The White House on Thursday again evaded direct questions about whether chemical weapons have been deployed in Syria.
White House press secretary Jay Carney would not deny definitively that chemical weapons were used in the city of Homs, despite claims made in a recent classified State Department cable that such weapons had been used.
Carney referred to the information in the cable as “anecdotal” and said that the State Department could not independently corroborate the information in the cable, which originated from a third-party source on the ground in Syria.
“The State Department addressed this issue yesterday. One of our diplomatic posts received anecdotal information from a third party regarding an alleged incident in Syria in December,” Carney said during the White House press briefing.
“This information was relayed to the State Department in Washington. We looked into these allegations at the time we received the information and found no credible evidence to corroborate or confirm that chemical weapons were used,” Carney said.
Foreign Policy magazine broke the news of the cable earlier this week and provided additional evidence that chemical weapons were likely used:
Activist and doctors on the ground in Homs have been circulating evidence of the Dec. 23 incident over the past three weeks in an attempt to convince the international community of its veracity. An Arabic-language report circulated by the rebels’ Homs medical committee detailed the symptoms of several of the victims who were brought to a makeshift field hospital inside the city and claims that the victims suffered severe effects of inhaling poisonous gas.
Activists have also been circulating videos of the victims on YouTube and Facebook. In one of the videos, victims can be seen struggling for breath and choking on their own vomit. (More videos, which are graphic, can be found here, here, here, here, hereand here.)
Carney went on to say in Thursday’s briefing that the U.S. is “closely” monitoring the situation.
“We continue to closely monitor Syria’s proliferation-sensitive materials and facilities and have been consistent and clear about our red lines regarding chemical weapons in Syria,” Carney said. “As the president said, if the Assad regime makes the tragic mistake of using chemical weapons or fails to meet its obligation to secure them, they will be held accountable.”
President Barack Obama has dubbed the use of chemical weapons by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as a “red line” that would force the U.S. to take action.
However, the White House’s continued refusal to acknowledge that reported use of chemical weapons could be an indication that those red lines are flexible.
It is difficult to verify the use of chemical weapons, particularly in Syria where the situation is consistently in flux.
While Carney maintained that the Foreign Policy report provided no “credible” evidence of a chemical weapons attack, he declined to elaborate on how the State Department made this determination.
Libertatem Prius!
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It's probably being kept under wraps because if it was acknowledged they were used, Obama would actually have to do something about it since that was the "red line" he set.
Just a month after war-criminal Barack Obama made a big show of threatening Damascus if they attempt deployment of any chemical weapons -labeling their potential use by the cornered Assad regime as 'totally unacceptable'- emails now uncovered by a hacker in Germany betray a downright evil scheme between Obama and the Gulf Arab state of Qatar to supply 'Free Syrian Army' rebels with chemical artillery shells -apparently fire them into civilian areas- then blame their use on the Assad regime... nice, huh?
One can only assume this was an effort to establish a false pretext for US intervention in Syria- on the side of the jihadis, of course! The hacked document shows that chemical weapons were to be delivered to Homs, Syria via Qatar -who got the green light from Obama/would pay the agent handsomely- and was careful to specify the kind of Soviet-era shells to be sourced from Qaddafi's residual chemical stockpiles (proof you can't take it with you), as the type was thought to be plentiful in Assad's depots and would be assumed by the world to have been his...any of you dizzy, snake-fascinated Obama voters finally waking up this time?
The email sent last Xmas day from from Britam's Business Development Director David Goulding to (company founder) Philip Doughty:
'Phil: We’ve got a new offer. It’s about Syria again. Qataris propose an attractive deal and swear that the idea is approved by Washington. 'We’ll have to deliver a CW to Homs, a Soviet origin g-shell from Libya similar to those that Assad should have. 'They want us to deploy our Ukrainian personnel that should speak Russian and make a video record. 'Frankly, I don’t think it’s a good idea but the sums proposed are enormous. Your opinion? 'Kind regards, David.'
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“You Americans are so gullible.
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Earlier this week, Frank Gaffney appeared on Fox Business News with Eric Bolling to discuss the civil war in Libya. First, Aaron Klein of WND reports on Obama national security adviser Samantha Power’s relationship with far-leftist George Soros and their common affinity for the ‘Responsibility to Protect’ provision in the UN’s Libya resolution. The left correctly sees this ‘Responsibility to Protect’ at least as a blow to American sovereignty; it’s time all Americans get to know the implications of this dangerous new precedent.
Also featured in the clip is San Francisco attorney Yasser Tabbara, appearing as a representative for the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), an unindicted coconspirator in the largest terrorist finance trial in American history. Tabbara– just back from Egypt– accuses Frank of demonizing the Muslim Brotherhood.
