Jordan asks US to post Patriot interceptors for regional war

End Of Days News

Jordan asks US to post Patriot interceptors for regional war 

DEBKAfile May 21, 2013, 6:10 PM (GMT+02:00)

Jordan’s Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour told US media Tuesday that his government was fearing up for the imminent eruption of a regional war with Syria and had asked Washington to station Patriot missile interceptors on the Jordanian-Syrian border. Ensour said Jordan would not permit its territory to be used for mounting aggression against Syria. 

http://www.debka.com/newsupdatepopup/4475/

Al Qaeda’s Nusra fights to seize Syrian Golan in time for Obama visit

End Of Days News

Al Qaeda’s Syrian wing, Jabhat al-Nusra, led a Syrian rebel operation Wednesday, March 13, to occupy Golan and cleanse it of every last Syrian troop loyal to Bashar Assad. The Islamists had two more objectives:

1. To be in position for cross-border attacks on Israel and Jordan – possibly in the course of US President Barack Obama’s March 20-22 visits to those countries.
2.  To use the “liberated” Syrian Golan as launching pads for a war of attrition against Israel and Jordan - like Taliban’s campaign against NATO forces in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Their deadline for achieving this objective is March 15.
Jabhat al-Nusra kicked off its Golan operation Wednesday, DEBKAfile’s military sources report, by murdering Gen. Nour e-Din Habib, commander of the Syrian Army’s 90th Brigade, parts of which remain on the Golan. He was struck down from a well-planned ambush against his convoy. Also killed in the attack was Col. Radouan Rifai, the brigade’s senior liaison officer with the Syrian 3rd Extended Division.
The purpose of the attack was to disable the brigade by wiping out its top command.
Our military sources add that, in the course of the fighting Wednesday, the Nusra front uncovered a secret network of large tunnels running from different points on the Golan up to the Israeli border. They are big enough for the passage of entire Syrian units with their tanks and heavy trucks, allowing them to pop up without warning against Israeli border units and use their surprise to mow them down and advance into the Israeli sector.
DEBKAfile reported earlier Wednesday: 

US President  Barack Obama’s first engagement upon landing in Israel on March 20 will be a quick tour of the Iron Dome missile interceptor stationed at Ben Gurion international airport. After a round of handshakes, the officers and men operating the system will explain how it works.

The innovative counter-missile weapon is to be deployed there, not just as a spectacle to honor the US president for his contribution to its development, but out of necessity for his safety. Air Force One might be seen as fair game for the ground-to-ground missiles wielded by Al Qaeda units fighting Assad in Syria and its affiliates in the Sinai Peninsula at the very moment that the US President steps down to the strains of the IDF welcoming band.
 In normal circumstances, personal security arrangements for a US presidential foreign visit are kept under close wraps and rarely visible to the public.

This time, DEBKAfile’s counterterrorism sources report, the visit’s planners made an exception. They decided there was no option but to visibly install an Iron Dome battery inside the airport, because the first battery plus a Patriot interceptor stationed for more than two months north and south of Tel Aviv were not sufficient guarantee of security against rocket attack for President Obama’s arrival.

Read More: http://www.debka.com/article/22819/Al-Qaeda%E2%80%99s-Nusra-fights-to-seize-Syrian-Golan-in-time-for-Obama-visit

Third Iron Dome, Patriot for northern Israel

End Of Days News

The IDF has confirmed that a third Iron Dome anti-missile missile battery and an extra Patriot interceptor have been stationed in northern Israel. DEBKAfile: This week, Syrian ruler Bashar Assad said he was determined to retaliate for the Israel air strike against a military complex near Damascus.

 

http://www.debka.com/newsupdatepopup/3634/

As Syria totters, Israel places Iron Domes in north

End Of Days News

Israel deployed two Iron Dome batteries in the north on Sunday, at least one of them near Haifa, stationing the missile defense system in the north of the country for the first time amid growing fears that Syrian chemical weapons may be turned against Israel.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu summoned Home Front Defense Minister Avi Dichter for a special discussion regarding Syria’s chemical weapons and Israel’s preparedness.

The emergency meeting between Netanyahu and Dichter had to do with recent developments regarding the stockpile of weapons held by the Syrian regime, Ynet reported. Dichter is acting as interim defense minister while outgoing Defense Minister Ehud Barak heads home from the Davos Economic Forum.

Haifa was targeted by Hezbollah — a terror group and Iranian proxy based in Lebanon  – during the second Lebanon war in 2006. The city and its port are considered by many to have strategic importance.

Israel previously expressed concern about the possibility of chemical weapons being smuggled to Hezbollah or other terror groups.

Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom said Sunday the transfer of such weapons to Hezbollah would cross “a red line,” that Israel couldn’t ignore.

Such a scenario “would be crossing a line that would demand a different approach, including even action,” Shalom told reporters. Asked whether this might mean a pre-emptive attack, he said: “We will have to make the decisions.”

The deployment of the anti-missile battery may signal a new peak in fears by Israeli officials that the country could come under attack from Syrian weapons.

 

Israeli officials also feared the possibility of Scud missiles or other advanced weapons reaching Hezbollah, Channel 2 reported.

In October, Israel deployed a Patriot anti-missile battery to the port city, two days after a drone airplane, reportedly launched by Hezbollah, penetrated Israel’s airspace.

Over the weekend, Turkey also activated a number of Patriot missile batteries supplied by NATO along its border with war-torn Syria.

Last week the defense establishment announced it had successfully tested an upgraded version of the homegrown Iron Dome platform, intercepting medium-range missiles.

Meant to protect strategic assets and heavy populated areas, the Iron Dome system proved effective during Operation Pillar of Defense, intercepting 84 percent of the rockets fired from the Gaza Strip at residential areas in Israel’s south and center.

Calling for a broad coalition to deal with the threats Israel has to face, earlier in the morning Netanyahu warned about possible deterioration in the north and a possible escalation from Syria.

“We must look around us, at what is happening in Iran and its proxies and at what is happening in other areas, with the deadly weapons in Syria, which is increasingly coming apart,” Netanyahu told ministers Sunday morning.

Syria is believed to have one of the world’s largest chemical weapons stockpiles, and some fear the arms may find their way into the hands of terrorists should the Assad regime fall.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/as-syria-totters-israel-places-iron-dome-near-haifa/ 

Iron Dome anti-missile batteries deployed in northern Israel

End Of Days News

The Israeli Defense Forces announced Sunday that for some days, Iron Dome anti-missile batteries have been posted to renforce security in northern Israel and its key port of Haifa. The official statement described the deployment as “testing the system and its ability to locate potential sources of activity in situations of escalation.”

http://www.debka.com/newsupdatepopup/3556/