Showing posts with label Bashar Assad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bashar Assad. Show all posts
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Monday, June 3, 2013
Hezbollah Forces Prepare To Attack The Syrian City Of Aleppo
End Of Days News
Hezbollah Forces Prepare To Attack The Syrian City Of Aleppo
*In Syria, Hezbollah Forces Appear Ready To Attack Rebels In City Of Aleppo -- Washington Post* BEIRUT — Thousands of Lebanese Hezbollah militants were massed around the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Sunday, according to rebels and a senior commander in the Lebanese Shiite movement, broadening Hezbollah’s backing of President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and stoking fears of an imminent assault on the city. The commander, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to talk to the media, said there were about 2,000 Hezbollah fighters in Aleppo province, ...more »
Friday, May 31, 2013
PM indicated to Putin: ‘We’ll destroy your missiles if you deliver them to Assad’
End Of Days News
After Netanyahu made clear he would not allow the S-300 anti-aircraft weapons to go into service, the Russian president reportedly suggested Israel buy them instead
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted during his recent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that Israel would destroy Syrian S-300 missiles before they became fully operational, Maariv cited Middle Eastern diplomats saying Friday. The reported threat underlined how firmly Israel has sought to pressure Russia to cancel the deal, apparently with some success.
According to the report, during the meeting between the heads of stateearlier this month in the Black Sea city of Sochi, Netanyahu called on Putin to cancel Russia’s transfer of the sophisticated anti-aircraft system to Syrian President Bashar Assad, and indicated that, should the delivery go ahead, Israel would strike the missiles before they became operational.
End Of Days News
DEBKAfile May 31, 2013, 9:19 AM (GMT+02:00)
In an interview Thursday night to the Hizballah’s Al Manar TV channel, Syrian president Bashar Assad said: “Russia is committed to implementing the weapons contracts it signed with us and the crisis or Netanyahu [over the S-300 anti-air missiles] have nothing to do with that. The delivery of some weapons has been completed and the rest will be delivered later.”
He then spoke of “clear popular enthusiasm to open the Golan front for resistance against Israel,” adding: “We have informed all foreign parties that we will retaliate against any future Israeli attack.”
Assad went on to accuse “some of Israel’s agents in Lebanon” of trying on May 7 “to seize control of the resistance's [Hizballah’s] telecommunications network,” and argued that “Hizballah is now in Syria because Israel is involved.”
The Syrian ruler continued: “The timing of the Qusayr battle is linked to the Israeli escalation, because its objective is to besiege the resistance by land and sea.”
All the same, “The main battle,” in Assad’s view, “is in Damascus and Aleppo, not in Qusayr, and Hizballah has only a limited number of fighters, no more than 2,000.”
Thursday, May 30, 2013
WAR DRUMS: ASSAD VOWS TO STRIKE ISRAEL
End Of Days News
WAR DRUMS: ASSAD VOWS TO STRIKE ISRAEL
BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian President Bashar Assad said in an interview broadcast Thursday that he is “confident in victory” in his country’s civil war, and he warned that Damascus would retaliate for any future Israeli airstrike on his territory. Assad also told the Lebanese TV station Al-Manar that Russia has fulfilled some of its weapons contracts […]
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Air force chief warns of ‘surprise war’ with Syria
End Of Days News
Amir Eshel says Assad’s ‘immense arsenal’ could be turned on Israel at any moment, accompanied by rockets from Gaza and Lebanon
The commander of the Israeli Air Force, which has reportedly bombarded targets in Syria several times in recent months, warned Wednesday that war could break out on Israel’s northern border at any moment, demanding the full engagement of the IAF’s resources.
“If tomorrow Syria collapses, and I am not saying that will happen, we could find ourselves in the thick of it very fast and in great number,” IAF commander Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel said, illustrating how the nature of surprise wars had changed for Israel since the Yom Kippur War in 1973.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
IDF chief issues stern warning to Assad over rapidly heating border
End Of Days News
Damascus will ‘bear consequences’ of further gunfire, says Gantz, after cross-border shooting; tensions ‘several times more explosive than they were this morning,’ says top Israeli analyst
Israel’s military chief issued a severe warning to Bashar Assad on Tuesday, saying the Syrian leader would “bear the consequences” of any more attacks on Israeli forces near the Syrian border.
Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz issued his threat hours after an Israeli jeep came under fire during a patrol in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.
