Wednesday, January 30, 2013

30-Jan-13: Were there air attacks on the Syria/Lebanon border overnight?

Sign on the Beirut to Damascus highway, some kilometres
north of the border: a 2007 snap [Image Source]
Reuters put out a report in the past hour saying Israeli forces attacked a target on the Syrian-Lebanese border overnight, quoting a western diplomat and a security source who declined to be named.

Reuters' sources
"had no further information about what might have been hit or where precisely the attack happened" owing to the "sensitivity of the issue". 
Reuters says this is happening at a time of "growing concern in the Jewish state over the fate of Syrian chemical and conventional weapons".

It also says the Lebanese army reported a heavy presence of Israeli jets over its territory throughout Tuesday/Wednesday night. Israeli sources, according to Reuters, said Tuesday that Syria’s advanced conventional weapons would represent as much of a threat to Israel as its chemical arms should they fall into the hands of Syrian rebel forces or Hezbollah guerrillas based in Lebanon.

The IDF's response: “We do not comment on reports of this kind.”

The Jerusalem Post has a similar report, quoting a western diplomat (as Reuters did) and three regional security sources. It says Lebanon reported three overflights by Israel in its airspace during the night. The Western diplomat , asked about the strike, said "something has happened", without elaborating.

Stay tuned.

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