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| The Grand Turk | ||||
| Israel launched air strike on Syrian arms depot from Turkish military base | ||||
| 2013-07-17 | ||||
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, considered by many in Jerusalem as hostile to Israel, found himself in the unusual situation on Monday of having to deny reports that Turkey cooperated with Israel in an attack 10 days ago on three Syrian arms depots in the port city of Latakia.
"Israeli planes left a military base inside Turkey and approached Latakia from the sea to make sure that they stayed out of Syrian airspace so that they cannot become a legitimate target for the Syrian air force," RT quoted "a reliable source" as saying. Israeli officials declined to comment on this or any reports about the blast at the Latakia depots. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, when asked about reports of Israeli responsibility in a CBS interview Sunday, said, "Oh God, every time something happens in the Middle East, Israel is accused. I'm not in the habit of saying what we did or we didn't do. I'll tell you what my policy is: My policy is to prevent the transfer of dangerous weapons to Hezbollah and other terror groups. And we stand by that policy." This was echoed Monday by International Relations Minister Yuval Steinitz who, when asked about reports of Israeli involvement in the attack, said that the Yakhont missiles -- with a range of 300 kilometers -- are a threat to Israel. He added that these missiles were among the best, if not the best, of their kind in the world. "We set a policy," he told Israeli Radio. "That policy is not to intervene in the civil war in Syria. With that we also set a rule, that we will make an effort to prevent the leakage of quality weapons, game changing weapons, to organizations like Hezbollah. That is our position and our policy." The Hurriyet Daily News quoted Davutoglu as furiously denying any Turkish involvement.
Davutoglu and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan have in the past ridden barely hidden animosity toward Israel to wide popularity in the Arab world. According to foreign reports, when Israel allegedly attacked a Syrian nuclear facility in 2007, IAF planes on the way back to Israel jettisoned fuel tanks over Turkish territory. Indeed, it was the discovery of those fuel tanks that led to the disclosure of the attack, an attack neither Israel nor Syria were interested in revealing: Syria because of embarrassment, and Israel because it thought it could prevent a Syrian reaction if it did not "rub Damascus' nose" in the attack. The Russia Today story adds yet another layer of fog to the Latakia attack. The Sunday Times had previously quoted Middle East intelligence sources as saying that Israeli Dolphin-class submarines had been behind the attack, while CNN quoted US officials as saying the strike was the work of the IAF. Israel Radio, meanwhile, quoted a Syrian rebel website as saying a senior former officer in the Syrian navy defected to the rebels and passed on information about the location of the Yakhont missiles, making contact with US intelligence through a Turkish intelligence intermediary. This information, according to the rebels, allowed Israel to attack the depots through missiles fired from the sea. Netanyahu said that the volatile situation in Syria had been behind his decision to make an apology [to Turkey], something he had previously avoided. "The fact that the crisis in Syria is getting worse by the minute was the central consideration in my eyes," Netanyahu said. "Syria is disintegrating, and the huge advanced weapons stockpiles are beginning to fall into the hands of different forces." The Syrian reality, which includes global jihadist elements on its border with Israel on the Golan, creates tremendous security challenges for Israel, he stated. "It is important that Turkey and Israel, which border Syria, can communicate with each other, and this is true regarding other challenges as well." | ||||
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #4 Israeli subs. The rest is propaganda. And thos emissiles are pure trouble - AFAIK the US has nothing widely deployed in that class - self-guided (inertial, lidar and GLASNOST) supersonic sea skimmer with 300km range and 250kg warhead, 50km terminal self guidance, frequency agile radar, and ECM resistant |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2013-07-17 22:09 |
| #3 This was echoed Monday by International Relations Minister Yuval Steinitz who, when asked about reports of Israeli involvement in the attack, said that the Yakhont missiles -- with a range of 300 kilometers -- are a threat to Israel. He added that these missiles were among the best, if not the best, of their kind in the world. That last bit is the payoff to the Russkies. Gotta love that Pooty Poot. |
| Posted by: Cheager Angoluque6848 2013-07-17 20:42 |
| #2 As long as they don't realize it's all done by combining Kabbalistic and Vodun techniques. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2013-07-17 08:06 |
| #1 The Russia Today story adds yet another layer of fog to the Latakia attack. Which is probably one Israeli goal. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2013-07-17 06:18 |