Talk:Israeli Bombing of Jamraya

Jets Video?
On Youtube: Israeli Bombers Returning Home Over Damascus After Bombing Raid on research center in Syria There are two of them, trails only visible. Now why were these things not shot down? They weren't even manned. Did someone get the rebels to take out an AA position right before?

So Which is it?
SANA.sy, Jan. 30, 2013:
 * The General Command of the Army and Armed Forces said that Israeli warplanes violated Syrian airspace on Wednesday dawn and bombarded directly a scientific research center responsible for raising the levels of resistance and self-defense in Jamraya area in Damascus Countryside.
 * (Take not -SANA.sy, not a proxy, is allowed back on the internet.--Caustic Logic (talk) 23:19, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

NPR, not SANA, says this center in "northwest of Damascus." And it is, on Wikimapia.

Reuters: Israel hits Syria arms convoy to Lebanon: sources:
 * Israeli warplanes bombed a convoy near Syria's border with Lebanon, sources told Reuters, apparently targeting weapons destined for Hezbollah in what some called a warning to Damascus not to arm Israel's Lebanese enemy.

Northwest of Damascus would be near the border, but a military research center and convoy of trucks are clearly two different things. --Caustic Logic (talk) 10:52, 31 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Someone tagged this place as the Research Center in question. 15 hours ago. Attracted some trolls already... *rolleyes* --CE (talk) 12:21, 31 January 2013 (UTC)
 * That could well be it. In/next to Jamraya. It's as if the Israelis want the Syrians to fill in the military research part, to raise our eyebrows. Oh, what were they researching next to this missile convoy? How to gas Jews with missiles, perchance? If not assassinating Lebanese Sunni leaders, shooting missiles at Turkey or shooting down its jets, they're plannning to attack Israel, just to get one more enemy. Of course. --Caustic Logic (talk) 12:41, 31 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Ever wonder why Luxembourg does not have a air force? No human jet pilot could take the g-forces from turning in Luxembourg's airspace. Israel is not much bigger.
 * The distance from the Lebanese border to Jamraya is some 15 kilometers. it would be possible bomb Jamraya from Lebanon without entering Syrian airspace. A air-to-surface missile could cover 20 times the distance, so would a GPS or laser-guided gravity bomb, if it had any winglets attached to it. A AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon would be more than enough, in fact you could drop one from Tel Aviv. -- Petri Krohn (talk) 02:13, 1 February 2013 (UTC)


 * From SyrPer: -- Petri Krohn (talk) 04:25, 1 February 2013 (UTC)
 * ANSWER: The route the Zionist jets took to avoid the S-300 is instructive.  They flew, first of all, over the Mediterranean and then used a route over the Lebanese border close to Syria's and fired inside Lebanese territory.  They are clearly afraid of the Syrian air defense system.  We must now wait to see if any reaction is forthcoming from Syria and Iran.  Let's keep following the details of this event.  Ziad


 * Brilliant. That way, if they can and do hityou, you're over Lebanese airspace, where Syria has (or at least is perceived as having) no right to shoot.


 * A Syrian cabinet statement speaks a different language:
 * Forth: The Cabinet underlines that Israel would have never dared to launch this attack unless the armed terrorist groups, on top, Jabhat al-Nusra,, had prepared and availed the practical circumstances to this act through its organized target against the air defense systems and radar networks.
 * That's something the SyrPer guy actively denied several times: that successful sabotage of the air defense system is taking place. Which the cabinet seems to admit here. --CE (talk) 17:20, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

World Reaction
Isreal remains silent. They've been silent five years over their attack on a place they said was a nuclear reactor. They'll never acknowledge this, and don't care whether or not anyone buys their reason or description of the target. That aloof confidence will leave the West believing or silently respecting the decision. --Caustic Logic (talk) 13:51, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

Russian initial response: LA Times :''Hezbollah, which is closely aligned with both Syria and Iran, condemned the airstrike as “barbaric aggression” and expressed “full solidarity with Syria’s command, army and people,” the Associated Press reported. Russia, Syria’s chief patron, said the strike would constitute “unprovoked attacks on targets on the territory of a sovereign country, which blatantly violates the U.N. Charter and is unacceptable, no matter the motives to justify it.''

Syrian Response: Reuters, Jan 31: Syria protests over Israel attack, warns of "surprise"
 * (Reuters) - Syria protested to the United Nations on Thursday over an Israeli air strike on its territory and warned of a possible "surprise" response.


 * The foreign ministry summoned the head of the U.N. force in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights to deliver the protest a day after Israel hit what Syria said was a military research centre and diplomats said was a weapons convoy heading for Lebanon.


 * "Syria holds Israel and those who protect it in the Security Council fully responsible for the results of this aggression and affirms its right to defend itself, its land and sovereignty," Syrian television quoted it as saying.


 * The ministry said it considered Wednesday's Israeli attack to be a violation of a 1974 military disengagement agreement which followed their last major war, and demanded the U.N. Security Council condemn it unequivocally.

I'll have to look into the exact threat. One imagines "surprise" is the most sinister-sounding word in it. If gas is mentioned, its fevered imaginations. Otherwise, they're making total sense. The Security Council will not be condemning Israeli aggression. They might try (and fail) to denounce Syria's "aggressive rhetoric." --Caustic Logic (talk) 23:36, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

Iran ads an interesting twist: Press Tv Jan 31: Muslims will never allow Israel to attack Syria: Iran official
 * Hassoun said Israel’s recent airstrike on a military research center near Damascus clearly exposed anti-Syria bids and the direct involvement of the Israeli regime in the Syrian unrest. 


 * He also underlined the need for increased vigilance among Muslims to foil plots devised by the enemy to create a rift among Muslims. 

Direct jab at Syria's rebels. They've gotten on the same side with Israel against fellow Muslims. Next strike their Turkish/NATO controllers will have them knock out radar to help the Israeli jets. "How you guys feel about that?" But messages of unity, even against Israel, might not work on these nominal Muslims. They're more focused on hating Alawi/Shia and spinning an elaborate case for their being non-Muslim and non-human, so... they'll find a way to deal. They might imagine they're using Israel, just like they're using the West, to get the Islamism in place and then bite the hand that fed them the country to start with, as they did in Libya/North Africa at large. That's a bummer of a thought. --Caustic Logic (talk) 23:36, 31 January 2013 (UTC)