The political-security cabinet held an urgent meeting today with top defense officials to discuss the escalation in the north, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delayed his departure to China by two hours to attend. Meanwhile, the IDF has deployed two Iron Dome batteries near Haifa and Safed in the north to intercept any income missiles, reflecting the army's high alert and concern of retaliation for alleged Air Force strikes in Syria in the past couple of days.
The Syrian government said in response to alleged Israeli airstrikes that it was reviewing possible responses. Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al Mekdad told "CNN" that the attack Sunday on the nation's military research facility a "declaration of war" by Israel. He said the attack represented an alliance between Islamic terrorists and Israel, and that Syria would retaliate against Israel in its own time and way.
In a separate response, Iranian Armed Forces Deputy Chief of Staff Brig.-Gen.. Masoud Jazayeri today denied that Israel had attacked Iran weapons on Syrian soil, but said that Iran would not allow the enemy to attack the area with impunity and that Iran would respond against any Israeli aggression against Syria.
Foreign media reports claim that, in the past two days, Israel Air Force )IAF) planes have launched two strikes in different parts of Syria. In the latest strike on Sunday night, "Reuters" said, citing a Western intelligence source, that the operation hit Iranian-supplied missiles headed for Lebanon's Hezbollah. It added, "People living near the Jamraya base spoke of explosions over several hours in various places near Damascus, including a town housing senior officials."
Other foreign media report that, on Friday night, IAF jets attacked in the heart of Syria, a convoy delivering missiles to Hizbullah in Lebanon. "Reuters" quoted the intelligence source as saying, "In last night's attack, as in the previous one, what was attacked were stores of Fateh-110 missiles that were in transit from Iran to Hezbollah."
The Fateh-110 missile has a 300-kilomter range and can carry a half-ton warhead with high accuracy. Israel is worried that such missiles may end up in Hizbullah's arsenal, and say that they change the military balance/
Israel has not responded to the reports.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 5, 2013
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