WarSclerotic

This relates to the attack mentioned in the previous post…

Woops!

Report: Syria mistakenly downs Russian plane as it repels alleged Israeli strike

https://www.timesofisrael.com/report-syria-mistakenly-downs-russian-plane-as-it-repels-alleged-israeli-strike/

Russia implies France or Israel responsible for missing aircraft; Syria claims 2 killed after Israel fires missiles from Lebanese airspace toward chemical weapons-linked facility

A Russian military Ilyushin IL-20 landing at Kubinka air base on June 3, 2011. (Artyom Anikeev/iStock/Getty Images)

A Russian military plane with 14 servicemen aboard was accidentally shot down by Syrian air defenses as they tried to repel an alleged Israeli strike on Monday, a US official told CNN.

The official added that the plane was downed by a Russian-made missile system which was sold to its Syrian ally. [Hahahahaha! Oh my, the irony!]

Russian state news TASS said the IL-20 disappeared over the Mediterranean on Monday evening was as it returning to Latakia province at the same time as the suspected strike by Israel, and that concurrently France was also firing rockets nearby.

“Connection has been lost with the crew of a Russian Il-20 plane over the Mediterranean Sea 35 kilometers from the Syrian coast as it was returning to the Hmeimim airbase,” the Russian defense ministry said, adding the communications were lost at the time of the suspected Israeli attack.

“At the same time Russian air control radar systems detected rocket launches from the French frigate Auvergne which was located in that region,” Russia’s TASS news agency quoted the defense ministry as saying, according to Reuters.

A rescue operation has been launched.

Israel does not regularly comment on alleged strikes in Syria.

An Israeli military spokeswoman when asked about both the reported Israeli strike and the Russian plane said: “We don’t comment on foreign reports.”

Syrian state media earlier reported that a Syrian facility linked to the country’s chemical weapons program was bombed on Monday night, triggering Syrian air defenses.

The state-run Al-Ikhbariya TV reported loud explosions in the coastal Latakia province, saying they were likely from Israeli strikes targeting a state company for technical industries.

Explosions continued for nearly a half hour, said state-run Al-Ikhbariya TV, which aired footage showing streaks of white light flashing across the sky. An unidentified military official was quoted as saying Syrian air defenses intercepted some missiles heading for the provincial capital of Latakia from the sea.

Al-Ikhbariya said 10 people were injured and two required hospitalization.

A Pentagon spokesman said the United States was not involved and declined to provide further details.

“The missiles were not fired by the US military and we have nothing further at this time,” he said.

A French army spokesman also denied any involvement.

Syrian military sources told SANA that the attack came from the direction of the sea and targeted an Organization for Technological Industries center in Latakia.

The sources also claimed the country’s air defenses shot down a number of incoming missiles. The Syrian army has regularly been accused of exaggerating its interception capabilities.

The attack caused a large explosion and knocked out power to the surrounding area, according to local media.

The Organization for Technological Industries is a subsidiary of the Syrian Ministry of Defense and has been tied to the developments of both missiles and chemical weapons.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported the explosions, saying the target appeared to be an ammunition depot, part of the compound of the organization. The war monitoring group said it was not clear if the depot was for Iranian or Syrian forces.

The strikes followed a similar attack on Damascus International Airport late Saturday, which Syrian state media also blamed on Israel. A military official quoted then on state media said Syrian air defenses intercepted some missiles coming from the sea.

Other attacks were reported on September 4 that targeted sites in the coastal Tartus area and in Hama province. The Observatory said at the time that the attacks were believed aimed at Iranian military posts.

Israel is alleged to have been behind a series of airstrikes mainly targeting Iranian and Hezbollah forces in Syria that have joined the country’s war fighting alongside the government. Israel rarely acknowledges attacks inside Syria, but has said it will use military action to prevent weapons transfers to its enemies.

Earlier this month, an Israeli military official said the Jewish state has struck over 200 Iranian targets in Syria over the past 18 months.

It’s never an accident…

https://www.timesofisrael.com/syrian-tv-reports-suspected-israeli-strikes-on-state-company/

Syrian army claims 2 killed after Israel fires missiles from Lebanese airspace toward chemical weapons-linked facility in coastal city of Latakia

Explosions seen in the Syrian city of Latakia after an attack on a military facility nearby on September 17, 2018. (Screen capture: Twitter)

A Syrian facility linked to the country’s chemical weapons program was bombed on Monday night, triggering Syrian air defenses, state media reported.

The state-run Al-Ikhbariya TV reported loud explosions in the coastal Latakia province, saying they were likely from Israeli strikes targeting a state company for technical industries.

The Syrian army said that Israel fired missiles from Lebanese airspace, adding that two people were killed in the attack and the facility was severely damaged, Hadashot reported early Tuesday.

