US and Iraq Set for Strike against Syria. Israel Is Braced for Hizballah 2nd Front

[freeandfun1]

US and Iraq All Set for Strike against Syria. Israel Is Braced for Hizballah Second Front

Last Sunday, January 2, US deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage performed his last major mission before stepping down in favor of Robert B. Zoellick, whom incoming secretary Condoleezza Rice has picked as her deputy. (Zoellick, currently trade representative in charge US world trade, served as deputy to secretary of state James Baker in the Reagan and Bush Sr. administrations.

This mission took Armitage to Damascus with nine American demands.

DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s Washington sources published those demands for the first time in its last week’s issue:

1. Start repealing Syria’s 40-years old emergency laws.

2. Free all political prisoners from jail.

3. Abolish media censorship.

4. Initiate democratic reform.

5. Speed up economic development

6. Cut down relations with Iran.

7. Announce publicly that the disputed Shebaa Farms at the base of Mt. Hermon are former Syrian territory. This would cut the ground from under the Lebanese terrorist Hizballah’s claim that the land is Lebanese and must be “liberated” from Israeli “occupation.”

DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources report that the Iran-sponsored Hizballah’s attack on an Israeli convoy patrolling the disputed Shebaa Farms sector, killing an Israeli officer, on Palestinian election-day, Sunday, January 9, was addressed as much to President George W. Bush as to the new Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas as a foretaste of what it has in store.

8. Hand over to US or Iraqi authorities 55 top officials and military officers of the former Saddam regime, who are confirmed by intelligence to be established in Syria and running the guerrilla war in Iraq out of their homes and offices.

(An address, telephone number and cell phone number were listed beside each name).

But the punchline was in the last demand.

9. Syria had better make sure that none of the Kornet AT-14 anti-tank missiles which it recently purchased in large quantities from East Europe turn up in Iraq. US intelligence has recorded their serial numbers to identify their source. DEBKAfile’s military sources add: Because he cannot afford to buy advanced fighter planes and tanks, Assad purchased massive quantities of the “third generation” Kornet AT-14 anti-tank weapons.

Just in case any are found in Iraq, General Casey, commander of US forces in Iraq has already received orders from the commander-in-chief in the White House to pursue military action inside Syria according to his best military judgment.

Number 9 therefore incorporates a tangible threat. The American general has the authority to launch military action against Syria as he sees fit and without delay if Damascus continues to meddle in Iraq’s affairs.

DEBKAfile adds:

The Syrian ruler protested to Armitage that he is doing everything he can to hold back the flow of guerrilla fighters and weapons into Iraq. As proof, he ordered Syria’s chief of staff General Ali Habib to establish a forward command center on the Syrian-Iraq border to oversee efforts to control border traffic on the spot.

The fact is that General Habib is one of the few Syrian officers which the Americans have trusted. He commanded the Syrian units dispatched to Saudi Arabia in the 1991 Gulf War against Iraq and made friends with the US commanders and officials conducting the war, including vice president Dick Cheney and the then head of joint chiefs of staff, Colin Powell. However, even Habib’s old American buddies do not rule out the possibility that he was posted to the border not to restrain the traffic but to take command of Syrian units posted there and prepare them for the contingency of an American military offensive.

Assad and General Habib are both aware, according to our sources, of the near carte blanche handed down to General Casey to pursue military action against Syria as and when indicated by US military requirements in Iraq.

In this regard, DEBKAfile’s military sources note four important points:

1. It will not take place before President Bush is sworn in for his second term on January 20 or Iraq’s general election ten days later.

2. The Americans will not start out with a large-scale, orderly military offensive, but rather short in-and-out forays; small US and Iraqi special forces units will cross the border and raid bases housing Iraqi guerrillas or buses carrying them to the border. If these brief raids are ineffective, the Americans will upscale the action.

3. The Allawi government will formally request the United States to consign joint Iraqi-US forces for action against Syrian targets, so placing the US operation under the Baghdad government’s aegis. In other words, Iraq will be at war with Syria without issuing a formal declaration.

4. It is fully appreciated in Washington, Baghdad and Jerusalem that intense American military warfare against Syria could provoke a Hizballah backlash against Israel. Damascus may well activate the Lebanese Shiite group to open a second front on Israel’s northern border. The Syrian ruler is expected will tolerate a certain level of American low-intensity, low-profile action. But, because of his reluctance to strike back directly at American or Iraqi targets, he will field the Hizballah – and not just for cross-border attacks but to galvanize the terrorist cells it controls and funds in the West Bank and Gaza Strip into a stepped-up offensive against Israeli targets. These Palestinian cells have proliferated over the years, particularly in the Fatah and its branches, encouraged by Yasser Arafat’s cooperative pact with the Hizballah which remains in force after his death.

