Netanyahu breaks Israeli silence over Syria strike

Netanyahu breaks Israeli silence over Syria strike

news.yahoo.com

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu has broken an official silence over Syria's accusations that Israel bombed its territory, hinting the reported mission was of strategic significance and a success.

(visit the link for the full news article)

The man who I hope becomes the next Israeli PM has finally give some info about the strike. I'm thinking more that it did have some kind of nuclear or wmd significance from his vague comments.

news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 20/9/07 by MikeboydUS]

That was the most vague news article I have ever read that I can recall in my life. Netanyahu didn't confirm anything except "that operation that is so cloaked in secrecy".

The only interesting information I could garner out of it is:

Opinion polls indicate that patchy reports on the Syrian incident have buoyed Olmert's popularity, which has been in the doldrums since last year's war with Hezbollah. One poll showed his rating up 10 points. That stirred speculation that Netanyahu was vying for credit ahead of a future bid to retake top office.

Originally posted by Beachcoma
That was the most vague news article I have ever read that I can recall in my life. Netanyahu didn't confirm anything except "that operation that is so cloaked in secrecy".

The only interesting information I could garner out of it is:

Opinion polls indicate that patchy reports on the Syrian incident have buoyed Olmert's popularity, which has been in the doldrums since last year's war with Hezbollah. One poll showed his rating up 10 points. That stirred speculation that Netanyahu was vying for credit ahead of a future bid to retake top office.

He was really the first to confirm it did happen, it was an air strike, and the target was top secret or even Above Top Secret

It was very vague, on purpose, IMO!!

It is a mild conformation of what we all know.

It was a military strike, it did occur in Syria and it was successful in destroying its target.

The fact that Syria and Iran still will not admit what was destroyed means it would look very bad for both of them to admit what was destroyed.

I also think, to some degree, it was a smirk in the face of both Syria and Iran basically saying, we CAN find and destroy your military equipment, nuclear/chemical or not.

Further more, even with your nice new toys from Russia, you still cannot stop us.

Is it true, of course?

Was it nice to say...not really, but it got the point across.

Yeah, it was Really Above Top Secret

But what are your thoughts on the news snippet I highlighted? I'm wondering if the air-strike was a political move by Olmert to gain back support at home.

Originally posted by Beachcoma
Yeah, it was Really Above Top Secret

But what are your thoughts on the news snippet I highlighted? I'm wondering if the air-strike was a political move by Olmert to gain back support at home.

I hope Olmert is not that stupid. Politics may of had a part in it, but I think there isnt much Olmert could do to avoid the inevitable end of him being PM.

I really do hope Netanyahu does not become the next Israeli PM, his views are too extreme on many topics. They would increase regional tensions and possibly even ignite a widespread conflict which will likely, unfortunately, involve the US, both directly and no, as many of Israel’s actions do. We don't need more military involvement at the moment especially ones that constitute essentially cleaning up for Israeli recklessness. We are fortunate this latest incident has not spawned more of a crises.

I hope whatever Israel attacked was destroyed so that no more (act of war) violations are committed and that is was important enough to risk war. The Syrians backed down this time but that is not always a guarantee.

[edit on 20-9-2007 by WestPoint23]

Another possibility here: the Israelis once again send armed aircraft into Syrian territory, get painted by radar, drop their ordnance and drop tanks and punch the afterburners to get the hell outta there.

So far nobody has presented one shred of evidence that there was indeed any specific target hit or destroyed. Once again all that is presented is simple speculation and a whole bunch of maybe's. Of course, they expect the ongoing demonisation of the the Syrians (and Arabs in general) to make their side of the story believable without having to present evidence.

Brit,

I guess you and I disagree on this issue.

I am certain Israel would not do something that could VERY easily have started a war without a VERY good reason.

By that I mean that there was something they could not live with existing.
Another point, it is well know by everyone that Syria has chemical tipped missiles, yet to the best of my knowledge, those sites have never been bombed.

Think about that for a second, something that was that much worse than chemical weapons......

If this was not the case, for the sake of argument, why were Israeli jets loaded with bombs and drop fuel tanks doing in Syrian airspace???

Personally I don't buy it was all to see Sam sites or practice run for Iran.

mrmonsoon, Israeli fighters flying into Syrian airspace is nothing new at all but the Syrians know that if they shoot one of the suckers down they will be portrayed as the bad guys. They have complained to the UN plenty of times about it without result.

Again, where is the evidence that the Israelis purposefully bombed a specific target? The simple answer is that at this point in time, absolutely no evidence has been produced to back up Israeli claims. So, should we believe Israel? Hell no! They are hardly paragons of the truth

There is no confirmation anything was bombed or destroyed. Also, successful mission does not necessarily mean something was destroyed. Reconnaissance missions are an example.

IMO, this mission was electronic reconnaissance mission of some kind, SAM radar probing. Trying to identify what AAD systems were used, and finding holes in the defense.

If something was destroyed, you can bet Syrian government would use it to show how aggressive Israel is. However, both sides seem satisfied; Syria, because it had 'chased away' Israeli warplanes, and Israel seems satisfied because they've done what they wanted - whatever that could be.

However this whole issue about the alleged Israeli raid is still highly suspicious, and it is quite possible that absolutely NOTHING really happened (except in somebody's head). And if something actually happened, we don't have ANY information about it. We can only make wild assumptions with zero credibility. I'm very skeptical about this whole issue.

reply to post by Duby78


I dissagree with the above 2 posters...

This is like ripping off a bad guy of his stash or whatever...not like he can go to the police can he?...he would have to spoill the beans on what got pinched...

Same with the Syria, if the admit they took a hit at the hands of Israel, then there would be investigation by the U.N. etc...it would eventually be revealed what got hit...hmmmm

edit because I can't count...

[edit on 20-9-2007 by deadbang]

If this raid is indeed legitimate, I'm surprised the hardliners in Syria haven't put a bullet in Assad's left ear for not retaliating.

My gut tells me that Israeli's don't fly into Syrian airspace for dress rehearsals. This was not a test for the Syrians and their new Russian Air Defense Systems. It seems to be pretty common knowledge that the Syrians have had an active chemical and biological warfare program for many years.

Good for Israel. Iran and Syria and the rest of the middle-east are very VERY sore over their constant defeats and are desperate to once again be the conquering empire of the old. Ahh yes, the good old glory days of pillaging and burning.

Nowadays, no one take their bluff seriously, and it drives them mad.

According to this report sky news not only did Isreal use air strike's but they had ground troops within syria as well

^^ if that is true then israel have committed an act of war and can expect retaliation and not then go whining that the arab terrorists are attacking them.

My guess on all this is that Israel got the word something nasty was in Syria that could harm Israel big time. Israel found the target and bombed it. Israel wont come right out and confirm they hit their intended target and that their target did indeed pose a great threat towards Israel because dont know with 100% certainty that the target posed the threat they thought it did. It will be interesting to see how long, if they will at all, it will take to see Israel officially confirm and talk about what happened.

reply to post by sharkman


"It seems to be pretty common knowledge that the Syrians have had an active chemical and biological warfare program for many years."
Which knowledge you referring to? western media!
This is all speculation from the media, because they have nothing so they have to make up story.
Israel send some fighters over Syrian air space. Point.
Syrian air force chased them out. Point.
We know nothing more. Point.

Kacou

or maybe its Isreal using another excuse to invade another nation while its an act of war that it gets away with as the world community allows it to, if syria did that to isreal boy i can just hear the calls for nukes to be used that isreal says they dont have.

i am sick of isreal getting away with stuff no other nation in the world could get away with...for her own protection.

sickening