Now with more funding:
Originally Posted by vector7
More manufactured Crisis...
Muslim Brotherhood establishes militia inside Syria The Muslim Brotherhood has established its own militia inside Syria as the country's rebels fracture between radical Islamists and their rivals, commanders and gun-runners have told The Daily Telegraph.
Syrian refugees at the Turkey- Syria border in Hatay Photo: EPA
By Ruth Sherlock, Richard Spencer in Beirut
6:48PM BST 03 Aug 2012
Calling itself the "Armed Men of the Muslim Brotherhood", the militia has a presence in Damascus as well as opposition hot spots like Homs and Idlib. One of their organisers, who called himself Abu Hamza, said that he started the movement along with a member of the Syrian National Council (SNC), the opposition alliance.
"We saw there were civilians with weapons inside, so we decided to co-operate with them and put them under one umbrella," he said.
Hossam Abu Habel, whose late father was in Syria's Muslim Brotherhood in the 1950s, said that he raised $40-50,000 (£25,000-£32,000) a month to supply Islamist militias in Homs province with weapons and other aid.
The militias he funded were not affiliated to the Free Syrian Army (FSA), the main rebel movement, added Mr Abu Habel.
"Our mission is to build a civil country but with an Islamic base," he said. "We are trying to raise awareness for Islam and for jihad."
The Syrian wing of the Muslim Brotherhood has been revitalised by the organisation's success in Egypt, where it won both parliamentary and presidential elections.
In the early days of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, secular and Islamist rebels were both prepared to fight under the FSA's banner and recognise the SNC as their political masters.
But the FSA, dominated by defectors from the regime's army, has fallen out with the SNC, whose leaders are in exile. It now has its own political front, the Syrian Support Group (SSG). This split has divided the revolution's main international backers, with Saudi Arabia supporting the FSA and Qatar moving closer to the SNC and the Islamist militias.
The divisions are affecting operations on the ground: competing militias co-operate when necessary but otherwise disavow each other. "I would take it as an insult if you described me as FSA," said Abu Bakri, a front line commander of an Islamist militia in Aleppo calling itself the Abu Emara Battalion.
One activist described how he was working with Sunni politicians in Lebanon to buy arms for the FSA with Saudi money.
A member of the FSA command centre, located in neighbouring Turkey, told the Daily Telegraph that they have this week received large consignments of ammunition, machine guns and anti-tank missiles. At one point Saudi Arabia and Qatar were both funding the FSA, with the command centre receiving up to $3 million in cash every month. But the operative said the situation had changed.
"Now we are not working with the Qataris because they made so many mistakes supporting other groups."
But the fracturing of the armed opposition raises the prospect of post-Assad Syria becoming a battleground. "This adds to the fragmentation and tones down the credibility of the opposition," said Louay Sakka, the SSG's Executive Director. "Supporters should go through the proper channel of the Free Syrian Army military council rather than build their own militias."
Amr al-Azm, a Syrian-American academic who was briefly on the SNC, said that Syria risked the same kind of disintegration that was set in motion by Saddam Hussein's downfall in neighbouring Iraq. The West's decision to limit its involvement in the Syrian conflict – and refrain from supplying lethal weapons – had left a gap for the Islamists to fill.
"By playing to your own fears, you are making them come true," said Mr Azm. "By not intervening, you are forcing people to go those who have resources. No one wants to go to al-Qaeda, but if you are down to your last five bullets and someone asks you to say 'Allahu Akbar' (God is greatest) five times, you do it."
FOX NEWS – President Barack Obama says the U.S. now recognizes Syria’s main opposition group as the “legitimate representative” of the country’s people.
Obama says the Syrian Opposition Council is now “inclusive enough” to be granted greater legitimacy in the international community. The president says that level of recognition comes with responsibility, including making sure the group organizes itself effectively and is committed to a political transition that respects the rights of women and minorities.
The move paves the way for greater U.S. support as the group seeks the ouster of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Obama spoke in an interview with ABC News.
Here’s a description of the rebels that Obama just endorsed (h/t: sDee):
CHICAGO TRIBUNE – Syrian rebel groups have chosen Brigadier Selim Idris, a former officer in President Bashar al-Assad’s army, to head their new Islamist-dominated military command, opposition sources said on Saturday.
…
The joint command named Islamist commanders Abdelbasset Tawil from the northern province of Idlib and Abdelqader Saleh from the adjacent province of Aleppo to serve as Idris’s deputies, the source said.
The unified command includes many with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and to Salafists, who follow a puritanical interpretation of Islam. It excludes the most senior officers who had defected from Assad’s military.
