BEIRUT (AP) — Israeli warplanes struck areas in and around the Syrian capital Sunday, setting off a series of explosions as they targeted a shipment of highly accurate, Iranian-made guided missiles believed to be bound for Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group, officials and activists said.

The attack, the second in three days and the third this year, signaled a sharp escalation of Israel's involvement in Syria's bloody civil war. Syrian state media reported that Israeli missiles struck a military and scientific research center near Damascus and caused casualties.

Syria's government called the attacks against against its territory a "flagrant violation of international law" that have made the Middle East "more dangerous."

Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi, who read a Cabinet statement to reporters Sunday in Damascus following an emergency government meeting, claimed the Israeli strikes are evidence of the Jewish state's links with Islamic extremist groups trying to overthrow President Bashar Assad's regime.

He added that Syria has the right and the duty "to defend its people by all available means."

While the government tried to use the airstrikes to taint the rebels by linking them to Israel, Syria's arch rival, the attacks still pose a dilemma for an Assad regime already battling a relentless rebellion at home. If it fails to respond, it looks weak and opens the door to such airstrikes becoming a common occurrence. But any military retaliation against Israel would risk dragging the Jewish state and its powerful army into a broader conflict.

The tempo of the new strikes added a dangerous dynamic to the conflict, fueling concerns that events could spin out of control and spark a regional crisis.

Israel's military on Sunday deployed two batteries of its Iron Dome rocket defense system to the north of the country. It described the move as part of "ongoing situational assessments."

A senior Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to disclose information about a secret military operation to the media, confirmed that Israel launched an airstrike in the Syrian capital early Sunday but did not give more precise details about the location. The target was Fateh-110 missiles, which have precision guidance systems with better aim than anything Hezbollah is known to have in its arsenal, the official told The Associated Press.

The airstrikes come as Washington considers how to respond to indications that the Syrian regime may have used chemical weapons in its civil war. President Barack Obama has described the use of such weapons as a "red line," and the administration is weighing its options - including possible military action.
Iran, a close ally of the Assad regime, condemned the airstrikes, and a senior official hinted at a possible response not from Terhan, but rather Hezbollah.

Gen. Masoud Jazayeri, assistant to the Iranian chief-of-staff, told Iran's state-run Arabic-language Al-Alam TV that Tehran "will not allow the enemy (Israel) to harm the security of the region." He added that "the resistance will retaliate to the Israeli aggression against Syria."

Israel has said it wants to stay out of the Syrian war, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly stated the Jewish state would be prepared to take military action to prevent sophisticated weapons from flowing from Syria to Hezbollah or other extremist groups.

Israel and Hezbollah fought a monthlong war in mid-2006. The militant group fired thousands of rockets at Israel, while Israeli warplanes destroyed large areas of southern and eastern Lebanon during a conflict that ended in stalemate.

Earlier this year, the Iron Dome system was credited with shooting down hundreds of rockets during a round of fighting against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

more here:

http://news.yahoo.com/israeli-warplanes-strike-syria-escalation-073408782.html

Netanyahu defends his country. Obama lacks the balls to do the same.

This is the prelude.. the big target is iran, Europe must be ready to give all necessary support to Israel, time ago six squadrons with the Star of David have simulated an attack from a long distance. Theatre of the exercise Sardinia's sky, NATO base Decimomannu. Alongside the Israeli fighter jets were the Germans Tornado , the Dutch F-16. The Italian Air Force has used the AMX, Tornado, F-16s and the Eurofighter Typhoon. "Faced with the threat from Iran" the Israeli air force has stepped up its practice abroad in recent years, especially following the turkish refusal to allow Israeli jets to train in its airspace,- writes the Jerusalem Post-. It is not enough. Israeli submarines were deployed in the Arabian Sea, from where they can possibly throw to all the Iranian territory. In this phase may take action missiles Jericho - Jericho II and III-, Iran would be helpless. To affect the main objectives should be employed tens. According to British newspaper The Guardian, London and Washington would be united, and ready to relocate ships and submarines equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles. In recent days, Israel has tested an intercontinental missile with a range of 7,000 kilometers from its base in Palmachim, south of Tel Aviv. According to the Israeli website Debka (close to the intelligence services), to eliminate the Iranian nuclear bases serving 42 missiles with conventional weapons.

That is rich. Netanyahu defends his country. The heading says "Israel Airstrikes Syria".

Preemptive attack is not Defending ones country it is big business at its most aggressive.

And how long should Israel wait? Perhaps you want Israel to suffer chemical attacks before they retaliate?

Aha!
Wouldn't you know?

I wonder what took them that long to take out those Weapons!
But thanks for clearing up the matter!
Wonder why it took so long!

The United Nations now have information that the Syrian/Al Qaeda/Islamic Jihadists have used Sarin Gas. It will be interesting to see what action is taken against these terrorists.

i would disagree... if they are taking out shipments of rockets that will be used on Israel, then they are defending themselves...

and proving obama wrong, yet again...

actually there isn't any hard and fast Evidence!

