Posted on 04/08/2008 2:20:57 AM PDT by maquiladora
The London based Arabic publication, al-Quds al-Arabi, reported Tuesday that Syria is delaying the publication of its report on the assassination of Hizbullah leader Imad Mugniyah, which was scheduled for Sunday, due to tension and fears generated in both Syria and Lebanon by the wide-scale Home Front Command drill taking place in Israel.
Publication of this report, senior Damascus officials have indicated, could do serious damage to Syria as it would expose the involvement of Arab intelligence officials, as well as that of Syrian, Palestinian and Lebanese personnel in the Mugniyah assassination.
Lebanese sources close to Hizbullah noted that Syrian security personnel have managed to track down the owners of two vehicles involved in the assassination and have managed to identify them.
Syria thus fears that publication of the report at this juncture will lead to retaliation against Arab officials which collaborated with Israel to assassinate Mugniyah, thus giving Israel cause to wage an all-out war against Syria, Hizbullah and perhaps even Iran. Damascus, Syrian officials noted, does not want to give Israel any grounds to wage war against Lebanon or enter into a region-wide conflict, for which - as the current home front drill indicates - Israel is actively preparing
Fayssal Mekdad, Syria's deputy foreign minister commented on the Israeli drill, and stated Tuesday that “if Syria is the target for this drill, Israel ought to know that Damascus is carefully monitoring its actions, and is also preparing to contend with Israel’s military maneuvers and machinations.”
Syria, noted Mekdad in an interview with Syrian newspaper al-Thawra, is prepared for all contingencies: Be they a return to the negotiating table or armed conflict. “These Israeli maneuvers are a governmental ploy to regain the public’s trust and to demonstrate that the government is implementing the recommendations of the Winograd Commission vis-a-vie the IDF.”
“Arab countries, which are ostensibly the target of this drill,” noted Mekdad, “are also preparing for warfare, and are familiarizing themselves with Israel’s military mechanizations and strategies. If Israel thinks that this drill will persuade Arab nations that they can be defeated in future warfare, it is sadly mistaken.”
Lebanese newspaper, as-Safir, has reported that Israel’s Home Front Command drill, entitled “Turning Point 2”, has caused massive disruption in the Lebanese cellular phone system. Lebanon will protest this blatant Israeli hindrance, security officials stated.
ping
That report will never see publication....it implicates parts of the Syrian regime.
Something got turned on.....shades of the Sept 6th raid.
I was thinking the same thing.
It takes some circuitous “reasoning” to claim that releasing a report that blames insiders and Israel would somehow give _Israel_ a reason to attack...
Whatever.
I have to raise my voice now claiming that “Turning Point 2” has been disrupting my cell phone communications now from NY to Ohio... They must have a powerful system...
It’s good to see the Syrians spooked out of all reason, but they really didn’t have far to go to get there in the first place.
...the world misses Assad, Sr.
His dentist son just isn’t up to the task.
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