ALLEGED ANOTHER CHEMICAL ATTACK YESTERDAY BY ASSAD

RECENT OTHER SYRIAN NEWS
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2013/08/america-might-bomb-syria-quick-but-will.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2013/08/syria-threatens-surprises-for-western.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2013/08/500-syrian-scud-missles-aimed-at-israel.html

THERE SAYING BY THURSDAY OR SATURDAY.THE US AND UK WILL ATTACK SYRIA.

20 hurt in Syrian gas attack Tuesday, opposition says

Strike carried out near site of last week’s lethal chemical attack; rebels also allege white phosphorus used in Aleppo

By Michal Shmulovich August 28, 2013, 10:09 am 0-The times of Israel

The Syrian opposition on Wednesday charged that regime forces had unleashed a chemical attack on civilians in Damascus overnight Tuesday. At least 20 people were asphyxiated from toxic gases, but there were no immediate fatalities, Al-Jazeera reported.The rebels said the attack was carried out in Jubara, near the northeastern Damascus suburb where a chemical weapons strike last Wednesday killed hundreds.

One doctor in the area said he had received six patients who had severe difficulty breathing and pain in their eyes, both symptoms typical of a chemical attack, Walla News reported.Meanwhile, an explosion went off Wednesday morning near Syrian President Bashar Assad’s palace in the al-Muhajiroun area in Damascus. There were no immediate details about injuries.Al-Jazeera also reported that regime forces used white phosphorus or a substance they referred to as “napalm” in an overnight attack near Aleppo, leaving 12 dead and injuring at least 50.The Arabic news site said the dead were university students. They showed severe burns and other skin wounds, according to the Syrian Media Center.Last Wednesday, a massive chemical attack in eastern Damascus killed some 355 people, according to the group Doctors Without Borders.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday there was “undeniable” evidence of a large-scale chemical attack likely launched by Damascus. While US President Barack Obama hasn’t settled on how to respond to the attack, according to the White House, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Tuesday that US forces are ready to act on any order by the president.The Arab League also threw its weight behind calls for punitive action, blaming the Syrian government for the attack and calling for those responsible to be brought to justice.British Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday recalled Parliament to hold an emergency vote Thursday on his country’s response. It is unlikely that any international military action would begin before then.Russia, Syria and Iran have warned of grave consequences should action be taken.

Russia Diplomat Labels The West 'Monkey With Hand Grenade'

Russian Deputy Prime Minister finds a creative way to describe the west's diplomatic skills, ahead of attack in Syria.-By Kochava Rozenbaum-First Publish: 8/28/2013, 9:54 AM-Israelnationalnews

Moscow-Flash 90

Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Dmitry Rogozin, compared western nations' behavior vis-a-vis the Islamic world to a “monkey with a hand grenade,” according to a report by Russian news agency, Ria Novosti.
His short statement was communicated in the Russian language via his Twitter page on Tuesday; Rogozin has yet to elaborate or explain his comparison.Rogozin, formerly Russia’s ambassador to NATO, is now in charge of the defense and space industry as Deputy Prime Minister, a post to which he was appointed in 2011. Ria Novosti writes that Rogozin has tweeted in the past that "Anglo Saxons" plan to attack Syrian government forces.The United States is planning a limited strike in Syria that would “deter and degrade” Bashar al-Assad's military without dramatically altering the balance of power between his forces and those of the rebels, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal  on Tuesday, which cited senior defense officials. Britain, France and Turkey, are also considering an attack on Assad’s forces over allegations that the Syrian government used chemical weapons against civilians in Syrian-rebel-controlled areas. Russia has defended its ally, calling the charges “unproven.”

Report: Assad is in Iran

Lebanese newspaper says Bashar al-Assad and his family arrived in Tehran for talks on possible U.S. Strike.

