{"id":377,"date":"2007-09-12T17:26:44","date_gmt":"2007-09-12T17:26:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/?p=377"},"modified":"2007-09-12T17:26:44","modified_gmt":"2007-09-12T17:26:44","slug":"nuclear-chemical-missiles-what-was-hit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/nuclear-chemical-missiles-what-was-hit\/","title":{"rendered":"Nuclear? Chemical? Missiles? What Was Hit?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The tip given to me four days ago that North Korean technology was the object of the strike has made it to the main-stream press. The debate now seems to center on what was hit – production facilities for missiles, chemicals, or something nuclear.<\/p>\n

U.S. Confirms Israeli Strikes Hit Syrian Target Last Week<\/a>
New York Times By MARK MAZZETTI and HELENE COOPER<\/p>\n

\n

“One Bush administration official said Israel had recently carried out reconnaissance flights over Syria, taking pictures of possible nuclear installations that Israeli officials believed might have been supplied with material from North Korea. The administration official said Israeli officials believed that North Korea might be unloading some of its nuclear material on Syria….<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

“The Israelis think North Korea is selling to Iran and Syria what little they have left,” the official said. He said it was unclear whether the Israeli strike had produced any evidence that might validate that belief.”…<\/p>\n

“The Syrian response has not yet come,” said Bashar al-Jaafari, in an interview with BBC Arabic. …<\/p>\n

The only countries that have expressed solidarity with Syria are Iran and North Korea. Russia issued a condemnation of sorts.<\/p>\n

Syria made its protest via Qatar, the Arab representative on the Security Council, United Nations officials said. Security Council representatives discussed the issue on Tuesday, but did not come to any conclusions.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

ANALYSIS: The air strike in Syria is a secret that cannot be kept<\/a>, Haaretz by By Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff<\/p>\n

\n

“Both the Syrian and the Israeli leadership have been extraordinarily silent about this. According to European diplomats, the Syrians have made it clear that Israeli silence over the incident is “worthy.” <\/p>\n

It is still difficult to assess what the ultimate response of the Syrians will be, at least on the basis of the statements being made these past six days. On the one hand, the Syrians warn of the consequences and are angry that no one seems interested in condemning Israel’s illegal raid. On the other hand, they are not talking about the “strategic” target that was bombed in their territory – according to Lebanese press. If they admit it, this would be a troubling sign that they are weighing a serious response.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Reuters writes<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

One political source in the region told Reuters he believed that Israel dropped bombs in an empty area in the Syrian desert as a diversion during a clandestine ground operation by commandos.<\/p>\n

Recalling the failure of U.S. forces to find much evidence of Iraqi secret weapons whose alleged development was part of the justification for the 2003 invasion, some analysts caution that there seems little evidence for suspicions against Syria.<\/p>\n

An Israeli government spokesman again declined all comment on Wednesday. Washington, for which Syria forms part of a hostile alliance with Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, has also kept silent. Syria has complained to the United Nations that Israeli aircraft "dropped munitions" but did no damage.<\/p>\n

Israeli President Shimon Peres on Wednesday called the episode "spilt milk" but gave no details of what actually did happen and insisted that Israel still wanted peace with Syria…<\/p>\n

One U.S. diplomatic source told Reuters that Deir az-Zor, the northeastern area where Syria said the Israeli bombs caused no damage, was suspected by U.S. officials of being the focus of some form of cooperation on nuclear weapons with North Korea.<\/p>\n

"The suspicion is that North Korea is outsourcing uranium enrichment to Damascus," the diplomatic source said.  <\/p>\n

However, another U.S. official and former U.S. intelligence officials said this seemed unlikely and technically difficult.<\/p>\n

In Vienna, two senior diplomats familiar with the International Atomic Energy Agency said they knew of no serious suspicions of nuclear links between Syria and North Korea.<\/p>\n

The New York Times quoted an unnamed Pentagon official saying Israeli jets struck at least one target in northeastern Syria but adding that it was not clear what was hit.<\/p>\n

Another U.S. official source told Reuters there was concern in Washington that North Korea may have hidden uranium enrichment plant abroad. But that source said it seemed unlikely Pyongyang would risk derailing a deal with the United States to end its nuclear arms program by sending material to Syria.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Amal Saad-Ghorayeb<\/strong> writes in an email, "I got this quote from the lead story in Al-Akhbar but couldn't find the original quote on YNet news. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

