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Israel Assassinates Notorious "Terrorist" In Airstrike On Damascus
Earlier this month, in “Israel Conducts Secret Training Exercises Against Russian Air Defense Systems,” we highlighted a Reuters report which suggested that Israel has been conducting tests against an S-300 missile system in Crete.
“Israel has quietly tested ways of defeating an advanced air-defence system that Russia has deployed in the Middle East and that could limit Israel's ability to strike in Syria or Iran,” Reuters wrote, adding that “a Russian S-300 anti-aircraft system, sold to Cyprus 18 years ago but now located on the Greek island of Crete, had been activated during joint drills between the Greek and Israeli air forces in April-May this year.”
This is significant for a number of reasons.
First, Russia is set to supply Iran with S-300s. The deal - worth some $800 million - was signed in 2007, before being mothballed by Russia three years later due to international sanctions. Putin unfroze it in April. As BBC wrote last month, “Israel and the US fear the missiles could be used to protect Iranian nuclear sites from air strikes.”
The IAF test against the S-300 is also notable due to Russia’s deployment of S-400 missile defense systems in Syria following Turkey’s brazen move to shoot down a Russian Su-24 near the border late last month. Here’s what we said three weeks ago:
When it comes to battling Hezbollah, there’s no question that the Russian and Iranian presence is hindersome. Israel can’t, after all, simply fly over Latakia and bomb Iran’s militias as Hezbollah is effectively operating as Moscow’s ground force. Additionally, the Russians are now hyper-sensitive about potentially hostile aircraft which is why The Kremlin sent the Moskva to the coast and deployed the S-400s.
Around the time Russia began flying sorties from Latakia at the end of September, Putin met with Netanyahu in an effort to ensure that there would be no "accidents" in the skies above Syria. Predictably, the Israeli PM reiterated concerns about advanced weaponry falling into the hands of Hezbollah.
Needless to say, this is a decisively delicate situation for the Israelis. There's no question that Hezbollah will be better armed now that they are effectively operating as a Russian ground unit. Moscow's alliance with Tehran (and hence with Hezbollah) is a thorny issue but Netanyahu isn't particularly keen on antagonizing The Kremlin.
Officially, Israel is "neutral" when it comes to the conflict in Syria, but make no mistake, there's nothing "neutral" about Netanyahu's stance on Iran, the Quds, and Hezbollah.
"What is our policy in Syria? We say: We do not intervene. We have an opinion as to what we would like to be there. But we are not in a position nor do we have the status, for sensitive reasons, to say we are in favor of Assad or against Assad," defense minister Moshe Ya'alon said in November. He also claimed that Israel had armed no side in the civil war.
Whether that's true of not is certainly up for debate, but when it comes to Israel and Syria's five-year old civil war, the question has always been how Netanyahu intends to reconcile Tehran's powerplay with Israel's desire to check Iranian influence anywhere and everywhere it manifests itself. As noted above, Russia's alliance with Iran has complicated this immeasurably. Indeed, the tests agains the S-300 appear to be (in part anyway) an effort to determine whether the IAF could hit Hezbollah in Syria without getting shot down by the Russians.
On Sunday, we got the latest bit of evidence which supports the notion that Netanyahu's trigger finger may be getting itchy the closer Hezbollah and Iran get to cementing control of Syria's major urban centers in the western part of the country. As mutliple wires reported earlier today, infamous Lebanese militant Samir Qantar was killed in Damascus by a suspected Israeli airstrike on Saturday evening.
“At 10:15 p.m. on Saturday December 19, Zionist warplanes struck a residential building in Jaramana city in Damascus countryside. The dean of liberated detainees from Israeli prisons, brother Mujahid Samir Kuntar was martyred along with several Syrian citizens in the strike," Hezbollah said, in a statement.
As Reuters notes, Kuntar was "jailed in Israel for his part in a 1979 raid in Israel that killed four people [and] was repatriated to Lebanon in 2008 in a prisoner swap with Hezbollah, which he is then believed to have joined."
As CNN recounts, "an Israeli court sentenced him to 542 years. He was age 16 at the time of the attack. Among the Israelis killed was a 4-year-old girl and her father."
?? ??? ??? ???? ??????
???? ??? ?????? ???????? ?????? ??????? ???? ??????? ??? ?????? ??????? ?? ???? ????? ????... https://t.co/l3D0SQOadT
— Bassam Alkantar (@balkantar) December 20, 2015
Here's an account of Kuntar's crime from The Times of Israel:
A Lebanese Druze, Kuntar became infamous for a brutal 1979 raid from Lebanon in which he helped kidnap an Israeli family from Nahariya, then smashed the head of a four-year-old Israeli girl, Einat Haran, with his rifle butt, killing her. Three other Israelis, including her father, Danny Haran, were killed in the attack. Kuntar was 16 at the time, a member of the Palestine Liberation Front.
