WarSclerotic

US lawmakers demand action on Syria chemical weapons – Israel News, Ynetnews.

After White House says Assad regime used chemical weapons in civil war, members of Congress urge Obama to act. ‘We do not want them to fall into the wrong hands,’ McCain says. Democrat Dianne Feinstein: Red lines have been crossed

Ynet, AFP

Members of Congress urged US President Barack Obama on Thursday to take action to “secure” Syria’s chemical weapons after he warned that strongman Bashar Assad used them against his own people.

Republican Senator John McCain led the revulsion and anger in Congress, saying it was now up to Obama to coordinate a response that prevents such weapons, including the agent sarin, from falling into the hands of terrorists or extremist groups.

Obama “said that if Bashar Assad used chemical weapons, it would be a game-changer, that it would cross a red line. I think it’s pretty obvious that a red line has been crossed,” McCain told reporters.

“We have to have operational capability to secure these chemical weapon stocks,” he added. “We do not want them to fall into the wrong hands, and the wrong hands are a number of participants in the struggle that’s taking place in Syria.”

For months the veteran Republican has urged Obama to take a more pro-active role in the Syrian conflict and pressed him to help arm Syrian rebels and ensure safe havens in the country.

On Thursday he called for increased White House pressure on Russia and Iran to stop supplying weapons to Assad, and greater commitment to aid Syria’s rebel groups fighting Damascus.

Dead animals in Khan al-Assal. Rebels say they died from chemical agent (Photo: Reuters) 

“The situation on the ground today is stalemate, with the Iranians and the Russians all in, and the United States of America gives them (Syrian rebels) flak jackets. That is not comforting when Scud missiles are hitting you.”

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Thursday that US intelligence has concluded “with some degree of varying confidence” that the Syrian government has used sarin gas as a weapon in its two-year-old civil war.

Following Hagel’s comments, US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Capitol Hill that there were two instances of chemical weapons use.

People Damascus claims were injured in rebel chemical attack in Aleppo (Photo: EPA) 

Democrat Dianne Feinstein, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, concurred that “red lines have been crossed” in Syria.

“Action must be taken to prevent larger scale use. Syria has the ability to kill tens of thousands with its chemical weapons,” she said in a statement.

“The world must come together to prevent this by unified action which results in the secure containment of Syria’s significant stockpile of chemical weapons.”

Man rebels claim was injured in chemical attack by Assad forces

Republican Howard “Buck” McKeon, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said Assad’s use of chemical weapons on the Syrian people, if true, is “an astounding violation of human rights,” and triggers a “national security imperative.”

Obama now has “a deep moral imperative” to act, McKeon said.

Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss said the chemical weapons revelation “changes the game.”

Asked what the next US step should be, Chambliss told AFP: “That’s for our military folks to tell us.”

Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida issued a statement urging US military action against the Assad regime.

“It’s clear the ‘red line’ drawn by President Obama has now been crossed. The time for passive engagement in this conflict must come to an end.

“It is in the vital national security interest of our nation to see Assad’s removal,” Rubio continued. “He is Iran’s closest ally in the region and a tyrant who has been murdering his own people for more than two years, while threatening regional stability. We must not allow Assad to continue violating all international norms by using these vile weapons and allowing Syria to descend further into chaos and instability. This will have disastrous consequences for US interests for decades to come.

“I urge President Obama to explain to Congress and the American people how he will ensure Syria’s chemical and biological weapons stockpiles are secured, how we’ll work with our allies to prevent further use of these deadly weapons, and what additional measures he is ready to take to follow through on his previous statements,” the senator said.

Policy disputes and individual options | Jerusalem Post – Blogs.

This week’s headlines have featured two separate quarrels of the kind that fascinate policy mavens, even while they cause us simpletons to scratch our heads and wonder who, if anyone, is right.

Ex-Hezbollah leader: Iran told us to join Syrian war | JPost | Israel News.

Analysis: Hezbollah drone a dangerous publicity stunt | JPost | Israel News.

‘Syria’s chemical weapons in Hezbollah’s reach’ | The Times of Israel.

Israeli UN envoy says European Union ignoring Lebanese group’s terror activity, Iran ‘spinning lies’ while racing toward the bomb

By Times of Israel staff April 24, 2013, 7:19 pm 4

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Ron Prosor, on Monday warned the UN Security Council that Hezbollah was close to getting its hands on Syria’s massive stockpile of chemical weapons.

“In Lebanon, Hezbollah is building an army equipped with 50,000 missiles — more than many NATO members. Now they might have access to one of the largest stockpiles of chemical weapons in the world,” said Prosor, a day after the IDF’s top intelligence analyst said that President Bashar Assad was in possession of more than 1,000 metric tons of chemical weapons and had deployed sarin nerve gas against civilians.

Prosor blamed the European Union for ignoring Hezbollah’s terrorist actions and stubbornly refusing to brand the group a terror organization.