??? ???? ?????? ???????? ??????? ?????? ?? ???????? ??? ?????? ?? ???? ???? ?????? ??????? ????????? ?? ????? «?????? ???????» ????? ???????? ???? ???? ?? ???? ?????? ??? ?? ???????? ??????? ??????? ??????? ?????????? ???? ????? ?? ?????? ???????? ???????????? ????? ?????? ?? ?????? ??????. ????? ??????? ??? ???? ????????? ?????????? ?? ???? ???????? ???????? ?????? ??? «????? ?????? ???? ?????????? ??? ????? ??????? ?? ????? ??? ?????? ?????????»? ?????? ????? ????? ???? ???? «??????? ?????? ?? ??????». ???? ??? ?? ???? ????? ???? ???????? ???? ?????? ?????? «???? ????? ??» ?«???? ????? ??»? ????? ?? ???? «????? ??? ?????? ????? ?? ????? ????????? ?? ????? ???????? ??????? ??????? ?? ??????????». <\/p>\n

Here is the rough content in English: (Ronin Broughman sp. ?), editor of Israel's Yediot Acharonot<\/em>, indidcated that the strike was against chemical weapons and missile production in the north of Syria – Scud C and B. Nuclear weapons are not a Syrian concern because they have chemical weapons with which to respond to Israel. Even though they have received ready made scuds from Korea, Syria has begun production of its own with the help of Iran.<\/p>\n

This is Ynet's story: Report: Israel spots nuclear installations in Syria <\/a>09\/12\/2007<\/p>\n

\n

Washington official says Israeli surveillance shows possible Syrian nuclear installation stocked by North Korea, Israeli Arab newspaper claims target of alleged raid last week was Syrian missile base financed by Iran.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile on Wednesday the Nazareth-based Israeli Arab newspaper The Assennara cited anonymous Israeli sources as saying that Israeli jets "bombed a Syrian-Iranian missile base in northern Syria that was financed by Iran… It appears that the base was completely destroyed."<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Syria has formally complained to UN.<\/a> (AFP)<\/p>\n

Although Syria lodged a formal complaint, it did not propose a resolution to censure Israel. It left it up to others to do it. On this I.C. comments:<\/p>\n

\n

The syrians have complained to the UNSC but have not requested any action against Israel. Here is the article though its in arabic<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Syria has always preferred to force the Americans to veto than to let it slide. At least that way the bias to Israel would be reinforced in the public’s eye ( a symbolic, though futile victory). I would have expected them to resort to the UNSC for action especially in the case of a blatant and unprovoked breach as Damascus claims. It’s this reservation that makes me wonder. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Soloman adds a legal perspective:<\/p>\n

\n

Under UNSC 1701 clause 15, states may use their flag ships and aircraft to interdict weapons shipments to Hezbollah, even if it isn’t on their territory. <\/p>\n

No state needs permission from Lebanon or Israel to do this because clause 15 is specifically worded to supersede Chapter 6 restrictions (”Decides further<\/em> -”). No consent from a third-party state like Syria appears to be required under the resolution for a strike on its territory for this purpose. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

idaf writes of the Gulf reaction <\/strong>(He is a Syrian who works in the Gulf):<\/p>\n

\n
\n

The firm order to keep everyone’s mouth shut on this even after it took place seems to have come from the US to its allies in the region. The synchronized silence by Saudi, Jordan, the gulf and Egypt and the fact that they did not utter a word of condemnation, solidarity, regret or even concern is indicative, but the most alerting issue here is the absolute silence of Saudi financed media in the region (ie. the majority of the Arab media). Take for example, Alarabiya, Al-Sharq Alawsat and even Future TV. Usually, these media outlets are the first to jump on any incident related to Syria and spin it in a way that Syria appears the guilty side. When it comes to incidents relates to Syria and Israel, these outlets tend to host an influx of analysts and talk shows gloating on how Syria is week and too close to Iran. This time, not a word!<\/p>\n

Given the coordinated Israeli-American-Saudi media black out, I’m reading this as a joint attempt to hide something that can be perceived by the Arab public as a failure on the US and moderate Arab side and might strengthen the Syrian (or Iranian) image. It can also be something that can cause an embarrassment to Arab “moderates”.<\/font><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The tip given to me four days ago that North Korean technology was the object of the strike has made it to the main-stream press. The debate now seems to center on what was hit – production facilities for missiles, chemicals, or something nuclear. U.S. Confirms Israeli Strikes Hit Syrian Target Last WeekNew York Times By MARK […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[15,48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-israel","category-weapons"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nNuclear? 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