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US President Obama
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Israel will seek US air strikes to thwart Hezbollah missile transfer

Britain's Guardian says Jerusalem will use US president's visit to persuade Washington to carry out air strikes on Syrian missiles if there is evidence they are being handed over to Hezbollah

Israel will use President Obama's visit which begins on Wednesday to try to persuade the US to carry out air strikes on Syrian missiles if there is evidence that they are being handed over to Hezbollah in Lebanon, or at least to give full support to Israeli military action to stop the transfer, Britain's The Guardian newspaper reported Sunday.

 

The Guardian claims that Obama will also come under Israeli pressure to lower the US threshold for military action against Iran, while the US president will try to extract greater Israeli commitment to a peace process with the Palestinians.

 

Neither side is likely to be successful, leaving Syria as the most promising arena for US-Israeli agreement.

 

The Obama administration has made clear, says The Guardian, that it would intervene militarily to stop the Assad regime using its chemical or biological weapons or transferring them to extremist groups, but Israeli officials say they feel they have been left alone to deal with the threat of the spread of Syria's arsenal of anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles.

 

In January, Israeli warplanes destroyed a Syrian convoy that Israeli officials say was taking sophisticated Russian-made ground-to-air missiles to Hezbollah.

 

The government of Benjamin Netanyahu has made clear that it would strike again in similar circumstances.

 

A day after the convoy was destroyed the Syrian army made an official announcement in which it stated: "Syria holds Israel and those who are protecting it at the Security Council responsible for the results of the attack and confirms its right to defend its land and sovereignty."

 

 

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פרסום ראשון: 03.17.13, 20:19
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