IAF strikes, Syria: “We were hit”
Mystery on the attack. Only certainty: Tel Aviv fears Assad’s chemical weaponry
Il Giornale, January 31st, 2013
Information on basic events in the Middle East is always scarce, until the point they unleash like a carnivorous flower unveiling their fatal significance. That’s what happened with the Osirak reactor bombing in Iraq in 1981 and then the Syrian one in 2008. Israel long denied and did not explain. Also this time little is known about the F 16 aircraft which (allegedly) blasted “something” on the Syria-Lebanon border (it’s so far unconfirmed, actually the utmost discretion prevails) in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday.
“Israeli warplanes violated our airspace on Wednesday at dawn and bombarded a scientific research center responsible for raising our levels of resistance and self-defense” is the only confirmed statement by the General Command of the Armed Forces to the Syrian SANA news agency.
Three possible theories all converge on a crucial point, i.e. the extremely dangerous situation that the Syrian revolution has by now produced: a convoy of trucks carrying maybe chemical weapons from Syria to Lebanon, to be delivered to Hezbollah, was blasted. Or else theory number two, an airstrike hit some warehouses storing beside a huge arsenal of already assembled Iranian-made missiles supplied to Syria also Russian made SA-17, which definitely change the ballistic configuration of the area. Or else, theory number three, both kinds of weapons were hit by the Israeli strike. This airstrike apparently took place inside the Syrian territory, although on the border.
In this background the indisputable truth seems to be that to react to the present situation is now unavoidable and also that its most extreme results are to be seen in the next few days, according to the criteria that call for an operation of such scope and of such strategic relevance (it is the first time that Israel apparently directly intervenes, upon its own initiative, in a situation brought about an Arab revolution). Netanyahu’s government had been reiterating in every way that the “red line” of the strategic change in the weaponry present in the area was not to be crossed. Indeed, he had even summoned the cabinet in an urgent meeting few hours after the elections to discuss the situation in Syria. Evidently the weapons have already been or are about to be transferred in the hands of new unlikely owners.
Assad’s regime might still hold a few months, Syria however already shows clear signs of total disruption and the transfer of its powerful, modern weaponry into the hands of Shiite Hezbollah or Sunni rebels is evident. Nasrallah’s henchmen recently set up new bases in Syria with nonconventional weapons arsenals, while Sunnis are also getting organized in the same manner. Such transfer of chemical and conventional weapons into the extremists’ hands is a development that marks an imminent danger to Israel, but then again also to the United States and even to Russia.
That’s why Israel deployed Kipat Barzel, the new powerful defense launchers on the Northern border. If yesterday’s strike took place, if it was carried out by Israel, both of which is rather likely, the question arises as to whether the IDF is ready to face a possible retaliation. Also in this case there are different nuances to an answer: Assad is not in the best condition to wage war to Israel. Hezbollah too, considered their friend Bashar no longer offers a reliable logistics base, do not favorably see a harsh confrontation, which would eventually result disruptive for their grip and influence on Lebanon. The real Hezbollah and Assad’s bosses, the Iranians, may possibly be very busy these days mending their damages after the explosion in the uranium enriching facility in Fordo, that the CIA deems to be of sizeable dimensions. All of this might vain in the face of the fanatic, anti-Israel instinct of several enemies of Israel, charmed by a bellicose chance, and terrorist attacks wherever and whenever, but of course against jews, can be the following move after the Iran threats of these days.
Israelis, poised , face the usual ceremony, which unfortunately turned out to be very realistic sometimes, anti-gas masks are retrieved, dusted, and tried on; the instructions how to use them are read and listened to. The number of average citizens who renewed their sets against nonconventional weapons reported a threefold increase last month. This is the novel situation. Also the huge Egyptian quagmire that claimed two lives on the streets yesterday doesn’t look promising. Sinai, abandoned to Bedouin bands, is increasingly turning into a qaedist jungle on Israel’s borders.