Israel Tells Russia They Will Wipe Out Syria If Assad Attacks
Israel has warned Damascus that if President Assad chooses to hit back at Israel for any further Israeli military strikes, Israel will bring down his regime.
An Israeli official confirmed Wednesday night
that a dramatic and unprecedented message to this effect had been
conveyed to Damascus, Channel 2 news reported.
The report said that Israel’s position to this effect also came up during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s emergency meeting in Russia on Tuesday with President Vladimir Putin,
during which Netanyahu also told Putin of Israel’s profound opposition
to Russia’s sale of sophisticated S-300 missile defense batteries to
Assad.
The warning came hours after mortar shells hit the Mount Hermon areafor the first time in the two-year Syrian civil war, and as Arabic newspapers reported talk of Hezbollah opening “a new front” against Israel on the Golan Heights.
Syria vowed last week to respond “immediately and harshly” to
any further Israeli airstrikes, after Israel carried out two early
morning attacks earlier this month on weapons consignments being stored
in and around Damascus en route from Iran to Hezbollah in Lebanon. The
shipments contained highly sophisticated Fateh-110 missiles.
Confirmation of Israel’s warning to Assad came soon after the New York Times quoted an Israeli official issuing the same threat.
The New York Times said Israel was “considering further military
strikes on Syria to stop the transfer of advanced weapons to Islamic
militants,” and that an unnamed Israeli official had contacted the paper
to warn: “Israel is determined to continue to prevent the transfer of
advanced weapons to Hezbollah. The transfer of such weapons to Hezbollah
will destabilize and endanger the entire region. If Syrian President
Assad reacts by attacking Israel, or tries to strike Israel through his
terrorist proxies, he will risk forfeiting his regime, for Israel will
retaliate.”
“Israel will continue its policy of interdicting attempts to strengthen Hezbollah, but will not intercede in the Syrian civil war as long as Assad desists from direct or indirect attacks against Israel.”
The New York Times report speculated that
Israel “could be trying to restrain Syria’s behavior without undertaking
further military action, or alerting the international community to
another strike. That would ratchet up the tension in an already fraught
situation in Syria, where a civil war has been raging for more than two
years.”
Channel 2 on Wednesday night showed satellite
images of what it said was a surgical strike, reportedly carried out by
Israel at Damascus airport to target the Iranian missile consignments.
It showed before and after pictures of specific buildings that had been
blown up, while neighboring buildings remained intact. Israel has not
formally confirmed either of this month’s attacks.
Channel 2 said Netanyahu had made clear to
Putin — as he also had in recent conversations with US President Barack
Obama and the Chinese leadership — that Israel would hold to its “red
lines” as related to Syria, which included preventing the transfer of
sophisticated weaponry to Hezbollah and other rogue organizations. source – Times Of Israel
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