Israeli planes hit targets in Syria, say US officials
Israeli planes hit targets in Syria, say US officials | The Times of Israel.
CNN report, apparently confirmed by Republican senator, follows a flurry of claims that Israeli warplanes entered Lebnese airspace
United States officials suspect Israel struck targets in Syria on either Thursday or Friday, CNN quoted two American sources saying Friday evening.
The sources said Western intelligence agencies were analyzing data pointing to an Israeli airstrike on Syria. The target of the reported airstrike was said to be a weapons facility, according to an American official cited by Fox News. NBC quoted American sources saying the target was believed to be weapons shipment bound for Hezbollah in Lebanon.
There was no immediate indication that Israel struck chemical weapons targets, CNN said, despite heightened tensions over the Assad regime’s use of weapons of mass destruction against rebels.
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) was quoted by a Politico reporter saying, “Israel bombed Syria tonight.”
The CNN report followed Lebanese media reports of increased Israeli Air Force activity over southern Lebanon on Thursday and Friday.
The Israeli military declined to comment on the CNN report. Aaron Sagui, spokesperson for the Israeli Embassy in Washington, declined comment on the report as well, but added “what we can say is that Israel is determined to prevent the transfer of chemical weapons or other game-changing weaponry by the Syrian regime to terrorists, especially to Hezbollah in Lebanon.”
Syrian Ambassador to the UN Bashar Jaafari said shortly after the reports were published that he was unaware of any Israeli attack on his country, according to Reuters.
As many as eight Israeli warplanes reportedly entered Lebanese airspace, according to Hezbollah news outlet Al-Manar, while The Daily Star on Friday quoted the Lebanese military as saying that a succession of Israeli warplanes flew over the country, culminating in a pair of planes which circled South Lebanon for nearly three hours on Friday afternoon.
On Thursday, “two Israeli warplanes violated Lebanese airspace entering above the sea west of Sidon and flying over all Lebanese areas as they conducted aerial maneuvers,” the Daily Star quoted a statement from the Lebanese Army as saying.
The Israeli army’s top intelligence analyst Brig. Gen. Itai Brun was the first prominent figure to publicly declare that President Bashar Assad was using chemical weapons — he specified Sarin — against rebel targets. Brun’s public assertion caused initial dismay in the US, and was initially rejected by Secretary of State John Kerry, but soon afterwards confirmed by the US and other world powers.
US President Barack Obama had said such use would be a game-changer, and Obama has been weighing how to respond for several days. Israel has said repeatedly that it will intervene to prevent Syrian chemical weapons falling into the hands of terror groups such as Hezbollah.
“Obviously we are concerned that weapons that are ground-breaking, that can change the balance of power in the Middle East, would fall into the hands of these terrorists,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week.
However Netanyahu has also told his ministers not to discuss the issue publicly, in order to avoid potential claims that Israel is urging the US to intervene military in Syria.
Foreign media reported in January that the Israeli Air Force struck either a Lebanon-bound weapons convoy or a Syrian chemical weapons facility outside Damascus, or both. But Israeli never officially acknowledged the veracity of those reports.
Lebanese President Michel Suleiman on Friday condemned Israel’s alleged actions and called on the international community to intervene.
“We call on the international community to pressure Israel to stop its attacks and violations and to commit to abiding by Resolution 1701,” he said.
Al-Manar reported that UNIFIL and Lebanese military personnel jointly investigated the southern region where Thursday’s Israeli overflights were thought to have taken place.
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