“Hezbollah doesn’t feel the need to limit its brand of terrorism exclusively to the Middle East,” he said. “Last month, a court in Cyprus jailed a member of Hezbollah for planning terrorist attacks against civilians. Yet this still isn’t enough for some EU members to call Hezbollah what it is – a terrorist organization. It operates with impunity on European soil, yet some European lawmakers continue to insist it is a social-services organization.

“It doesn’t take a Sherlock Holmes to understand the obvious facts of this case,” Prosor added.

The Security Council was deliberating new ways to advance the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, and Prosor listed “three pillars” of any future agreement, echoing demands often set out by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Those pillars — Palestinian recognition of Israel’s Jewish character, a cessation of anti-Israel incitement in the PA, and security assurances for Israelis — “are the foundation that must remain standing in the shifting sands of the Middle East,” he said.

When it came to the international community’s ongoing effort to engage Iran in order to curb its nuclear program, Prosor warned that Tehran was playing for time to keep the West at bay while it scrambles to reach atomic weapons capability.

“The Iranian regime spins lies almost as quickly as they are spinning centrifuges,” he said. “The Iranian nuclear program continues to advance at the speed of an express train. The international community’s efforts to stop them are moving at the pace of the local train, pausing at every stop for some nations to get off and on.”

US, Britain now believe Assad used chemical weapons | The Times of Israel.

Two days after Israeli bombshell, US defense secretary says intelligence confirms, ‘with varying degree of confidence,’ small-scale use of nerve agents

Chuck Hagel speaking with reporters after reading a statement on chemical weapon use in Syria during a press conference in Abu Dhabi on Thursday. (photo credit: AP/Jim Watson, Pool)

US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Thursday that the US intelligence community now believes Syria has likely used chemical weapons on a “small scale” against its civilians.

Hagel added that the use of chemical weapons “violates every convention of warfare.”

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The statement came on the heels of a public declaration Tuesday by the Israeli army’s top intelligence analyst that forces loyal to President Bashar Assad had used sarin gas against rebel forces and civilians, and may push the US closer to intervening in the two-year-old conflict.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said the Syrian regime had launched two chemical attacks.

Hagel, speaking to reporters in Abu Dhabi, said the White House has informed two senators by letter that, within the past day, “our intelligence community does assess, with varying degrees of confidence, that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale in Syria, specifically, the chemical agent sarin.”

Britain followed the statement by saying London also believed there had been chemical attacks.

“We have limited but persuasive information from various sources showing chemical weapon use in Syria, including sarin,” a statement by the Foreign Office said. “This is extremely concerning. Use of chemical weapons is a war crime.”

Sarin, used by Saddam Hussein in aerial strikes against Iraqi Kurds in 1988 and in a Japan terror attack in 1995, is a nerve agent that cripples the respiratory system. It is hundreds of times more toxic than cyanide and is considered a weapon of mass destruction.

No information was made public on what quantity of chemical weapons might have been used in Syria, or when or what casualties might have resulted.

A victim of an alleged chemical attack in Jobar, Syria, earlier this month. (Screenshot via YouTube)

Hagel and US President Barack Obama have said in the past the use of chemical weapons would be a “game-changer” in the US position on intervening in the Syrian civil war.

White House legislative director Miguel Rodriguez, who signed the letter cited by Hagel, wrote that “because the president takes this issue so seriously, we have an obligation to fully investigate any and all evidence of chemical weapons use within Syria.”

The letter went to Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Carl Levin, D-Mich.

The assessment, Rodriguez said, is based in part on “physiological samples.”

He also said the US believes that the use of chemical weapons “originated with the Assad regime.” That is consistent with the Obama administration’s assertion that the Syrian rebels do not have access to the country’s stockpiles.

Earlier in the week, Hagel and Secretary of State John Kerry had said they could not confirm a report by Israeli Brig. Gen. Itai Brun that the IDF was quite certain that President Bashar Assad deployed chemical weapons against rebel forces in Syria on March 19.

Speaking at a security conference in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, Brun said further that based on the pictures of the victims — the size of their pupils, “and the foam coming out of their mouths” — the army believed that Assad’s troops had used sarin.

Brun also claimed that in Syria today there are over 1,000 tons of chemical weapons, including sarin and VX, both of which can be deployed from artillery rounds and long-range ballistic missiles.

Chemical weapons have been used on more than one occasion in Syria, and the world’s persistent reluctance to act in response to the use of those weapons is typical of the major powers’ current approach to the tremors shaking the Middle East, Brun said.

“We should be very, very worried about [chemical weapons] falling into the hands of those who do not conduct gain-loss considerations,” he said.

Kerry responded to Brun’s comments by saying he had spoken to Israeli prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who could not confirm them.

On Wednesday, Hagel said he had not been briefed on the Israeli assessment during consultations with Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon.

He added then that Washington was looking for “real intelligence” on the issue of Syrian chemical weapon use. “Suspicions are one thing. Evidence is another,” Hagel said. “I think we have to be very careful here before we make any conclusions, draw any conclusions, based on real intelligence.”

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

We are almost alone – Israel Opinion, Ynetnews.