By Gil Ronen-First Publish: 8/28/2013, 8:55 AM-Israelnationalnews

Assad on state television channel Al-Ikhbariya-AFP photo

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and members of his family are in Tehran, after they arrived at Homeini Airport in the presidential plane Tuesday night, sources in Iran's foreign ministry told the website of Lebanese newsaper a-Nahar. The news did not receive confirmation from other official sources.
Daily newspaper Israel Hayom, which cites the report, notes that a-Nahar is considered close to Hezbollah as well as to the leadership in Syria and Iran. According to the a-Nahar report, Assad was also accompanied by senior members of his government. They are to hold discussions with senior Iranians regarding the Syrian response to a possible U.S. strike on Syria, which is expected to take place soon.
A senior official in the Syrian army warned the United States and its allies on Tuesday that waging a full-scale war on Syria would be reciprocated with an immediate attack on Tel Aviv."If Damascus comes under attack, Tel Aviv will be targeted too and a full-scale war against Syria will actually issue a license for attacking Israel," the Syrian army source told the Iranian Fars news agency."Rest assured that if Syria is attacked, Israel will also be set on fire and such an attack will, in turn, engage Syria's neighbors," he added.
The source also warned the U.S. and other Western states that if Syria grows weak, “certain irresponsible groups” will be formed which will endanger Israel's security.

Syrian officials’ ‘panicked calls’ prove culpability, US says

Information pointing to Assad also includes Israeli intel showing regime moved chemical weapons to site of attack

By Haviv Rettig Gur and AP August 28, 2013, 6:49 am Updated: August 28, 2013, 9:01 am 5-The Times of Israel

Last Wednesday’s chemical attack in an eastern suburb of Damascus that killed hundreds caused panic within the ranks of the Assad regime and has been raising questions in the West about the Assad regime’s control over its own nonconventional stockpiles, according to US intelligence sources.In the immediate aftermath of the attack, the US intercepted panicked phone calls between defense officials in Damascus and the commander of a chemical weapons unit demanding details about the strike, Foreign Policy reported early Wednesday.The report comes just days after a report in a major Germany publication to the effect that an IDF intelligence unit had listened in on similar conversations between senior Syrian officials discussing the chemical attack.According to the report in the German magazine Focus, a squad specializing in wire-tapping within the IDF’s 8200 signals intelligence unit intercepted a phone call between high-ranking regime officials regarding the use of chemical agents at the time of the attack. The German report cited an ex-Mossad official saying the intercepted conversation proved the Assad regime was responsible for the attack.An American intelligence official, speaking to Foreign Policy, noted that while the phone calls intercepted by US intelligence proved that regime forces had perpetrated the attack, they also raised disturbing questions about the regime’s control over its large stockpiles of chemical weapons — considered one of the largest in the world — including its arsenal of deadly nerve gas of the type thought to have been used in last week’s attack.“It’s unclear where control lies,” the official was quoted as saying. “Is there just some sort of general blessing to use these things? Or are there explicit orders for each attack?” The official did not mince words regarding the American assessment of the wisdom of the strike. “We don’t know exactly why it happened. We just know it was pretty fucking stupid.” The official repeated the comment later in the report, saying of the attack: “It’s horrible, it’s stupid.”Despite Washington’s certainty over the source of the attack, many US intelligence officials supported letting the UN investigation of the incident run its course before the US follows through on recent threats to conduct punitive strikes against the Assad regime. But the official suggested a US attack was extremely likely. “Whatever happens in the next few days — they get what they deserve.”

US officials’ belief that the regime perpetrated the attack is not based only on the phone interceptions, the official indicated. US weapons experts confirmed that the dozens of videos produced by rebel groups showing victims of the strike were consistent with the aftermath of a nerve agent attack. In addition, missiles used in the attack were not destroyed upon landing, suggesting that their warheads were filled with something other than conventional explosives.US intelligence officials told the Washington Post on Wednesday that they had established a timeline for the attack. A report on the strike, which Obama administration officials said would prove it was committed by the regime, is expected to be released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence as early as Thursday.An American official cited by AP said the report would include signals intelligence — information gathered from intercepted communications. The report would also be based on the number of reported victims, the symptoms of those injured or killed, and eyewitness accounts. The officials who offered the details to press outlets insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the internal deliberations.Officials told the Wall Street Journal that evidence would include satellite imagery. Arab diplomats were also quoted by the paper to the effect that a crucial piece of the intelligence puzzle was provided by Israel, whose spy services discovered that chemical weapons of the type used in the attack were moved in advance to the site of the strike. The report said the Israeli intelligence had been verified by the CIA.On Tuesday, Vice President Joe Biden said there was no doubt that President Bashar Assad’s government was responsible for the heinous use of chemical weapons. Biden’s comments make him the highest-ranking US official to finger the Syrian regime in the attack.Biden said the Syrian government is the only actor in the two-year civil war that possesses and can deliver chemical weapons. He echoed Kerry in saying Assad has blocked UN investigators from the site of the attack and has been bombing it for days.The United Nations said Tuesday that its team of chemical weapons investigators in Syria had delayed a second trip to investigate the alleged attack by one day for security reasons. On Monday, the team came under sniper fire.While President Barack Obama hasn’t settled on how to respond to the attack, according to the White House, America’s top defense planner said Tuesday that US forces are ready to act on any order by the president.

