February 14, 2018
Damascus warns Israel of ‘more surprises’ in Syria
A Syrian government official warned Israel on Tuesday (13th) of ‘more surprises’ in store for them in the wake of the downing of the F-16 jet that attacked Iranian positions in the country Saturday (10th).
“I Have full confidence the aggressor (Israel) will be greatly surprised because it thought this war – this war of attrition Syria has been exposed to for years – had made it incapable of confronting attacks,” assistant foreign minister Ayman Sussan said.
“God willing they will see more surprises whenever they try to attack Syria,” he added.
(ynetnew.com; reuters.com)
Lieberman on Syria: This is not the time to bark, but to bite
Israel “acted with determination” during Saturday’s (10th) military engagement with Syria Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Tuesday (13th).
“There are no restrictions, we do not accept any restrictions. We acted with determination and responded to every provocation. We will continue to defend our vital security interests. To paraphrase the well-known proverb, ‘This is not the time to bark but to bite.’ We will bite hard. But I hope we do not have to do it,” he said on a visit to the northern city of Kiryat Shmona.
The city is located 3 miles south of the Lebanese border with Israel.
(jpost.com)
US Secretary of Defense Mattis: “Israel doesn’t have to wait until their citizens are dying” to address the Iranian threat
Secretary of Defense James Mattis said Sunday (11th): “Everywhere we find trouble in the Middle East, you find the same thing behind it. Whether it be Yemen or Beirut, or in Syria and Iraq, you always find Iran engaged….If you live in the region, there’s no doubt what Iran is doing.”
“So when Syria, which has made no…excuse for what they’re doing alongside Iran, when they are providing throughout for Iran to give weapons, including more sophisticated weapons, to the Lebanese Hizbullah, Israel has an absolute right to defend itself. They don’t have to wait until their citizens are dying under attack before they actually address that issue.”
(defense.gov)
Israel destroyed a significant portion of Assad’s air defense network
Saturday’s (10th) military escalation between Israel and Iran in Syria shows that “Iran is at the helm of what remains of Assad’s military, and has supplanted any semblance of Syrian sovereignty,” said Oubai Shahbandar, a fellow at the New America Foundation.
“The Assad regime’s military suffered a major blow as a result of Iran’s military incursion. The Israeli air force counterattack destroyed a significant portion of Assad’s long-range SA-5 integrated air defense network outside Damascus.
(arabnews.com)
Iranian UAV a copy of U.S. Stealth Drone
The Iranian drone shot down by Israel on Saturday (10th) appears to be a new stealth model whose design was stolen from an American RQ-170 Sentinel UAV captured by Iran in 2011, according to aviation analysts.
(timesofisrael.com)
Iran’s stealth drone shot down in “new way”
The Iranian drone shot down by Israel on Saturday (10th) was a stealth drone specially designed to evade radar. Judging from the IDF-supplied video, Israel appears to have abandoned using radar-guided weapons to down the Iranian drone.
It appears that the drone was destroyed by a missile controlled with an electro-optical sensor, allowing the helicopter pilot to track the drone and kill it.
(atimes.com)
Syrian children urge Israel to bomb Assad regime
Middle East scholar Dr. Eddy Cohen was surprised Monday (12th) to find photographs of Syrian children holding a large sign requesting that the State of Israel continue attacking Syria’s Assad regime in retaliation for the regime’s killing of Syrian children, with a special reference to Cohen himself on the sign.
“Please attack Syria in revenge for the murder of our children by Assad – we are Syrians at peace, we love Dr. Eddy Cohen,” said the children’s sign.
On a personal note, Dr. Eddy Cohen is in contact with most of the Arab world and hears people’s cries from Syria, to Iran and Iraq and other countries. He said the sign from the children of Syria is a cry for help when everyone else has abandoned them.
(israelnn.com)
Palestinian diplomat: ‘we’ll continue teaching our kids to throw stones’
A Palestinian diplomat speaking to students at the United Nations headquarters in New York told them the Palestinians were proud to be throwing stones at Israeli forces and will continue teaching their children to do so.
In a recording obtained by Ynet, Abdallah Abushawesh, who serves as a senior adviser to the UN’s Development Group and as a member of the Palestinian UN mission, is heard saying in broken English,”We are very clever and very expert at throwing stones. We are very proud to do that. We will not stop to learn our kids (to do that).”
(ynetnews.com)
Iran accuses West of using lizards for nuclear spying
The former chief-of-staff of Iran’s armed forces said Tuesday (13th) that Western spies had used lizards to “attract atomic waves” and spy on his country’s nuclear program.
It was the latest in a long line of incidents of Western countries, including Israel, being accused of deploying secret agents from the animal kingdom.
Hassan Firuzabadi, senior military adviser to supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei, was responding to questions from local media on the recent arrest of Western environmentalists who spied on Iran.
(timesofisrael.com)
Terrorist convicted for stabbing 2 police officers in Jerusalem
The Jerusalem District Court has convicted 21-year-old terrorist Ayman Kurad from a village north of Jerusalem on two counts of attempted murder and a knife-carrying offense.
Kurad was convicted of stabbing two police officers at Herod’s Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City in September 2016. The attack left policewoman Tzipi Yaakovian paralyzed. The other officer’s wounds were moderate.
(israelnn.com)
