Israel Matzav: Hmmm: Mysterious explosions near Syrian arms depot holding Russian S-300 parts in Latakia

Sunday, July 07, 2013

Hmmm: Mysterious explosions near Syrian arms depot holding Russian S-300 parts in Latakia

A mysterious explosion destroyed a weapons plant belonging to Bashar al-Assad near Latakia, Syria on Friday night.

Arab media outlets reported mysterious explosions at a military facility near the Syrian coastal city of Latakia overnight Friday. BBC Arabic reported powerful explosions at a Syrian military arms depots near the Latakia port that sent shock waves several kilometers from the source.

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights Chairman Rami Abdel Rahman said intense explosions shook the entire region, where the Syrian regime has a large army base and multiple arms caches. The explosions occurred possibly after they were targeted with rockets, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Witnesses reported that at least 10 Syrian troops were killed following the explosions. Reports attributed the explosions to an attack aimed at government arms cashes near the village of Asamiya, 20 kilometers (12 miles) northeast of Latakia.

Abdel Rahman said there were indications that the blasts were caused by rocket fire targeting the depots, but that there was uncertainty over who was behind the attack.

Israel's Defense Ministry said it was "studying the reports."

Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV network reported the attack and quoted a Syrian defense official saying it was carried out by rebels based in northern Latakia.

No one else knows who was behind the explosions. But Dickie 'tikkun olam' Silverstein is sure it's da Joooz. You see Latakia is near Tartus, the Russian naval base on the Syrian coast, and....

Though the Free Syrian Army took immediate credit for the attack, it was not the responsible party. A confidential Israeli source informs me that Israeli forces attacked the site. The target were components of Russia’s SA-300 anti-aircraft missile system which had been shipped by Russia to Tartus and stored in Latakia.

Israel and exerted tremendous pressure on Vladimir Putin to cancel its contract to supply the missile batteries to Syria, since once they were operational they would render Israeli aircraft more vulnerable to attack. Israel, of course, will countenance no front-line state having even defensive weapons which give it superiority over Israeli weapons systems. In response to Israeli entreaties, Russia’s leader refused to budge and recommitted to providing the weapons to Assad. Apparently, he’d begun to follow through on his promise with these first shipments.

Dickie may not be able to put together a coherent English sentence, but for once I hope he's right. It's high time for at least one country in the free world not to back down in the face of Russia's meddling and support for terrorism. I'm glad it's my country.

There's another interesting piece of speculation about how the attack might have been carried out here.

Labels: Bashar al-Assad, Free Syrian Army, Nusra Front, Richard Silverstein, Russia, S-300 missile defense system, Syrian uprising