Sep 18, 2007 13:54 | Updated Sep 19, 2007 13:36

' Dozens died in Syria-Iran missile test '

By JPOST.COM STAFF  

[ highlights mine ]

Proof of cooperation between Iran and Syria in the proliferation and development of weapons of mass destruction was brought to light Monday in Jane's Defence Weekly, which reported that dozens of Iranian engineers and 15 Syrian officers were killed in a July 23 accident in Syria.

According to the report, cited by Channel 10, the joint Syrian-Iranian team was attempting to mount a chemical warhead on a Scud missile when the explosion occurred, spreading lethal chemical agents, including sarin nerve gas.

Reports of the accident were circulated at the time; however, no details were released by the Syrian government, and there were no hints of an Iranian connection.

The report comes on the heels of criticism leveled by the Syrians at the United States, accusing it of spreading "false" claims of Syrian nuclear activity and cooperation with North Korea to excuse an alleged Israeli air incursion over the country this month.

According to globalsecurity.org, Syria is not a signatory of either the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), - an international agreement banning the production, stockpiling or use of chemical weapons - or the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

Syria began developing chemical weapons in 1973, just before the Yom Kipper War. Globalsecurity.org cites the country as having one of the most advanced chemical weapons programs in the Middle East.

Source:  The Jerusalem Post online news article at  http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1189411428847&pagename=JPost%2FJPArti...

Israel to fulfill Biblical prophecy?

Chad Groening
OneNewsNow.com
September 21, 2007
[ highlights mine ]

The head of a pro-Israel ministry says that recent air strikes, by Israel on Syria, could possibly mean the soon fulfillment of an Old Testament prophecy about Damascus.

Jan Markell is founder and director of Olive Tree Ministries. She has read the reports about the September 6 strike by Israeli jets on what is believed to have been a substantial target inside Syria, even though both the Syrians and the Israelis are not divulging any details of the attack.

Markell says she wonders about the prophetic words in Isaiah 17:1, "Damascus is to be leveled to become a ruinous heap. Not anything can live in it again. Now that's never happened," she says.

She says with Syria trying to obtain nuclear weapons, the words of Isaiah 17:1 loom even larger. "If Syria ever lobs any kind of a nuke into Israel, I believe Israel will respond in kind and depending on the seriousness of the whole situation could fulfill Isaiah 17:1, the complete destruction of Damascus," she states.

According to Markell, Damascus is one of the oldest cities in the world and has never experienced complete destruction. However, she believes that we are living in the end-times, so the prophecy against Damascus could soon come to pass.

All Original Content Copyright 2006-2007 American Family News Network - All Rights Reserved

Source:  OneNewsNow.com news article at http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/09/could_israeli_strike_against_s.php

JerUSAlem wrote on Sep 30^th, 2007, 7:35pm:


Two unclean spirits of Devils are in Damascus and Tehran.  In fact one of them is even named in the Bible.  He is called the " The Prince of Persia " or Iran ( Daniel 10:20 ), the same spirit influencing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today.  Syria is their ally against Israel.  Both Syria and Iran, lusting after war against Israel, will be judged and destroyed by God because of this.  Stop defending and siding with the enemies of Israel or else you will be too.

The story of bombing a nuclear target in Syria is propaganda to create a "perception" of Syria to justify war.

They dropped some bombs and then spread a story.

After all, they never bomb anyone unless they are actually doing what they are accused of doing, do they?

After all, each of the people killed in Lebannon by their terror bombings was really a nuclear technician.

And the 1 to 2 million cluster bombs spread across Lebannon is really love and democracy.

Oct 31, 2007 23:33 | Updated Nov 1, 2007 13:18

EU politician: No peace without Syria

By SHEERA CLAIRE FRENKEL AND TOVAH LAZAROFF
The Jerusalem Post
[ highlights mine ]

Syria will not allow any serious peace agreement to be reached without playing a central role in the negotiations, European Parliament member Jana Hybaskova told The Jerusalem Post Wednesday.

Hybaskova, chairwoman of the Delegation for Relations with Israel and a member of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) who also sits on the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Budgets, recently met with Syrian President Bashar Assad. She spent this week leading a delegation of European Parliament members in Israel.

"[Syria] has the vision that there is no peace without Syria," Hybaskova said. The Syrians have an "overexaggerated sense" of their own importance, she said, adding, "They want to put themselves in the center... and that is the key," so if they cannot be part of masterminding the peace, "they want to destroy it." "That is a very dangerous message," she said.

Hybaskova said she had been disappointed by the Syrians' "rigid" response on several issues, including the release of Syrian dissidents from jail, negotiations over the Golan Heights and the strengthening relationship with Russia.

"I am very much concerned with the mounting influence of Russia - not only in Syria, but in the whole Middle East," she said.

Hybaskova said she was particularly worried about Russia's ties with Iran and its actions to dissuade the construction of missile defense systems in Central and Eastern Europe.

"Whenever we are active, Russians come and say, 'No, Iran is not that important. Do not build this defense,'" she said. Israel should use its "special relationship" with Russia to persuade Moscow to change its tune on missile defense and Iran in general, she said, citing the number of Russian immigrants in Israel and the trade between the two countries.

"We do not want Iran to come up with a nuclear program. We realize this is a threat to all of Europe," she said.

Turning to the issue of sanctions against Iran, Hybaskova said swaying Russia to support such moves was critical if economic isolation was to be truly effective.

Europe, in general, needs to take a tougher stance on sanctions, she added, noting that more than 200 European Parliament members have called for harsher economic sanctions on Iran.

In addition to diminishing economic ties between Iran and European countries, the European Parliament is also considering enacting measures that would stop Iranian flights from landing in Europe for commercial or private purposes, she said.

