Weasel Zippers
Just coming across the wires now, more to follow.
BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian state news agency says Israeli warplanes bombed military site near Damascus.
Update: Pretty safe bet to say Israel was targeting Syria’s chemical weapons program..
BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian state TV has confirmed that Israeli warplanes bombed a military research center northwest of the capital, Damascus.
State TV says the strike targeted a military research center in the area of Jermana.
It says the strike caused material damage and the center was used to advance Syrian military capabilities.
Israeli warplanes attacked a military research center in Damascus province at dawn on Wednesday, Syria‘s military command said, denying reports that the planes had struck a convoy carrying weapons from Syria to Lebanon.
Local residents and experts claim the target was a chemical weapons production center.
Two people were killed and five wounded in the attack on the site in Jamraya, which Syria described as one of a number of “scientific research centers aimed at raising the level of resistance and self-defense”.
The building was destroyed, the military command said in a statement carried by state media.
It said the planes crossed into Syria below the radar level, just north of Mount Hermon, and returned the same way.
Area of attack according to Syrian statement (Photo: Google Maps)
The Jamraya area contains many military facilities as well as what is likely a chemical weapons production and storage site. The area also houses training camps for Hezbollah combatants who are learning to operate advanced Russian weapons systems.
It was further noted that the attack occurred after terrorist groups tried and failed to take control of the site several times.
SA-17 missiles
The Syrian army statement denied that the strike had targeted a convoy headed from Syria to Lebanon, instead portraying the strike as linked to the civil war pitting Bashar Assad’s forces against rebels seeking to push him from power.
“This proves that Israel is the instigator, beneficiary and sometimes executor of the terrorist acts targeting Syria and its people,” the statement said.
Residents near Damascus had previously told AFP that missiles had struck a military site for unconventional weapons on Tuesday at 11:30 pm.
According to them, the center, which is located in Al-Hameh, about fifteen kilometers north-west of Damascus, was hit by six missiles that were partially destroyed, causing a fire and killing at least two people.
| Video posted by rebels allegedly showing blast |
A Lebanese news website quoted a Syrian source as saying that the target of the alleged Israeli strike was a chemical weapons center. The Damascus source said that the attack took place at 1:30 am at a scientific research center in the Jamraya area.
He added that four security guards were killed in the attack and that the blast could be heard as far as Damascus.
Syrian rebels posted a video allegedly documenting a series of blasts at the center shortly after the attack had taken place. The video could not be authenticated. On Wednesday, several rebel leaders claimed that they had attacked the site with mortar shells.
Israel’s intelligence community has been aware of the military research center for decades. Some of the center’s studies have been presented as civilian in nature. Yiftah Shafir of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv said, “It is a secret governmental body that answers directly to Assad and aggregates all of Syria’s military research institutes.”
Earlier on Wednesday AP quoted US and regional officials as saying that Israel conducted an airstrike inside Lebanon, hitting a convoy of trucks.
The officials said Israel had been planning in the days leading up to the airstrike to hit a shipment of weapons bound for Hezbollah in Lebanon. They said the shipment included sophisticated, Russian-made SA-17 anti-aircraft missiles, which would be strategically “game-changing” in the hands of Hezbollah.
Lebanese sources also commented on the reports and stressed that there had been no strike inside Lebanese territory. An eye witness from a border town said that there had been no explosion.
A senior official with the Lebanese security forces told Turkey’s Anatolia news agency that they were not aware of any attack on the Syria-Lebanon border area.
He did however say that an Israeli force had infiltrated the border strip in south Lebanon for several minutes on Tuesday night. Lebanese army sources said that the forces did not observe any Israeli activity overnight.
Roi Kais, Elior Levy, Yoav Zitun, AP and Reuters contributed to this report
JPOST Analysis: Syria CERS center has long been on Israel’s radar
Bernard Ross Said:
Triple Troll.
No, I doubt it – you said goodbye before and you were lying then as well.
You are a previously identified troll. Inside your head is nothing, nothing to say by yourself – you need to suck the life blood of others to live.
Max Said:
interesting that asking you to explain your own statement elicits name calling. You keep coming back to call names but apparently cannot spend the same energy giving your explanation for your own statements. Just exposing you as a BS wanker wasting peoples times with your irrelevant wanking! Bye bye!
Bernard Ross Said:
Double Troll.
Max Said:
Guess you are unable to explain your statement
Bernard Ross Said:
Troll
Andrew Said:
My suspicion is that there is an intent to use the info asserted in some later propoganda or to continue employing the Israel did it card to discredit the terrorists and find sympathizers. It could be an attempt to activate the agreement with Iran and draw Iran in overtly; don’t know what yet but I do think there is a purpose and a reason.
@ Andrew:
Words speak louder then actions
Interesting that when Israel took out the Syrian reactor Assad said nothing. But this has evoked a verbal response. Does anyone here know what that means in the byzantine arab mid east mind.
@ yamit82:
Thank-you darlin, I haven’t been receiving notification of comments so my thanks are late.
Honey Bee Said:
I think it’s an Eagle. F-15 version is called the F-15 Eagle.
@ yamit82:
What is the bird on side of the plane a symbol of,
Max Said:
please explain this statement
yamit82 Said:
Even your concept of how misinformation occurs is now obsolete , I guarantee you, I’m talking photos, audio, videos corroborative narratives trusted sources on the ground in place as it happens. Raw data untouched by the ‘man’ – it’s a new age.
Being first means being the last nation standing, don’t knock it.
@ Max:
Being first does not mean correct. Better sometimes to get the verifiable facts as they are available. Most of first reports usually prove erroneous. Ever head of disinformation? Like did Israel bomb Fordo?
Max Said:
Ted, you should try wireless.
Just over the wire? This is almost yesterday’s news for the hip. At least 12 hours or more behind other social media that it was Israel and 24 hours or more the attack reported.
Get a horse!!!
..
And the Irony is that Assad has no air defense for Syrian right now because his air force is totally engaged in attacking Syrians – he has nothing left over.
Israel can thank the FSA for suppressing his airpower by sieging every airport and one by one they are falling to the rebels.
When push comes to shove I believe the FSA (Western backed portion)will take control of the chemical weapons storage places shutting out Al Nusra and under the guidance of or reporting to some agency such as the CIA.
The FSA is not stupid folks they know the consequences and Western fears of CW, they got the authorization of the West, recognition and aid and it’s a safe bet that in return for that deals were made on the CW. That is what happened in Libya, the rebels controlled them under the auspices of Western Intelligence forces and that should be the template for Syria unless the West has been too stupid or the Manchurian Candidate has been standing off and not interfering in the revolution making alliances and in our favor as he should.