Report: Israel threatens to send Syria back to Stone Age

According to report in Sunday Times, Israeli minister said if Hezbollah dares to attack with ballistic missiles, responsibility will fall on Syria's shoulders, Israel will mercilessly attack strategic targets. 'Assad playing with fire,' says minister, according to British paper

After Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman threatened that Syrian President Bashar Assad will lose his power should he provoke Israel, recent reports of advanced missiles being transferred from Syria to Hezbollah have led to more serious threats being made.


"We will return Syria back to the Stone Age," an Israeli minister was quoted as saying in British paper, the Sunday Times. The paper reported that this sentiment was communicated to Damascus via a third party.


According to the report, the minister, speaking off the record, warned last week that Israel will do so by "crippling its power stations, ports, fuel storage and every bit of strategic infrastructure if Hezbollah dare to launch ballistic missiles against us."


The reason behind increasing tensions in the Israel-Syria arena broke last week in a report in Kuwaiti newspaper, al-Rai, that the Syrian military trained members of Hezbollah in how to fire advanced Scud ballistic missiles. In response, it has been reported that Israel directed pointed warnings to Syria via Turkey and Qatar that it will attack targets in Syria and Lebanon if the missiles reach Hezbollah.


On this backdrop, the Syrian minister in Washington was summoned for a warning.


Washington has voiced contradictory viewpoints on the Scud issue. The State Department reported that they are "very concerned" by reports of the transfer of advanced weaponry to Hezbollah. However, over the weekend, senior administration officials expressed doubt as to whether the Scuds really made their way across the border Syria-Lebanon border.


According to the report in the Sunday Times, Israel "now regards Hezbollah as a division of the Syrian army and that reprisals against Syria will be fast and devastating."


As such, Israel has decided to hold Syria directly responsible for Hezbollah's activities following intelligence assessments that Beirut has lost control over the strengthening Shi'ite organization. Until now, Israel has said that Lebanon will be responsible for any attack made by Hezbollah on Israel.


“We’ll not hesitate to attack Syria if our national security is in jeopardy,” said the same Israeli minister. “Assad knows that, and he’s playing with fire.”

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3877404,00.html

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Israel fires flares over southern Lebanon
Israeli troops fired at least two flares over southern Lebanon late on Saturday, forcing the Lebanese army to go on alert.

The incident took place as around 50 villagers from the southern town of Abbasiyeh crossed the so-called Blue Line border separating Lebanon and Israel after removing the barbed wire set up three days ago by the Israeli army, the Lebanese army said in a statement.

Last week Lebanon accused Israel of crossing the Blue Line, which was initially demarcated to correspond with the line of the Israeli military's forced withdrawal from Lebanon in May 2000.

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