As part of her visit to Israel, Hybaskova and half a dozen Parliament members visited Sderot on Monday.

"We were truly shocked to visit places like Sapir College, which is sometimes the target of attacks three times a day.... This should be stopped. There is no democratic country that would sit and watch this happen and not act to protect its citizens," she said.

While expressing doubt over the current methods the government was using in the Gaza Strip to stop terror, such as cutting power and electricity, Hybaskova said she knew of no other solutions.

She said it was clear to her that Egypt could play a more active role in preventing smuggling along its border with the Gaza Strip.

"Egypt [has shown] they have no capacity to control the border," she said. "We need to make them part of the solution and not part of the problem."

"There needs to be a debate about the Egyptian role and Egyptian control of the border, especially the money and devices being smuggled to Egypt from Syria," she said. "Why is this being allowed to happen?"

In search of answers, Hybaskova and the delegation will meet with Palestinian officials on Thursday to discuss expectations for the region and the upcoming Annapolis peace conference.

Source:  The Jerusalem Post online news article at  http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1192380704982&pagename=JPost%2FJPArti...

Syria 'intensely' arming itself
Rockets, missiles place all of Israel within firing zone

Posted: March 09, 2008
6:39 pm Eastern
By Aaron Klein
© 2008 WorldNetDaily
[ highlights mine ]

JERUSALEM – Syria is in the midst of "intensely" arming itself, placing into position rockets and missiles capable of striking the entire Jewish state, according to an assessment presented to the Knesset today by multiple Israeli security agencies.

The announcement follows a WND exclusive report last month quoting security officials stating Syria, aided by Russia and Iran, has been furiously acquiring rockets and missiles, including projectiles capable of hitting any point in Israel. The officials listed anti-tank, anti-aircraft and ballistic missiles as some of the arms procured by Syria.

Yesterday, Israel's Mossad and Israel Defense Forces Military Intelligence chiefs presented an annual security report to the Knesset warning of Syria's armament program.

The chiefs also warned of a possible flare-up at Israel's northern border with the Hezbollah terror group and said in their assessment Iran could cross the technological threshold enabling it to assemble a nuclear bomb by the end of next year.

The assessment came after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced last week negotiations between the Jewish state and Syria should be seriously considered it if would bring an end to Syrian-sponsored terrorism and Damascus' "involvement in the axis of evil."

The negotiations would aim for some sort of Israeli evacuation from the Golan Heights strategic, mountainous territory looking down on Israeli and Syrian population centers twice used by Damascus to launch ground invasions into the Jewish state.

Syria openly provides refuge to Palestinian terror leaders, including the chiefs of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and has been accused of shipping weapons to Hezbollah. Damascus is also accused of supporting the insurgency against U.S. troops in Iraq.

'Furious frenzy' to get Russian missiles

Olmert's announcement of Israel's willingness to negotiate followed a WND report in which Israeli and Jordanian security officials outlined Syria's recent armament.

A Jordanian security official said one of the main reasons Damascus did not retaliate after Israel carried out its Sept. 6 air strike inside Syria – which allegedly targeted a nascent nuclear facility – was because Syria's rocket infrastructure was not yet complete.

The official said that after the Israeli air strike, Syria picked up the pace of acquiring rockets and missiles, largely from Russia with Iranian backing, with the goal of completing its missile and rocket arsenal by the end of the year. The Jordanian official said Syria is aiming to possess the capacity to fire more than 100 rockets into Israel per hour for a sustained period of time.

"The Syrians have three main goals: to maximize their anti-tank, anti-aircraft and ballistic missile and rocket capabilities," explained the Jordanian official.

According to Israeli and Jordanian officials, Syria recently quietly struck a deal with Russia that allows Moscow to station submarines and war boats off Syrian ports. In exchange, Russia is supplying Syria with weaponry at lower costs, with some of the missiles and rockets being financed by Iran.

"The Iranians opened an extended credit line with Russia for Syria with the purpose of arming Syria," said one Jordanian security official.

"Russia's involvement and strategic positioning is almost like a return to its Cold War stance," the official said.

Both the Israeli and Jordanian officials told WND large quantities of Syrian rockets and missiles are being stockpiled at the major Syrian ports of Latakia and Tartus.

Syria's new acquisitions include Russia's S-300 surface-to-air missile defense shield, which is similar to the U.S.-funded, Israeli-engineered Arrow anti-missile system currently deployed in Israel. The S-300 system is being run not by Syria but by Russian naval technicians who work from Syria's ports, security officials said.

New ballistic missiles and rockets include Alexander rockets and a massive quantity of various Scud surface-to-surface missiles, including Scud B and Scud D missiles.

Israeli security officials noted Syria recently test-fired two Scud D surface-to-surface missiles, which have a range of about 250 miles, covering most Israeli territory. The officials said the Syrian missile test was coordinated with Iran and is believed to have been successful. It is not known what type of warhead the missiles had.

In addition to longer-range Scuds, Syria is in possession of shorter-range missiles such as 220 millimeter and 305 millimeter rockets, some of which have been passed on to the Lebanon-based terrorist group Hezbollah.

Israel has information Syria recently acquired and deployed Chinese-made C-802 missiles, which were successfully used against the Israeli navy during Israel's war against Hezbollah in 2006. The missiles were passed to Syria by Iran, Israeli security officials told WND.

Russia recently sold to Syria advanced anti-tank missiles similar to the projectiles that devastated Israeli tanks during the last Lebanon war, causing the highest number of Israeli troop casualties during the 34 days of military confrontations. Syria and Russia are negotiating the sale of advanced anti-aircraft missiles.

Source:  WorldNetDaily news article at http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=58472