Syria claimed it destroyed an Israeli vehicle that crossed the ceasefire line in the Golan Heights overnight. A statement issued by the Syrian Armed Forces said its troops destroyed the vehicle “with those in it.” It did not elaborate, but said any attempt to infiltrate Syria’s territory will face “immediate and firm retaliation.”
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Islamist group says Hermon mortars fired to avenge ‘Nakba’
End Of Days News
A previously unknown Islamist group took responsibility Thursday for thefiring of two mortar shells at Mount Hermon a day earlier. It was the first time since the outbreak of the Syrian uprising that the area was targeted, and it led authorities to shut down the tourist area for several hours.
In a message posted online, the self-described Abdul Qader Husseini Battalions of the Free Palestine movement said it “attacked an observatory of the Zionist entity on the occupied Golan Heights with missiles on the anniversary of return, May 15, 2013, avenging the martyrs of return [who died] last year.
Unmoved by Israel, Russia will send top air-defense system to Assad
End Of Days News
Moscow says it must honor its deal with Damascus, even though Netanyahu warned Putin that delivery of S-300 missiles could plunge the region into war
Undeterred by pleas and warnings from Israel, Russia made clear on Thursday that it will go ahead with its planned delivery of a highly sophisticated air-defense system to Syria’s President Bashar Assad.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly warned Russian President Vladimir Putin in an emergency face-to-face meeting on Tuesday that Moscow’s sale of the S-300 missile defense system to Assad could push the Middle East into war.
But Russia’s Foreign MinisterSergey Lavrov, evidently unmoved by the dramatic Israeli warning, declared on Thursday that while Moscow was “not signing any new deals,” it would honor existing contracts with Syria, including for the air-defense systems. “We’ve already carried out some of the deal,” Lavrov said, “and we will carry the rest of it out in full.”
Syrian-Israeli war of words via Putin edges into Syrian-Hizballah war of attrition.
End Of Days News
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Netanyahu ended their three-hour meeting in Sochi Tuesday, May 14, at loggerheads on Syria. In fact, Putin warned his guest that Israel and its army, the IDF, were heading for war with Syria in which Russia might well be involved – and not just through the advanced S-300 anti-air missiles supplied to the Assad government. The case Netanyahu and Military Intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi put before Putin and Russian foreign intelligence chief, SVR Director Mikhail Fradkov, fell on deaf ears.
They found the Russian leader further infuriated by the docking that day at Israel’s Red Sea port of Eilat of the USS Kearsarge, carrying 1,800 marines and a consignment of 20 V-22 Osprey helicopters which US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel had promised to supply to Israel during his April visit.
Putin viewed the stationing of US forces in the Gulf of Aqaba just two hours away the Israeli-Syrian border for repelling Syrian-Iranian-Hizballah aggression against Israel or Jordan – signaled by the Kearsage’s arrival - as an act of bad faith by Washington. On the one hand, they want us to cooperate for an international conference to end the bloodshed in Syria, while on the other, they deploy military forces, he complained to Netanyahu.
They found the Russian leader further infuriated by the docking that day at Israel’s Red Sea port of Eilat of the USS Kearsarge, carrying 1,800 marines and a consignment of 20 V-22 Osprey helicopters which US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel had promised to supply to Israel during his April visit.
Putin viewed the stationing of US forces in the Gulf of Aqaba just two hours away the Israeli-Syrian border for repelling Syrian-Iranian-Hizballah aggression against Israel or Jordan – signaled by the Kearsage’s arrival - as an act of bad faith by Washington. On the one hand, they want us to cooperate for an international conference to end the bloodshed in Syria, while on the other, they deploy military forces, he complained to Netanyahu.
The Israeli prime minister countered with a warning that Israel would continue to strike advanced weapons in Syria that were destined for Hizballah. And if President Bashar Assad hit back for Israel’s May 5 bombardment of weapons stores on Mount Qassioun near Damascus, Israel would intensify its bombardments of Syrian military targets and weapons until Assad was left to fight off rebel assaults empty-handed.
Putin rejected this threat as implausible.
Neither Putin nor Netanyahu put all their cards on the table, but the conversation ended with the Russian leader fully confident that his capabilities for safeguarding Assad were greater than Israel’s ability to destroy him.
Putin rejected this threat as implausible.
Neither Putin nor Netanyahu put all their cards on the table, but the conversation ended with the Russian leader fully confident that his capabilities for safeguarding Assad were greater than Israel’s ability to destroy him.
