We are proud to defend the people of Palestine and Hamas … and that our assistance to them has been both financial and military,” he said without elaborating, in remarks reported by parliament’s website, ICANA.ir.

Iran has never made a secret of its support for Israel’s foes Hamas and the Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip but generally eschews mention of sending military aid.

The Jewish state has accused Iran of supplying Hamas with its Fajr 5 missile, used to target Tel Aviv since an Israeli offensive on Gaza was launched on November 14.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards chief General Mohammad Ali Jafari said on Wednesday that Tehran was only responsible for having shared the missile’s “technology.” Jafari said: “Iran provides technical assistance to all Muslims who fight against world arrogance,” a term used by Iranian officials to describe the West and Israel, the ISNA news agency reported.

The Fajr 5 missiles launched at Tel Aviv “have not been delivered from Iran, but their technology has,” Jafari said, adding that the missiles were being “rapidly produced” in Gaza.

November/21/2012

Bron Hurriyetdailynew

Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz told the station that the time left before Israel steps up its attack can be measured in “hours, not days.”

“We are at a junction,” he said. “Either we go toward a calm or toward a meaningful widening of the operation… including a possible move to achieve complete military decision.”

There are ongoing contacts between Israel and Hamas through intermediaries, IDF Radio said, but the gaps between the sides are still very large. According to reports in Cairo, Hamas demands a complete removal of the blockade on Gaza, an IDF commitment to stop crossing the security fence into Gaza and a cessation of targeted killings.

Israel, for its part, demands that Hamas cease firing rockets into Israel for a period of “several years” and a cessation of arms smuggling into Gaza. Israel agrees to Hamas’s demand that the Rafiah crossing into Egypt be opened, but refuses to open crossings into Israel.

Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzuk said that Hamas will not agree to Israel’s demands for a “security belt” on Gaza’s eastern side, and a cessation of smuggling through the tunnels.

Voice of Israel public radio quoted a senior source in Jerusalem as saying that the question of whether Egypt can broker a ceasefire will be resolved Monday. A senior minister said that Israel will have to agree to a certain relaxation of the blockade of Gaza in return for long-term quiet on the southern border.

Bron Israel NationalNews

Volgens een gezaghebbende militaire bron in Washington staan de Amerikaanse strijdkrachten klaar voor oorlog met Iran. De Amerikaanse luchtmacht zal worden opgedragen de Iraanse ballistische Shahab-3 raketten te vernietigen voordat deze op Israël, Saudi Arabië en Amerikaanse bases kunnen worden afgevuurd. Omdat Irans bondgenoten zonder twijfel zullen terugslaan tegen Israël -ook als dat land niet zou meedoen met de aanval op Iran- krijgt de Joodse staat de taak om Syrië, Hezbollah, Hamas en Jihad Islami aan te vallen en hun rakettenarsenaal te verwoesten.

Iran heeft slechts 40 ballistische raketten

Hoewel Iran zelf anders beweert heeft het land volgens inlichtingendiensten hooguit 40 Shahab-3 raketten, bij lange na niet voldoende voor een massale tegenaanval op én Israël, én Saudi Arabië, Qatar, Jordanië en Turkije, én de vele Amerikaanse militaire bases in het Midden Oosten. Bovendien is de kans groot dat de meeste van deze raketten zullen worden onderschept door de Amerikaanse Aegis en Israëlische Arrow raketafweersystemen, die beiden gekoppeld zijn aan de Amerikaanse X-band radars in de Negev woestijn en zuidoost Turkije.

Daarnaast is het zeer de vraag of Iran na een aanval op zijn nucleaire installaties in één klap zijn hele arsenaal ballistische raketten zal lanceren. De Amerikaanse militaire bron zei te verwachten dat Teheran meerdere raketten in reserve zal houden voor het geval er later een nog grotere crisis uitbreekt.

Israël gaat Syrië, Hezbollah, Hamas, Jihad Islami aanvallen

Hij legde uit dat zodra de Amerikaanse luchtmacht de Shahabs heeft uitgeschakeld, Israël vrij is om de vele tienduizenden raketten van Syrië, Hezbollah in Libanon en de Palestijnse terreurbewegingen Hamas en Jihad Islami op de Gazastrook aan te vallen. Deze bondgenoten van Iran zullen zonder twijfel Iran te hulp schieten met een gezamenlijk rakettenoffensief tegen met name de Joodse staat, maar mogelijk ook tegen Turkije en Jordanië.

Verbeterde Fateh-110 raket naar Syrië en Hezbollah

Gisteren verklaarde de Iraanse minister van Defensie generaal Ahmad Vahidi dat een test met de vierde generatie Fateh-110 raket succesvol is verlopen. De Fateh-110 heeft een bereik van ruim 300 kilometer en zou nu een stuk nauwkeuriger zijn geworden, zodat vijandelijke doelen op zowel het land als de zee, commandocentra, raketbases, munitiedepots, radarinstallaties en andere doelen met 100% precisie kunnen worden geraakt.