A spokesperson for the US Department of Defense denied that the American military was behind the attack, telling the Voice of America news outlet, “I can unequivocally say this is not us.”

Syrian military sources told SANA that the attack came from the direction of the sea and targeted an Organization for Technological Industries center in Latakia.

The sources also claimed the country’s air defenses shot down a number of incoming missiles. The Syrian army has regularly been accused of exaggerating its interception capabilities.

The attack caused a large explosion and knocked out power to the surrounding area, according to local media.

The Organization for Technological Industries is a subsidiary of the Syrian Ministry of Defense and has been tied to the developments of both missiles and chemical weapons.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported the explosions, saying the target appeared to be an ammunition depot, part of the compound of the organization. The war monitoring group said it was not clear if the depot was for Iranian or Syrian forces.

The strikes followed a similar attack on Damascus International Airport late Saturday, which Syrian state media also blamed on Israel. A military official quoted then on state media said Syrian air defenses intercepted some missiles coming from the sea.

Other attacks were reported on September 4 that targeted sites in the coastal Tartus area and in Hama province. The Observatory said at the time that the attacks were believed aimed at Iranian military posts.

Israel is alleged to have been behind a series of airstrikes mainly targeting Iranian and Hezbollah forces in Syria that have joined the country’s war fighting alongside the government. Israel rarely acknowledges attacks inside Syria, but has said it will use military action to prevent weapons transfers to its enemies.

Earlier this month, an Israeli military official said the Jewish state has struck over 200 Iranian targets in Syria over the past 18 months.

We know where you live, Bashar…

Just remember that.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-tacit-threat-israel-releases-satellite-photos-of-syrian-presidential-palace/

To mark 30 years since its first orbital launch, Defense Ministry publishes images from its newest spy satellite, showing Syrian tanks, an airfield… and Bashar Assad’s home

A photograph of Syria’s Presidential Palace in Damascus taken by Israel’s Ofek 11 spy satellite, which was released by the Defense Ministry on September 17, 2018. (Defense Ministry)

Israel on Monday released photographs taken by its newest spy satellite of sites located deep inside Syria, including Syrian dictator Bashar Assad’s palace, in an apparent threat to the regime.

The images, taken by the Ofek 11 spy satellite, were released by the Defense Ministry to mark 30 years since Israel’s first orbital launch on September 19, 1988.

The three photographs released by the ministry showed the Syrian Presidential Palace, also known as the Palace of the People; tanks on a Syrian military base; and the Damascus international airport, which was reportedly targeted by an Israeli missile strike on Saturday night.

The publication of the images could be seen as both a show of strength and a tacit threat to Syria, where Israel has routinely conducted air raids against Iranian targets — over 200 of them since 2017, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

A photograph of a Syrian military base taken by Israel’s Ofek 11 spy satellite, which was released by the Defense Ministry on September 17, 2018. (Defense Ministry)

The Saturday night strike reportedly targeted an Iranian plane at the Damascus international airport that was delivering weapons to pro-regime forces and Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps units fighting in Syria’s civil war, as well as several weapons storage facilities at the airport itself.

There was no official Israel comment on the reported attack. However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday seemed to acknowledge that the Israeli military was responsible for it.

“Israel is constantly working to prevent our enemies from arming themselves with advanced weaponry,” Netanyahu said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem. “Our red lines are as sharp as ever and our determination to enforce them is stronger than ever.”

A photograph of Syria’s international airport in Damascus taken by Israel’s Ofek 11 spy satellite, which was released by the Defense Ministry on September 17, 2018. (Defense Ministry)

The Syrian state news agency, SANA, claimed that Israel had targeted the airport with missiles, activating the country’s air defenses, which shot down a number of the projectiles. The Syrian military has often been accused of exaggerating its successes in intercepting incoming missiles.

On Sunday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said that the alleged Israeli strike caused “substantial” damage at the airport, but had no immediate information on casualties.

For years, Israel has been concerned that Iran was using opportunities presented by the Syrian civil war to entrench itself militarily in the country in order to further threaten the Jewish state — alongside the threat already posed by terror group Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Earlier this year, Israeli military officials also told Syria publicly that its military, specifically its air defenses, would not be targeted by Israel unless it fired at Israeli aircraft.

The Ofek 11

The Ofek 11 spy satellite was launched on September 13, 2016, using a Shavit rocket, the same basic model that Israel used to launch the first Ofek satellite 30 years before.

Shortly after takeoff, the team operating the satellite discovered it was not functioning properly. Teams of engineers on the ground worked to stabilize the Ofek 11 and get its systems running.

Nine days later, the satellite beamed back its first images, dispelling fears that it was a total operational loss.

“The Ofek 11 satellite will provide operational outputs,” the Defense Ministry said at the time.