The Arab League also threw its weight behind calls for punitive action, blaming the Syrian government for the attack and calling for those responsible to be brought to justice.British Prime Minister David Cameron recalled Parliament to hold an emergency vote Thursday on his country’s response. It is unlikely that any international military action would begin before then.Russia, Syria and Iran have warned of grave consequences should action be taken.Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday that the West should be under no illusion that bombing Syrian military targets would help end the violence in Syria, a staunch ally of Moscow, and he pointed to the volatile situations in Iraq and Libya that he said resulted from foreign military intervention.Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said his country would use “all means available” to counter an attack.“We have the means to defend ourselves and we will surprise everyone,” he said.If Obama decides to order a strike against Syria, it would most likely involve sea-launched cruise missile attacks on Syrian military and communications targets. The US Navy has four destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean Sea within range of targets inside Syria. The US also has warplanes in the region.In Cyprus, Defense Minister Fotis Fotiou said naval traffic in the eastern Mediterranean was very heavy with vessels from “all the major powers.” He also said Cypriot authorities were planning to deal with a possible exodus of foreign nationals from Syria.The prospect of US military intervention in Syria was running into fierce opposition from some members of Congress. A growing chorus of Republican and Democratic lawmakers demanded that Obama seek congressional authorization for any strikes against the Assad regime.

Charles Heyman, a former British officer who edits The Armed Forces of the UK, said the lack of a UN Security Council resolution authorizing the use of force against the Syrian government greatly complicates matters for the West. He said that may make it difficult for Cameron to win parliamentary backing.

“It’s clear the governments want some form of military operation, but if the Security Council doesn’t recommend it, then the consensus is that it’s plainly illegal under international law,” Heyman said. “The only legal way to go to war is in self-defense and that claim is difficult to make.”Russia, a permanent member of the Security Council, has steadfastly opposed any international action against Syria.Italian Foreign Minister Emma Bonino said her country would not back any military action against Syria unless it was authorized by the Security Council — even though it considers a chemical attack to be a war crime.German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said Monday that if the Syrian government were proven to have been behind the gas attack, then Germany would support “consequences.” But with less than four weeks until national elections, it is unlikely Germany would commit any forces.Center-left opposition parties have rejected military intervention without UN proof that the Syrian government was behind the attack. And a senior member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party said the German military was already at “the breaking point” due to commitments in Afghanistan and elsewhere.Support for some sort of international military response is likely to grow if it is confirmed that Assad’s regime was responsible.In a veiled allusion to difficulties in getting any strong action through the Security Council, France’s President Francois Hollande said that “international law must evolve with the times. It cannot be a pretext to allow mass massacres to be perpetrated.”

He went on to invoke France’s recognition of “the responsibility to protect civilian populations” that the UN General Assembly approved in 2005.Obama discussed Syria on Tuesday with Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada, a NATO ally, and in recent days with Cameron, Hollande and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Rush for Gas Masks at Distribution Centers

IDF pleased with public alertness but concerned masks will run out soon.

By Gil Ronen-First Publish: 8/28/2013, 12:09 PM-Israelnationalnews

Home Front call center-Arutz Sheva

Numerous citizens were standing in line to obtain gas masks Wednesday as media warned that a US attack on Syrian targets was imminent, and as Bashar al-Assad's regime warned that it would respond to such an attack by targeting Israel.
The IDF expressed satisfaction at the fact that so many citizens are finally getting masks, but was also concerned that the national stockpile of gas masks will soon be depleted.Post offices, where the masks are distributed, and Home Front Command offices, were reportedly inundated with phone calls from citizens wishing to obtain masks.MK Eli Yishai (Shas), who chairs a Knesset subcommittee on preparedness for emergency situations, convened the committee Wednesday. He warned that because of the Finance Ministry's decisions, Israeli factories for production of gas masks will close down in October of 2014. He said that the program for protecting Israel's home front in emergencies received absolutely no funding this year. In previous, years, he said, it received only 200 million shekels annually, although it required 350 millionto do its job properly.