De Fateh-110 raket vormt de kern van het arsenaal van Syrië en Hezbollah. De aankondiging in Teheran werd in Jeruzalem dan ook als een direct dreigement opgevat en een signaal dat de verbeterde raket inmiddels naar Damascus en Beiroet is verscheept. Het gevaar dat Syrië uiteindelijk zijn enorme voorraad chemische wapens aanspreekt is daarmee nog groter geworden, reden waarom Israël op dit moment zijn Arrow-2 raketafweersysteem aan het upgraden is.   (1)

Netanyahu: Liever raketten dan atoombom
Premier Netanyahu benadrukte dit weekend dat Israël hoe dan ook zal worden aangevallen, ook als het land niet meedoet met een Amerikaanse aanval op Iran. ‘Maar zelfs als de raketten op ons neerkomen is dat nog altijd beter als de dreiging van een atoombom. Als Iran een atoombom krijgt zal die op ons worden gericht, niet op iemand anders.’ (2)

Hij wees het vaak gehoorde bezwaar dat een aanval op Iran het nucleaire programma slechts een paar jaar zal vertragen van de hand. ‘Dat zeiden ze ook van de Irakese (kern)reactor. Ze beweerden dat ze de reactor in 2 jaar zouden kunnen herbouwen, maar ze hebben de bom nog steeds niet.’ In 1981 vernietigde de Israëlische luchtmacht de in aanbouw zijnde Osirak kernreactor in Irak omdat -na ontdekkingen door de Nederlandse inlichtingendiensten- gevreesd werd dat dictator Saddam Hussein een kernwapen wilde bouwen.

Ex-minister Rumsfeld: Israël moet VS niet inlichten over aanval
De voormalige Amerikaanse minister van Defensie Donald Rumsfeld is het met de inschatting van Israël dat sancties tot nu toe het Iraanse nucleaire programma zelfs niet hebben weten te vertragen eens. ‘Israël heeft uitstekende inlichtingen over Iran. Verder denk ik niet dat Israël alle nucleaire capaciteiten van Iran hoeft te vernietigen… Ze hoeven hen alleen maar te vertragen,’ verklaarde hij tegenover Fox News.

‘Als ik de Israëlische regering was zou ik de VS niet inlichten over enig plan om iets aan Iran te doen,’ voegde hij er bovendien aan toe. ‘Mijn inschatting is dat iedere premier van Israël niet van plan is de VS op te bellen om duidelijk te maken wat de bedoelingen zijn.’ De huidige minister van Defensie Leon Panetta was afgelopen week juist in Israël om zich ervan te verzekeren dat er geen eenzijdige verrassingsaanval op Iran zal worden gepleegd zonder het Witte Huis in te lichten. (3)

Ahmadinejad: Vernietiging Israël lost wereldproblemen op
In zijn ramadan toespraak herhaalde de Iraanse president Ahmadinejad voor de zoveelste keer zijn antisemitische riedeltje. Hij beschuldigde ‘de Zionisten’ ervan de wereld al 400 jaar lang te controleren. De oplossing voor alle wereldproblemen is volgens hem gelegen in de ‘bevrijding van Palestina’. ‘Iedereen die van vrijheid en gerechtigheid houdt moet streven naar de vernietiging van het Zionistische regime (Israël).’ Al in 2005 gebruikte de Iraanse president tijdens een anti-Israël toespraak een Perzische uitdrukking die letterlijk vertaald ‘weggevaagd van het blad van de tijd’ betekent.

Bron Xander

The Enterprise left Norfolk Naval Station in Virginia on Sunday on its seven-month mission.

The US oldest active-duty warship will be on standby in case of conflict with Iran, CNN reported.

“Enterprise is as ready and capable as she has ever been throughout her 50 years,” Capt. William C. Hamilton, the ship’s commanding officer, said in a statement.

The carrier, which holds a crew of over 4,000, has taken part in several wars. It will be deployed in the Persian Gulf together with other warships, forming a carrier strike group.

Last month, the Enterprise and its strike group held naval drills off the US East coast. The aircraft carrier is set to join two other US strike groups in the Persian Gulf by March.

The US and Israel have repeatedly threatened Tehran with the “option” of a military strike, based on the allegation that Iran’s nuclear energy program may include a covert military aspect.

Iran has categorically refuted the allegations, saying that as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it is entitled to develop and acquire nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

Tehran has promised a crushing response to any military strike against the country, warning that any such measure could result in a war that would spread beyond the Middle East.

bron Press TV