The Syrian Threat - Israel attacks target in Syria!

Arabs, West confirm Israel hit Syria; Iran threatens retaliation

Thursday, January 31, 2013 |  Israel Today Staff 

Syria, Hezbollah and several Western officials on Wednesday confirmed that Israel had bombed a military target in Syria hours earlier, though Jerusalem itself is remaining very tight-lipped about the strike.

US officials told the New York Times that Israel has notified Washington ahead of time that it was preparing to bomb a convoy transporting sophisticated anti-aircraft missiles from Syria to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah also posted messages to its Al-Manar website acknowledging that Israel had hit a military site connected to the terror group.

Syria also confirmed the bombing, but claimed that Israel had destroyed a military research facility, rather than a convoy. Embattled dictator Bashar Assad tried to find a silver lining by claiming that the strike proved Syrian rebel forces were cooperating with "the Zionists."

Last week, Iran threatened that any attack on Syria would be seen as an attack on the Islamic Republic. On Thursday, an Iranian deputy foreign minister told Iran's Press TV that the Israeli air strike would "have serious consequences for Tel Aviv."

Israel seen gearing up for possible war in north

Tuesday, January 29, 2013 |  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 has warned that if Syria's stockpile of chemical weapons finds its way into Hezbollah hands, Israeli forces will take preemptive action. Israel's Ynet news portal reported on Monday that Hezbollah had set up camps near several locations where Syrian weapons of mass destruction are known to be stored. The terror group apparently hopes to use the chaos in Syria to boost its own military forces.

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

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been in consultation with top defense officials, and the army this week deployed two of its vaunted Iron Dome anti-missile systems to the northern port city of Haifa in anticipation of armed action.

Netanyahu told visiting American congressional leaders that the choices for dealing with the situation "are between bad, bad, and worse."