Israel attacks Syrian port

[Higgly]

On September 6, Israel 'allegedly' attacked a Syrian port at which a North Korean freighter had docked. Apparently, Israel is paranoid (what else is new?) that the Syrians were importing nuclear (or, as Junior would say, Nuke-u-Lar) weapons from North Korea. Israel can't be sure what was on the ship, but its satellites show that it was from North Korea.

The thinking of course is that Syria will want nukes because Israel has them. Once one country in a region gets nukes, everybody else is suspected to want to have them.

So we have an unconfirmed nuclear arms race started because of something Israel did.

Once again, somebody has to suffer because of Israeli paranoia resulting from its own actions. What a surprise.

Of course if Syria gets ticked off and strikes back, we'll hear about it in a nanosecond.

Edited September 18, 2007 by Higgly

[Leafless]

On September 6, Israel 'allegedly' attacked a Syrian port at which a North Korean freighter had docked. Apparently, Israel is paranoid (what else is new?) that the Syrians were importing nuclear (or, as Junior would say, Nuke-u-Lar) weapons from North Korea. Israel can't be sure what was on the ship, but its satellites show that it was from North Korea.

The thinking of course is that Syria will want nukes because Israel has them. Once one country in a region gets nukes, everybody else is suspected to want to have them.

So we have an unconfirmed nuclear arms race started because of something Israel did.

Once again, somebody has to suffer because of Israeli paranoia resulting from its own actions. What a surprise.

Of course if Syria gets ticked off and strikes back, we'll hear about it in a nanosecond.

It seems you have a built in bias aginst Western ideologies.

C,mon Hig, let's hear it, go West , go West, Go West!

[Bonam]

Well actually it didn't take 12 days, it was in the news for a couple days already. Still though, there was a significant delay. I wonder why. Why would Syria not instantly complain to the international community about this Israeli "aggression". Could it be because they actually do have a nuclear program that they're trying to keep secret?

[M.Dancer]

On September 6, Israel 'allegedly' attacked a Syrian port at which a North Korean freighter had docked. Apparently, Israel is paranoid (what else is new?) that the Syrians were importing nuclear (or, as Junior would say, Nuke-u-Lar) weapons from North Korea. Israel can't be sure what was on the ship, but its satellites show that it was from North Korea.

The thinking of course is that Syria will want nukes because Israel has them. Once one country in a region gets nukes, everybody else is suspected to want to have them.

So we have an unconfirmed nuclear arms race started because of something Israel did.

Once again, somebody has to suffer because of Israeli paranoia resulting from its own actions. What a surprise.

Of course if Syria gets ticked off and strikes back, we'll hear about it in a nanosecond.

\

Hopefully the port and the korean ship were destroyed. Very helpfull for the Syrians to know that Israel has a long and effective reach. Would worry too much about the Syrians striking back, least not conventionally. They know that they can't compete with obsolete tactics and weapons against Israel, and Israel already knows how to deal with cowards and their terrorists strategies.

[marcinmoka]

Though oddly enough, both parties are keeping mum over the actual target(s), with neither Israel using this as P.R to point out regional threats (diplomats have inflitrated the IDF perhaps) nor Syria using this as a means to claim "unprovoked" attacks against a "peaceful energy program" or what have you.

Truth in silence.

If the rumours are true, I'm curious as to the consequences at the other end of the N.Korea connection. Though considering uncle Kim's desire to get taken of the list of terror-sponsoring states coupled with China's dissatisfaction, I have my doubts about this.

Edited September 19, 2007 by marcinmoka

[ScottSA]

Very helpfull for the Syrians to know that Israel has a long and effective reach.

This is something you think Syria was doubtful about before?

[Shakeyhands]

when the Syrians and Israelis (or anyone for that matter) isn't talking after something like this, then we're in trouble.

[Higgly]

\

Hopefully the port and the korean ship were destroyed. Very helpfull for the Syrians to know that Israel has a long and effective reach. Would worry too much about the Syrians striking back, least not conventionally. They know that they can't compete with obsolete tactics and weapons against Israel, and Israel already knows how to deal with cowards and their terrorists strategies.

Hilarious. So bombing a port out of the blue isn't terrorism? Aren't you the same guy who gets upset whenever Hezbollah or Hamas does something? I put up posts like this just as a little reminder that when Israel throws up its hands and asks "Why do they hate us?" answers will be at the ready. The irony of a country that has never signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty going out and supposedly enforcing its provisions is just too rich.

No, Leafless, I don't have a bias against western ideologies. It just seems to me there are a lot of people with blinders on whenever it comes to the west and its little "quirks".

[ScottSA]

Hilarious. So bombing a port out of the blue isn't terrorism? Aren't you the same guy who gets upset whenever Hezbollah or Hamas does something? I put up posts like this just as a little reminder that when Israel throws up its hands and asks "Why do they hate us?" answers will be at the ready. The irony of a country that has never signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty going out and supposedly enforcing its provisions is just too rich.

No, Leafless, I don't have a bias against western ideologies. It just seems to me there are a lot of people with blinders on whenever it comes to the west and its little "quirks".

