Free Republic

(CNN) - Alleged Israeli airstrikes in central Syria on Sunday night struck a facility claimed by the West to have produced chemical weapons, according to a local resident. The strikes killed at least 18 people and injured 37 others, state-run Syrian news agency SANA said Monday, citing the director of Masyaf National Hospital. SANA reported that there had been several explosions in the central Tartous and Hama governorates, including in the Masyaf countryside. A Masyaf resident, who requested anonymity for security reasons, described to CNN hearing several explosions late Sunday night. “About half an hour before midnight, multiple airstrikes targeted...

June 11, 2004: The United States military has already created combat laser weapons that work, and is now hustling to get some of these designs ready for troop use. In a program created by Congress, as a way to force the services to pool money for laser research and development, the U.S. Defense Department's High Energy Laser Joint Technology office (JTO) expects to demonstrate three different 25 kilowatt solid-state laser system designs by December. Solid state lasers only require electrical power to operate, so they are much more desirable for battlefield applications than chemical-based lasers (which consume exotic and corrosive...