Its composition, estimated to be two-thirds from the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies, reflects the growing strength of Islamist fighters on the ground and resembles that of the civilian opposition leadership coalition created under Western and Arab auspices in Qatar last month.
Sources say Syrian rebels, along with paramilitary brigades affiliated to al-Qaeda, are already being trained by Turkish military officers at “makeshift installations in Turkish bases near the Syrian border.”
Al-Qaeda insurgents have now crossed into Syria in an effort to bring down the Syrian regime of Bashar Assad. The armed presence of the terror group raises new concerns over what factions within the Syrian anti-government coalition will emerge triumphant if and when Assad falls.
Iraqi military officials have claimed hundreds of armed al-Qaeda insurgents from northern Iraq have recently crossed into Syria to join the fight against the security forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime. According to Iraqi officials, as the terrorists attempted to gain entrance into Syria, “dozens” of al-Qaeda fighters were arrested and three buses and a truck filled with heavy and light weapons were seized.
The terrorists, reportedly based in Iraq’s northern province of Nineveh and its western province of Anbar, have also used Jordan and Turkey as access points into Syria. One Iraqi official said that Nineveh and Anbar have become “land bridges for the transportation of weapons and ammunition from the huge arsenal built up over its years of existence in Iraq.” Funding for the al-Qaeda incursion into Syria is reportedly coming from Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf states in the Gulf Cooperation Council.
The troubling news comes as Bashar Assad continues his vicious crackdown on Syria’s anti-government protesters, an assault which has to date killed an estimated 3,000 people and wounded over 10,000. However, the Syrian regime now finds itself faced with a growing armed resistance in the guise of the Free Syria Army, a newly organized militia comprised of defectors from Syria’s armed forces.
Now, the entrance of al-Qaeda onto the scene threatens to push Syria toward outright civil war. Moreover, the presence of al-Qaeda inter-mixed with Syrian rebels bring to mind the scenario recently played out in Libya in which the armed opposition, trained and equipped by NATO, consisted of a motley and nefarious hodgepodge of Islamists, former regime supporters and al-Qaeda insurgents.
In fact, other similarities to the Libyan campaign come to mind with the increasing role that NATO is playing behind the scenes of the conflict. According to Israeli intelligence sources, NATO, in conjunction with Turkey’s Military High Command, is already drawing up plans to arm rebels with “large quantities of anti-tank and anti-air rockets, mortars and heavy machine guns.”
Moreover, these same sources say Syrian rebels, along with paramilitary brigades affiliated to al-Qaeda, are already being trained by Turkish military officers at “makeshift installations in Turkish bases near the Syrian border.”
That Syrian President Bashar Assad should now find himself and his regime at odds with al-Qaeda should surprise little, given the terror group’s announcement in July of its solidarity with Syria’s anti-regime protesters.
Their ringing endorsement came in a video message delivered by al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri in which he claimed that Assad had betrayed the Arab world as “America’s partner in the war on Islam.” To that end, al-Zawahri urged the “free people of Syria and its mujahideen” to overthrow Assad, the “leader of criminal gangs.”
Par for the course, and outrageously wrongheaded. "Exclusive: Obama authorizes secret U.S. support for Syrian rebels," by Mark Hosenball for Reuters, August 1 (thanks to Ima):
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing U.S. support for rebels seeking to depose Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government, U.S. sources familiar with the matter said.
Obama's order, approved earlier this year and known as an intelligence "finding," broadly permits the CIA and other U.S. agencies to provide support that could help the rebels oust Assad.
This and other developments signal a shift toward growing, albeit still circumscribed, support for Assad's armed opponents - a shift that intensified following last month's failure of the U.N. Security Council to agree on tougher sanctions against the Damascus government.
The White House is for now apparently stopping short of giving the rebels lethal weapons, even as some U.S. allies do just that.
But U.S. and European officials have said that there have been noticeable improvements in the coherence and effectiveness of Syrian rebel groups in the past few weeks. That represents a significant change in assessments of the rebels by Western officials, who previously characterized Assad's opponents as a disorganized, almost chaotic, rabble.
Precisely when Obama signed the secret intelligence authorization, an action not previously reported, could not be determined.
The full extent of clandestine support that agencies like the CIA might be providing also is unclear.
White House spokesman Tommy Vietor declined comment.
'NERVE CENTER'
A U.S. government source acknowledged that under provisions of the presidential finding, the United States was collaborating with a secret command center operated by Turkey and its allies.
Last week, Reuters reported that, along with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Turkey had established a secret base near the Syrian border to help direct vital military and communications support to Assad's opponents.
This "nerve center" is in Adana, a city in southern Turkey about 60 miles from the Syrian border, which is also home to Incirlik, a U.S. air base where U.S. military and intelligence agencies maintain a substantial presence.