The only "blinders" around here are on the folks so mired in relativism that they think there's no difference between a totalitarian state harboring a widespread death cult, and a western nation seeking not to be driven into the sea. Just because it's "fair" for Syria to have a bomb because Israel does doesn't make it a swimmingly good idea, eh wot?

[Higgly]

Well actually it didn't take 12 days, it was in the news for a couple days already. Still though, there was a significant delay. I wonder why. Why would Syria not instantly complain to the international community about this Israeli "aggression". Could it be because they actually do have a nuclear program that they're trying to keep secret?

Would have been faster if we had access to Al Jazeera, I'll bet. But then, that's why certain parts of society lobbied so hard to have it kept off the airways, isn't it?

[Higgly]

The only "blinders" around here are on the folks so mired in relativism that they think there's no difference between a totalitarian state harboring a widespread death cult, and a western nation seeking not to be driven into the sea. Just because it's "fair" for Syria to have a bomb because Israel does doesn't make it a swimmingly good idea, eh wot?

You have swallowed Israeli propaganda hook, line and sinker. I am not saying it's a good idea for Syria to have the bomb. I am saying it is a bad idea for Israel for have it.

[ScottSA]

Would have been faster if we had access to Al Jazeera, I'll bet. But then, that's why certain parts of society lobbied so hard to have it kept off the airways, isn't it?

What "certain parts" of society would those be Higgly? Little rat faced people covered in lice that they used to make posters about in Germany a few years back? Why not say what you mean?

[ScottSA]

You have swallowed Israeli propaganda hook, line and sinker. I am not saying it's a good idea for Syria to have the bomb. I am saying it is a bad idea for Israel for have it.

Oh, believe me, I haven't "swallowed" anything. It's just that I'm smarter than you are and know more about it. Sucks to be you, but life isn't fair, after all. Israel is a civilzed nation in a sea of Islamic barbarism. I'm sorry that you lack the basic sense of right and wrong, and the basic historical knowledge to see the difference between the two.

[Argus]

Would have been faster if we had access to Al Jazeera, I'll bet. But then, that's why certain parts of society lobbied so hard to have it kept off the airways, isn't it?

Hmm, actually it was because Al Jazeera often broadcasts hate speech, though I can see where that wouldn't bother you.

Are you suggesting the Syrians are too stupid to know how to complain to the western media? Or that they can't figure out what a glorious chance this would be to condemn Israel at the United Nations? How come they're being so low key? Do you ever think beyond your hatred for Israel and the West?

[Argus]

Oh, believe me, I haven't "swallowed" anything. It's just that I'm smarter than you are and know more about it.

I do hope you're setting the bar for yourself a tad higher than that.

I mean, I know more about politics than my cat, but that isn't a lot to brag about.

[August1991]

Intriguing.

Damascus said its air defences fired on Israeli warplanes which had dropped munitions deep inside its territory in the early hours of September 6, and it has protested to the UN Security Council.

Tsahi Hanegbi, head of the Israeli foreign affairs and defence committee, earlier said the government has adopted a policy of silence over the incident to ease tensions, but was taking Syrian threats of retaliation seriously.

"We have to show restraint and it is in our interest to say nothing... This policy has proven itself. The tensions have slightly eased since 12 days ago. The more we bite our tongue, the better it will go," he told public radio.

...

Amid the silence from both Israel and Syria over the incident, alleged details of the strike have come in foreign media reports quoting anonymous officials, with two leading hypotheses emerging.

One says that Israel bombed weapons destined for Hezbollah and financed by another archfoe, Iran. The other says that the incident was related to a suspected nuclear shipment from communist North Korea to Syria.

But Syria's official Ath-Thawra newspaper dismissed the North Korea allegations, saying they were being bandied about as a possible pretext for further attacks.

"Members of the choir have started up a new song that is full of hostility, this time about Syrian-Korean nuclear cooperation," Ath-Thawra said. "This is a big lie... Syria is used to having to put up with such lies."

"This is nothing new, accusing Syria of things that it has nothing to do with... But what is new is the scope of the new lie and the way it is being peddled," said Ath-Thawra.

"The latest accusation could be a prelude to more attacks on Syria."

The Washington Post on Saturday quoted an anonymous Middle East expert as saying the "attack appeared to have been linked to the arrival three days earlier of a ship carrying material from North Korea labelled as cement."

The ship allegedly arrived in the Syrian port of Tartus and "the emerging consensus in Israel was that it delivered nuclear equipment," it said.

AFP

It would be impossible to bomb Tartus without someone knowing. Secretly bombing a target a hundred kilometers from Tartus would be possible. Of course, anyone with satellite imagery (Americans, Russians, Chinese, etc.) would know about it. The weather is always clear there.

But the only quasi confirmation has come from anonymous defence officials in Israel's main ally the United States, who have said that a "quick" strike was carried out to send a message to Damascus not to continue supporting Hezbollah, with which Israel fought a war last year.

AFP

Local residents claimed to have heard five or more planes above the Tal al-Abiad area on Syria's border with Turkey, about 100 miles north of the Syrian city of Rakka.

