White House shake-up may put Syria action on the front burner

End Of Days News

New National Security Adviser Susan Rice and UN envoy Samantha Power could push for more robust action against Damascus, though Power’s nomination may suffer for anti-Israel statements

WASHINGTON – “Those who didn’t want him as chief of staff got him as defense minister, and those who didn’t want him as defense minister will have him as prime minister,” journalist Uri Dan famously and presciently quipped about former prime minister Ariel Sharon in the 1980s.

It was the sort of political prophecy that would have suited Susan Rice, the outgoing US ambassador to the UN, just as well. As the Obama administration’s de facto spokesperson in the aftermath of the September 11 terror strike on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, Rice became the focal point for Republican rage over what many on the right believed to be deliberate downplaying of the terrorist nature of the attack in the sensitive few weeks before a presidential election.

Read more: http://www.timesofisrael.com/white-house-shakeup-may-put-syria-action-on-the-front-burner/

Erdogan: Fatah must cooperate with Hamas en route to Mideast peace

End Of Days News

Joel 3: 1: For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,

2: I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.

Visiting Washington, Turkish prime minister slams Netanyahu government for oppposing Palestinian state, calls on Israel to ‘retreat to 1967 lines’

Without an internal Palestinian reunification deal, there is little chance Israeli-Palestinian peace talks can lead anywhere, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday during a visit to the US.

Speaking to reporters at the Brookings Institution in Washington DC, Erdogan said, “There will be no negotiations without Hamas, therefore Fatah must cooperate with it.”

Palestinian unity talksstalled after the last set of meetings, held in Cairo in February, failed to mend the rift between Fatah and Hamas and send the Palestinians to parliamentary elections. The two parties signed a reconciliation deal in 2011, but it has yet to be implemented, and the particulars of the agreement remain undefined. The two parties were split on issues regarding the Palestine National Council, the PLO parliament, and legislative and presidential elections in the Palestinian territories. In recent days, Palestinian officials have again spoken of a possible unity deal within three months.

Read More: http://www.timesofisrael.com/erdogan-says-palestinian-unity-critical-for-mideast-peace/

Russia sends at least 12 warships to Syria

End Of Days News

Deployment presumably a warning to Israeli and Western officials regarding military intervention against Assad

In a move considered aggressive by US and European officials, Russia has sent at least 12 warships to patrol waters near its naval base in Tartous, Syria.

The deployment appears to be a warning to Israeli and Western officials against military intervention in Syria’s bloody civil war, which has now claimed the lives of over 80,000 people.

Read More: http://www.timesofisrael.com/russia-sends-at-least-12-warships-to-syria/

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.

Read More: http://www.timesofisrael.com/islamist-group-takes-responsibility-for-hermon-mortars/

Israel hits Syrian outpost in response to cross-border fire

End Of Days News

Israeli troops fired tank shells at a Syrian army post Tuesday night after Syrian fighting spilled over into Israel in two separate incidents.

The response came a few hours after an IDF patrol on the border came under light fire from across the border and a Syrian mortar landed in the southern Golan Heights. There were no reports of injuries or damage in either incident. 

The attacks came shortly after Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, during a tour of the border area, vowed to continue responding to cross-border Syrian fire.

The Israeli tanks hit an outpost at Tel Hazeka, close to where the patrol came under fire. It is not known if there were casualties on the Syrian side. The IDF said it “accurately targeted the source,” of the fire.

In the late afternoon, a shell fired from Syria slammed into Israel near Tel Fares.

Israel has come under spillover fire from Syria’s civil war from time to time, responding on occasions by shooting missiles back into the Syrian Golan Heights, where anti-Bashar Assad rebels are waging a bloody battle for control of the country.

Read More: http://www.timesofisrael.com/syrian-shell-hits-golan-hours-after-defense-chief-vows-response/

Historic Damascus synagogue looted and destroyed

End Of Days News

The 2,000-year-old Jobar Synagogue in the Syrian capital of Damascus — the country’s holiest Jewish site — was looted and burned to the ground.

The Syrian army loyal to President Bashar Assad and rebel forces were blaming each other for the destruction of the historic synagogue, according to reports on Sunday.\

The synagogue was said to be built on the site where the prophet Elijah concealed himself from persecution and anointed his successor, Elisha, as a prophet. It had been damaged earlier this month by mortars reportedly fired by Syrian government forces.

The rebels said the Syrian government looted the synagogue before burning it to the ground, Israel Radio reported Sunday.

The government said the rebels burned the synagogue and that so-called Zionist agents stole its historic religious items in an operation that had been planned for several weeks, the Arabic Al-Manar Television reported, citing the Arabic Syria Truth website.

The news came as Jews around the world marked the final days of Passover, the festival of freedom.

Read More: http://www.timesofisrael.com/historic-damascus-synagogue-looted-and-destroyed/

Iran can’t build nuke without tripping alarm bells, US says

End Of Days News

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Iran cannot enrich uranium to the point of being able to make a bomb without the international community finding out, a top US intelligence official said Tuesday while delivering an otherwise sobering report on worldwide threats.

 

National Intelligence director James Clapper told a Senate panel that Tehran is developing nuclear capabilities to enhance its security and influence and “give it the ability to develop a nuclear weapon.”

 

But the report stopped short of saying a decision has been made.

 

“We do not know if Iran will eventually decide to build nuclear weapons,” the report said.

 

Clapper explained that in the last year, Iran has made progress in working toward producing weapons-grade uranium. However, the report said Iran “could not divert safeguarded material and produce a weapon-worth of weapons-grade uranium before this activity is discovered.”

