New York Times, Foreign Policy: Syria Strikes Show Israel is Serious About Its ‘Red Lines’

May 5, 2013 6:18 pm 

Algemeiner Staff

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Assad Regime Blake Hounshell Syria Chemical Weapons chemical weapons attack Government Press Office Israeli defense analysts red line Israel Syria Israel Syria strike Israel Syrian official Israel terror group Hezbollah

Two Israeli Defense Force-Air Force F-15I Ra'am aircraft.

Following reports of Israeli airstrikes in Syria over the weekend targeting advanced weaponry intended for delivery to terror group Hezbollah, major international publications have commented on Israeli resolve, saying that the Jewish state has shown how serious it is about defending itself.

“As the Obama administration considers how to dissuade Mr. Assad from ordering a chemical weapons attack — the use of such weapons, the White House has said, would cross a “red line” — Israel, by striking the warehouse, is clearly showing that it is prepared to stand behind the red lines it has set,” wrote the New York Times Sunday, referring to the Obama administration’s wavering response  to reports of chemical weapons use by the beleaguered Assad regime. A scenario that Obama had previously referred to as a game changer.

“There’s also a message here for Iran, whose nuclear program Israel has vowed to destroy if the Iranians cross Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s red line,” wrote Blake Hounshell for Foreign Policy magazine Saturday, “…the intended lesson here for Tehran (and Washington) is clear: Israel will defend itself when threatened, and we mean what we say.”

According to the Jerusalem Post, Israel’s former military intelligence chief, Amos Yadlin echoed the sentiment in an interview with Israel Radio Sunday morning, saying that “Iran monitors the resolution of Israel and the United States in regard to red lines, and what it sees in Syria has clarified that, at least some parties – when they define red lines, and when those lines are crossed – are serious.”

An American official told the New York Times on condition of anonymity that the strikes targeted a shipment that included “Iranian-made Fateh-110s — a mobile, accurate, solid-fueled missile that has the range to strike Tel Aviv and much of Israel from southern Lebanon, and that represents a considerable improvement over the liquid-fueled Scud missile.”

“Two prominent Israeli defense analysts said the shipment included Scud Ds, a missile that Syrians have developed from Russian weapons with a range of up to 422 miles — long enough to reach Eilat, in southernmost Israel, from Lebanon,” added the Times.

A Syrian official told CNN that the strikes were considered a “declaration of war” by the Assad regime.

Israeli officials have declined to comment on the reports as is customary, and at a cabinet meeting earlier today the subject of Syria was not brought up, according to a Government Press Office communique.