Turkey's moderate Islamist government has been demanding Assad's departure with growing vehemence. Turkish authorities are said by current and former U.S. government officials to be increasingly involved in providing Syrian rebels with training and possibly equipment.
European government sources said wealthy families in Saudi Arabia and Qatar were providing significant financing to the rebels. Senior officials of the Saudi and Qatari governments have publicly called for Assad's departure.
On Tuesday, NBC News reported that the Free Syrian Army had obtained nearly two dozen surface-to-air missiles, weapons that could be used against Assad's helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. Syrian government armed forces have employed such air power more extensively in recent days.
NBC said the shoulder-fired missiles, also known as MANPADs, had been delivered to the rebels via Turkey.
On Wednesday, however, Bassam al-Dada, a political adviser to the Free Syrian Army, denied the NBC report, telling the Arabic-language TV network Al-Arabiya that the group had "not obtained any such weapons at all." U.S. government sources said they could not confirm the MANPADs deliveries, but could not rule them out either.
Current and former U.S. and European officials previously said that weapons supplies, which were being organized and financed by Qatar and Saudi Arabia, were largely limited to guns and a limited number of anti-tank weapons, such as bazookas.
Indications are that U.S. agencies have not been involved in providing weapons to Assad's opponents. In order to do so, Obama would have to approve a supplement, known as a "memorandum of notification, to his initial broad intelligence finding.
Further such memoranda would have to be signed by Obama to authorize other specific clandestine operations to support Syrian rebels.
Reuters first reported last week that the White House had crafted a directive authorizing greater U.S. covert assistance to Syrian rebels. It was unclear at that time whether Obama had signed it.
OVERT SUPPORT
Separately from the president's secret order, the Obama administration has stated publicly that it is providing some backing for Assad's opponents.
The State Department said on Wednesday the U.S. government had set aside a total of $25 million for "non-lethal" assistance to the Syrian opposition. A U.S. official said that was mostly for communications equipment, including encrypted radios....
Also on Wednesday, the U.S. Treasury confirmed it had granted authorization to the Syrian Support Group, Washington representative of one of the most active rebel factions, the Free Syrian Army, to conduct financial transactions on the rebel group's behalf. The authorization was first reported on Friday by Al-Monitor, a Middle East news and commentary website....
Some U.S. lawmakers, such as Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, have criticized Obama for moving too slowly to assist the rebels and have suggested the U.S. government become directly involved in arming Assad's opponents.
The same clowns who are lining up against Michele Bachmann for wanting Muslim Brotherhood influence in the government investigated. What a coincidence.
Other lawmakers have suggested caution, saying too little is known about the many rebel groups. Recent news reports from the region have suggested that the influence and numbers of Islamist militants, some of them connected to al Qaeda or its affiliates, have been growing among Assad's opponents.
U.S. and European officials say that, so far, intelligence agencies do not believe the militants' role in the anti-Assad opposition is dominant.
President Obama announces an additional $155 million in humanitarian aid for those affected by the violence of the Assad regime. This aid from the American people is providing food, clean water, medicine, medical treatment, immunizations for children, clothing, and winter supplies for millions of people in need inside Syria and in neighboring countries.
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Leaked emails have allegedly proved that the White House gave the green light to a chemical weapons attack in Syria that could be blamed on Assad's regime and in turn, spur international military action in the devastated country.
A report released on Monday contains an email exchange between two senior officials at British-based contractor Britam Defence where a scheme 'approved by Washington' is outlined explaining that Qatar would fund rebel forces in Syria to use chemical weapons.
Barack Obama made it clear to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad last month that the U.S. would not tolerate Syria using chemical weapons against its own people.
Scroll down for video
War games: An explosion in the Syrian city of Homs last month. It has been now been suggested that the U.S. backed the use of chemical weapons to spur international military intervention
According to ********.com, the December 25 email was sent from Britam's Business Development Director David Goulding to company founder Philip Doughty.
It reads: 'Phil... We’ve got a new offer. It’s about Syria again. Qataris propose an attractive deal and swear that the idea is approved by Washington.
'We’ll have to deliver a CW to Homs, a Soviet origin g-shell from Libya similar to those that Assad should have.
'They want us to deploy our Ukrainian personnel that should speak Russian and make a video record.
'Frankly, I don’t think it’s a good idea but the sums proposed are enormous. Your opinion?
'Kind regards, David.'
Britam Defence had not yet returned a request for comment to MailOnline.
Enlarge
Leaked: The email was allegedly sent from a top official at a British defense contractor regarding a 'Washington approved' chemical attack in Syria which could be blamed on Assad's regime
The emails were released by a Malaysian hacker who also obtained senior executives resumés and copies of passports via an unprotected company server, according to Cyber War News.
