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Israel hits Syria with airstrike again
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| Zharen |
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/..._n_3214128.html
| quote: | With a second airstrike against Syria in four months, Israel enforced its own red line of not allowing game-changing weapons to reach Lebanon's Hezbollah, a heavily armed foe of the Jewish state and an ally of President Bashar Assad's regime, Israeli officials said Saturday.
But the strike, which one official said targeted a shipment of advanced surface-to-surface missiles, also raised new concerns that the region's most powerful military could be dragged into Syria's civil war and spark a wider conflagration.
Fighting has repeatedly spilled across Syria's borders into Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan and the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights during more than two years of conflict, while more than 1 million Syrians have sought refuge in neighboring countries.
The airstrike, which was carried out early Friday and was confirmed by U.S. officials, comes as Washington considers how to respond to indications that the Syrian regime may have used chemical weapons in its civil war. President Barack Obama has described the use of such weapons as a "red line," and the administration is weighing its options – including possible military action.
Israel has said it wants to stay out of the brutal Syria war, but could inadvertently be drawn in as it tries to bolster its deterrence and prevent sophisticated weapons from flowing from Syria to Hezbollah or other extremist groups.
Israel and Hezbollah fought a monthlong war in mid-2006 that ended in a stalemate.
Israel believes Hezbollah has restocked its arsenal with tens of thousands of rockets and missiles, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly stated the Jewish state would be prepared to take military action to prevent the Islamic militant group from obtaining new weapons that could upset the balance of power.
It is especially concerned that Hezbollah will take advantage of the chaos in neighboring Syria and try to smuggle advanced weapons into Lebanon. These include anti-aircraft missiles, which could hamper Israel's ability to operate in Lebanese skies, and advanced Yakhont missiles that are used to attack naval ships from the coast.
While Israeli officials on Saturday portrayed the latest airstrike as the continuation of Israel's deterrence policy, more Israeli attacks could quickly lead to an escalation, leaving open the possibility of retaliation by Hezbollah or even the Assad regime and Syria ally Iran. |
I find this a bit worrying. There's a good chance Syria won't launch a counterattack against Israel. But if they really did destroy weapons destined for Lebanon, the Lebanese may attack Israel and this civil war turns into a larger, more deadlier war. I hope these damn Israelis know what they're doing, I don't want them to have to suck us down into their mess. |
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| srussell0018 |
| None of the middle eastern countries will attack Israel because they know Israel has nuclear weapons and they don't. Pakistan is the only country predominately muslim country with that capability. |
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| srussell0018 |
| I haven't really kept up with the Syrian civil war. Has the UN issued any sanctions/deployed any peacekeepers? |
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| Zharen |
| quote: | Originally posted by srussell0018
I haven't really kept up with the Syrian civil war. Has the UN issued any sanctions/deployed any peacekeepers? |
Well I do know the UN has deployed peacekeepers into Syria during the beginning of their civil war. However, they were only sent to select parts of the country that the government wanted them to go. Obviously, such peacekeeping actions have been completely ineffective at ending the civil war.
I was reading up to see what new sanctions the US may have placed on Syria since then. There were already 3 previously put in place during the last decade. You can read up on them here
http://damascus.usembassy.gov/sanctions-syr.html
I also found this article in the New York Times that says that we have recently placed a technology sanction on Syria, on top of the others. It doesn't appear to be doing us much good though.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/04/t...syria.html?_r=0
| quote: | Large amounts of computer equipment from Dell have been sold to the Syrian government through a Dubai-based distributor despite strict trade sanctions intended to ban the selling of technology to the regime, according to documents obtained by The New York Times.
The disclosure of the computer sales is the latest example of how the Syrian government has managed to acquire technology, some of which is used to censor Internet activity and track opponents of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad.
According to internal company e-mails, cash transfer statements, sales receipts and shipping documents, the computer equipment was sold by BDL Gulf, which is based in Saudi Arabia and is a large distributor of computer equipment in the Middle East. It is an authorized dealer for Dell in the Middle East and Africa, and is also a reseller for other computer brands, including Samsung and Acer.
BDL sold the equipment to Anas Hasoon Trading, a Damascus-based company with contracts to provide computers to the Syrian government, according to billings records and e-mail exchanges between the companies.
Jess Blackburn, a spokesman for Dell in Round Rock, Tex., confirmed that BDL was an authorized reseller. He said the company was recently made aware of a possible shipment of Dell equipment to Syria by an anonymous source.
“We are investigating an allegation we received recently that BDL was involved in a possible transaction involving Syria,” Mr. Blackburn said in a statement. “Dell requires its resellers to follow U.S. trade requirements, just as Dell does. Resellers of Dell products and services are contractually prohibited from selling or shipping any technology to a customer in a restricted country.”
The United States has barred the sales of most American-made goods to Syria for nearly a decade and has repeatedly tightened sanctions against the government. An executive order by President Obama, dated April 22, 2012, specifically addresses the sale of computer technology to Syria, barring Americans from helping the Iranian and Syrian governments engage in human rights abuses, including monitoring and tracking of dissidents.
United States officials charged with enforcing sanctions against Syria would not comment on the possible violation of export sanction laws but did say that exporting technology to Syria was illegal unless the sale would promote the free flow of information between the Syrian people and the outside world. |
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| srussell0018 |
| Drone strikes comin up. |
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| Viber |
| "Time to get the out of the Middle East" #71 |
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| zGoogleman |
| Why would Lebanon that has a ty military force do anything? Hezbollah, is controlled by Iran and Iran won't do . No worries here other than Obama proving he is a ing idiot. |
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| pkcRAISTLIN |
| quote: | Originally posted by srussell0018
None of the middle eastern countries will attack Israel |
correct.
| quote: | Originally posted by srussell0018
because they know Israel has nuclear weapons and they don't. |
incorrect (as in, that's not why they wouldn't attack israel). in this case, lebanon, has absolutely nothing to challenge israel with in conventional terms. israel rubbed its up and down lebanon's face and tabagged it repeatedly in 2006 and lebanon could only lay there and take it.
israel aren't about to throw nukes around on countries that haven't teched to tier 2 units. countries don't attack israel coz they don't want a conventional beat down. its why they use proxies. |
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| LoveHate |
| There's to many beautiful women out there for them to be acting like this.:( |
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| Redd |
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| Nrg2Nfinit |
| quote: | Originally posted by LoveHate
There's to many beautiful women out there for them to be acting like this.:( |
sure are
nsfw...
or stomach maybe lol
http://oi41.tinypic.com/2hppshi.jpg |
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| hardcore trancer |
| It is alright folks, Israel always has the rights to protect itself even if it means breaking international laws. Israel is now officially in war Syria. Is that really what they wanted? Was this their way to drag Iran into this conflict even more? I honestly don't know what will come out of these bombings but one thing is for sure that the situation over there is going to get very very ugly.. |
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