indian_foxhound
FULL MEMBER
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2013
- Messages
- 1,827
- Reaction score
- 0
Israeli warplanes fly over Lebanon | World news | guardian.co.uk
An Israeli fighter jet takes off from an airbase in
southern Israel. Photograph: Gil Cohen Magen/
Reuters
Israeli warplanes flew over Lebanon again on Friday, two days after air strikes targeted a
convoy of arms or a weapons research base
inside Syrian territory. Andrea Tenenti, a spokesman for the UN forces in
Lebanon, Unifil, confirmed that Israeli forces had
continued to violate Lebanese airspace, but said
this was routine. "On Tuesday [ahead of the air
strikes] there were a high number of violations,
but since then it has not been unusual," he told the Guardian. Under UN security council resolution 1701,
passed following the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war, Israeli planes are forbidden from flying over
Lebanon. Israel has maintained silence over Wednesday's
bombing, despite a statement from the Syrian
regime that a "scientific research centre"
between Damascus and the Lebanese border had
been hit. Reports described the centre as a large
military complex with training and communications facilities. Western diplomatic and
security sources said Israel's target was a
convoy of trucks carrying Russian-made anti-
aircraft missiles from Syria to the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon. Shlomo Brom of Israel's Institute of National
Security Studies said there was "no
contradiction" between the two accounts. "The
convoy may have been attacked while being
loaded or while leaving the installation," he said.
Hezbollah was keen to extract from Syria as much weaponry as possible before supply routes
closed off. Concern about possible retaliatory action was
fuelled by comments made by an Iranian
legislator. "Damascus retaliation against the illegal
move of the Zionist regime is a right of the Syrian
people," said Mohammad Hassan Asafari. If the
Syrian regime failed to deliver a "proper response", Israel would not hesitate to carry out
further attacks, he added. The Israeli foreign ministry declined to comment
on reports that its embassies and missions
worldwide had been placed on a heightened
security alert, and the Israeli Defence Forces
declined to say whether leave had been cancelled
for troops based in northern Israel and the Golan Heights. Many Israeli analysts thought that the chances of
immediate retaliation were low, with some
suggesting that any response was more likely to
be targeted at Israeli assets or citizens abroad
rather than rocket attacks or other military action
aimed at Israel itself. "The combination of strategic circumstances in
the region at the moment makes the chance of a
direct Iranian response unlikely," wrote Amos
Harel, Haaretz's defence correspondent. "A Syrian
military response seems even less likely, though
neither possibility can be ruled out. The most worrying unknown since Tuesday night
concerns Hezbollah's reaction Hezbollah is a
sophisticated enemy operating in a tough
environment. Complete restraint over the long
term to Israel's actions could be considered
weakness by Hezbollah, so we should expect some form of response, even if not immediately
and not necessarily a broad rocket and missile
attack on Israel." Yedioth Ahronoth's defence analyst Alex Fishman
wrote: "Something major went down in Syria,
but a heavy smokescreen is already blurring the
tracks If the signal sent to the Syrians and to
Hezbollah by whomever produced this show
telling them to stop the unmonitored circulation of the weapons held by the Syrian army is not
picked up, then the next operation will not be
able to leave such a vague address. And this will
bring the region into an open and violent clash. "Missiles may not fly at Israel this time. It seems
that this time, we will get through the storm
safely. And the proof: the defence minister
allowed himself to leave for a conference of
defence ministers in Germany. But Israel should
prepare for the possibility of acts of revenge overseas, in the style of the terror attacks that
took place in the past."
An Israeli fighter jet takes off from an airbase in
southern Israel. Photograph: Gil Cohen Magen/
Reuters
Israeli warplanes flew over Lebanon again on Friday, two days after air strikes targeted a
convoy of arms or a weapons research base
inside Syrian territory. Andrea Tenenti, a spokesman for the UN forces in
Lebanon, Unifil, confirmed that Israeli forces had
continued to violate Lebanese airspace, but said
this was routine. "On Tuesday [ahead of the air
strikes] there were a high number of violations,
but since then it has not been unusual," he told the Guardian. Under UN security council resolution 1701,
passed following the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war, Israeli planes are forbidden from flying over
Lebanon. Israel has maintained silence over Wednesday's
bombing, despite a statement from the Syrian
regime that a "scientific research centre"
between Damascus and the Lebanese border had
been hit. Reports described the centre as a large
military complex with training and communications facilities. Western diplomatic and
security sources said Israel's target was a
convoy of trucks carrying Russian-made anti-
aircraft missiles from Syria to the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon. Shlomo Brom of Israel's Institute of National
Security Studies said there was "no
contradiction" between the two accounts. "The
convoy may have been attacked while being
loaded or while leaving the installation," he said.
Hezbollah was keen to extract from Syria as much weaponry as possible before supply routes
closed off. Concern about possible retaliatory action was
fuelled by comments made by an Iranian
legislator. "Damascus retaliation against the illegal
move of the Zionist regime is a right of the Syrian
people," said Mohammad Hassan Asafari. If the
Syrian regime failed to deliver a "proper response", Israel would not hesitate to carry out
further attacks, he added. The Israeli foreign ministry declined to comment
on reports that its embassies and missions
worldwide had been placed on a heightened
security alert, and the Israeli Defence Forces
declined to say whether leave had been cancelled
for troops based in northern Israel and the Golan Heights. Many Israeli analysts thought that the chances of
immediate retaliation were low, with some
suggesting that any response was more likely to
be targeted at Israeli assets or citizens abroad
rather than rocket attacks or other military action
aimed at Israel itself. "The combination of strategic circumstances in
the region at the moment makes the chance of a
direct Iranian response unlikely," wrote Amos
Harel, Haaretz's defence correspondent. "A Syrian
military response seems even less likely, though
neither possibility can be ruled out. The most worrying unknown since Tuesday night
concerns Hezbollah's reaction Hezbollah is a
sophisticated enemy operating in a tough
environment. Complete restraint over the long
term to Israel's actions could be considered
weakness by Hezbollah, so we should expect some form of response, even if not immediately
and not necessarily a broad rocket and missile
attack on Israel." Yedioth Ahronoth's defence analyst Alex Fishman
wrote: "Something major went down in Syria,
but a heavy smokescreen is already blurring the
tracks If the signal sent to the Syrians and to
Hezbollah by whomever produced this show
telling them to stop the unmonitored circulation of the weapons held by the Syrian army is not
picked up, then the next operation will not be
able to leave such a vague address. And this will
bring the region into an open and violent clash. "Missiles may not fly at Israel this time. It seems
that this time, we will get through the storm
safely. And the proof: the defence minister
allowed himself to leave for a conference of
defence ministers in Germany. But Israel should
prepare for the possibility of acts of revenge overseas, in the style of the terror attacks that
took place in the past."
