Israelis Alarmed: Iran Offers Syria One Billion Dollars In Weapons To Stop Peace Talks With Israel
So guess what Ahmadinejad and Assad discussed at Thursday’s terror summit?
Strategic Affairs Minister: Time To Form An Emergency Government
Israel Beiteinu’s Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman urged the government and the opposition to consider forming a national emergency government following reports on Saturday that Syrian President Bashar Assad was promised financial support by Iran if the country ceased all efforts to make peace with Israel.
“The strengthening of the relationship between Assad and [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad demands that Israel to reorganize its political and military strategic [policies],” said Lieberman.
“The Iranian threat, said the minister, remains outside of politics, and therefore I call on the prime minister and the head of the opposition to reconsider the option of [forming] a national emergency government.”
Iran will reportedly fund, at a price of $1 billion, new Syrian fighter jets, tanks, missiles against naval craft and will aid in Syria’s nuclear and chemical weapons research programs. In return, Assad has reportedly promised Ahmadinejad to cease the pursuit of peace talks with Israel in exchange for Iranian support of Syrian interests in Lebanon.
The sensitive details from the two leaders’ meeting in Damascus earlier in the week were related to the Lebanese Arabic daily Asharq Alawsat by an anonymous Iranian source involved with the discreet meeting, and were brought to light on Saturday.
In response to the alleged deal, chairman of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee MK Tzahi Hanegbi (Kadima) said “Iran is an ever-increasing threat not only to Israel, but to the stability of the region, to pragmatic Arab states and to the hegemony of the sane and realistic West.
“Syria’s convergence to Iran demonstrates Assad’s hasty and hazardous nature. In contrast to his father, Hafez, Bashar is taking exaggerated risks and is placing the very existence of his regime in jeopardy,” said Hanegbi.
Eitan: We must not negotiate with Syria
The Iranian source went on to tell the newspaper that the countries made strides in tightening their diplomatic and military relations.
As a result of the new agreement, Asharq Alawsat reported, Syria will likely become increasingly dependent on Iran due to the large amount of money the Shi’ite country will transfer to it.
The report went on to say that aside from economic, cultural and scientific cooperation, Iran will help to fund Syria’s purchase of Russian and North Korean weapons. These weapons reportedly will include 400 advanced Russian T-72 tanks, 18 Russian Mig 31s, as well as eight M-8 helicopters and other military equipment.
In addition, Iran will reportedly help Syria build factories that would manufacture medium-range missiles, and will also supply Syria with Iranian-made tanks and armored personnel carriers. The Syrian navy will also reportedly be rearmed with Chinese-made C-801 and C-802 missiles, which are presently being manufactured in Iran.
The same type of missile struck an IDF Navy ship off the Lebanese coast last summer during the Second Lebanon War, killing four IDF sailors.
On the diplomatic front, Ahmadinejad reportedly promised Assad to help topple Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora and to push sway on the Lebanese parliament with the aim of restoring pro-Syrian influence there. Assad, for his part, agreed not to enter peace negotiations with Israel.
Jerusalem Post
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This is off topic for this thread but I just ran into this column in the WashTimes:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070720/NATION04/107200029/1008&template=nextpage
Remember the Dubai Ports World deal that was scuttled last year? Well, it seems as though Rush Limbaugh was right yet again. He was the one out there telling everyone that this wasn’t a bad deal and they would not “own” the ports but just run day-to-day operations. It turns out that the Bush Admin. promoted it because our CIA was going to be imbedded within the ports to monitor any nefarious activities that take place.
Who was the big mouth democRat who jumped in front of the cameras and opposed it so much? You guessed it. Chucky Cheese Schumer, the guy who keeps saying our ports are not safe because we are not inspecting every container that get’s off-loaded. Chucky f’d up again. By causing a stir and not trusting the president, he shot us in the ass. Do we have the CIA at these ports now, working with the eventual winner of that contract? Who knows?
The law of unintended consequences strikes again. Hmmmm…unless Chucky KNEW about the CIA deal and scuttled it anyway. Wouldn’t be inconceivable that he would undermine US interests in that fashion, would it?
July 21st, 2007 at 8:14 amIsrael needs to get ready, sounds like the war is about to be on and they need to hit both Iran and Syria like a hurricane, whether it be pre emptively or otherwise. I hope we are equipping them with whatever they need, Israel must be protected. Its in our strategic and in my opinion moral interest to help them always. This cult needs a good punch in the face
July 21st, 2007 at 8:17 amSmart idea. By declaring a national emergency, maybe Israel could fire their girlie-men politicos and put a tiger in the tank for a change. Can Prime Minister Bebe be far behind?
July 21st, 2007 at 8:23 amIran’s economy is a mess, inflation is predicted to reach 22% this year, giving away a billion dollars in arms will only make their economic situation worse, and cause more unrest in the country. Perhaps Ahmadinejad and the mullahs have a death wish.
July 21st, 2007 at 8:33 amI would really like to see the younger generation and opposing factions in Iran take over and knock Ahmadinejad on his ass permanently. Much of Iran is secular and they do not want to be under shirah rule. The people there are suffering enough already. Many are in prision for speaking out for Islamic reform and for freedom. It would be great to see something happen internally there before we have to step in to stop Ahmadinejad and his partners in crime as they push to erradicate Israel. We all know we will not allow that to happen.
July 21st, 2007 at 9:07 amShmucky Shumer never learned that for “a man to be a sound politician and in any degree useful to the country, must be governed by higher and steadier considerations than those of personal sympathy and private regard.” —
Martin Van Buren
July 21st, 2007 at 9:25 amMookie and His Islamic puppetmasters might want to check their six before giving out any more of his people’s money:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56787
July 21st, 2007 at 9:46 amWith Iran’s economy in the tank, I’d bet the Iranian people were overwhelmed with joy to hear that their leaders had given $1B US in free goods to Basher. Of course, much of this could be a lot of talk because the whole thing sounds like a psyops game. First, the military meetings in Syria and now this?? Sounds a bit far fetched IMHO.
First, who is leaking the info even if true? If not true, what leverage do they (Syria and ultimately Iran) hope to gain by releasing the info?
Comments anyone?
July 21st, 2007 at 1:39 pmOne-Shot:
Q. First, who is leaking the info even if true?
A: There is a large ex-partiate Iranian community in the U.S. They are completely against the current regime. Some still support the old monarchy. They also have contacts inside Iran. When they talk, I listen. And they leak lots of info to the West.
Much of what mookie does is to prove he’s a player. Why shouldn’t he make his plans public? It intimidates Europe and the weak amoung our allies. Good PR move if you ask me.
Q. If not true, what leverage do they (Syria and ultimately Iran) hope to gain by releasing the info?
A: To encourage the jihadis and to intimidate all who would oppose them….including Israel which is their ultimate prize in their war on the West.
July 21st, 2007 at 6:13 pm