{"id":401,"date":"2007-10-01T14:23:07","date_gmt":"2007-10-01T14:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/?p=401"},"modified":"2007-10-01T14:23:07","modified_gmt":"2007-10-01T14:23:07","slug":"assad-speaks-on-israeli-strike-and-peace-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/assad-speaks-on-israeli-strike-and-peace-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"Assad Speaks On Israeli Strike and Peace Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

Either the the White House is engaging in a razzle-dazzle form of psychological warfare and super deception, or it really is preparing the ground for some sort of strike on Iran –\u00a0and perhaps Syria. Increasingly, it seems we were\u00a0played by Cheney and crew on the nuclear-North Korea justification for the Israeli strike on Syria. (I\u00a0 thank t-desco for most of the following links.)<\/p>\n

President Assad interview with BBC<\/a> Monday Oct. 1, 2007<\/em><\/p>\n

Syrian president tells BBC Israeli warplanes struck \u201cunused military building\u201d last month<\/a>, AP<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\n

Syrian President Bashar Assad told the British Broadcasting Corp. on Monday that Israeli warplanes attacked an \u201cunused military building\u201d in his country last month and said Damascus reserves the right to retaliate.<\/p>\n

But Assad said his country was not about to attack Israel in response, suggesting he did not want to hurt chances at peace talks with the Jewish state.<\/p>\n

The comments were the first by the Syrian leader about a mysterious Sept. 6 Israeli air incursion over Syria that raised speculation that warplanes had hit weapons headed for Hezbollah or even a nascent nuclear installation, reports Damascus has repeatedly denied.<\/p>\n

\u201cRetaliate doesn\u2019t mean missile for missile and bomb for bomb,\u201d Assad told the BBC in an interview in Damascus. \u201cWe have our means to retaliate, maybe politically, maybe in other ways. But we have the right to retaliate in different means.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if we wanted to retaliate militarily, this means we\u2019re going to work according to the Israeli agenda, soemthing we don\u2019t look for. That doesn\u2019t mean we squander any opportunity for peace in the near future,\u201d he added in the interview, which was monitored in neighboring Lebanon.<\/p>\n

But Assad said Syria was not about to attack Israel. Asked whether Syria was considering striking at Israel, he said \u201cit\u2019s possible, but we don\u2019t say this is the option that we\u2019re going to adopt now. We say that we have very different means.\u201d<\/p>\n

Previously, Syrian officials had said only that the Israeli warplanes entered the country\u2019s airspace, came under fire from anti-aircraft defenses, and dropped munitions and fuel tanks over northeastern Syria to lighten their loads while they fled.<\/p>\n

The BBC quoted Assad in the interview as saying the attack was on an \u201cunused military building.\u201d The BBC did not air that part of the interview.<\/p>\n

Israel has clamped a news blackout on the incident. U.S. officials have said Israeli warplanes struck a target, wiht some saying it was a cache of missiles headed for Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas allied to Syria and Iran.<\/p>\n

But at the same time, a senior American nonproliferation official said that North Korean personnel were in Syria helping its nuclear program, resulting in speculation nuclear installations had been targeted.<\/p>\n

Syria and North Korea both denied the reports and accused U.S. officials of spreading the allegations for political reasons.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Syrian Vice-President Farouk al-Sharaa said everything reported so far about the Israeli air raid was wrong and part of a \u201cpsychological war\u201d against Damascus intended to lay the ground for future attacks.<\/p>\n

Asked in the BBC interview whether Syria was rearming and strengthening its missile capabilities, Assad said: \u201cThis is very normal and self-evident that we\u2019re going to prepare ourselves for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why you have the army, to defend your territory. We don\u2019t build the army to make any aggression but defend our country, and this is normal \u2014 especially after the war on Lebanon last year, when we see the Israelis wreaked havoc on Lebanese cities in Beirut, in south of Lebanon,\u201d he added, referring to the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel.<\/p>\n