In the end, Netanyahu and his party arrived home Tuesday evening with a bad feeling. They were certain that Moscow had given Assad the green light to go through with his threat to make the Syrian Golan and the Horan of southern Syria “a front for resistance” – i.e. the platforms for embarking on a war of attrition against northern Israel with the help of a flow of advanced weapons to Hizballah.
The Syrian ruler is strongly encouraged to adopt this path by Tehran. Hizballah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah has embraced it. And the radical Palestinian leader, Ahmed Jibril, head of the Assad-satellite Popular Front-General Command, has eagerly offered his services.
The Syrian ruler is strongly encouraged to adopt this path by Tehran. Hizballah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah has embraced it. And the radical Palestinian leader, Ahmed Jibril, head of the Assad-satellite Popular Front-General Command, has eagerly offered his services.
And indeed, Wednesday, the day after Netanyahu’s trip to Sochi, Jibril’s group let loose with mortar fire on the Israeli Mt. Hermon ski site, firing from a Syrian army position.
Israeli military sources confirmed later that these were no stray shells from a Syrian-army-rebel battle as in former cases, but a deliberate attack. In Jerusalem, it was taken as a direct consequence of Moscow’s account to Assad of the conversation between the Russian and Israeli leaders. They concluded that Assad took it for granted that he was now at liberty to go on the offensive against Israel.
Wednesday night, Netanyahu’s office reacted to this deterioration with a swift and strong warning.
Israeli media were informed bluntly that if the Assad chose to retaliate for Israel’s air strikes, he would be removed from power.
That same night, “a senior Israeli official” contacted The New York Times with a more detailed warning quoted by the paper: "If Syrian President Assad reacts by attacking Israel, or tries to strike Israel through his terrorist proxies, he will risk forfeiting his regime, for Israel will retaliate."
Wednesday night, Netanyahu’s office reacted to this deterioration with a swift and strong warning.
Israeli media were informed bluntly that if the Assad chose to retaliate for Israel’s air strikes, he would be removed from power.
That same night, “a senior Israeli official” contacted The New York Times with a more detailed warning quoted by the paper: "If Syrian President Assad reacts by attacking Israel, or tries to strike Israel through his terrorist proxies, he will risk forfeiting his regime, for Israel will retaliate."
Within hours, early Thursday morning, May 16, Jerusalem had its answer from Damascus.
Friday, May 10, 2013
Russia defends anti-aircraft delivery to Syria
End Of Days News
Russia’s foreign minister has defended his country’s sales of antiaircraft systems to Syria, insisting they are not banned by international law.
Speaking in Warsaw on Friday, Sergey Lavrov appeared to avoid saying clearly whether Moscow would sell Syria advanced S-300 batteries.
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Syria buying advanced Russian missile system, Israel says
End Of Days News
US officials say they have been warned by Israel over the impending sale of an advanced Russian missile system to Syria, fearing it could hamper efforts for international intervention in the war-torn country.
Israel suspects that Russia plans to sell Damascus six S-300 missile batteries, as well as 144 missiles, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Obama phones Netanyahu over ‘regional security issues’
End Of Days News
US President Barack Obama spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by phone Wednesday to discuss regional security issues and Middle East peace, the White House said.
A brief statement said the two leaders agreed to continue their “close coordination.”
The call came amid a renewed peace push by the Americans and days after Israel reportedly carried out a number of airstrikes on weapons transfers within Syria, a move US officials said Washington backed.
The Obama administration has said it is considering providing weapons to vetted units in the armed opposition, among other military options, following last week’s revelation of a US intelligence assessment suggested chemical weapons use by the Assad regime. The US also is looking for ways to halt the violence that has killed more than 70,000 people.
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Israeli forces on high alert in Golan Heights
End Of Days News
Israeli forces were on high alert in the Golan Heights Saturday, as clashes between Assad forces and rebel fighters reached areas near the Golan village of Majdal Shams.
The IDF is concerned about mortar shells landing in Israeli territory and cross-border shooting incidents which have increased in the past few months. Israel routinely responds to such incidents, most commonly with tank fire meant to deter further firing into its territory, even if accidental.
Sirens have sounded in the Golan Heights over the past few days — apparently false alarms, triggered by fighting that is very close to the border, according to a report in Walla News.