Dave Goulding's Linkedin profile lists him as Business Development Director at Britam Defence Ltd in Security and Investigations. A business networking profile for Phil Doughty lists him as Chief Operationg Officer for Britam, United Arab Emirates, Security and Investigations.
An official at the U.S. State Department told MailOnline today that the idea of leaked emails was 'absolutely ridiculous'.
The use of chemical warfare was raised at a press briefing in D.C. on January 28.
A spokesman said that the U.S. joined the international community in 'setting common redlines about the consequences of using chemical weapons'.
Countless losses: Families attempt to identify the bodies of Syrian fighters shot and dumped in a river in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo today
Devastation: People gather at a site hit by what activists said was missiles fired by a Syrian Air Force fighter jet from forces loyal to Assad, at the souk of Azaz, north of Aleppo on January 13
A leaked U.S. government cable revealed that the Syrian army more than likely had used chemical weapons during an attack in the city of Homs in December.
The document, revealed in The Cable, revealed the findings of an investigation by Scott Frederic Kilner, the U.S. consul general in Istanbul, into accusations that the Syrian army used chemical weapons in the December 23 attack.
An Obama administration official who had access to the document was reported as saying: 'We can't definitely say 100 per cent, but Syrian contacts made a compelling case that Agent 15 was used in Homs on Dec. 23.'
Mr Kilner's investigation included interviews with civilians, doctors, and rebels present during the attack, as well as the former general and head of the Syrian WMD program, Mustafa al-Sheikh.
Dr. Nashwan Abu Abdo, a neurologist in Homs, is certain chemical weapons were used. He told The Cable: 'It was a chemical weapon, we are sure of that, because tear gas can't cause the death of people.'
Threats: Barack Obama said during a speech last month that if Syria used chemical weapons against its own people it would be 'totally unacceptable'
Tyrant: Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, pictured with his wife Asma, is facing increasing international pressure over his brutal massacre of his own people
Eye witness accounts from the investigation revealed that a tank launched chemical weapons and caused people exposed to them to suffer nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, delirium, seizures, and respiratory distress.
The symptoms suggest that the weaponized compound Agent-15 was responsible. Syria denied using chemical weapons and said it would never use them against citizens.
Speaking to Pentagon reporters at the time, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said his biggest concern was how the U.S. and allies would secure the chemical and biological weapons sites scattered across Syria and ensure the components don't end up in the wrong hands if the regime falls, particularly under violent conditions.
Government forces and rebels in Syria have both been accused by human rights groups of carrying out brutal warfare in the 22-month-old conflict, which has claimed more than 60,000 lives.
WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT : 'SYRIAN REBELS TESTING CHEMICAL WEAPONS
ON RABBITS'
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Over 300 Russian Marines are onboard a flotilla of at least five warships from Russia’s Baltic Fleet and the Black Sea Fleet en route to the Syrian coast in the Mediterranean, both Russian and Israeli sources have confirmed.
Warships of the Black Sea, Baltic and North Fleets are participating in what Russian officials described as “the biggest combat exercises for decades.” /sana-syria.com
Moscow had earlier stated that the purpose of sending warships to Syria was to prepare for civilian evacuation in case of regime collapse.
However, that mission would not have required hundreds of Russian marines.
As the full-blown civil war rages on in Syria, Russia’s steadfast support of the Bashar Assad regime seems to be hardening in recent weeks, as NATO started to deploy Patriot anti-missile systems in Turkey to prevent Assad’s last minute desperate attack on Turkey.
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Nikita Khrushchev:"We will bury you"
"Your grandchildren will live under communism."
“You Americans are so gullible.
No, you won’t accept To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. outright, but we’ll keep feeding you small doses of To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. until you’ll finally wake up and find you already have communism.
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News source out of Syria... paragon of virtues there... not.
Syria says Israel attacked military research center
BEIRUT | Wed Jan 30, 2013 2:51pm EST
(Reuters) - Israeli warplanes attacked a military research center in Damascus province at dawn on Wednesday, Syria's military command said, denying reports that the planes had struck a convoy carrying weapons from Syria to Lebanon.
Two people were killed and five wounded in the attack on the site in Jamraya, which it described as one of a number of "scientific research centers aimed at raising the level of resistance and self-defense".
The building was destroyed, the military command said in a statement carried by state media.
It said the planes crossed into Syria below the radar level, just north of Mount Hermon, and returned the same way.
Sources told Reuters earlier that Israeli jets had bombed a convoy on Syria's border with Lebanon on Wednesday, apparently targeting weapons destined for Hezbollah.
Libertatem Prius!
