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Strike on Syria Would Lead to Retaliation on Israel, Iran Warns
Nir Elias/Reuters
Israelis received gas mask kits at a distribution point in Tel Aviv, spurred on by fears that any Western military response in Syria could ensnare their own country in war.
By THOMAS ERDBRINK
Published: August 28, 2013
Iranian lawmakers and commanders issued stark warnings to the United States and its allies on Tuesday, saying any military strike on Syria would lead to a retaliatory attack on Israel fanned by “the flames of outrage.”
The warnings came against a backdrop of rising momentum among Western governments for a military intervention in the Syrian conflict over what the United States, Britain, France and others have called undeniable evidence that President Bashar al-Assad’s forces used banned chemical weapons on civilians last week, killing hundreds. Mr. Assad has accused the insurgents who are trying to topple him of using such munitions.
Iran, which itself came under chemical weapons assault by Iraq during its eight-year war in the 1980s, has been a loyal ally of the Syrian government. Iranian hard-liners often say Syria is Iran’s first trench in a potential war with hostile Western powers. Iran has blamed Israel for the conflict in Syria, saying Israel is trying to bring down Mr. Assad.
“In case of a U.S. military strike against Syria, the flames of outrage of the region’s revolutionaries will point toward the Zionist regime,” the semiofficial Fars news agency quoted Mansur Haqiqatpur, an influential member of Parliament, as saying on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said Tuesday after security meetings in Tel Aviv that, “The State of Israel is ready for any scenario. We are not part of the civil war in Syria but if we identify any attempt whatsoever to harm us, we will respond and we will respond in strength.”
Iran has always taken the moral high ground on the issue of chemical weapons, actively opposing their use. If it turns out that Mr. Assad’s side deployed the weapons, it will be difficult for Iranian leaders to explain their support for Mr. Assad to their people, analysts point out.
A potential military intervention by the United States in Syria also represents a test for Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, who condemned the use of chemical weapons on his Twitter account on Monday, but stopped short of blaming either side in the Syrian conflict.
On Tuesday the new foreign minister of Iran, Mohammad Javad Zarif, stressed that Iran condemned the use of chemical weapons by any group. He also said Iran had pressed the Syrian government to assist the United Nations weapons inspectors who are in the country conducting an inquiry.
There is no evidence, he said, that chemical weapons were used by the Syrian government. But in remarks quoted by the official Islamic Republic News Agency, Mr. Zarif said there was some evidence that such munitions had been given to Syria’s insurgents.
Many analysts close to Mr. Rouhani privately say that Syria is an obstacle to change inside Iran. The country’s hard-liners say any attack on Syria is in fact an act of war against Iran, and point to a support pact in which both nations have vowed to defend each other in case of a military attack by a third country.
“Naturally Iran does not want to lose Syria as a foothold in the region,” said Davoud Hermidas-Bavand, a professor of international relations at Allameh Tabatabaei University in Tehran.
“But in the long run a solution for Syria will mean that officials in Tehran can soften their stance towards the U.S.,” he said. “It means we would have a more open domestic atmosphere.”
Iran is widely seen as having close coordination with Hezbollah, the militant Shiite Lebanese organization that is an ideological ally. Both regard Israel as a common enemy, and Hezbollah is reported to have many rockets deployed in southern Lebanon capable of striking deep into Israeli territory.
Iran and Hezbollah are heavily engaged in helping Mr. Assad’s side in the Syrian conflict. Iranian military advisers have been seen in Syria, and Iran provides military support and training to Hezbollah fighters, who have joined the Syrian armed forces in recent months to retake rebel-held areas.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, meeting with visiting Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said of Oman in Tehran on Monday, predicted the Syrian conflict would escalate far beyond its borders if other regional nations continued to aid the Syrian opposition.
“Their supporters must know that this fire will finally engulf them as well,” Ayatollah Khamenei said, according to the Mehr news agency.
Isabel Kershner contributed reporting from Jerusalem.
France says ready to punish Syria despite British no vote
Thu, Aug 29 2013
White House says 'preponderance of evidence' Assad used chemical weapons
Thu, Aug 29 2013
We will continue looking for support on Syria-Hagel
Syrian president will defend against aggression, state TV
By Catherine Bremer
PARIS | Fri Aug 30, 2013 7:54am EDT
(Reuters) - France said on Friday it still backed action to punish Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government for an apparent poison gas attack on civilians, despite a British parliamentary vote against it.
An aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, a close Assad ally, seized on the British no vote as evidence that "people are beginning to understand" the dangers of military action.
U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said his country would keep seeking an international coalition to act together on Syria, where hundreds of people were killed in last week's reported chemical attacks. Syria denies using chemical weapons.
"It is the goal of President (Barack) Obama and our government ... whatever decision is taken, that it be an international collaboration and effort," he said.
French President Francois Hollande told the daily Le Monde that he still supported taking "firm" punitive action over an attack he said had caused "irreparable" harm to the Syrian people, adding that he would work closely with France's allies.