He spent 29 years in an Israeli prison before being traded to Hezbollah in 2008 in exchange for the bodies of IDF soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser. After that, he took on a senior role in the group, was honored by then-Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and by Syrian President Bashar Assad, and helped to organize Syrian Druze on the Golan Heights and elsewhere into terror cells charged with carrying out attacks against Israel.
ToI goes on to say "Kuntar had an apartment in the building that was targeted and he had been in the building for at least 12 hours" at the time of the attack. Here's a video of the aftermath:
#BREAKING: #Damascus: New video of the The damaged building in Jaramana were Samir #Quntar was assassinated pic.twitter.com/FBcBSjJxrC
— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) December 20, 2015
The attack was reportedly carried out from within Israel, but Israeli officials declined to confirm the strike. "Israel has formally kept out of Syria's civil war which started almost five years ago but has bombed Hezbollah targets there without publicly acknowledging these sorties," Reuters notes. The National Defence Forces in Jaramana, an Assad support network, said "two Israeli warplanes carried out the raid which targeted the building in Jaramana and struck the designated place with four long-range missiles."
"I am not confirming or denying anything to do with this matter, but it is good that people like Samir Qantar will not be part of our world," Israeli Housing and Construction Minister Yoav Gallant said on Sunday. Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, who Reuters notes has “accused Qantar of overseeing covert Hezbollah entrenchment on the Golan Heights" said the following: “He set up a broad terror network on the Golan, and it is good that he returned his soul to his creator."
Right. So Israel assassinated him, plain and simple. The question now is what Hassan Nasrallah plans to do about it.
"Kuntar is considered an important symbol for Hezbollah as was evidenced by the much-attended ceremony in which he was welcomed in Beirut in 2008 after he was released from prison in Israel in a prisoner swap, by his personal audience with Nasrallah and his meeting with then-Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad," the Jerusalem Post says.
Here's more from The Post:
In addition to Kuntar, Farho Sha'alan, his partner in his terror enterprise and additional field commanders were also killed. In the last two years, the pair established a frontline group called the "National Syrian Opposition in the Golan," backed by Hezbollah, the Quds Force and Bashar Assad's Syrian Intelligence.
The belief is that even if Nasrallah and the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, General Qassem Suleimani (who is responsible for operating Hezbollah) decide that they cannot let the attack go unanswered, it is not in their interest to do so on the Israel-Lebanon border, because Israel would respond with great force.
Actually no. It is "not in their interest to do so" because Hezbollah and Iran won't want to open a two front war.
Of course the most amusing thing about all of this is that both sides accuse the other of being "terrorists". Kuntar's actions (both past and present) are branded "terrorism" by Israel while Iranian Foreign Minstry spokesperson Hossein Jaber Ansari said the strike represents "the most dangerous form of state terrorism."
If Hezbollah and the Quds do indeed decide to retaliate, it will be interesting to see how far Israel is willing to go in terms of hitting back. Russia is fully aware of Israel's desire to hit Hezbollah targets and as long as that doesn't hinder Moscow's efforts to restore the Assad government, The Kremlin will likely look the other way. However, if Kuntar's assassination leads to a wider conflict between Israel, Iran, and Hezbollah and that conflict spills over from Lebanon into Syria, Putin may decide it's time to adopt a less conciliatory position vis-a-vis the Israelis.
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Every loser needs an excuse for seeing their buddies get vaporized, otherwise you losers would just give up. You have to face facts and admit the fact that the Jews have just ended another muslim death dealer yet again, though.
May the terrorist deaths continue until you realize how hopelessly outmatched you are and you crawl back into the pigsty.
ok settle down. no1 is denying that u boys got this guy. all i'm saying is you only exist because of pappa USSA. thats it. all ur tech and finances come straight from there. ur permanently attached to the american penis. and ur actually bragging about it.
yes we get it. you were on ur knees for quite some time and the americunts threw u some toys to play with. great. real accomplishment.
More nonsense. The US gives arms to the Saudis and they can't even handle those yokels in Yemen. The US gives money and arms to Jordan, Egypt, and they can hardly hold their countries together.
Israel has fought the savages off for decades and now... frankly, they are scared to death of them. The best they can do is sponsor some lurking terrorist cells to kill innocent people.
The world you live in is pathetic and warped by hatred of a group that has and will continue to kick murdrous regimes back down intot sewer again and again,
wrong again. i cant possibly be hateful towards the joos because i am part jooy myself. but im also not a shmuck. i base my decisions on facts.
