Israelis ‘blew apart Syrian nuclear cache’

[LaStrega]

IT was just after midnight when the 69th Squadron of Israeli F15Is crossed the Syrian coast-line. On the ground, Syria’s formidable air defences went dead. An audacious raid on a Syrian target 50 miles from the Iraqi border was under way.

article: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article2461421.ece

[whistle]

1. This was on September 15, last Saturday

:wtf:

[The Magistrate]

2. This Story, Ma'am, Is No More Solid Today That It Was Aeek Ago

This remains no more than a speculative cloud of smoke and fog, without one hard fact beyond the occurance of the raid itself....

[Theduckno2]

7. I'm with you on this one. Not much substance here.

Fact 1 : Some sort of an attack on Syria took place.

Fact 2 : Israel is probably involved.

Let me try and concoct a different version of what may of happened.

What if the goal of the operation was to goad Syria and more importantly, Iran, into a war? Or force them to reconsider their positions and weaken their bargaining position?

Let's just say that this is what was intended. How to do it?

The U.S. has the means to infiltrate most air defense systems but at the moment can't afford to be seen attacking Syria without provocation. What to do? I know! Conduct a stealth attack and let Israel take the credit.

I don't imagine that it is very hard to "trigger" Syrian air defenses even if you are using stealthy planes. Saying that the planes were F-15s serves two purposes:

1. It makes it easy for Israel to take the credit and may force Syria to retaliate against Israel. Once the shooting starts, the neocons have what they wanted.

2. It would have Syria/Iran believe that their air defenses are quite penetrable and this may soften their positions regarding any negotiations.

I didn't forget, those fuel tanks just may fit quite nicely in the bomb bay of a B-2 Stealth bomber and then dropped to keep the illusion intact.

[The Magistrate]

8. More Moving Parts Than Necessary, Sir

The Syrians have never managed effective air defense against the Israelis, and there is no reason to suppose they have started to now. The Israeli Air Force is perfectly capable of penetrating Syrian air space whenever it wants with impunity. There is no need for the rest of this.

That a strike may have had, as one subsidiary purpose, serving as a 'shot across the bow' of Syria and/or Iran, is quite likely.

Syria is not going to go to war with Israel: the last thing the Syrian government wants is an open war with Israel.

[Theduckno2]

9. Yes, I see your points.

As far as Syria going to war with Israel, I was thinking of something more knee jerk than well reasoned.

I probably should have read KharmTrain #5 post a little more closely, but I still find find Israel's willingness to conduct an attack that far into Syria hard to fathom. On the other hand Syria may have located the installation in the hope it would be out of Israel's range. I'm getting a headache.

[bananarepublican]

10. How is it that the raid occured a fact? n/t

[fenriswolf]

3. if true....

don't you think one imperalistic nuclear power is enough for this world? do we really need 2?

[gratuitous]

4. Syria has formidable air defenses?

So, what keeps this violation of another country's air space and act of aggression not a de facto declaration of war?

[KharmaTrain]

5. Well They Were Formidable...Back In The Days Of The USSR

It's the same air defenses the Israeli's blew away in 1967 and 1982...similar to the ones we easily blew apart in both Iraq and Serbia. It's sorta tough to shoot a missile at a plane whizzing by at Mac 1.5 or come from the north rather than the south. The Israelis probably know more about the Syrian "air defenses" than the Syrians do...but they do exist and could be an obstacle to say the Syrian Air Force.

We'll never know what happened here...or if there were nukes involved as neither side has any reason to expose this. Nukes in that region are almost useless as the proxmity of the major cities in that region...Damascus, Jerusalem, Amman, Tel Aviv are so close that any blast could blowback into the others territory. Methinks if there was a raid it was more likely some kind of arms depot or factory used in making weapons...rockets and small missiles...that make their way into Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon...a far greater threat to Israel.

[bananarepublican]

11. Backing by the USSR was bad enough.... but now they're backed by al Queda! Duck and cover!!!

Why wouldn't Isreal, Pakistan or Russia (formerly known as the USSR) pass off one of their warheads to a radical group? They would only do it if they had control of that 'radical' group. Wasn't al Queda a creation of the CIA? Hmmnn...

[madrchsod]

6. if they had there would be verifiable nuclear signature

so far no one is reporting this

[Robbien]

12. Sure, and I believe the daily reports that the Iraq Surge is a huge success! Yay!

Propaganda is propaganda.

Thanks for not posting this in LBN.

[LaStrega]

13. I use Skype and am approached by many ...

to aid them in learning 'proper' English. Mostly Middle Eastern persons contact me.

One such person who messaged me was a young Syrian {Kurdish} man who at the time was living in Turkey, attending Marmara University {as was his elder brother}. They'd been in Istanbul for the better part of five-years. Their family still lived in Aleppo.

At first we {the younger brother and myself} simply text messaged one another, me correcting his grammer/punctuation etc. Then, when I got a webcam, we began conversing via such (he already had one). I helped him with English, he in turn was kinda-sorta teaching me the Kurdish language. I asked him, on more than one occassion, what the sentiment was toward Americans in Turkey, indeed in Syria. He always answered that Kurds "love Americans" as Saddam Hussein had murdered hundreds of thousands of Kurds.

That said, I told him I was aware sentiment toward Kurds in Turkey was not overly friendly. He admitted such was true. I asked him if he spoke Kurdish in Turkey, he answered to the affirmative.

Over the months we conversed, me giving him instruction on correct pronunciation and diction, I would ask more questions about the general feel of the area. His family home in Aleppo being less than 700-miles from Baghdad.

He grew steadily ... nervous. I mean, there were words I was strictly forbidden to use, like "Kurdistan" ... and he was kinda freaked out by my knowledge of the Golan Heights. When I asked him if he thought Israel and Syria would engage in battle over the Golan Heights, he chided me and logged off immediately. He later signed back on and said he did not think there would be war "between S. and I." but please would I never ask him similar again.

We continued to meet via webcam, and did our usual mutual teaching of one the other's language. I'm still amazed at how easily I took to Kurdish. I can read it and understand it, though my pronunciation isn't great, admittedly. He also shared with me many stories of Kurdish culture, and Kurdish music (it's flippin' beautiful but much of it is quite ... melancholy, if not all together sad).

Then one day he wrote {I was offline} to say he'd gotten a letter that his student visa needed to be re-applied for. It came as a surprise to him, as he was always keen to keep up on such. He wrote that when he went to re-apply, he was rejected. He was told he had two weeks to leave Turkey. His brother received no such letter.

He did what he could, trying to stay in Turkey and finish his degree in 'Chemistry' ... what we'd call 'Pharmacology' ... I know this, 'cause as we were using the webcams he'd often have to attend to persons entering the school pharmacy to obtain medicine, and I'd become fairly well versed in the Kurd language.

Syria has a mandatory two-year military service ... um ... law. Not sure if 'law' is the correct terminology.

He's 22. The last missive I received from him was 27 August.

I'm terribly worried about him. And I'm worried about the entire situation (if one can be so cavalier by saying "situation") in Syria.

All I can do is shake my head, and hope for the best ... or more importantly, not the worst.