Therefore, the key Middle East happening in the coming weeks will be US military strikes against Syria. The election of Mahmoud Abbas as Palestinian Authority chairman, his invitation to the White House, the formation of the Sharon-Peres government coalition - albeit on very shaky legs, and the talk of imminent Israel-Palestinian peace negotiations, will prove to be no more than sideshows of the main event.

 

[freeandfun1]

I always follow threats against or from Syria because of the following verses from the Bible....

"Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron: But I will send a fire unto the house of Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of Benhadad. I will break also the bar of Damascus..." (Amos 1:3-5, KJV)

"Behold,Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap." (Isaiah 17:1)

Syria has engaged war with the State of Israel three times (1948, 1967, 1973), but the fourth time will bring about Syria's downfall, marked by the total destruction of its capital city, Damascus.

If nothing else, you must admit it is interesting to follow........

 

[hylandrdet]

Hmmm, the destruction of Damascus wouldn't be so bad as it's like the terrorist capitol of the world or one of them!

Iran

 

[FollowerOfKeeb]

I think a little ass kicking is in order here, many of these fanatical maniacs are pouring in from Syria. Oh and don't think there are some wanted people getting some sanctuary there either!

Ass kicking is always in order. We need to attack as many Muslim nations as we can. Crazy diaper heads. Iran's next. I hope we deprive 10000 children of their fathers in Iran, just like we did in IRaq. Freedom is great.

 

[jimnyc]

Ass kicking is always in order. We need to attack as many Muslim nations as we can. Crazy diaper heads. Iran's next. I hope we deprive 10000 children of their fathers in Iran, just like we did in IRaq. Freedom is great.

Sounds like a plan, I'm with you!

 

[FollowerOfKeeb]

Hmm, that seems to be a harsh way of looking at it, but ok!

Whoops, did I say 10000? I meant 100000. I'm sick of all these Muslim children having fathers. Hopefully we can kill some of their mothers, too.

 

[FollowerOfKeeb]

Is this sarcasm or are you just that uncouthly?

Uncouthely? What do you mean? You want to appease the terrorists?

 

[jimnyc]

Whoops, did I say 10000? I meant 100000. I'm sick of all these Muslim children having fathers. Hopefully we can kill some of their mothers, too.

Excellent plan! Are you reading my mind?

 

[freeandfun1]

hey mods, can somebody check his IP address? I smell something here. This idiots style seems vaguely familiar.....

 

[Hobbit]

Whoops, did I say 10000? I meant 100000. I'm sick of all these Muslim children having fathers. Hopefully we can kill some of their mothers, too.

I'll play your game. In some cases it would be a favor. Who is it that convinces these children to blow themselves up to deprive a lot of other people of their relatives? That's right, their parents. Hey, if their parents shoot at us, I will welcome them with open arms into the United States Children's Services.

 

[FollowerOfKeeb]

hey mods, can somebody check his IP address? I smell something here. This idiots style seems vaguely familiar.....

Right. THere's only one liberal, going around posting under all these different names.

 

[FollowerOfKeeb]

I'll play your game. In some cases it would be a favor. Who is it that convinces these children to blow themselves up to deprive a lot of other people of their relatives?

Obviously, its their fathers who got drafted into the HUssein Iraqi Army. Anyone who would choose serving in the IRaqi Army over death by firing squad deserves to die. And so do their children. It makes me sick when people don't dodge the draft in countries that are our enemies.

 

[FollowerOfKeeb]

No way, Im a total hater of terrorism but not a wisher of death upon familys that may not even be involved. Seems you are a little too itchy to say the wrong thing!

Key word - "may". How do you KNOW that every Muslim familiy isn't plotting to kill Americans? You don't. You can't prove it. So kill them. Better safe than sorry.

 

[freeandfun1]

Obviously, its their fathers who got drafted into the HUssein Iraqi Army. Anyone who would choose serving in the IRaqi Army over death by firing squad deserves to die. And so do their children. It makes me sick when people don't dodge the draft in countries that are our enemies.

learn to quote you idiot.

 

[freeandfun1]

Key word - "may". How do you KNOW that every Muslim familiy isn't plotting to kill Americans? You don't. You can't prove it. So kill them. Better safe than sorry.

maybe we should just kill you?

 

[FollowerOfKeeb]

Not here with that kind of foolishness!, it won't be tolerated!

what are you the follower of, the keebler elf's?

What foolishness? Muslim children grow up to be Muslim terrorists. You want to wait until then?

 

[FollowerOfKeeb]

maybe we should just kill you?

As long as you do it in the name of God, it'll be OK.

 

[FollowerOfKeeb]

Again, there will be no toleration to the killing of children on this site! use your head a bit before you speak.

I'm not allowed to support war?

 

[freeandfun1]

What foolishness? Muslim children grow up to be Muslim terrorists. You want to wait until then?

we have another board racist! :nine:

 

[jimnyc]

hey mods, can somebody check his IP address? I smell something here. This idiots style seems vaguely familiar.....

Former member "keebs", and also now part of USMB history.