http://rt.com/news/israel-strike-syria-turkey-089/
Israel used a Turkish military base to launch one of its recent airstrikes against Syria from the sea, a reliable source told RT. Israel has been under scrutiny since last week, when it was reported to be responsible for a July 5 depot attack in Latakia.
News that Turkey assisted Israel in attacking another Muslim state could result in serious turmoil for Ankara, once the information is confirmed.
"Our source is telling us that Israeli planes left a military base inside Turkey and approached Latakia from the sea to make sure that they stayed out of Syrian airspace so that they cannot become a legitimate target for the Syrian air force," RT's Paula Slier reports.
In response, Turkey has denied that Israel has used its base to strike Syria.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told the media that existing reports of the incident are“absolutely wrong” and those who spread such rumors are in “act of betrayal.”
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told the media that existing reports of the incident are“absolutely wrong” and those who spread such rumors are in “act of betrayal.”
“Turkey will neither be a part nor a partner of such ‘attacks.’ The ones who claim this want to damage Turkey’s power and reputation,” he added.
Responding to RT’s request for comment, the Turkish embassy in Moscow has said: “We officially inform that this allegation is definitely not true.”
Israel has also declined to comment to RT and refused to confirm or deny the information.
The Israeli PM’s office told RT that they “will not be taking part in your broadcast,” while an IDF spokesperson renewed the stance that the military is “not commenting on this issue.”
Relations between Turkey and Israel were strained until March 2013, as a result of a flotilla incident which happened more than three years ago. In protest against Israel’s refusal to apologize, Turkey expelled the Israeli ambassador and severed military ties.
The two agreed to normalize their relationship after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuapologized to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Ankara has been known for its assistance to foreign-backed militants, allowing them to train on Turkish territory before infiltrating into Syria.
Shortly after the July 5 airstrike, the Free Syrian Army said that rebels were not responsible for the attack, which destroyed Yakhont anti-ship missiles being stored there.
"It was not the FSA that targeted this," Qassem Saadeddine, FSA’s Supreme Military Council spokesman told Reuters. "It is not an attack that was carried out by rebels.”
The FSA suggested the attack “was either by air raid or long-range missiles fired from boats in the Mediterranean.”
Rebels described massive blasts, saying that the firepower exceeded the capability of weapons available to the opposition. They speculated that the attack was launched with the use of modern military weapons, like those which may be possessed by Israel.
On Saturday, US officials speaking on condition of anonymity also revealed Israel’s involvement with the explosions. They did not provide details on the extent of the damage or the number of missiles struck.
At the same time, Britain’s Sunday Times cited its Middle East intelligence sources who reported that a contingent of 50 Russian-made Yakhont P-800 anti-ship missiles were targeted and destroyed. However, the newspaper claimed that Israeli submarines carried out the attack rather than the Air Force.
Netanyahu hesitated to comment on reports when speaking to CBS-TV’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday.
"My policy is to prevent the transfer of dangerous weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon and other terror groups as well. And we stand by that policy," the PM said. “And I'm not in the habit of saying what we did or didn't do," he added.
If the recent airstrikes are proven to have been carried out by Israel, the July 5 strike will be the fourth known Israeli air attack against targets in Syria this year. The previous three attacks targeted an area near Damascus on January 30, May 3, and May 5.
In late January, an airstrike hit a weapons convoy that carried Russian-made SA-17 surface-to-air missiles, marking the first incursion by Israel into Syrian airspace in six years.
In May, Israeli warplanes conducted two days of airstrikes, targeting a shipment from Iran of Fateh-110 missiles. Such missiles have the capability to strike Tel Aviv from southern Lebanon.
Middle East expert and historian, Tariq Ali told RT that Israel continues to attack Syria to get square with Hezbollah.
“Hezbollah is like a red [rag to a] bull to Israelis and Israelis haven’t been able to wipe it out, though they tried many times. Now they are hoping they can do it by weakening or completely destroying the Syrian regime. Indirectly they are providing help to the rebels,” Ali said. “Israel is a country that considers itself above the law.”
http://rt.com/op-edge/proxy-war-syria-conflict-110/
It is a proxy-war in Syria for a long time
Published time: July 15, 2013 14:20
Israel, Turkey and NATO support rebels and foreigners from more than 25 countries fighting for Syria’s disintegration and the establishment of an Islamist Caliphate instead, journalist Manuel Ochsenreiter, who's extensively covered the conflict, told RT.
