Israel: US Decision to Strike Syria Made Within Hours

Israel: US Decision to Strike Syria Made Within Hours
By: Yahya Dbouk – 27 August, 2013 – Al Akhbar

The decision to attack Syria will be made within hours, Israeli media report, noting that it will be carried out – in a limited scope – by a broad alliance of Western, regional, and Arab countries.

Israel’s Channel 10 television station reported by way of its Washington correspondent that US President Barack Obama will decide on a military strike against Syria very soon, if not within a few hours. The report stressed the “symbolic nature” of the attack, suggesting that it will not change the balance of forces on the ground.

The channel added that the operation will involve a number of countries, led by the US, Britain, and France, with support from Turkey and several Arab countries in the Gulf and Jordan, pointing out that this was the reason behind Monday’s meeting of military chiefs from around the world in Amman.

Nevertheless, the channel went out of its way to stress that the attack is not intended to either topple the regime or change the balance of forces between Damascus and the opposition, indicating that “the basic idea is that the attack will be a message and no more.”

Western powers are confident that they can disable 80 percent of Syria’s missile and chemical weapons arsenal.
The strike will likely come from outside Syria’s airspace, in international waters, in the form of guided missiles, according to the report. As for the targets, it said they would include Syrian army operation and command centers, or military bases from which the chemical weapons used near Damascus were launched.

Aside from preparing the ground diplomatically, the station continued, the attack will have to await the arrival of additional naval vessels, most likely from Britain, which will participate in the bombardment. The channel quoted Israeli security sources dismissing Syria’s ability to respond by attacking Israel, particularly in light of the fact that its army has been bled dry over the past two years, adding that the Western powers are confident that they can disable 80 percent of Syria’s missile and chemical weapons arsenal.

Most Israeli media outlets spoke with certainty about an imminent attack, predicting that the whole affair will remain contained, given the limited nature of the strike. Haaretz placed Tel Aviv at the center of events after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s open declaration that the West must do something to deter Assad and prevent a victory for the “radical alliance led by Iran.”

The newspaper noted that Israel is no longer a spectator in the unfolding events and has been preparing for all scenarios, reinforcing its positions in the occupied Golan and against Hezbollah in Lebanon. Haaretz’s military correspondent wrote, “It is difficult to predict how Assad will respond to the attack, without igniting a wider war,” which the Americans fear could turn into “mission creep,” as was the case with Somalia in the early 1990s. …source