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Israeli forces have carried out an air strike on a weapons convoy from Syria near the Lebanese border, security sources have told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The attack came after Israel expressed concerns that Damascus's stockpile of chemical weapons could fall into the hands of Lebanon's Shi'ite Hezbollah group, an ally of the Syrian regime, or other militant groups.
Israeli officials have said such a transfer would be a declaration of war and likely spark an Israeli attack.
Sources differed on whether the strike took place on Syrian or Lebanese territory.
'The Israeli air force blew up a convoy that had just crossed the border from Syria into Lebanon,' one source said, adding that the convoy was believed to be carrying weapons, without specifying the type.
An Israeli military spokeswoman declined to comment on the report.
A second security source, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, also confirmed to AFP that Israeli warplanes had hit a convoy allegedly carrying weapons to Lebanon but said the incident occurred just inside Syria.
'It was an armed convoy travelling towards Lebanon but it was hit on the Syrian side of the border at around 2330 GMT (1030 AEST),' the source said.
Both sources reported a high level of 'unusual' Israeli activity over Lebanese air space, which began on Tuesday evening and continued overnight.
The Lebanese army confirmed that Israeli warplanes entered Lebanese airspace up to 16 times between 9:30am (0730 GMT) Tuesday and 2:00am Wednesday.
'Every day there are Israeli overflights, but on Tuesday they were much more intense than usual,' a Lebanese security source told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The incident occurred just days after Israel moved two batteries of its vaunted Iron Dome missile defence system to the north and at a time of rising fears that the conflict in Syria could see weapons leaking into Lebanon.
A former head of intelligence at Israel's Mossad spy service, Amnon Sofrin, said on Wednesday that the Jewish state 'should make any effort to prevent any weapons systems of that kind (chemical) going out to terror organisations.'
Speaking to reporters in Jerusalem before reports of the attack emerged, Sofrin said Israel was unlikely to carry out air strikes on chemical weapons stocks because of the environmental risks.
'When you go and attack a... chemical weapons depot, you're going to do unwarranted damage, because every part will leak out and can cause damage to many residents,' he said.
'But if you know of a convoy leading these kind of (chemical) weapon systems from Syria to Lebanon, you can send a unit to the proper place and try to halt it' on the ground, he added.
On Monday, Israeli newspaper Maariv reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had 'urgently dispatched' his national security adviser Yaakov Amidror to Russia to ask Moscow to use its influence in Syria to prevent the transfer of chemical weapons.
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It's usually those damned 'shit hezbollas' anyway.... lol
US declines comment on raid, hosts Israeli general
(AFP) – 51 minutes ago
WASHINGTON — The United States on Wednesday declined to comment on an Israeli air raid against a weapons convoy from Syria as senior officials hosted Israel's director of military intelligence for talks.
"I don't have any comment for you on those reports," said White House spokesman Jay Carney when asked about an air strike overnight near the Lebanese border.
"I'd refer you to the government of Israel for questions about deliberations or actions that they may or may not have taken," he said.
Security sources in the region told AFP Israeli aircraft carried out the bombing raid on a weapons convoy heading out of Syria. But it was unclear if the strike took place in Syrian or Lebanese territory.
The air strike followed statements from Israel voicing concern that Damascus's stockpile of chemical weapons could fall into the hands of Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah group, an ally of the Syrian regime, or other militants.
Israeli officials have said such that a transfer would be a casus belli and likely spark an Israeli attack.
News of the raid came as Major General Aviv Kochavi, director of military intelligence for Israeli forces, paid a visit to Washington for talks this week, defense officials said.
Kochavi met the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, on Tuesday and was expected to hold talks with his counterparts in military intelligence at the Defense Department, said two officials, who spoke on condition of anoymity.
Officials said Kochavi's visit had been planned long in advance.
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Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu is believed to be in talks over a possible response to the movement of chemical weapons. Photograph: Jim Hollander/EPA
Israeli warplanes have attacked a target close to the Syrian-Lebanese border following several days of heightened warnings from government officials over Syria's stockpiles of weapons.
Syrian state television said that military command had confirmed a "scientific research centre" north-west of Damascus was struck at dawn on Wednesday, causing damage. Two people were killed and five wounded in the attack on the site, which was engaged in "raising the level of resistance and self-defence".
Earlier, diplomatic and security sources were cited in media reports as saying a convoy of trucks had been struck close to the Syrian-Lebanese border. The Israeli Defence Forces said it had no comment.
Lebanese media claimed that a dozen IDF fighter planes had flown sorties over Lebanon's airspace from Tuesday afternoon until Wednesday morning.
A Lebanese army statement, quoted by local news agencies, said: "Four Israeli planes entered Lebanese airspace at 4.30pm on Tuesday. They were replaced four hours later by another group of planes, which overflew southern Lebanon until 2am, and a third mission took over, finally leaving at 7.55am on Wednesday morning." The IDF also declined to comment on these reports.