Syria crisis: UN's Del Ponte says evidence rebels 'used sarin'

Carla Del Ponte: "I was a little bit stupefied by the first indication of the use of nerve gas by the opposition"
Continue reading the main story
Syria conflict



Testimony from victims of the conflict in Syria suggests rebels have used the nerve agent, sarin, a leading member of a UN commission of inquiry has said.

Carla Del Ponte told Swiss TV that there were "strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof".

Ms Del Ponte did not rule out the possibility that government forces might also have used chemical weapons.

Later, the commission stressed that it had "not reached conclusive findings" as to their use by any parties.

"As a result, the commission is not in a position to further comment on the allegations at this time," a statement added.

The BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Geneva says the statement was terse and shows that the UN was taken by surprise at Ms Del Ponte's remarks.

The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria on was established in August 2011 to examine alleged violations of human rights in the Syrian uprising. It is due to issue its latest report next month.


In an interview with Swiss-Italian TV on Sunday, Ms Del Ponte, who serves as a commissioner on the panel, said: "Our investigators have been in neighbouring countries interviewing victims, doctors and field hospitals.

This is not the first time rebel forces in Syria have come under suspicion for using chemical weapons.

The Syrian government has accused them, and some independent commentators have speculated some groups could conceivably have got hold of stocks when storming government facilities.

But allegations about sarin gas use, possibly by Syrian rebels, coming from a senior UN official is a different matter. Carla del Ponte is a former war crimes prosecutor and serves on a UN commission looking into human rights abuses in Syria. So any comments from her carry weight.

However, this is hardly a formal UN position. She was speaking informally in TV and radio interviews, and freely admits that looking at the use of chemical weapons in Syria is not part of her remit.

All her team did was collect testimony, which they will now, no doubt, pass on to the separate UN team of weapons inspectors waiting in Cyprus for permission to enter Syria to make a full investigation.

In the meantime her comments are likely to make Western governments even more cautious in their preliminary assessments.

"According to their report of last week, which I have seen, there are strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof of the use of sarin gas, from the way the victims were treated."

Sarin, a colourless, odourless gas which can cause respiratory arrest and death, is classed as a weapon of mass destruction and is banned under international law.

Ms Del Ponte, a former Swiss attorney-general and prosecutor with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), did not rule out the possibility that troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad might also have used chemical weapons, but said further investigation was needed.

"I was a little bit stupefied by the first indications we got... they were about the use of nerve gas by the opposition," she said.

Ms Del Ponte gave no details of when or where sarin may have been used.

The US and UK have said their own investigations suggest government forces have used chemical weapons, including sarin.

British Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said the evidence was quite compelling last week, but that it would need to be incontrovertible before the case for an international response could be made at the UN.

On Monday, Russian foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said it was "deeply concerned by signs that world public opinion is being prepared for possible military intervention" in Syria.

On the question of whether chemical weapons had been used, he called for an "end to the politicisation of this issue" and to the "whipping up of an anti-Syrian atmosphere".

Ms Del Ponte's comments might therefore complicate matters for the US Secretary of State John Kerry ahead of his visit to Moscow this week, says BBC diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall.

If Mr Kerry was hoping to cite fears that the Assad regime was now using chemical warfare as a reason why the Russians should shift their position, that argument will not be so easy to make, our correspondent adds.
Mutual accusations

A separate United Nations team was established to look specifically into the issue of chemical weapons.

It is ready to go to Syria but wants unconditional access with the right to inquire into all credible allegations.



Both the Syrian government and the rebels have in the past accused each other using chemical weapons.

The US and the UK have said there is emerging evidence of Syrian government forces having used sarin, with Washington saying it had "varying degrees of confidence" that chemical weapons had been deployed.

President Barack Obama called in April for a "vigorous investigation", saying the use of such weapons would be a "game changer" if verified.

President Assad's government says the claims do not have any credibility, denouncing them as "lies".


Ms Del Ponte's allegations concerning the use of sarin by rebels came after Israel carried out a series of air strikes on Syrian military targets early on Sunday.


seems neither Side is Persil!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-22424188

You forgot to tell us that most likely both sides used Chemical Agents!

The problem with both sides using gas is, who is Going to prosecute the opposition?

The opposition being US/UK/NATO. Funny old game this Corporate Fascism.

he rather badmouths his from abroad!
Guess it's much easier to do!

The opposition being US/UK/NATO? In what parallel universe?

I beg your pardon, that list wasn't complete. I forgot to add Saudi Arabia,Qatar,Israel andTurkey. All working with and funding Al Qaeda and the muslim Brotherhood.

US needs to stay out of this one.

The UK should steer clear as well.

Syria does not enjoy a good situation, while not responding to Israeli attacks will show its weakness, in the other side with an attempt to answer it would be forced to fight on two fronts, against the opposition forces and against the well-established Israeli war machine.

you really are making all sorts of assertions,how about a bit of proof?

Syria and Israel are technically still at War!
There is only a Ceasefire between them!
About the same situation as on the Korean Peninsula.