Thursday, April 25, 2013
White House to Congress: Assad has used chemical weapons. Israeli jets down Hizballah drone opposite Haifa
End Of Days News
Earlier Thursday, Israel Air Force F-16 warplanes downed a Hizballah drone 8 kilometers out at sea from the big port of Haifa. It flew south from the direction of Lebanon. Witnesses on Haifa’s Mt. Carmel watched the smoke trails of the Israeli jets and heard exploding rockets.
Israeli Navy ships are out searching for debris in the Mediterranean Sea.
In a remarkable reversal, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in Abdu Dhabi Thursday afternoon, April 25, that the US intelligence community believes the Syrian government has used chemical weapons against its own people, determining with "varying degrees of confidence" that Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces have used the nerve agent sarin against civilians and forces fighting to remove Assad from power.
The White House is informing Congress about the chemical weapons use now, Hagel said, hours after he voiced reservations about the assessment Tuesday by senior Israeli military intelligence officer Brig. Gen. Itai Brun that the Assad regime had begun to practice chemical warfare.
Earlier Thursday, Israel Air Force F-16 warplanes downed a Hizballah drone 8 kilometers out at sea from the big port of Haifa. It flew south from the direction of Lebanon. Witnesses on Haifa’s Mt. Carmel watched the smoke trails of the Israeli jets and heard exploding rockets.
Israeli Navy ships are out searching for debris in the Mediterranean Sea.
The Israeli army spokesman issued a statement: An attempt by an unmanned aerial vehicle to enter Israel’s air space was thwarted. The UAV was identified flying from the north past the coast of southern Lebanon and continuing south. It was tracked continuously until it was downed by Israeli fighter planes and attack helicopters.
They went into action after the drone was identified as not coming from a friendly source. The Air Force gave the order to shoot it down.”
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said: “We take an extremely grave view of this attempt to violate our borders and will continue to guard them and keep our citizens safe.” He added, “We are watching events in Syria and Lebanon with extreme concern. Syria is breaking up and Lebanon is unstable. Both places pose not inconsiderable perils to Israel – two emanating directly from Syria. The first is the possible transfer of sophisticated weaponry to terrorist organizations and the second, attempts by terrorists to break through our borders and attack our towns and villages. Israel stands ready to counteract any threats from Syria or Lebanon by sea, air and land.”
Friday, March 15, 2013
Intelligence chief: Assad ready to use chemical weapons
End Of Days News
Israel’s military intelligence chief on Thursday said Syria’s embattled president, Bashar Assad, is preparing to use chemical weapons.
Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi told a security conference in the coastal town of Herzliya that Assad is stepping up his offensive against rebels trying to oust him.
He claimed Assad is making advanced preparations to use chemical weapons, but has not yet given the order to deploy them. He did not disclose information about why he thinks Assad is preparing to use them.
Kochavi spoke for the better part of an hour, detailing the effects on Israel of the transformation of the Middle East in recent years.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
In first, Syrian rebels set to take control of major city
End Of Days News
Fighting still continues in Raqqa following capture of local governor; incident follows locals toppling statue of Hafez Assad
Syrian rebels battled pockets of regime loyalists in the northern city of Raqqa on Tuesday after capturing the governor of the northern province in fierce clashes overnight, activists said.
Rebel fighters pushed government troops from most of Raqqa, a city of some 500,000 people on the Euphrates River, on Monday. If the opposition manages to wrest all of Raqqa from the government, it would mark the first time an entire city has fallen into opposition hands, dealing both a strategic and a symbolic blow to President Bashar Assad’s regime.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said opposition fighters captured the governor of Raqqa province, Hassan Jalili, after clashes overnight near the governor’s office in the provincial capital, also named Raqqa. The Observatory said the head of Assad’s ruling Baath party in the province was also in rebel custody.
Observatory director Rami Abdul-Rahman said Jalili is one of the highest-ranking officials to fall into rebel hands since the Syrian crisis began nearly two years ago.
Righting was still raging on Tuesday near an intelligence building in the city as well as several other places, he said, adding that “some of Raqqa is still under regime control.”
Monday, February 25, 2013
Syrian government ready to talk to all parties
End Of Days News
The Assad regime took another big step towards talks for ending the Syrian war
Monday when Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said in Moscow: The Syrian regime
is ready for dialogue with all who want dialogue including those who bear arms.”
DEBKAfile: Damascus is ready for the first time to talk to all the rebel
factions, without barring the al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra, the best-armed
and most effective rebel arm. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov added there
was no alternative to a political solution for the two-year conflict but through
talks.