Asked if France could take action without Britain, Hollande replied: "Yes. Each country is sovereign to participate or not in an operation. That is valid for Britain as it is for France."
The British parliamentary defeat on Thursday of a government motion on Syria has set back U.S.-led efforts to take military action against Damascus.
Russia fiercely opposes any such action, backing the assertions of Damascus that Syrian rebels were behind the chemical attacks. Putin's senior foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said the British vote reflected majority opinion in Europe. "People are beginning to understand how dangerous such scenarios are," Ushakov told reporters.
Any military strike looks likely to be delayed at least until U.N. investigators report back after leaving Syria on Saturday.
Hollande is not constrained by the need for parliamentary approval of any move to intervene in Syria and could act, if he chose, before lawmakers debate the issue on Wednesday.
"All the options are on the table. France wants action that is in proportion and firm against the Damascus regime," he said.
"There are few countries that have the capacity to inflict a sanction by the appropriate means. France is one of them. We are ready. We will decide our position in close liaison with our allies," Hollande said.
"CORE INTERESTS"
Britain will not join any armed action in Syria after parliament voted 285-272 against a motion by Prime Minister David Cameron to authorize a military response in principle.
British Defence Secretary Philip Hammond acknowledged that the United States would be disappointed that its close ally would not be involved, but said: "I don't expect that the lack of British participation will stop any action.
U.S. officials suggested Obama would be willing to proceed with limited actions against Syria even without allied support.
"President Obama's decision-making will be guided by what is in the best interests of the United States," White House spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said in a statement after the British vote. "He believes that there are core interests at stake for the United States and that countries who violate international norms regarding chemical weapons need to be held accountable."
In a briefing with senior lawmakers on Thursday, Obama administration officials said they had "no doubt" Assad's government had used chemical weapons, U.S. Representative Eliot Engel, who joined the call, told Reuters.
Cameron said he would not override the British parliament. "I strongly believe in the need for a tough response to the use of chemical weapons, but I also believe in respecting the will of this House of Commons," he said after a vote that reflected misgivings stemming from Britain's role in the 2003 Iraq war.
NO SMOKING GUN
U.S. officials acknowledged on Thursday they lacked proof that Assad personally ordered last week's poison gas attack, and some allies have warned that military action without U.N. Security Council authorization may make matters worse.
On the call with lawmakers, U.S. officials, including Hagel and Secretary of State John Kerry, cited evidence of chemical weapons use including "intercepted communications from high-level Syrian officials", said Engel, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee.
After the 90-minute briefing, some lawmakers said the administration still had work to do to convince the public.
"The president is going to have to make his case, I think, to the American people I think before he takes any action," said Republican Howard "Buck" McKeon of California, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
Expectations of imminent turmoil eased as the diplomatic process was seen playing out into next week, and the White House emphasized that any action would be "very discrete and limited", and in no way comparable with the Iraq war.
Syrian opposition sources said Assad's forces had removed several Scud missiles and dozens of launchers from a base north of Damascus, possibly to protect them from a Western attack, and Russia was reported to be moving ships into the region.
Syria says rebels perpetrated the gas attacks, a version dismissed by Washington and its allies.
U.N. chemical weapons inspectors visited a military hospital in a government-held area of Damascus on Friday to see soldiers affected by an apparent chemical attack, a Reuters witness said.
The inspectors have spent the week visiting rebel-controlled areas on the outskirts of Damascus affected by gas attacks.
Witnesses said the investigators were meeting soldiers at the Mezze Military Airport who state media said were exposed to poison gas after finding chemical agents in a tunnel used by rebels in the Damascus suburb of Jobar last Saturday.
CHINA OPPOSES HASTY U.N. ACTION
The United Nations says the team will leave Syria on Saturday and report to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
France and Germany urged the world body to pass its report to the Security Council as soon as possible "so that it can fulfill its responsibility with regards to this monstrous crime".
The United States, Britain and France have said action could be taken with or without a Security Council resolution, which would probably be vetoed by Russia. But some countries are more cautious: Italy said it would not join any military operation without Council authorization.
Western diplomats say they are seeking a vote in the 15-member Council to isolate Moscow and demonstrate that other countries are behind air strikes.
A report from Moscow that Russia is sending two warships to the eastern Mediterranean underscored the complications around even a limited military strike, although Russia has said it will not be drawn into military conflict.
Ambassadors of the five veto-wielding permanent Security Council members - the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France - have discussed a draft resolution that would authorize "all necessary force" in response to the alleged gas attack, but made no progress on Thursday, a council diplomat said.
China said there should be no rush to force council action against Syria until the U.N. inspectors complete their work.
"Before the investigation finds out what really happened, all parties should avoid prejudging the results, and certainly ought not to forcefully push for the Security Council to take action," Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Ban in a phone call, Xinhua reported.
"A political resolution is still the only way out," he said.
The International Committee of the Red Cross joined a chorus of voices urging caution, saying further escalation would force more Syrians to flee and worsen the plight of civilians.
According to the U.S. national security officials, evidence that forces loyal to Assad were responsible goes beyond the circumstantial to include electronic intercepts and some tentative scientific samples from the site.