 

Read More: http://www.timesofisrael.com/iran-cant-build-nuke-without-tripping-alarm-bells-us-says/

8 UN observers enter Israel to flee Syria fighting

End Of Days News

Peacekeepers hail from the same unit whose troops were snatched by opposition gunmen Wednesday

 

 

Eight Filipino United Nations observers abandoned their post on the Israel-Syria border on Friday and crossed into Israel to escape fighting between anti-regime rebels and the Syria army. The peacekeepers belonged to the same unit whose troops were abducted by rebel forces on Wednesday near the village of Jamla.

 

They crossed over near an Israeli army position and had first “coordinated their arrival” with the IDF, said a defense official. Israeli troops and UN personnel greeted them near one of the border gates. The Filipino peacekeepers will be transferred to a UN base inside Israel.

 

On Friday, the Philippine government said Syrian rebels had failed to release the 21 UN peacekeepers and stuck to their demands for the repositioning of Syrian government forces before any handover.

 

The 21 peacekeepers were seized Wednesday just a kilometer (less than a mile) from the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, where the UN force has patrolled a cease-fire line between Israel and Syria for nearly four decades.

 

The spokesman for the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs, Raul Hernandez, said the rebels had been expected to free the peacekeepers early Friday.

 

Read More: http://www.timesofisrael.com/8-un-observers-enter-israel-to-flee-syria-fighting/

Syrian rebels kidnap 20 Filipino UN personnel near Israel border

End Of Days News

Gunmen demand that regime remove all its soldiers from Syrian Golan Heights; accuse Assad, UN of ‘collaboration with Israel’

 

 

Syria rebels near the village of Jamla on the Golan Heights have captured a convoy of United Nations vehicles and kidnapped 20 Filipino UN employees, according to a video released by the rebels on Wednesday.

 

The kidnappers were negotiating with UN forces and demanding that the Syrian regime remove all its troops from the area adjoining the Syrian side of the border with Israel.

 

The video clip showed a number of gunmen standing alongside the UN vehicles, while their apparent leader announced his demands. Some of the United Nations employees can be seen inside the vehicles.

 

In a second video, the same rebel spokesman is seen accusing the UN, the Assad regime and Europe of “collaborating with Israel.”

 

“The Free Syrian army will remain here until we banish Bashar and his oppression,” one rebel is seen saying.

 

The UN Security Council strongly condemned the kidnapping and demanded the immediate and unconditional release of the peacekeepers.

 

Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, the council president, told reporters that armed groups had been threatening the unarmed peacekeepers. He said talks were under way between UN officials and the captors.

 

UN deputy spokesman Eduardo del Buey said the UN observers were on a regular supply mission when they were stopped near an observation post and detained by some 30 gunmen.

 

http://www.timesofisrael.com/syrian-rebels-claim-kidnapped-un-personnel-near-israel-border/



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.”

 

http://www.timesofisrael.com/syrian-rebels-capture-governor-of-liberated-raqqa-province/



Israeli jets reportedly attack convoy on Lebanon-Syria border

End Of Days News

 

Israeli warplanes attacked a target on the Lebanese-Syrian border overnight Tuesday, foreign media reported on Wednesday. While some reports said the purported strike was carried out on the Syrian side of the border, according to one source the target was a weapons convoy that had crossed from Syria into Lebanon.

The reports come amid rising concern in Israel and the West regarding the sizable chemical weapons stockpile in the hands of an increasingly embattled Syrian regime.

Lebanese officials said a dozen Israeli warplanes violated Lebanese airspace on Tuesday and overnight into Wednesday, flying close to the ground in several sorties over southern Lebanon.

The Israeli military and the Prime Minister’s Office had no comment.

A Lebanese army statement said the last of the sorties was at 2 a.m. Wednesday. It said four warplanes, which flew in over the southernmost coastal town of Naqoura, flew for several hours over villages in south Lebanon before leaving Lebanese airspace.

The Lebanese army said similar flights by eight other warplanes were conducted Tuesday, but added that it had no knowledge of an airstrike.

Reuters cited an unnamed Western diplomat and anonymous security source saying the planes had attacked a target near the Lebanese border with Syria.

“There was definitely a hit in the border area,” the source told the news agency.

The target of the attack was a weapons convoy, the French agency AFP reported, citing an unnamed security source.

Israel has been deeply concerned that chemical weapons from Syria could make its way into the hands of the south-Lebanon-based Hezbollah terror group due to the chaos of the Syrian civil war, and has said on several occasions that the transfer of chemical weapons to non-state actors, especially Hezbollah, would be a casus belli.

Another chief fear among Israeli security officials is that Hezbollah could get its hands on Syrian SA-17 anti-aircraft missiles. If that were to happen, it would change the balance of power in the region and greatly hinder Israel’s ability to conduct air sorties in Lebanon.

Israel believes that Damascus obtained a battery of SA-17s from Russia after an alleged Israeli airstrike in 2007 that destroyed an unfinished Syrian nuclear reactor.

Israel Military Intelligence Chief Aviv Kochavi is in Washington for consultations at the Pentagon, including with Joint Chiefs of Staff head Martin Dempsey.

Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom said Sunday that such transfer of arms to Hezbollah “would be crossing a line that would demand a different approach.”

The Lebanese army report did not mention if the planes entered Syrian territory, although the area of Lebanon where the flights reportedly took place borders southern Syria. The report of the flights was not corroborated by an Israeli source.

Israeli violations of Lebanese airspace are not uncommon, but Beirut officials say they have increased in the past few days.

On Tuesday, Air Force chief Amir Eshel said Israel needed to be wary of both conventional and non conventional weapons finding their way out of Syria.

“There is in Syria an enormous arsenal of weapons, some state of the art and some nonconventional. All of it could find its way to our borders and not just to our backyards,” he said.

 

http://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-jets-reportedly-penetrate-lebanese-airspace/