Damascus – Syria has surface-to-surface Tishreen missiles aimed at Tel Aviv and is ready to use them should Israel decide to conduct a strike on Damascus, British newspaper The Sunday Times reported on Sunday.
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The paper reports that reconnaissance satellites have revealed preparations made by the Syrian army to deploy the missiles, that can each carry half a ton payload.
The paper quotes Israeli missile export Uzi Rubin as saying Syria has a lot of Tishreen missiles at its disposal, and that should they fire them at Israel, they could potentially paralyze all commercial flights coming in and out of the country.
The report comes amidst a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the Middle East and Syria in particular after Israel allegedly carried out two airstrikes on several targets in Syria earlier this month.
Israel declined to confirm the strikes so as not to pressure Syrian President Bashar Assad into serious retaliation, according to a confidant of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
This is not the first such recent report stating the Assad regime has missiles aimed at Israel. Lebanon’s Al Mayadeen TV quoted a Syrian official on May 5 as saying Damascus has aimed missile batteries at Israel, shortly after the two recent alleged strikes that reportedly targeted a weapons transfer meant for Hezbollah.
Until now, Syria has restrained from a military response, despite threats being made by various Syrian officials, including President Assad, who has threatened to retaliate immediately and without warning should Israel strike again.
Israel has been concerned with the possibility of unconventional weapons in Syria falling into the hands of terrorist organizations. The IAF has reportedly conducted three airstrikes this year on Syrian soil to prevent such a scenario from happening. Previous strikes on Syria allegedly carried out by Israel have not elicited a military response from Syria or its allies Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
In an interview with The Sunday Times in early March, after an alleged Israeli raid on a Syrian chemical weapons facility in February, Assad said that Syria had always retaliated to Israeli actions, “but we retaliated in our own way, and only the Israelis know what we mean. Retaliation does not mean missile for missile or bullet for bullet. Our own way does not have to be announced.”
Following the second alleged raid, Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar quoted Assad as saying Syria is interested in a different kind of revenge on Israel. “We want strategic revenge, by opening the door of resistance and turning the entire Syria into a resistance nation,” he said, expressing his wishes to emulate Hezbollah who turned Lebanon into a “resistance nation.”
On Wednesday, the New York Times quoted a senior Israeli official as saying that “if Syrian President Assad reacts by attacking Israel, or tries to strike Israel through terrorist proxies, he will risk forfeiting his regime, for Israel will retaliate.”
He added that Israel “is determined to continue to prevent the transfer of advanced weapons to Hezbollah. The transfer of such weapons to Hezbollah will destabilize and endanger the entire region.”
Content is provided courtesy of the Jerusalem Post
To the future:
Here comes the IAF.
Israel is in trouble, seriously a lot of jewish blood is on the table, assad will strike, because when assad will see that the game is over which is sooner or later, he will in a suicide mode unlease massive damage on israel, and israel stands only to loose, and the only people suffering from ritaliation, will be the innocent syrian people or the volatile New goverment. The zionist goverment can not protect the jews, only gamble with jewish blood in the name of the medina.
Yair Lapid is a greater danger to Israel. No Joke!
Israel will read about it in the news (LOL) and wait till every country’s diplomat hears Assad’s words and then when everybody knows and recognized the threat, Israel takes them out.
Saudi Arabia will take down Syria’s missiles aimed at Israel…since Israel has missiles aimed at Mecca should Tel Aviv be targeted.
Look, during the cold war, the Soviet Union had nuclear weapons aimed at many American cities, including NYC. However, what kept the Russians from launching such missiles (even during the Cuban Missile Crisis), was the threat of their demise, from B-52 bombers with nuclear weapons, as well as atomic powered submarines with nuclear weapons. Syria knows that EY has submarines, which can launch nuclear missiles against it, even if Tel Aviv is attacked. It also knows that EY has underground bases with nuclear weapons, which can also be launched, not only against Syria, but also against Iran. Hence, that is the reason why the Iranians, the Syrians, as well as the Hezbollah guerillas in Lebanon, have refrained from launching their missiles.