Syria vows harsh response

[sabra]

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,19814108-5001028,00.html

Syria vows harsh response

SYRIA vowed today a "harsh and direct" response if attacked by Israel, showing no sign of bowing to US pressure to abandon support for Hezbollah.

"Any aggression against Syria will have a firm and direct response not limited in time or means," Information Minister Mohsen Bilal said in a statement.
"The resistance (Hezbollah) will win and the Israeli aggression will fail," Mr Bilal said.

"The resistance has hit deep inside Israel and the enemy did not expect this."

...

The US, Israel's chief ally, has said Syria must lean on Hezbollah to release the two soldiers and stop fighting.

Mr Bilal said Syria will not relinquish support for Hezbollah, adding that demands by the Lebanese group for Israel to withdraw from occupied Lebanese territory and release Lebanese prisoners of war it has held for years were just.

[gp]

1. according to some reports syria is also mobilizing its reserve divisions

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1647158

[Laughing Mirror]

2. Tell us about those Lebanese POWs Israel has been holding for years ...

Mr. Peres.

[Alacrat]

4. Syria needs to stay out

Unless they are attacked, they don't want war with Israel.

[IndianaGreen]

13. And the Syrian Golan Heights

The biggest bullshit story in the Bible is the one of David versus Goliath.

[Poll_Blind]

3. Israel's infiltration by fighter jets early-on of Syrian airspace...

...accomplished a few things at once. Most notably A) It tested the air defenses and determined whether or not the Syrian AA would fire back or hold their fire (they fired back) B) Sent a message to Assad that, from the get-go, Israel considered Syria (or elements within) to be responsible for Shalit's (initially) capture.

  I do not think this is the last move by Israel to try to slap at Syria in hopes they will respond. If Syria responds, and they (like any nation) will sit through so much military goading, then Israel will feel it is justified in striking Syrian targets. More likely, I believe that Israel will use any Syrian response to goading as justification that the U.S. MUST respond against Syria in it's stead. The U.S. probably doesn't want an all-out war in the Middle East. Israel appears through it's actions to want to goad Syria into some action at which point it can call "Big Brother" in to do the dirty work or work in tandem with the U.S. on strikes against Syria or Syria and Iran.

  I've been saying for a while now that if this gets wider, I believe the U.S. and Israel have no intention of doing anything more than flashy, very short-lived, strikes on either Syrian or Iranian (or both) interests. It's a move meant to assert more dominance in the region and give the Russian but especially Chinese a reason to think twice about funding them with their weapon technology and money.

  What neither the U.S. or Israel really gets, I think, is that the Chinese, especially, are in the cat-bird seat in this one. I don't think what they may hope to achieve (if the above comes to pass) is possible. The U.S. is in very poor shape, militarily. Israel is in much better shape but with not unlimited resources. The problem here is if the gamut fails and Syria or Iran try to open a larger, conventional war, is that either the U.S. or Israel will resort to a small Davey-Crocket-style tactical battlefield nuke to take out tanks, etc. Nothing world-ending in the conventional sense, but the U.S. and Israel just don't have enough resources to really take on these countries if they decide to fight back with large numbers of conventional troops.

PB

[lonestarnot]

5. They are already in.

[Laotra]

6. MAD

Hezbollah stated that they will not attack Israeli nuclear plant - implying they could if they wanted. There's one in Dimona, in the Negev desert.

This made me think, and I don't think Israel is anymore interested in US using tactical nukes or destroying Iran's nuclear plant, fearing that they could get in response a Chernobyl in Negev when the wind blows north, with radioactive fallout spreading all over the country...

You don't need nukes when the other guy has a nuclear plant.

[bemildred]

7. Yep. nt

[Poll_Blind]

9. Just to clarify, I don't think "nukes" I think a single very small nuke...

...on tanks if Syria were to respond with a conventional attack force. I should have stated, as I have in other threads, this would only be a last resort if somehow Syria were able to disable/repel the IAF. I have little doubt that there is some Israeli pressure on the U.S. that if the U.S. does not join in some way, that "the little helpless nation of Israel" might be forced to use something of that nature to repel an attack by "Goliath".

  I caught that by Hezbollah. Dimona is a fortress among fortresses as far as nuclear power plants go. I do not know of anything that Hezbollah has which could, in some real way, damage it. I think we're going to hear more and more statements by Hezbollah of this nature as an insurance of sorts against accusations that they will be planning a super-terror attack against Israel (biological, chemical, nuclear) in the future.

  Descartes, was it? I forget at the moment but someone famously said "If I can make you believe an absurdity, I can make you commit an atrocity." A great deal of the atrocities being committed by the IDF/IAF in Gaza, Lebanon are being tabled as "reasonable" based on absurdities propagated by the media. None, or nearly none, are without some grain of truth, mind you, but when so many civilians are being killed by the highest-tech pinpoint military weaponry in the world it takes a bit of spin to attempt to soften the expected outrage it produces.

PB

[Laotra]

12. Iran and Syria

have missiles that probably could hit Dimona (I Imagine it's big target and with lots of missiles...), but do they have warheads (HE and AP) that could break the "fortress" I don't know, possibly nobody does.

[Poll_Blind]

14. I'm not actually challenging the facts you're stating because facts...

...they are but I do want to point out that the Patriot 2's are in Israel. I think "Patriot 2" (as opposed to the original Patriots) means that they'll shoot down TWO incoming missiles for every friendly airplane they lock-onto and destroy.

Progress...

PB

[Laotra]

15. LOL n/t

[Posteritatis]

8. Where'd you find the bit on Syrian AA, there? (nt)

[steely]

19. I see it on page 2 of his 2nd link...

"Meanwhile, Al-Arabiya television reported that the Syrian military was mobilizing its own reserve divisions."

[AnOhioan]

10. Here is hoping that Syria and Israel both realize the.....

very real danger of an uncontrollable expansion of this war should they start shooting at eachother. If that happens what has already happened will seem like a minor schoolyard scuffle.

[Lefty48197]

11. Syria sounds proud that they are bombing innocent Israeli civilians

"The resistance has hit deep inside Israel and the enemy did not expect this."

Assholes.

[Javaman]

16. When are the 72 hours up? nt

[uppityperson]

17. haven't we been through this "72 hour" business before?

or was that 3 business days?

[Javaman]

18. but we are in a weekend... so does that make it Tuesday or tomorrow?

however this isn't a leap year, so I'm not sure...

[uppityperson]

20. we have to laugh when we can

when in trouble
when in doubt
run in circles
scream and shout



or laugh

[SensibleAmerican]

21. Sometimes I think the leaders of Syria and Iran are colluding with Bush

They want war, he wants war, and they'll start it so Bush gets his war.