It was also reported that the IDF's intelligence chief, Major-General Aiv Kochavi, arrived in Washington on Tuesday for private talks with the US chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Martin Dempsey, at the Pentagon.
Israel has publicly warned that it would take military action to prevent the Syrian regime's chemical weapons falling into the hands of Hezbollah in Lebanon or "global jihadists" fighting inside Syria. Israeli military intelligence is said to be monitoring the area round the clock via satellite for possible convoys carrying weapons.
Hezbollah is also believed to have extensive stockpiles of conventional weapons in warehouses inside Syria. Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nazrallah, "wants to remove everything from Syrian soil to Lebanon", said Amnon Sofrin, a former head of intelligence in the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad. Israel, he added, was "looking very carefully at convoys heading from Syria to Lebanon".
The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, was reported earlier this week to be conducting intense security consultations on the possible response to the movement of weapons.
The deputy prime minister, Silvan Shalom, told Army Radio on Sunday: "If there is a need, we will take action to prevent chemical weapons from being transferred to Islamic terror organisations. We are obligated to keep our eye on it at all times, in the event chemical weapons fall into Hezbollah's hands."
Israel's concern over the civil war in Syria has mounted over recent months as Bashar al-Assad's regime has come closer to collapse and fighting has bordered on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Although Israel has been technically at war with Syria since 1967, the Golan Heights has been mostly quiet since Israel occupied it almost 46 years ago.
But Israel fears that the implosion of the Assad regime could herald an Islamist Syria, which could seek to reignite hostilities with its neighbour.
Alex Fishman, defence analyst for the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, wrote earlier this week: "In the light of Assad's increasingly unsteady status, Hezbollah figures have understood that [its stockpiles of conventional] weapons cannot remain there. And as soon as these weapons reach Lebanon, they are swallowed up in secret underground stockpiles. Looking for them will be like searching for a needle in a haystack.
"If chemical weapons are brought into Lebanon, Israel will probably not hesitate – and will attack."
According to Sofrin, the Israeli military would be more inclined to deploy "specialist skilled units" on the ground to secure depots of chemical weapons, rather than use air strikes, which risked dispersing chemicals over a wide area. But any such operation would be complicated and risky, he added.
Israel's primary concern was to prevent Hezbollah acquiring chemical warheads that it could mount on existing missiles, he said.
Netanyahu told Sunday's cabinet meeting Syria was "increasingly coming apart". He added: "The reality is developing apace. In the east, north and south, everything is in ferment, and we must be prepared: strong and determined in the face of all possible developments."
In the past few months, errant shells from fighting in Syria have landed in the Golan Heights, prompting Israel to lodge formal complaints with the United Nations. In November, Israeli forces fired tank shells at Syrian artillery units, causing casualties, over two consecutive days after a mortar shell landed close to an Israeli army post.
Netanyahu recently announced plans to build a steel security fence along the armistice line in the Golan Heights, similar to the one constructed on the Israel-Egypt border.
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Israeli warplanes attacked a military research centre in Damascus province at dawn on Wednesday, Syria's military command said, denying reports that the planes had struck a convoy carrying weapons from Syria to Lebanon.
Two people were killed and five wounded in the attack on the site in Jamraya, which it described as one of a number of "scientific research centres aimed at raising the level of resistance and self-defence".
The building was destroyed, the military command said in a statement carried by state media.
It said the planes crossed into Syria below the radar level, just north of Mount Hermon, and returned the same way.
Sources told Reuters earlier that Israeli jets bombed a convoy on Syria's border with Lebanon, apparently targeting weapons destined for Hezbollah. Damascus province includes much of the border with Lebanon.
"The target was a truck loaded with weapons, heading from Syria to Lebanon," said one Western diplomat, adding that the consignment may well have included anti-aircraft missiles.
The overnight attack, which several sources placed on the Syrian side of the border, followed warnings from Israel that it was ready to act to prevent the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad leading to Syria's chemical weapons and modern rockets reaching either his Hezbollah allies or his Islamist enemies.
A source among the Syrian rebels said an air strike around dawn (0430 GMT) blasted a convoy on a mountain track about 5 kilometres south of where the main Damascus-Beirut highway crosses the border. Its load probably included high-tech anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles, but not chemical weapons.
"It attacked trucks carrying sophisticated weapons from the regime to Hezbollah," the source said, adding that it took place inside Syria, though the border is poorly defined in the area.
