IDF may act to stop transfer of advanced or chemical Syrian weapons

By YAAKOV KATZ, JPOST

Israel will consider using military action to intercept the transfer of advanced weaponry or chemical weapons from Syria to a terrorist organization like Hezbollah, OC Northern Command Maj.-Gen. Yair Golan said on Wednesday.

Speaking at a conference marking the 30th anniversary of the First Lebanon War at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, Golan said that the first challenge for Israel would be to obtain intelligence that such a transfer has taken place, but that once Israel knew it would need to consider action.

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“Would it be wise to intercept such a transfer or would this be nonsense,” Golan asked, presenting the dilemma Israel would face.

The senior officer said that Syria was a “failed state” and that terrorists were already “flourishing” within the country.

“Terror is already flourishing in Syria and the terror threat towards Israel is forming,” he said. “It will not happen tomorrow but we need to be prepared. It is not hard to think of a reality in which al-Qaida elements already in Syria and fighting the regime will start to act against us. It is also possible that without a clear regime, Syria will also become another area of operations for Hezbollah.”

Golan said that Iran was deeply concerned with the possibility that Bashar Assad will fall and is providing Syrian security forces with support, directly and via Hezbollah.

“Iran is here and we are fighting a daily war indirectly against Iran from Islamic Jihad in Gaza to Hezbollah in Lebanon,” he said. “Iran’s influence in Syria is also felt. It is very concerned with the future of its ally Bashar Assad and is trying to help him directly and via Hezbollah.”

Golan issued a direct threat to Hezbollah and said that the IDF would deal it a “fatal blow” and defeat it in a future war.

“This defeat will be demonstrated by the capture and killing of Hezbollah fighters, the capture of their weapons and the destruction of their infrastructure,” he said.

May 30, 2012 | 7 Comments »

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7 Comments / 7 Comments

  1. @ bernard ross:

    It’d been rumored that Debka is an arm of the Mossad but to have any credibility they must get enough things right. Up to us to filter out what is disinformation.

  2. @ bernard ross:

    This claim was correct but for some reason Bush wanted it dropped. I’ve seen long convoys of Iraqi trucks convoying whatever they were carrying into syria. Israel provided the filmed intel and our Chief of General Staff Ayalon confirmed it. Israeli commandos visited some sites but there was never a public report of their findings.

    Why would Bush reject proof or at least solid evidence that his excuse for attacking Irag was available?

    debka is wrong about many if not most reports but I don’t think this one was. It came directly from IMI which has a pretty good track record unlike Americas Intel community.

  4. RE Debka: debka published for months that saddam had moved his WMD to syria and after the war these claims fell silent. I have never heard from them any explanation for dropping this claim without explanation. As a result it is difficult to believe debka claims. Perhaps they are involved in disinformation.

  5. you are right. things are now moving so fast they are beyond the control of these leaders.

    At stake are the lives of not only Jews but millions of people.

    this is the result of the betrayal of people like Mubarak and Gadhafi who had been on their side and against Islam funamentalism

    IT IS OUTSIDE THE CONTROL OF THE IDF AND IT ALWAYS HAS BEEN.

    See the latest (debka.com)

    Our sources learn that, in one of the conversations between the two presidents, Obama commented: “If only one barrel of anthrax reaches the hands of a Caucasian terrorist group, Russian will face its greatest terrorist threat in its history. Millions of Russians may perish.”
    It was clear from this comment that Assad’s WMD are not stored as warheads, bombs or shells but kept in large barrels or kegs in six underground bunkers, holding Sarin (GB), Tabun (GA) and VX nerve gases, some four kinds of mustard gas and anthrax. The storage silos are spread out among Al Safir, the main Syrian missile base in the north; Cerin, a biological research center on the Mediterranean shore; military facilities at Hama and Homs; the Syrian naval base leased to the Russians at Latakia; and Palmyra, on the highway between Homs and Aleppo.

    This shows that Barry Rubin is a real amateur and OUT OF HIS DEPTH.

  6. Obama is moving double-time to thwart Israel here. He is negotiating with V. Putin, to have RUSSIAN troops secure the WMDs. That would not only keep the weapons on Syrian soil, looming over Israel, but would prevent Israel from attempts to destroy them because they would then have to fight head-on against the Russians.

    Israel has never had a more dangerous enemy than the US President.

  7. Israel also needs to place responsibility on Obama who ‘leads from his behind’.
    I wish Israel would publicly warn that if Obama fails to secure Syrian WMD he will regret it if Israel has to do his dirty work.
    Obama must be publicly placed in a position of responsibility BEFORE things go out of control so he cannot keep evading responsibility and then blaming others.