BENJAMIN NETANYAHU THREATENS MORE ISRAELI STRIKES ON SYRIA

Daily Telegraph, London, on May 19 2013 reported that Benjamin Netanyahu raised the prospect of further Israeli strikes on Syria today, amid claims that Bashar al-Assad’s regime has installed high-tech weapons aimed at hitting Tel Aviv. Excerpts below:

The Israeli prime minister said his government would act “with determination” to prevent arms being transferred from Syria to Hizbollah, the Lebanese Shia group, which last week claimed it would soon acquire “game changing” weapons to attack Israel.

“The government of Israel is working responsibly and with determination and sagacity, in order to ensure the supreme interest of the State of Israel… to… prevent the transfer of advanced weapons to Hizbollah and to [other] terrorist elements,” Mr Netanyahu said at the beginning of the weekly cabinet meeting. “We will work to ensure Israelis’ security interest in the future as well.”

The Israeli air force is widely assumed to have been responsible for two raids this month that targeted weapons stocks in Syria supposedly destined for Hizbollah..

Mr Netanyahu said the Middle East was in the midst of “one of its most sensitive periods in decades with the escalating upheaval in Syria at its centre”.

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The Sunday Times reported that the missiles – which can carry a half-ton pay load – had been monitored by Israeli reconnaissance satellites.

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Tags: benjamin netanyahu, daily telegraph london, prospect of further Israeli strikes on Syria, reconnaissance satellites