The Jerusalem Post reports that according to a report in the UAE, Syria was preparing for a war with Israel two weeks ago.
Al-Khaleej quoted “senior sources” in Damascus as saying that Syria had received intelligence that Israel was seriously considering launching an offensive during the Id al-Fitr holiday, which marks the end of Ramadan.Therefore, the article said, Syria began taking “defensive steps.”
The Syrian sources, who were unnamed, told Al-Khaleej that Russia and China, when apprised of Syria’s concerns, sent “stern warnings” to both Jerusalem and Washington that an Israeli attack would destroy the balance of the Middle East. According to the report, China and Russia asked the United States to intervene and “rein in” what Syria perceived as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s threats of war.
“Despite Israel’s calming messages, sent through mediators, there is still a possibility of a military confrontation,” the sources told the UAE paper.
Was Syria really afraid of an Israeli attack, or is this just saber rattling to save some face after the Israeli raid in September?
The Post also refers to a story in the Washington Post that quotes independent experts who identified the structure bombed by Israel as a reactor.
Independent experts have pinpointed what they believe to be the Euphrates River site in Syria that was bombed by Israel last month, and satellite imagery of the area shows buildings under construction roughly similar in design to a North Korean reactor capable of producing nuclear material for one bomb a year, the experts say.Photographs of the site taken before the secret Sept. 6 airstrike depict an isolated compound that includes a tall, boxy structure similar to the type of building used to house a gas-graphite reactor. They also show what could have been a pumping station used to supply cooling water for a reactor, say experts David Albright and Paul Brannan of the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS).
(Have those IAEA experts figured out what those pictures show yet?)
I think that someone in Syria’s getting nervous. Hopefully, the fear will keep him from further mischief making.
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.
Seems to me that if these stories about endless attacks, counter-attacks, tension on the border on this side, maneuvers on the other side etc. will continue with this frequency, I shall lose my cool and attack Syria on my own – bayonet on.
Newspaper talk!