Sunday, September 09, 2007

More on the Elephant...Syria calling up Reserves

Continuing on our elephant in the room thread...

Totally unreported on Israeli media (as of 11:23 AM), the daily newspaper an-Nahar reports that the Syrian army is calling up some of its reserves. Assad says that his land [the Golan] is occupied, so he needs "peace to regain his land"...and when asked about Iran's call to wipe Israel off the globe, Assad replied, "This is freedom of speech. Any person in the world has the right to express himself freely. This is just an expression."

Sure.

Judge for yourselves:
Syria was reportedly calling its reserve forces as its president Bashar Assad said he is working for peace with Israel, denying charges of channeling Iranian weapons to Lebanon's Hizbullah.

The Daily newspaper an-Nahar, in an un-attributed report, said Syria has "called to service part of its reserve force."

Meanwhile, Assad told CBS: "We call for peace talks. We had peace talks 15 years ago … We work for peace with Israel … Our land is occupied and we need peace to regain our land."

He denied charges that Syria was channeling Iranian weapons to Hizbullah, saying Damascus supports the party "politically because they have a just cause."

"We have not allowed Iran to provide Hizbullah with Weapons and missiles. Where is the evidence for such a charge?" Assad asked.

He said charges regarding Syria's involvement in smuggling weapons to Hizbullah in Lebanon "have been made for a year. Intelligence services, probably from all over the world, operate on the Lebanese side of the border with Syria and the Israelis fly over Lebanon … I told them provide us with a single evidence that we have sent one missile to Hizbullah. These are fake claims."

Syria, Assad said, supports Hizbullah politically.

"We do not provide anybody with safe haven. They have their safe haven among the Lebanese people. This is the source of their strength," Assad said.

"As for support, this depends on the kind of support. We have good relations (with Hizbullah) and we support herm politically because they have a just cause," he added.

Assad also denied that Damascus airport is being used by terrorists as a springboard to fight the U.S. forces in Iraq.

"They enter illegally across the border and we've managed to arrest them," Assad stressed.

Asked to comment on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadenjad's call to wipe Israel off the Map, Assad said: "This is freedom of speech. Any person in the world has the right to express himself freely. This is just an expression."

Beirut, 09 Sep 07, 09:19
In the weeks before the Yom Kippur was in 1973, the IDF and Israeli government were aware of many signs indicating war.

Are we doomed to repeat history?

President Shimon Peres on history: "It is a great mistake to learn from history. There is nothing to learn from history."(M'aariv interview, 1993)



Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael

5 comments:

Olah Chadasha said...

I do not believe this is 1973 all over again. I actually believe this is 1967 all over again. More so, I believe we're ready, and, unlike how America viewed 1973 and threatened Israel against taking the first shot, President Bush has been practically BEGGING us to go to war with Syria. Totally different circumstances.... Except for that inept boob sitting in the Prime Minister's chair. But, if we look at this in the most cynical way possible, for Olmert to remotely retain any sort of political power, he has to come out on top here. A successful war where he can claim that his actions and lessons taken from last summer completely turned around the Israeli Army and transformed them back into the legendary Army from 1967 will result in him being able to retain his seat.

Besides, it's about to get too cold to go to war. Syria needs to make a decision within the next week. As of now, this looks more like forcing Israel's hand to sit at the "peace table" and give them what they want than a ploy to go to war. At this point, the question that Syria's asking Israel is this: Do you want the monkey off your back enough to fight for it, or are you just going to hand it over before things get ugly?

Let's not kid ourselves here. Syria has a lot at stake here. If Syria loses another war with Israel, I think Assad will be overthrown. There are a lot of pieces in play here.
-OC

Jameel @ The Muqata said...

OC: While Syria has a lot at stake, Israel has far more...because it's us. I agree that the window for war is till the beginning of October, but I doubt that Israel has the backbone to preemptively strike.

We have far more to lose.

And why do you think we're ready? We don't have any real defenses against the 10,000+ missiles waiting to be launched from Syria. Our only defense is a serious offensive attack, while will not happen under Olmert, even if Bush prods him.

Tsedek said...

A successful war

this exists? which war is worth more than human lives? i bet you don't have a son in the army?

Holy Hyrax said...

Olmert...eze ason al ha'am.

But then again, with the world as it is, anti-war, and all, I wonder if any PM would have the guts to do anything.

Anonymous said...

"A successful war

this exists?..."

Yeah, right, we should've just let the National Socialists in Germany just continue doing their thing. Sheesh!

Toda laKeil there were people's sons willing to go to war -- and to sacrifice their lives -- to put a stop to the Nazis.

-- MAOZ

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