One the sites that Israel
allegedly bombed over the weekend, north of Damascus
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Photo credit: AFP |
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The air assault on military targets near
Damascus early Sunday, attributed to Israel by foreign media sources,
killed dozens of elite Syrian soldiers who were stationed near the
presidential palace, as well as "several critical military facilities in
some of the country’s most tightly secured and strategic areas," The
New York Times quoted a high-ranking Syrian military official as saying.
Civilians and sources within the Syrian
opposition told The New York Times that the strikes had targeted a
military research facility, apparently the main chemical weapons
facility in Syria. Additional targets crippled in the strike were Syrian
Republican Guard bases and long-range missile depots, the paper
reported.
Meanwhile, as tensions along Israel's northern
border ran high in the wake of Sunday's strike and a smaller-scale
attack on Damascus International Airport early Friday, also attributed
to Israel, Israeli officials believe that Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad and Hezbollah will not retaliate against Israel or launch a
counter-strike in the Golan Heights or on the border with Lebanon. But
Israeli authorities were not taking chances and have upgraded defenses
in the northern region, temporarily halted civilian airline flights in
the northern skies and boosted security at Israeli embassies abroad.
Officially, Israel is still keeping mum on the
attacks, which reportedly targeted Iranian weapons shipments meant for
Hezbollah. However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deferred a
scheduled flight to China by two hours on Sunday to make time for a
meeting of the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet on the possibility of
escalation in the north.
Israeli experts believe that despite the
severe blow to Syria and Hezbollah, neither wants to spark a regional
conflict by launching war on Israel. Defense officials surmised on
Sunday that Assad could not afford to take a risk and attack the Israel
Defense Forces, as the inevitable Israeli counter attack could
accelerate the collapse of his already precarious regime. According to
defense assessments, Hezbollah also can't afford to retaliate against
Israel at this time for fear of being seen by the Lebanese people as
jeopardizing their safety for the sake of saving face.
In efforts to calm tensions, Israel stressed
that the targets struck on Syrian soil had been Hezbollah targets and
not associated with the Syrian regime. This was an attempt to deflect
responsibly onto Iran and Hezbollah and signal to Assad that he and his
regime are not the intended target.
Meanwhile, however, Israel deployed several
Iron Dome missile defense batteries in northern cities -- one near Safed
and another in the Haifa bay area -- to shield densely populated areas
and strategic sites from the remote possibility of an attack. "The
situation is indeed sensitive," said one defense official. "But it
doesn't look like we're headed for war."
The reassuring assessments coming out of
Jerusalem on Sunday stood in stark contrast with the belligerent
rhetoric coming from official Syria. The Syrian government convened an
emergency meeting on Sunday to discuss the strike in Damascus, moments
after the Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Mekdad said that
"Israeli aggression is a declaration of war" that invited retaliation.
On Monday, Kuwaiti paper Al Rai quoted sources
close to the Syrian regime as saying that Assad has communicated a
message to Israel via Moscow, warning that any further strike on Syrian
soil will be considered a declaration of war. According to the report,
Assad said that he had deployed batteries of surface-to-surface and
surface-to-air missiles, aimed at Israeli targets, and stressed that the
missiles would automatically be fired in the event of a future Israeli
strike.
This report bolstered rumors in Damascus that
Assad had ordered his army to deploy long-range missile batteries near
the Golan Heights and ready them for launching at Israel. In addition,
it was reported in Lebanon overnight that Syria had allowed armed
Palestinian groups near the border to take action against Israel.
Iran also makes threats
"Syria will retaliate," vowed Syrian
Information Minister Omran al-Zoabi. "All the options are available to
us. Israel's attack in Damascus has opened the door to all
possibilities, and mainly proves the organic link between Israel and the
infidel terrorists operating in Syria. It is Syria's right and duty to
protect itself by any means available."
Ghassan bin Jiddo, programming director of the
Lebanese television network Al Mayadeen who is closely associated with
Hezbollah and the leadership in Syria and Iran, aired a special
broadcast on Sunday in which he said that "Syria, with the support of
its allies, has decided to retaliate against Israeli aggression. Israel
needs to know that it is dragging the entire region into a war if it
responds, because it fired first."
Harsh responses were also heard in Tehran: "We
will not allow an enemy to undermine the security of the region,"
warned a high-ranking Iranian military official. "The resistance will
respond to the Israeli aggression."
A spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry
argued that "the Zionist regime and its allies are trying to spark
discord among the Arab nations." He denied allegations that the arms
targeted in the attacks had been weapons that Tehran had shipped to
Hezbollah.
Furthermore, the Syrian Foreign Ministry filed
a complaint against "Israeli aggression" with the U.N. In the
complaint, Syria detailed the property damage and loss of life that
resulted from the attacks, and accused Israel of aiming to assist the
terror groups operating within Syria.
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