The Ofek 11 was an upgrade from the Ofek 10 satellite launched by Israel in April 2014.

The Ofek 11 joined approximately 10 other satellites, including the Ofek 10, Ofek 9, Ofek 7 and Ofek 5, that feed intelligence to Israel’s security forces.

“Israel’s independent capabilities in the field of satellites represents a significant advantage in its efforts to stand up to various security threats. The quality of the images and photographs that are produced by our different satellites is incredible and provide us with valuable intelligence, and prove that the sky is not the limit,” Amnon Harari, the head of the Defense Ministry’s space program, said on Monday.

Source: Between Gaza and Iran – Israel Hayom

The intense focus on the Iranian issue, and in recent months on a possible escalation in the Gaza Strip, have distracted us from a simple fact: The most complicated front Israel must contend with is Judea and Samaria.

Yoav Limor

The constant friction between millions of Palestinians and hundreds of thousands of Israelis, the need to defend hundreds of communities and thousands of kilometers of roads and maintain access to the country’s center – all these factors continuously foster terrorism, whether by organizations using weapons and explosive devices or lone attackers who need nothing more than a knife.

The reason attacks like Sunday’s lethal stabbing outside the Gush Etzion Junction shopping mall do not happen every day is prevention. Every night, usually based on intelligence from the Shin Bet security agency, IDF forces raid the homes of dozens of young Palestinian men and women suspected of planning to carry out attacks. Last year, 4,000 such Palestinians were arrested; for many others, a warning or reprimand to their parents was able to achieve the same effect.

Sunday’s attack is frustrating not only because of its deadly result, but also because it was very nearly thwarted. Intelligence officials did not have preliminary information on the terrorist. Absent some electronic signature, it is difficult to know what is going through a person’s mind. But just as the terrorist arrived at Gush Etzion Junction, his distraught mother showed up at one of the checkpoints in the area and told security forces of her son’s intention to carry out a terrorist attack. The information was relayed to all the forces in the area, but it was already too late.

The mother’s actions are indicative of an interesting atmosphere that has taken hold among the Palestinian public. They are worried about the repercussions of the attacks. Beyond a parent’s natural concern for their child’s life, they also know an attack may lead to the demolition of the family home and the revocation of their permits to work in Israel.

It turns out that the terrorist left his home in Yatta and traveled to the Hebron area. After wandering around for a while and not finding a target, he continued on to Gush Etzion Junction. It may be that given the increased security presence at the junction – the result of a series of lone wolf attacks in 2014 and 2015 – the terrorist preferred to carry out the attack at the nearby mall.

Ari Fuld, who heroically fought back against his attacker, is the eighth victim to die in the seven terrorist attacks this year. Seven of the victims were attacked in Judea and Samaria and one in the Old City of Jerusalem. Given the relative ease with which tensions can flare between the Jewish and Arab populations in Judea and Samaria, this can be seen as both an indication of the security forces’ control of the area and the relative difficulty for terrorists to operate beyond the Green Line.

As this type of stabbing has been known to spur copycat attacks, security forces must now ramp up their counterterrorism efforts, in particular given that the Jewish holiday season is upon us and recreational centers are packed with Israelis. As is the case every year, the territories will be sealed off from the night before Yom Kippur until the end of the holiday. Unfortunately, this does nothing to mediate the threat to Jewish residents in the area, in particular given the open call by terrorist organizations, Hamas at the forefront, to increase efforts to carry out terrorist attacks.

These calls have so far gone unanswered.  The Palestinian public has shown very little interest in the matter of the national struggle. Despite concerns that events in Gaza or the relocation of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem would lead to widespread protests in the territories, this has not been the case. Even the recent American moves against the Palestinians have not really served to inflame the average Palestinian, who is busy trying to put food on the table.

The Israeli interest is to ensure this remains the case in the future. Populist proposals that Israel take punitive steps against the Palestinians in the West Bank, as was suggested on Sunday, are in direct opposition to this interest.

Source: Putin meets Erdogan at Sochi to cut a separate deal for Idlib – DEBKAfile

Source: Iranian FM: Europe must offset US pullout from nuclear deal – Israel Hayom

Source: Trump, Pompeo bash ex-Secretary of State Kerry on Iran meetings – Israel Hayom

Source: Palestinian official: Abbas needs to ‘rethink’ path in face of US measures – Israel Hayom

Source: Syria: Israel launched missile attack on Damascus airport – Israel Hayom

Source: US Democrats to Palestinians: We Won’t Fight Your War” – DEBKAfile

A Palestinian bid to harness their case against President Donald Trump to the US Democrats’ midterm election campaign was spurned, DEBKAfile reports exclusively. 