Fact #1: all of ur tech comes from USSA. Including the tanks / air power u used to defeat the arabs back in the 60's (with some english / european crap. blah blah blah). I mean wtf bro. just stop lying to urself. google this shit. literally, all ur crap comes from papa USSA. u cant deny that the sky is blue. it is just a fact. i dont even know what else to say here. im at a loss.
(pls dont talk about the Merkava or some other crap, as here u just updated existing designs and technologies that were, again, given to you by papa USSA)
Fact #2: Your goofy asses were saved from annihilation during WW2 by the same people you are now nitpicking at. no loyalty. typical...
Fact #3: You are occupying other people's land as evidenced by UN's position on the matter (and actual historical facts).
You absolutely don't know what you are talking about or are a straight-up liar, thinking the latter. The israeli air force has jets designed by Israelis: the Kfir, and the Lavi. They also have French jets in their air force.
Regarding Israel. The squatters got kicked out. They can go live with their brothers in other muslim countries. Oh yeah, they don't want these loser any more than any other country does.
Regarding WWII, how can you say you are part Jewish and refer to the holocaust as an extinction of "your goofy asses". You need psychological help. I stand by what I said about your warped world of hate.
dude. i hate to do this to you...
The Israel Aircraft Industries Kfir (Hebrew: ???????, "Lion Cub") is an Israeli-built all-weather, multirole combat aircraft based on a modified French Dassault Mirage 5 airframe, with Israeli avionics and an Israeli-built version of the General Electric J79 turbojet engine
Translation: you took a french jet and an american engine. put them together. and added some israeli decals... i can go on bro. but i'm stopping here. and please lets not get stuck in the mud and start debating details or other trivial stuff.
you talk about kicking human beings out of their lands as if its a non-event. wtf. seriously? answer this question with simple biological facts. are these arabs not human beings as you are?
goofy asses because of the crazy jewish present day stance. that its ok to kick people out of their lands and turn a blind eye to idiots killing russians (the same people that saved your familial lineage from extinction). yes im part jew, and yes, ww2 was nothing short of a tragic genocide. but im not looking to repeat it. and i will always be grateful to the russians.
to be any other way is crazy (to repeat the same genocide now with the palestinians and other arabs is INSANE. to turn a blind eye to russians being murdered is equally INSANE) but yet you and your friends are ok with both. how can this be? again. there's no hate here my man. just facts. nothing but facts. no matter how many times u try and swindle me otherwise. i got my eye on your jewiness, remember, it takes 1 to know 1. lol.
oy vey
"part jooy"
I like that.
Of course you are right. This attack says nothing about Putin's S-400s or Assad's defenses. Jaramara is 20 miles due East of the Lebanon-Syria border in the southern part of Lebanon and 60 miles from the Mediterranean. In their prior attacks, Israel came up the Mediterranean and flew across Lebanon to Damascus. Putin never claimed that there was a no-fly zone in Lebanon.
All that may be beside the point anyway. Immediately after Turkey shot down the Russian bomber, Putin and Netanyahoo went into lengthy consultation about foreign jets over western Syria.
And other topics as well. Topics that you and I can have no idea about. At least until yesterday.
Recent news tells us that the West has softened somehat about when Assad has to leave office. It's no longer yesterday. It's moved to tomorrow.
Who knows, it may move further into the future.
Did Assad and Putin give up Kuntar for Israel's cooperation in Syria's battle with ISIS and the Moderate Opposition? If so what ia the quid pro quo?
It's our vanity that lets us think we know what's going on between nations and their leaders. Sometimes we have to wait a month or two to find out what really happened.
you think?
So they have their sights set on Washington.
Interesting.
Are you talking about 6 million Kike loser? Even if it wasn't 6 million I'm sure it was at least .6 million.
Nope, I don’t hate Jews, especially my like-minded Jewish friends. However, when I see Israeli officials (and countless Jewish progressives/Marxists) promoting muslim migration to the rest of the Western world, it gives more reason to question our allegiance. Why is nationalism and wanting to defend your people and your heritage okay for Jews but not Christians? That is what you meant by “stormfronters”, is it not?
I do have a beef with Islam as the fundamentalist and faithful are not compatible with western “free” societies and constitutional government. For the same reason I have a beef with those that would promote divide and conquer policies to dismantle freedoms and constitutional protections. With the world turning increasingly ugly you might want to reconsider pissing on the Christians Israel needs to survive. Promoting division and conflict for your allies is likely to bite you on the ass.
Anybody see any difference between an Islamofacist extremist and a Judeofacist extremist? They both crave DEATH.
Easy, one is legitized by the West, the other simply funded by the west when convenient. And by West I do mean the U.S.