( Almost? I love optimists…. JW )

Op-ed: US will only go to war for its own interests. Against Iran and Syria, Israel almost on its own

Eitan Haber

Even if as we speak American aircraft are preparing to attack the nuclear facilities in Iran, and even if as we speak American Tomahawk missiles are searching for the chemical weapon storage facilities in Syria, the truth should not be concealed: In this war we are (almost) on our own.

America will only go to war for its own interests. In the current atmosphere in the United States, as it is withdrawing from its current wars, Washington will not go to war for Jerusalem. Israeli government officials will say that, allegedly, there is no greater contradiction: The Sunni world is closer to the State of Israel more than ever before these days. The Sunni world is terrified of the Shiite world representing Iran, and like the State of Israel – Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the Gulf states (perhaps apart from Qatar) and even Egypt see Iran and its satellites as enemies for all intents and purposes. These countries would gladly join a strike in Iran if it were possible.

But the Americans are not hiding their intentions in regards to Iran and likely in regards to Syria as well. They are still very far from dipping their fingers in the nuclear and chemical mud. President Obama did say publicly, in Israel, and in clear Hebrew, “You are not alone,” but the Americans are looking for every excuse to avoid risking their people’s lives on the road to Tehran.

The Americans are saying to themselves: We survived the Cold War and the Soviet nuclear threat, which has dozens and maybe hundreds of nuclear facilities, and we have nothing to be afraid of when it comes to the Iranian nukes. We got past Stalin, we got past Khrushchev (even with a series missile crisis in Cuba), and we’ll successfully get past Ahmadinejad too.

US constantly trying to clear the table

This is exactly what the Israelis are not thinking. Israel is not as spacious as the US; neither is it a world power unlike any other. Israel can estimate correctly the concern over any nuclear activity, after “foreign sources” have been claiming for years and generations that it has nuclear facilities. Israel also knows how the Iranians can deceive the entire world. Israel did it too and it can teach the Iranians every single trick.

It’s for a reason that the Americans are trying to delay the inevitable by arguing about timetables. On the Iranian issue, the timetable gap is pretty big and crosses every red line proudly drawn at the time by Benjamin Netanyahu in front of the UN General Assembly. On the Syrian issue, the Americans are searching everywhere for excuses not to recognize and admit the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime. The Americans know very well that admitting the use of chemical weapons in Syria means, most likely, war – or at least a long “day of battle” in which Syria will turn over and will never be the same again.

Indeed, America has promised Israel that “all options are on the table,” but it is constantly trying to clear the table. And so the apparent picture, in the days to come and at least in the near future, is that Israel, and the great IDF, are in this front against Iran and Syria almost on their own. The Americans, who understand Israel’s fears, are covering the thorny road to Tehran and Damascus with major purchase deals, which will likely be executed only after the “deluge.”

Iran says it’s ready to resume talks with world powers – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Deputy nuclear negotiator Bagheri says Iran needs 20%-enriched uranium for Tehran research reactor, four others being built. ‘We are waiting for Ashton’s call,’ he adds

Reuters

Iran is ready to resume talks with world powers on its disputed nuclear program and awaits word from the European Union on timing and details, Iran’s deputy nuclear negotiator said on Thursday.

Ali Bagheri, in an interview with Reuters in Geneva, said Iran needed 20%-enriched uranium for its Tehran research reactor and four others being built, and was continuing to convert some of its stockpile into reactor fuel.

“We are waiting for Lady Ashton to call Dr. Jalili, and Dr. Jalili is obviously ready to take the call,” Bagheri said.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton oversees diplomatic contacts with Iran on behalf of the the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany. Saeed Jalili is Iran’s chief negotiator.

The world powers and Iran failed in talks in the Kazakh capital Almaty this month to end the deadlock in a decade-old dispute over Tehran’s nuclear program, prolonging a standoff that could yet spiral into a new Middle East war.

Previous nuclear talks in Kazakhstan (Archive photo: EPA)

Iran says its nuclear work is entirely peaceful and that it is only refining uranium to power a planned network of nuclear energy plants and for medical purposes. Critics accuse it of covertly seeking the means to produce nuclear weapons.

A report by the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in February said Iran had in December resumed converting to oxide powder some of the uranium it has enriched to 20% fissile concentration, for the production of reactor fuel.

That helped restrain the growth of Iran’s higher-grade uranium stockpile, a development that could buy more time for diplomacy.

In a potentially encouraging sign for the powers, Bagheri said on Thursday this conversion continued.

“We produce 20% uranium to provide fuel for Tehran’s research reactor, also four other reactors in four different parts of Iran which are under construction. With this in mind, plans have been drawn up to convert 20% uranium to 20% oxide,” Bagheri said.

“This is very much going according to plan. This activity is ongoing,” he added.

Israel Hayom | Embarrassment all around.

“For those who still need more evidence, the U.S. simply does not want to use military force in the region.”

Israel Hayom | Ya’alon: Diplomacy, sanctions haven’t stopped Iran’s centrifuges.

Israeli Ambassador to U.N. Ron Prosor: The Iranian nuclear program continues to advance at the speed of an express train, while the international community’s efforts to stop them are like a local train, pausing at every stop for nations to get off and on.