Explosions rock Damascus, Syria blames Israel, US confirms
Explosions shook Damascus early Sunday morning, and although Israel has declined to comment on them, Syria is blaming Israel for the explosions, and a US defense official has confirmed that Israel is behind the explosions. This is from the first link.
"The new Israeli attack is an attempt to raise the morale of the terrorist groups which have been reeling from strikes by our noble army," Syrian television said, referring to recent offensives by President Bashar Assad's forces against rebels.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights quoted eyewitnesses in the area as saying they saw jets in the sky at the time of the explosions.
It said the blasts hit Jamraya as well as a nearby ammunition depot. Other activists said a missile brigade and two Republican Guard battalions may also have been targeted in the heavily militarised area just north of Damascus.
Video footage uploaded onto the Internet by activists showed a series of explosions. One lit up the skyline over the city, while another sent up a tower of flames and secondary blasts.Jamarya is the facility that the IAF allegedly hit in January.
Let's go to the videotape. The last part looks a bit like the 4th of July.
Pretty impressive, eh?
Hezbullah's al-Manar is claiming that Syria shot down three Israeli fighter jets. I don't believe that one and it's unconfirmed.
US media is reporting that Israel also attacked Syrian weapons being supplied to Hezbullah on Thursday night.
The attack is Israel's second this week against Syria. US media reports say Israel targeted a weapons shipment to the militant group Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon overnight Thursday to Friday, but the Jewish state has refused to confirm or deny the bombing.
A diplomatic source in Lebanon told AFP the operation destroyed surface-to-air missiles recently delivered by Russia that were being stored at Damascus airport.
Meanwhile, Israeli officials an earlier strike against Syria and the latest salvo in its long-running effort to disrupt Hezbollah's quest to build an arsenal capable of defending against Israel's air force and spreading destruction inside the Jewish state.Curiously, this article now goes on to quote an 'Israeli official' talking about Thursday night's attack.
...
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly warned in recent weeks that Israel would be prepared to take military action if chemical weapons or other arms that would upset the balance of power with Hezbollah were to reach the Islamic militant group.
The Israeli officials said the attack took place early Friday and was aimed at sophisticated "game-changing" weapons, but not chemical arms. One official said the target was a shipment of advanced, long-range ground-to-ground missiles but was not more specific.
They did not say where the attack took place, or whether the air force carried out the strike from Lebanese or Syrian airspace.
The Israeli officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to disclose information about a secret military operation to the media.
US officials had earlier confirmed the airstrike but said only that it appeared to have hit a warehouse.Here's a Reuters video about Thursday night's raid. Let's go to the videotape.
Calls to the Israeli military and foreign and defense ministries were not immediately answered.
Hmmm.
Labels: Bashar al-Assad, chemical weapons, Hezbullah, IAF, Syria, Syrian uprising
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:52 AM
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