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Assad’s troops retreat from Golan, leaving Islamist rebels to confront Israel
End Of Days News
President Bashar Assad has evacuated most of the troops of his 5th Army Division from their permanent bases on the Golan opposite Israeli forces and transferred the unit along with its artillery to Damascus, debkafile’s military sources report.
The Syrian ruler’s step had three purposes:
1. To reinforce his Damascus defenses;
2. To carve out a buffer zone along the Israeli border and leave it under rebel control.
3. To provide the jihadists fighting in rebel ranks with access to the Israeli border fence. Senior officers in the IDF’s northern command believe it is just a matter of time before these al Qaeda-associated fighters hurl themselves at the border fence to break through, or target Israeli military targets from across the Syrian border.
Assad first practiced this stratagem on Syria’s northern frontier with Turkey.
Six months ago, he opened the door of his border region to let armed bands of the separatist PKK (Kurdish Workers’ Party) through from Iraq and set up new strike bases opposite Turkey’s back door, to which they could flee after attacks.
The PKK took full advantage of this opportunity. Indeed, to curb the Kurdish offensive, Ankara was forced to enter into negotiations with PKK leaders for a settlement of their claims, although they are still poised in Syria to resume their attacks.
Israel does not have that option because most of the Islamists fighting with the Syrian rebels are associated with al Qaeda and committed to jihad against the Jewish state.
debkafile reports that Saturday, Feb. 16, Israeli government and military leaders were at odds over whether to extend medical treatment to seven Syrians injured in battle on the Golan. In the event, they were allowed to cross the border and transferred to hospital in Safed.
But because of the argument, the official communiqué said only that the decision was taken on humanitarian grounds but omitted to specify whether the injured Syrians were soldiers or rebels.
However, there was never any doubt that they were in fact Syrian conscripts wounded in the course of their unit’s withdrawal from the Golan. The argument against giving the soldiers medical treatment was that they were Bashar Assad’s troops and looking after them was tantamount to endorsing Assad’s hostile schemes and therefore unacceptable. It was settled by avoiding identifying the wounded men.
; "Syrian rebels occupy Golan")
Syrian rebels occupy
Golan
President Bashar Assad has evacuated most of the troops of his 5th Army Division from their permanent bases on the Golan opposite Israeli forces and transferred the unit along with its artillery to Damascus, debkafile’s military sources report.
The Syrian ruler’s step had three purposes:
1. To reinforce his Damascus defenses;
2. To carve out a buffer zone along the Israeli border and leave it under rebel control.
3. To provide the jihadists fighting in rebel ranks with access to the Israeli border fence. Senior officers in the IDF’s northern command believe it is just a matter of time before these al Qaeda-associated fighters hurl themselves at the border fence to break through, or target Israeli military targets from across the Syrian border.
Assad first practiced this stratagem on Syria’s northern frontier with Turkey.
Six months ago, he opened the door of his border region to let armed bands of the separatist PKK (Kurdish Workers’ Party) through from Iraq and set up new strike bases opposite Turkey’s back door, to which they could flee after attacks.
The PKK took full advantage of this opportunity. Indeed, to curb the Kurdish offensive, Ankara was forced to enter into negotiations with PKK leaders for a settlement of their claims, although they are still poised in Syria to resume their attacks.
Israel does not have that option because most of the Islamists fighting with the Syrian rebels are associated with al Qaeda and committed to jihad against the Jewish state.
debkafile reports that Saturday, Feb. 16, Israeli government and military leaders were at odds over whether to extend medical treatment to seven Syrians injured in battle on the Golan. In the event, they were allowed to cross the border and transferred to hospital in Safed.
But because of the argument, the official communiqué said only that the decision was taken on humanitarian grounds but omitted to specify whether the injured Syrians were soldiers or rebels.
However, there was never any doubt that they were in fact Syrian conscripts wounded in the course of their unit’s withdrawal from the Golan. The argument against giving the soldiers medical treatment was that they were Bashar Assad’s troops and looking after them was tantamount to endorsing Assad’s hostile schemes and therefore unacceptable. It was settled by avoiding identifying the wounded men.
Monday, February 18, 2013
Assad is shooting Scuds at rebels inside Damascus
End Of Days News
According to DEBKAfile’s exclusive military sources, Bashar Assad’s armed forces
have fired at least 20 Scud surface-to-surface missiles in the Damascus region.
They were aimed at the eastern suburbs where rebels have dug in.
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