Assad also said Syria needs to know details of an international peace conference on the Middle East planned in the United States later this year before it decides whether to participate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis conference or any conference is going to be an opportunity but it should be purposeful. It should be substantive,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t see where is the purpose and what is the substance of this conference. What are they going to talk about?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt needs more clarifications for Syria to take a decision,\u201d he said.\u00a0 AP<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Shifting Targets<\/strong>, <\/em>The New Yorker<\/a>
The Administration\u2019s plan for Iran.
by Seymour M. Hersh<\/p>\n

Daily Telegraph<\/a>\u00a0 \u201cConcern is also growing in the CIA and the Pentagon that the White House exaggerated intelligence used to justify an Israeli air raid on a suspected nuclear facility in Syria earlier this month, which some neo-conservatives hope is a precursor to war with Iran.\u201d
Neocons seek to justify action against Teheran….<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Arab Monitor<\/a>, UNDOF commander concerned about Israeli offensive build-up on Golan Heights<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Berlin, 30 September – Major General Wolfgang Jilke, the Austrian commander of the UN Disengagement and Observer Force deployed on the the Golan Heights, voiced out his concerns over the continuing military build-up on the Israeli side of the 75-km long buffer zone. In an interview released to the German Der Spiegel, Jilke alerted public opinion to the danger of clashes breaking out due to Israel\u2019s unpreceented concentration of troops and military build-up in the Golan Heights.<\/p>\n

He stressed that contrary to what is currently being reported in the Israeli press, the Syrian side has not enhanced its troops\u2019 deployment and has remained absolutely quiet, whereas the Israeli side is going into the fourth month of continuous build-up, involving a massive surge of military exercises and an enormous construction activity.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, the Israeli army is digging many kilometers of trenches. According to observations of Jilke, the Israeli activities are clearly aimed at preparing for a military offensive involving heavy artillery and air force.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

SPIEGEL<\/a>, Kriegsgefahr in Nahost, <\/em>29 September 2007<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Syria says Israeli air raid aimed at justifying future attack <\/a>(Friday)<\/p>\n

\n

Shara says Israel manipulating public opinion to convince world Israel does not want war. <\/p>\n

DAMASCUS – Syrian Vice President Faruq al-Shara said on Saturday that a recent Israeli air raid on what is thought to be a Syrian military installation was meant to provide justification for future aggression on the country. <\/p>\n

“Those who continue to talk about this raid and to invent inaccurate details (about it), are aiming to justify a future aggression” againt Syria, Shara said at a press conference with his visiting Iraqi counterpart, Adel Abdel Mahdi. <\/p>\n

“They are manipulating public opinion to convince it that (Israel) does not want war. They are lying about that,” he added. <\/p>\n

Shara went on to denounce “Arab or international parties that write about things that did not happen and who claim North Koreans or others were killed” in the September 6 raid. <\/p>\n

“Anyone who says that is wrong and is trying to conduct psychological warfare against Syria, which will not be tricked. Certain people in Israel are hoping that through this they can repair the beating given to the Israeli army by the Lebanese resistance.”…..<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

New Anti-Syria bill being prepared in congress<\/strong>.
House Res. 690: Expressing grave concern of the House of Representatives…<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n

Expressing grave concern of the House of Representatives for Iran and Syria’s continued and systematic violations of UN Resolutions 1701 and 1559. …<\/p>\n

Representative Mr. Israel and Mr. Knollenberg submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs ….<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Either the the White House is engaging in a razzle-dazzle form of psychological warfare and super deception, or it really is preparing the ground for some sort of strike on Iran –\u00a0and perhaps Syria. Increasingly, it seems we were\u00a0played by Cheney and crew on the nuclear-North Korea justification for the Israeli strike on Syria. (I\u00a0 […]<\/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":[2,39,15,19,48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asad","category-iran","category-israel","category-us","category-weapons"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nAssad Speaks On Israeli Strike and Peace Conference - Syria Comment<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/assad-speaks-on-israeli-strike-and-peace-conference\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Assad Speaks On Israeli Strike and Peace Conference - Syria Comment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Either the the White House is engaging in a razzle-dazzle form of psychological warfare and super deception, or it really is preparing the ground for some sort of strike on Iran –\u00a0and perhaps Syria. 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