On 8 September Turkey asked Israel for clarification after finding two fuel tanks on its territory near the Syrian border allegedly belonging to Israeli warplanes. The jettisoned fuel tanks were discovered late on Thursday, 6 September, in the Turkish provinces of Hatay and Gaziantep, near the Syrian border.

Scotsmen

Israeli jets regularly fly along the Mediterranean coast of Lebanon and Syria. I think this might just be a show of force. The jettisoned fuel tanks would be a way of saying that teh Israelis can fly far.

[Bonam]

Would have been faster if we had access to Al Jazeera, I'll bet.

You can freely read Al Jazeera news online. Don't pretend like it's been savagely sensored out by the "certain part of society". Anyway, it wasn't on Al-Jazeera either.

I am not saying it's a good idea for Syria to have the bomb. I am saying it is a bad idea for Israel for have it.

Why? Do you see Israel using these bombs? Do you see Israel threatening to exterminate the Palestinians, drive the Lebanese into the Sea, or whipe Syria off the map? I don't. Israel having the bomb is an insurance policy. Places like Syria having the bomb, even if the government was sane enough not to use it themselves, would be too easy for terrorist groups to get their hands on.

[jbg]

So we have an unconfirmed nuclear arms race started because of something Israel did.

Once again, somebody has to suffer because of Israeli paranoia resulting from its own actions. What a surprise.

And Israel's done what, managed to survive without Arab (and your) permission?

[jbg]

Hilarious. So bombing a port out of the blue isn't terrorism? Aren't you the same guy who gets upset whenever Hezbollah or Hamas does something?

Isn't a port receiving nukes a bit more of a military target than a bus, or Sbarro's Pizza?

I put up posts like this just as a little reminder that when Israel throws up its hands and asks "Why do they hate us?" answers will be at the ready. The irony of a country that has never signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty going out and supposedly enforcing its provisions is just too rich.

And Israrel should surrender its existence to someone who believes in 72 virgins and rides a mad camel?

[Bonam]

I put up posts like this just as a little reminder that when Israel throws up its hands and asks "Why do they hate us?" answers will be at the ready.

"They" hate Israel for reasons that obviously go back way before this particular incident. In fact, "their" hatred of Israel goes back to before Israel had any military power, before Israel had a single airplane to bomb anything with, and even before it existed as a state. The modern hatred of Arabs for "Israel" has been there since Jews first started moving back to that area in the 1800s.

[M.Dancer]

Hilarious. So bombing a port out of the blue isn't terrorism? Aren't you the same guy who gets upset whenever Hezbollah or Hamas does something? I put up posts like this just as a little reminder that when Israel

This may come as a complete shock to you but Israel and Syria are in a legal state of war. Any action by Syria that may have security comsequence for Israel may provoke a response by Israel. It is not as you incorrectly assume, out of the blue, but a fact of their position as belligerants.

If the Syrians are stupid enough to provoke their enemy and as result suffer an ass kicking, who among us is too dour not to laugh?

Edited September 20, 2007 by M.Dancer

[M.Dancer]

I put up posts like this just as a little reminder that when Israel throws up its hands and asks "Why do they hate us?" answers will be at the ready.

Because as Jews, they have no right to defend themselves...yes you do put up a lot of reminders why they aren't like others.....

[Higgly]

This may come as a complete shock to you but Israel and Syria are in a legal state of war. Any action by Syria that may have security comsequence for Israel may provoke a response by Israel. It is not as you incorrectly assume, out of the blue, but a fact of their position as belligerants.

If the Syrians are stupid enough to provoke their enemy and as result suffer an ass kicking, who among us is too dour not to laugh?

So if Syria were to sponsor some sort of covert military action against Israel, then that would be OK?

[Higgly]

Because as Jews, they have no right to defend themselves...yes you do put up a lot of reminders why they aren't like others.....

Nonsense. Israel is tied with Syria in terms of its kill total. The difference of course is that Israel kills the citizens of other countries while Syria kills its own. Of course, since they're not Jews, they don't count, eh Dancer?

This "Poor us. We're Jews and everybody hates us." stuff is just getting pretty old. Israel is a brutal military state with a very bad record for murder and mayhem. Its largest murder counts come when it is grossly over-reacting to something - for example the 20 year invasion of Lebanon that spawned Hezbollah. Israel has a very bad habit of grossly over-reacting. Funny how it so often comes in Lebanon, a land Israel has coveted since the days of Ben Gurion.

You need to stop going to Daniel Pipes lectures and start brushing up on your history.

[Higgly]

"They" hate Israel for reasons that obviously go back way before this particular incident. In fact, "their" hatred of Israel goes back to before Israel had any military power, before Israel had a single airplane to bomb anything with, and even before it existed as a state. The modern hatred of Arabs for "Israel" has been there since Jews first started moving back to that area in the 1800s.

BS. Jews lived in peace in Palestine under the Turks. In fact they lived in peace all over the Arab world until Israel came into existence. And by the way, they were very laregly outnumbered. Where did you get this crap?