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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Syria fired on Israeli aircraft |
| 2007-09-06 |
| h/t: Drudge Syrian air defenses opened fire on Israeli aircraft that violated Syrian airspace overnight Thursday, a Syrian military spokesman said. The Israelis broke the sound barrier and "dropped ammunition" over deserted areas of northern Syria overnight, the spokesman was quoted by the official Syrian Arab News Agency. "We warn the Israeli enemy government against this flagrant aggressive act, and retain the right to respond in an appropriate way," the Syrian spokesman said. It was not clear if Syria was accusing the Israelis of using warplanes or some type of other aircraft like drones. "The Israeli enemy aircraft infiltrated into the Arab Syrian territory through the northern border, coming from the Mediterranean heading toward the eastern region, breaking the sound barrier," the spokesman said. "Air defense units confronted them and forced them to leave after they dropped some ammunition in deserted areas without causing any human or material damage." The IDF said that it was "not accustomed to responding to such reports." Israel acknowledges flying over Lebanon routinely, but it is unclear how often its aircraft fly over Syria, if at all. Syrian officials, including President Bashar Assad, have repeatedly warned Israel in recent weeks that the occupation of the Golan Heights "cannot last forever." Concerns grew over the summer that tensions along the frontier could escalate into conflict, but both Syrian and Israeli officials publicly and repeatedly said they had no interest in war. Thursday's incident could stoke the tensions again, however. Late last month, Israeli security officials said the army had determined that war with Syria, whose military had reduced its war readiness, was unlikely and Israel began rotating forces out of the Israeli-held Golan Heights. Syria also is believed unhappy that other Arab countries are headed to a peace meeting in November at which the United States hopes for a high-profile meeting between the Palestinians and Israelis, and perhaps also with Saudi officials. Syria has long disputed any notion that a comprehensive Arab peace deal can be reached unless it also involves some resolution of the Golan Heights, which it wants back in full. At the beginning of last summer's war against Lebanon, Israeli warplanes buzzed the palace of Syrian President Bashar Assad in what analysts called a warning to Damascus. In June of the same year, they also flew over Assad's summer home in the coastal city of Latakia, after Syrian-backed Palestinian combatants in Gaza kidnapped IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Schalit. |
| Posted by:Gary and the Samoyeds |
| #2 Syria is correct. The occupation of Golan cannot last forever. The part he forgot goes something like this... Without taking the rest of Syria. |
| Posted by: Mike N. 2007-09-06 20:48 |
| #1 Looks like the Joooooooos were flying down the Syrian-Iranian border lighting up things. Bored I recon. |
| Posted by: Thomas Woof 2007-09-06 18:27 |