Tag Archives: israel
Israeli airstrikes on Syria prompt threats, anger
Israel rushed to beef up its defenses to shield against possible retaliation for Syrian airstrikes. Continue reading
Why Israel bombed Syria, again
Just as President Obama is worried about Syrian chemical weapons getting into the hands of Al Qaeda, Israel is concerned that the conflict in Syria will give Hezbollah cover for the delivery of short-range missiles. Continue reading
Israel bombs Hezbollah-bound missiles in Syria: official
(Reuters) – Israel has carried out an air strike targeting a consignment of missiles in Syria bound for Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon, an Israeli official said on Saturday. The Jewish state had long made clear it is prepared to use force to prevent advanced weapons reaching Lebanon's powerful Shi'ite Muslim guerrillas from Syria. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Hezbollah are allied to Iran, Israel's arch-enemy Continue reading
Explosions shake Damascus, Syria blames Israel
By Dominic Evans BEIRUT (Reuters) – Powerful explosions struck the outskirts of Damascus early on Sunday, sending columns of fire into the night sky, and Syrian state television said Israeli rockets had struck a military facility just north of the capital. Israel declined to comment on the attack, but the blasts occurred a day after an Israeli official said his country had carried out an air strike targeting a consignment of missiles in Syria intended for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah Continue reading
U.S. near $10 billion arms deal with Israel, Saudi Arabia, UAE
By David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States is finalizing a complex $10 billion arms deal that would strengthen two key Arab allies while maintaining Israel's military edge, defense officials said on Friday ahead of a trip to the Middle East by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. The deal, more than a year in the making through a series of coordinated bilateral negotiations, would result in the sale of V-22 Osprey aircraft, advanced refueling tankers and anti-air defense missiles to Israel and 25 F-16 Desert Falcon jets worth nearly $5 billion to the United Arab Emirates Continue reading
Hackers target Israeli sites
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s media is reporting that the country’s websites are under cyberattack, but most targeted sites do not appear to have been affected. Continue reading
Palestinian Islamist group Hamas re-elects Meshaal as its leader
GAZA (Reuters) – Hamas re-elected Khaled Meshaal on Tuesday as the Islamist group's leader, at a marathon overnight closed-door meeting held in Cairo, an official with the organization said. Once reviled as a hardliner but now seen increasingly in the Arab world and by some Westerners as a moderate, Meshaal, 56, has headed the movement that rejects Israel's existence and controls the Palestinian territory of Gaza, since 2004. Born near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, Meshaal steered Hamas through the upheaval unleashed by the Arab Spring uprisings Continue reading
Netanyahu seeks time to build new Israeli coalition
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Deadlocked talks with potential coalition partners have forced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to seek more time to build a new government and avert a possible snap election, officials said on Friday. They said Netanyahu would meet President Shimon Peres on Saturday to ask for a two-week extension after his right-wing party, the narrow victor in Israel's January 22 ballot, exhausted the standard four weeks allotted to build a coalition. Peres is expected to accept Netanyahu's request Continue reading
Israel rattled by mysterious Australian prisoner: ABC
LONDON (Reuters) – An Australian man committed suicide in a high-security Israeli jail in 2010 after being held for months in great secrecy, Australia’s ABC channel said on Tuesday, throwing new light on a case that has rattled Israel. The unsourced Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) story named the man, known previously only as “prisoner x”, as Ben Zygier. It added that it “understood” the 34-year-old from Melbourne had been previously recruited by the Israeli spy agency Mossad Continue reading
Israel’s Lieberman says Palestinian peace accord impossible
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel has no chance of signing a permanent peace accord with the Palestinians and should instead seek a long-term interim deal, the most powerful political partner of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday. Continue reading