“Operation Democratic Party” was launched at secret sessions led by Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) at his Ramallah headquarters with military precision. These sessions took place during recent weeks, before Trump landed his final blow on Friday, Sept. 14, by shutting down the last US $10 million allocation, this one dedicated to an Israeli-Palestinian friendship program. He left in place only the part for promoting relations between Israeli Arabs and Israel Jews.

For Operation Democratic Party, Abbas had assigned Palestinian officials with individually approaching any contacts they had developed with Democratic Party big shots with a proposition to target Trump’s ill-treatment of the Palestinians in their midterm election campaigns. The list was compiled by Husam Zomlot , head of the PLO’s Washington office, Foreign Minister Riad al-Malaki and senior negotiator Saeb Erekat.

Palestinian PR experts were optimistic: American public opinion was sure to rally behind the Palestinians after Trump’s outrageous treatment of the past five months, including the shutdown of the PLO consulate in Washington and the cancellation of the  $450 million allocation to UNWRA. Trump’s envoys Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt accused the agency of perpetuating the Palestinian refugee problem and allowing it to blow up ten times more than the original figure on its watch. And, even worse, the two envoys’ recommended setting aside the Palestinian claim for a fully-independent state and offering them semi-independent status in confederation with Jordan instead.

Abbas and his advisers had no doubt that the Democrats would buy these affronts as

fodder for their campaigns against their Republican rivals. DEBKAfile’s sources report that the Palestinian lobbyists went straight to the top, making direct calls to Senate minority leader Jack Schumer, House minority leader Nancy Pelosi, former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, Democratic senior Senator Elizabeth Warren, as well as other influential party figures, such as President Bill Clinton and associates of Secretary John Kerry. They calculated that, even if the Democratic party per se declined to make their cause a central platform issue, at least one or two high-profile figures would adopt it.

They were in for a rude shock. All the candidates came back with the same negative response. After careful consideration, the Democratic party had concluded that there was no place for the Palestinian cause in their election campaigns because it did not reverberate with the American voter as a noteworthy issue. The party would not fight Trump and the Republican party over the Palestinians, because, they said: “It is not up to us to fight your war.”

Left high and dry by their last resort, the Palestinians threaten to turn to the UN, the International Criminal Court in the Hague or the Europeans, but they also realize they have run out of practical options for making up the US aid shortfall and keeping the wolf from the door in Ramallah.

 Sep 15, 2018 @ 17:31 Donald Trump, Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinians, US Democrats

A Palestinian bid to harness their case against President Donald Trump to the US Democrats’ midterm election campaign was spurned, DEBKAfile reports exclusively. “Operation Democratic Party” was launched at secret sessions led by Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) at his Ramallah headquarters with military precision. These sessions took place during recent weeks, before Trump landed his final blow on Friday, Sept. 14, by shutting down the last US $10 million allocation, this one dedicated to an Israeli-Palestinian friendship program. He left in place only the part for promoting relations between Israeli Arabs and Israel Jews.

For Operation Democratic Party, Abbas had assigned Palestinian officials with individually approaching any contacts they had developed with Democratic Party big shots with a proposition to target Trump’s ill-treatment of the Palestinians in their midterm election campaigns. The list was compiled by Husam Zomlot , head of the PLO’s Washington office, Foreign Minister Riad al-Malaki and senior negotiator Saeb Erekat.

Palestinian PR experts were optimistic: American public opinion was sure to rally behind the Palestinians after Trump’s outrageous treatment of the past five months, including the shutdown of the PLO consulate in Washington and the cancellation of the  $450 million allocation to UNWRA. Trump’s envoys Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt accused the agency of perpetuating the Palestinian refugee problem and allowing it to blow up ten times more than the original figure on its watch. And, even worse, the two envoys’ recommended setting aside the Palestinian claim for a fully-independent state and offering them semi-independent status in confederation with Jordan instead.
Abbas and his advisers had no doubt that the Democrats would buy these affronts as
fodder for their campaigns against their Republican rivals. DEBKAfile’s sources report that the Palestinian lobbyists went straight to the top, making direct calls to Senate minority leader Jack Schumer, House minority leader Nancy Pelosi, former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, Democratic senior Senator Elizabeth Warren, as well as other influential party figures, such as President Bill Clinton and associates of Secretary John Kerry. They calculated that, even if the Democratic party per se declined to make their cause a central platform issue, at least one or two high-profile figures would adopt it.
They were in for a rude shock. All the candidates came back with the same negative response. After careful consideration, the Democratic party had concluded that there was no place for the Palestinian cause in their election campaigns because it did not reverberate with the American voter as a noteworthy issue. The party would not fight Trump and the Republican party over the Palestinians, because, they said: “It is not up to us to fight your war.”
Left high and dry by their last resort, the Palestinians threaten to turn to the UN, the International Criminal Court in the Hague or the Europeans, but they also realize they have run out of practical options for making up the US aid shortfall and keeping the wolf from the door in Ramallah.