A regional security source said the target was weaponry given by Assad's military to fellow Iranian ally Hezbollah:
"This episode boils down to a warning by Israel to Syria and Hezbollah not to engage in the transfer of sensitive weapons," the source said. "Assad knows his survival depends on his military capabilities and he would not want those capabilities neutralised by Israel - so the message is this kind of transfer is simply not worth it, neither for him nor Hezbollah."
With official secrecy shrouding the event, few details were corroborated by multiple sources. All those with knowledge of the event - from several countries - spoke anonymously.
There was no comment from the Israeli or Syrian governments nor Hezbollah. Israel's ally the United States declined all comment. A Lebanese security source said its territory was not hit, though the army reported a heavy presence of Israeli jets through the night after days of unusually frequent incursions.
Such a strike would fit Israel's policy of pre-emptive covert and overt action to curb Hezbollah and does not necessarily indicate a major escalation of the war in Syria. It does, however, indicate how the erosion of the Assad family's rule after 42 years is seen by Israel as posing a threat.
Israel this week echoed concerns in the United States about Syrian chemical weapons, but its officials say a more immediate worry is that the civil war could see weapons that are capable of denting its massive superiority in airpower and tanks reaching Hezbollah; the group fought Israel in 2006 and remains a more pressing threat than its Syrian and Iranian sponsors.
Wednesday's strike could have been a rapid response to an opportunity. But a stream of Israeli comment on Syria in recent days may have been intended to limit surprise in world capitals.
The head of the Israeli air force said only hours before the attack that his corps, which has an array of the latest jet bombers, attack helicopters and unmanned drones at its disposal, was involved in a covert "campaign between wars".
"This campaign is 24/7, 365 days a year," Major-General Amir Eshel told a conference on Tuesday. "We are taking action to reduce the immediate threats, to create better conditions in which we will be able to win the wars, when they happen."
Jets over Lebanon
In Israel, where media operate under military censorship, broadcasters immediately relayed international reports of the strike. Channel Two television quoted what it called foreign sources saying the convoy was carrying anti-aircraft missiles.
Israeli jets routinely fly over Lebanon and there have been unconfirmed reports in previous years of strikes on Hezbollah arms shipments. An attack inside Syria could be diplomatically provocative, however, since Assad's Iranian ally said on Saturday that it would view any strike as an attack on itself.
There was no immediate comment on the incident from Tehran, which Israel views as its principal enemy and with which it is engaged in a bitter confrontation over Iran's nuclear programme.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, set for a new term after an election, told his cabinet that Iran and turmoil in Arab states meant Israel must be strong: "In the east, north and south, everything is in ferment, and we must be prepared, strong and determined in the face of all possible developments."
The Israeli military confirmed this week that it had lately deployed two batteries of its Iron Dome rocket-interceptor system to around the northern city of Haifa, which came under heavy Hezbollah missile fire during a brief war in 2006.
Israel's refusal to comment on Wednesday is usual in such cases; it has, for example, never admitted a 2007 air strike on a suspected Syrian nuclear site despite U.S. confirmation of it.
By not acknowledging that raid, Israel may have ensured that Assad did not feel obliged to retaliate. For 40 years, Syria has offered little but bellicose words against Israel. A failing Assad administration, some Israelis fear, might be tempted into more action, while Syria's Islamist rebels are also hostile to Israel and could present a threat if they seize heavier weapons.
Israeli Vice Premier Silvan Shalom said on Sunday that any sign that the Syrian army's grip on its presumed chemical weapons stocks was slipping could trigger Israeli intervention.
But Israeli sources said on Tuesday that Syria's advanced conventional weapons, much of it Russian-built hardware able to destroy Israeli planes and tanks, would represent as much of a threat to Israel as chemical arms in the hands of an enemy.
Interviewed on Wednesday, Shalom would not be drawn on whether Israeli forces had been in action in the north, but he described the country as part of an international coalition seeking to stop spillover from Syria's two-year-old insurgency.
Recalling that President Barack Obama had warned Assad of US action if his forces used chemical weapons, Shalom told Israel Radio: "The world, led by President Obama, who has said this more than once, is taking all possibilities into account.
"Any development ... in a negative direction would be something that needs stopping and prevention."
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They won't confirm the "scientific center" near Damascus was hit though.
BUT they (Syrians) it appears were moving chemical weapons to Lebanon. SA-17 Antiaircraft missiles too. I'm betting those missiles had chemicals on them.
I'm also betting Israel said, "Ok, hit the convoy, stop them. Go to the source and flatten that too as a warning. If they shoot back, kill 'em."
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Re: Syria
A man shout after a missile hits in a house in Aleppo, Syria / AP
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Originally Posted by Rick Donaldson
Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu is believed to be in talks over a possible response to the movement of chemical weapons. Photograph: Jim Hollander/EPA
A Syrian refugee camp in Jordan. - Source: BBC 
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