"This was not a rogue operation," one U.S. official said.
In Damascus, residents and opposition forces say Assad's forces appeared to have evacuated most personnel from army and security command headquarters in the centre as a precaution.
People unable to decide whether to leave for neighboring Lebanon said the border was already jammed.
"We're hearing people are spending hours - like 12 or 14 hours - waiting in line at the border," said Nabil, who was considering leaving town for Beirut with his wife and young daughter, "just until the strike is over".
(Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick, Andrea Shalal-Esa, Patricia Zengerle, Steve Holland, Thomas Ferraro and Jeff Mason in Washington, Erika Solomon and Oliver Holmes in Beirut, Khaled Yacoub Oweis in Amman, Sarah Marsh in Berlin, Timothy Heritage in Moscow, Phil Stewart in Manila, Louis Charbonneau and Michelle Nichols at the United Nations and Andrew Osborn, Marie-Louise Gumuchian and Peter Apps in London; Writing by Alistair Lyon; editing by David Stamp)
Dizzy28 wrote:^ Should Israel be attacked by any forces from the Islamic world for revenge after any potential strike on Syria, there will be hell to pay. An Israeli general has already assured of disproportionate retaliation.
zoom rader wrote:Dizzy28 wrote:^ Should Israel be attacked by any forces from the Islamic world for revenge after any potential strike on Syria, there will be hell to pay. An Israeli general has already assured of disproportionate retaliation.
To hell with Israel, an illegal so call state
zoom rader wrote:Dizzy28 wrote:^ Should Israel be attacked by any forces from the Islamic world for revenge after any potential strike on Syria, there will be hell to pay. An Israeli general has already assured of disproportionate retaliation.
To hell with Israel, an illegal so call state
rfari wrote:zoom rader wrote:Dizzy28 wrote:^ Should Israel be attacked by any forces from the Islamic world for revenge after any potential strike on Syria, there will be hell to pay. An Israeli general has already assured of disproportionate retaliation.
To hell with Israel, an illegal so call state
Eh. Shake meh flickin hand dey. First piece of sense i ever read from u EVER!
pioneer wrote:The jews practice apartheid in this modern day and nobody says a thing.
zoom rader wrote:^^^
Palestine was once a British colony, but the British promised to pass the Arab country to the Jews for their help in involving the U.S. join WWI and side with the British.
So the UK, who didn’t own the land, had given it to the Jews, who do not belong there.
Fostering Jewish immigration in the hope that it might ultimately lead to the creation of a Jewish majority and the establishment of a Jewish state with the consent or the acquiescence of the Arabs was one thing. It was quite another to contemplate, however remotely, the forcible conversion of Palestine into a Jewish State against the will of the Arabs.
The UK, U.S. and Israel are not interested in peace otherwise that would have happened during the last 60 years. AIPAC controls U.S. politics and in turn controls UN, IMF, World Bank, even EU? How can the world find peace anywhere while a small group of people is in charge of world politics?
So the UK, who didn’t own the land, had given it to the Jews, who do not belong there.
Putin: Gas may have been used by rebels, not Syrian Army
William M. Welch , USA TODAY 9:49 a.m. EDT September 12, 2013
Russian leader makes case that it may have been a way to 'provoke intervention.'
(Photo: Mikhail Klimentyev, AP)
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Russian president expresses views in New York Times
Putin warns that U.S. strike would unleash more terrorism
Writes that "we must stop using the language of force"
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Russian President Vladimir Putin, writing in the New York Times, said Wednesday that "there is every reason to believe'' poison gas was used in Syria by opposition rebels rather than that nation's military.
Putin, whose offer to help ensure Syria's chemical weapons stockpiles are contained has presented President Obama with a diplomatic opening for avoiding military action there, said a unilateral strike by the United States would kill civilians, unleash more terrorism and undermine international law.
"The potential strike by the United States against Syria, despite strong opposition from many countries and major political and religious leaders, including the pope, will result in more innocent victims and escalation, potentially spreading the conflict far beyond Syria's borders,'' Putin wrote.
"A strike would increase violence and unleash a new wave of terrorism. ... It could throw the entire system of international law and order out of balance.''
Putin said al-Qaeda and other groups designated as terrorist organizations by the U.S. State Department are battling the Syrian government, and that their violence threatens to spill out of the region and threaten others, including Russia.
"No one doubts that poison gas was used in Syria. But there is every reason to believe it was used not by the Syrian Army, but by opposition forces, to provoke intervention by their powerful foreign patrons, who would be siding with the fundamentalists,'' Putin wrote. "Reports that militants are preparing another attack — this time against Israel — cannot be ignored.''
"We must stop using the language of force and return to the path of civilized diplomatic and political settlement,'' he wrote.
In the strongly worded opinion column published online by the newspaper Wednesday night, Putin took issue with Obama for making what the Russian leader called a case for American exceptionalism a day earlier in his address to the nation about chemical weapons in Syria.
"It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation,'' Putin wrote.
