Assad to Beirut: Sack Lebanese army chief or more air raids. Jordan feared next
Assad to Beirut: Sack Lebanese army chief or more air raids. Jordan feared next.
Assad to Beirut: Sack Lebanese army chief or more air raids. Jordan feared next
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report March 18, 2013, 6:31 PM (GMT+02:00)
The Syrian conflict spread in earnest to Lebanon Monday, March 18, when the Syria Air Force carried out bombing runs over Syrian rebel jumping-off bases inside Lebanon that are used for their attacks on government forces.
debkafile’s military sources report that the warplanes also bombed Lebanese border valleys used for smuggling men and arms into Syria.
The targets, between one and five kilometers inside Lebanon, were the town of Arsal, where many of the Sunni Muslim inhabitants support the Syrian rebellion, and the outskirts of the towns of Khirbet Younin and Wadi al-Khayl in Arsal’s barren mountains. No casualties were reported.
debkafile can disclose exclusively that Saturday, March 16, Syrian ruler Bashar Assad sent an ultimatum to Lebanese President Michel Sleiman through intelligence channels consisting of three stipulations:
1. Sack Lebanese army chief Gen. Jean Kahwaji without delay. Assad accused the general of refusing to deploy the Lebanese army for cracking down on Syrian rebel bases of operation in Lebanon and so stemming the flow of rebel strength into the embattled country.
2. The Lebanese president, himself a former army chief, was required to take responsibility for army action to purge the Lebanese border region of rebel forces.
3. President Sleiman was given 48 hours to order the Lebanese army into operation against the Syrian rebels. When this did not happen, Assad made good on his threat. As soon as his ultimatum expired Monday afternoon, he sent his air force into action across the border into Lebanon.
debkafile’s military sources estimate that the air strike Monday was not a one-off event. Lebanon is probably in for expanding Syria air operations against its territory in the coming days.
It appears that the Syrian ruler timed his war action against Lebanon to coincide with President Barack Obama’s visit to Israel and Jordan, starting Wednesday, March 20. He may be planning further escalation as the week goes on.
According to some forecasts, Assad may be expected to launch attacks on Syrian rebel targets in Jordan as well as Lebanon..
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WarSclerotic 
March 19, 2013 at 9:37 AM
One cannot help but only to wander if he is not dreaming about the situation in Syria. Just look at the whole process which is unfolding in front of the very eyes of ours for the last two years ”or so”. First, it was the Arab revolt, which sparked the fire across the middle east. After Tunis, Libya and Egypt were ”liberated” by the Brotherhood, Syria was the next in the line. But, you see, such grandiose historical events cannot happen without a big war. And here we are, when the war in Syria is already spilling across its borders and, because of the number and the magnitude of the countries involved, it is threatening to became a much larger conflict. The war in Syria is far from the finish, if it ever will be finished. It is not even at its middle; and the fate of Assad is no longer interesting anybody; once that those jihadists smelled the blood, they wont stop. This is why Iran is so worried. Iran wants to fight them now in Syria, than later in Iran. And this is why, in a certain later stage, we will see that Iraq, Iran, Lebanon and Jordan will be washed also by those jihadists and their ”holly war”.