They're two sides of the same coin with a common history.
guys you are absolutely wrong on protecting muslims non of them is worth the air they breath
everyone in this world has the legal right to kill muslims
it doesnt matter if they are children woman smart or stupid
its absolutely allowed to kill them all
they always have the right to convert to whatever non-muslim, other owhise they need to be killed
www.breitbart.com. I think you meant to type this in your browser. You will find many like minded individuals lining up to lick Bibi's nutsack.
if you want to live with muslims you are free to do so
move in a muslim area or wait 10-20 years until they move to you
take care of your 8 years old son. give him the advice he should walk with the ass directed to walls
otherwhise he will be loved by your muslim friends
Shot plenty of Muslims in my day. I am not sure I hold them in any lower regard than I do blind Zionists or low IQ neo-cons.
in this case i am only talking about muslims
why do you bring the lost pollacks and zionist neocons up?
why are you braging about how many you killed of them? if you dont killed all of them its pointless anyway
you underestimate islam
instead learn from isreal how they treat the filthy muslim trash. this is how europe and usa should treat muslim
if you have muslim friends or not its all a matter of time
sometimes protecting people can be a good thing and simetimes not
and muslims have no right to be protected
plug the muslim dick out of your ass and mouth and become clear in your head
Same here. I once worked on behalf of oil companies and defense industry interests as a warm body.
At the time my teenage ass thought I was being paid well for the work. In hindsight I was not even paid close to market rates (lookin' at you blackwater/xe/academi).
Nuke the muslims and kikeistan and be done with it. A majority of the worlds' ills will be erased to the benefit of all.
Kuntar (a Druze) denied killing the little girl and at least one Israeli security official said she was more likely killed accidentally from IDF 'friendly' fire during Kuntar's capture. Of course, Kuntar should still be held responsible as he initiated the actions resulting in the tragedy. In any case, the incident took place before Hezbollah's existence and Hezbollah should not have welcomed him into their ranks after his release.
I didn't read the article but I still don't understand your post. If Israel nuked him then he would be responsible for the other 100,000 collateral deaths?
I am talking about the original 1979 (or '77) incident when Kuntar went into Israel with the intention of kidnaping an Israeli family. In the process of trying to stop him, the little Israeli girl Kuntar was holding was killed. Kuntar has said that he didn't kill her. Some Israelis believe the soldiers accidentally killed her; the Israeli government said Kuntar killed her. I suspect the Israelis were lying but Kuntar still initiated the entire incident by going into Israel to kidnap someone.
I certainly was not talking about Israel firing missiles in Syria. That's a different thing altogether.
Act of war. Israhell has nukes now, but I do wish they were wiped off the planet.
low life idiot
Congratulations to the IDF on a job well done.
Pity they can't send a few planes Stateside to take out some bigger fish. Wall Street buy the guns Hezbollah kill Jews with.
what? kill their own?
Israel can't nuke Damascus, it's too close for fallout... therefore good place to load up the troops
what Assad needs to do next
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGV1Duq5wLk
FYI, according to the New York Times, which is no more accurate than anybody here:
Could the S-400s have brought down the Israeli missiles which only had 25 miles to travel and at a low altitude?
Let's ask the zerohedge missile mavens.
Maybe that's how it was done. The Israeli missiles may have snuck in under the S-300/S-400 radar net at low altitude, fired from Lebanon airspace. Or maybe the S-300/S-400 are only designed to look for planes, not smaller missiles/drones. If so, that may be a weakness.
The Israeli jets came into Lebanon off the Mediterranean near Sidon and travelled due East toward the Syrian border. When they were 10 miles West of the Syrian line, they fired their missiles some 30 miles to the apartment building in Jaramana. At Mach 1 or 2, how long would it take the missiles to hit Jaramana 30 miles away?
S-400 was designed as a defense against long travelling air craft and high altitude missiles.
The proximity of Damascus to the Lebanese border and the Mediterranean Sea explains the Israeli success of this attack and the several attacks made in the first half of 2013.
The raids in 2013 had few collateral damages. I haven't heard how many Syrians were killed in Jaramana, which is just the MSM doing its corrupt thing.
Go to Jaramana on google maps and zoom out until you see Damascus, the Lebanon border and the Mediterranean all on one page. This will tell you the unique situation involved in defending Damascus with S-400. Also you have to remember the protocol involved in shooting down missiles and aircraft over neighboring sovereign nations.
In this case the missiles were fired from a jet in Lebanon and were not two minutes in the air before striking their target.
<-- Israel will (try to) stop nuclear militarization of Iran at any cost , even if it means risking a start of world war 3
But results are mentioned in NT already
Zero hedge as usual comes with its biased propaganda, arent you guys tired f being constantly wrong...?