Israel Launches Artillery Strikes Into Syria, Downs Syrian Jet

http://www.blacklistednews.com/Israel_Launches_Artillery_Strikes_Into_Syria%2C_Downs_Syrian_Jet/41278/0/38/38/Y/M.html

Israel Launches Artillery Strikes Into Syria, Downs Syrian Jet
Published: January 27, 2015

Source: Brandon Turbeville, Activist Post

After two rockets from the Syrian side of the border allegedly landed in the Israeli occupied territory of the Golan Heights on Tuesday, Israel has launched an immediate “response” of artillery fire into Syria.

The “exchange” comes only a week after an illegal Israeli military air assault inside Syria that resulted in the deaths of top Iranian and Hezbollah commanders who were in the country for the purposes of advising anti-ISIS forces as well as investigating the coordination taking place between ISIS, al-Qaeda, and Israel.

As AFP reports,

Quote :

Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said Tuesday's fire "appeared to be intentional." He declined to comment on whether the fire may have been connected to last week's airstrike.

A message on Lerner's Twitter account said that Israel "responded with artillery towards the positions that launched the attack."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel views the rockets "very seriously" and that it will retaliate to attacks.

"Those that play with fire will get fire," Netanyahu said at a memorial for International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The military said sirens sounded in communities in the Golan Heights earlier Tuesday. It said that it had evacuated and closed a popular ski resort following the strike. No injuries were reported.

Likewise, a video posted by AFP seems to suggest that Israel also downed a Syrian fighter jet over the Golan Heights, but that the fighters had ejected to safety. The Israelis claim that the plane had ventured across the ceasefire line and into Israeli territory.

This is by no means the first time that Israel has attacked Syria in support of the Western-backed terrorists or even the first time that it has done so in coordination with them.

For instance, on October 30, 2013, Israel attacked and completely destroyed a Syrian air defense base in Snobar Jableh, Syria which is located near Latakia, a port city on the coast of the Mediterranean. The base was alleged to have housed a surface-to-air missile battery.

It is also known that Israel launched attacks against Syrian forces and military convoys at least four times prior to the October 30 attack.

As recently as June, 2014, Israel launched a series of airstrikes against Syrian military positions under the pretext of retaliation for a cross-border attack which was almost certainly initiated by death squad fighters whose logistical inadequacy spilled over into Israeli occupied territory in the Golan Heights. Given the questionable circumstances surrounding the justifying incident – the killing of an Israeli teenager by an alleged anti-tank missile – one would be justified in questioning the Israeli story.

While the occasional attack on Syrian territory is bad enough, the fact is that Israel has apparently coordinated these attacks with the death squad directors on the ground so as to provide cover fire and diversions for death squad “swarming” and jihadist invasions.

For instance, in May 2013, WABC host and best-selling author Aaron Klein stated that an Israeli airstrike in Syria was closely coordinated with Turkey which, in turn, helped coordinate the death squad attacks to occur at the exact same time as the Israeli airstrikes. The sources speaking to Klein came from Jordanian and Egyptian intelligence agencies.

Klein wrote,

Quote :

Israel’s air strike in Syria today was coordinated with Turkey, which in turn coordinated rebel attacks throughout Syria timed to coincide with the Israeli strike, according to Egyptian and Jordanian intelligence sources speaking to KleinOnline. The sources said the rebels did not know about the Israeli strike in advance but instead were given specific instructions for when to begin today’s major assaults against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. “Almost the moment the Israel Air Force departed was the moment the rebel advance began,” added the Egyptian intelligence source. Multiple reports have noted how the Syrian rebels consist in large part of al-Qaida-linked jihad groups. The Egyptian and Jordanian sources described how immediately after today’s Israeli air strike the jihadist rebels used access roads to advance toward Damascus and began heavy clashes with Syrian military forces throughout the country.

On Sunday December 7, 2014, Israel reportedly launched airstrikes inside Syria yet again, this time very close to Damascus in the area near Damascus International airport. Israeli airstrikes also took place in the town of Dimas which is located close to the Lebanese border.

Reuters reported that "Residents in Damascus said they heard loud explosions and opposition activists posted photos online of jet streams in the evening sky and fiery explosions. Syria's army general command said on state television that there were 'material losses in some facilities.' It said the strike benefited al Qaeda."

Further reports indicated that the targets of the Israeli jets were an agricultural airport in Dimas and an import-export warehouse in Damascus. Both of these locations were under control of the Syrian military and involve supplies and food greatly needed for the Syrian people.

These targets, of course, fit in with the larger trend of both Israeli and American airstrikes in Syria in the past that have targeted civilian locations, Syrian infrastructure, Syrian oil refineries, and, particularly, food centers such as grain silos.

The attacks came as the Western-backed forces of the Islamic State launched a major assault on the Syrian air base in Deir el-Zour. That attack was ultimately repelled and defeated by the Syrian army.

While airstrikes are conducted under the guise of defeating ISIS, the fact is that these airstrikes have done little to even inconvenience the terrorist organization which itself is funded, directed, trained, armed, and controlled by the U.S., NATO, and the GCC. The airstrikes have been largely aimed at Syrian military interests as well as necessities of the Syrian people.

Some have speculated that Israel’s continued incursions into Syrian territory is not only an attempt to weaken the military forces of the Syrian government and support the terrorists operating inside the country but to cause Syria’s air defense system to light up and give away its concealed positions.

As Syrian President Bashar al-Assad recently stated, “How can you say that al-Qaida doesn't have an air force. They have the Israeli air force.”