RT: We are seeing such a sharp change of rhetoric from Turkey after accusations the flotilla attack back in 2010 was a massacre. How did it all change so quickly, because only four months ago Ankara was still pressing with its court case over the incident?
Manuel Ochsenreiter: Well we have first to see that Turkey plays a very very important role in the Syrian conflict. We know that at the Turkish-Syrian border there are several camps where international terrorists can come and where they are trained for their activities on Syrian soil. So Turkey is playing an important role and of course Turkey is also an ally of Israel despite the criticism of Prime Minister Erdogan in the past years. Turkey is still a very important ally and maybe the most important ally of Israel in the region.
RT: What's more Important for Turkey, getting rid of Assad or keeping on good terms with the rest of the regional players?
Manuel Ochsenreiter: I think that Turkey is not just acting on their own behalf. Turkey, we have to remember is very very important NATO member and Turkey knows that it’s acting also for NATO. Turkey is right now providing the military bases for the NATO “Patriot” rocket system which is directed against Syria. So Turkey knows how to connect its own let me call it “New Ataman Dream” of being the leading power of the region, with its role playing at NATO. And NATO is acting very aggressively towards Syria, especially the US but also the UK and France.
RT: What does such cooperation between some of the Syrian government's supposedly toughest rivals in the region mean for the Assad regime?
Manuel Ochsenreiter: I don’t think this is a huge change from the general situation because Israel was supporting in the past the so-called “rebels” in this what the media claim is “a civil war”. What is it in reality - for a long time – a proxy-war. We have right now militants from more than 25 countries fighting in Syria against the Syrian government. And of course Israel was supporting the rebels. They found arms and weaponry from Israel on the rebel side. And Turkey also is supporting in a strong way the rebels on Syrian soil. We know that Turkey was even stealing from industrial compounds and transporting them to Turkey. So both these countries play already since a long time an important role in that conflict, in that a proxy-war on Syrian soil is not surprising at all.
RT: What started off as an internal conflict is now drawing in multiple external player - Iran sent in revolutionary guards, Lebanon's Hezbollah is in the field, the west is mulling arms supplies to the rebels Al-Qaeda is there fighting against the opposition. Where is this going?
Manuel Ochsenreiter: It’s hard to say when it will end. The only thing what is sure is that this war will end at that moment when the west and Arabic countries will stop any support of the rebels, when they push the rebels to negotiate, the Syrian rebels at least, because foreign militants don’t have any reason to negotiate with the Syrian regime. They want something else, they want to disintegrate Syria, they want to establish in several regions maybe a type of Islamist Caliphate. When we look at Western politicians what they say about Syria they dream already about the disintegration of Syria and several sectarian entities. So what this means, this conflict will end at the point when at least the Syrian opposition, the armed opposition, comes together with government to negotiate but this will not take place until the moment when the foreign support stops for those militants.
RT: When you talk about when the foreign support stops for example Afghanistan just told last week or so that Al-Qaeda militants were negotiating with rebel commanders transit roots for incoming weapon imports. Then we understand that the Al-Qaeda leader killed the rebel commander and the Al-Qaeda commander said: “All rebel commanders must be killed”. Now do you think the West is to seriously consider arming the rebels if indeed Al-Qaeda has infiltrated the ranks?
Manuel Ochsenreiter: We should really see the realities. In the West they always claim there are the“good rebels” which are the so-called moderate rebels and the so-called “bad rebels” which are the Islamists, the Al-Qaeda linked Al-Nursa Front rebels. But this doesn’t fit the reality at all. Reality is that in certain battlegrounds they cooperate very closely, that there is a fluent circulation of men and of fighters and for example what I heard yesterday from a reliable security source in Damascus is that between one hundred or two hundred rockets were delivered to so-called “moderate rebels” which is the FSA, but they sold them to the El-Nursa front because they have a lot of money, the get from the Gulf States for example. Seriously it’s very very hard to distinguish between “moderates” and extremists. Just let me finish this with one sentence: “The rebel, we all witness eating a heart of a killed Syrian soldier was not an extremist, we’re speaking, we are speaking here about so-called “moderate rebel”, he was FSA man, not an El-Nursa Front man”.
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