The squadrons to which the mission was assigned were brought into the picture during the month of June, and only in a limited way. In the preparations for the operation, we practiced ways of arriving, implementation, routes, distances, without telling the pilots and the navigators who were taking part what the target was. [29] Assad became the de facto head of the Syrian Air Force, a dizzying promotion for a man in his thirties. Bus bombs kill 14 in Syria capital; shells elsewhere kill 10 The squadron commander and his deputy take the ones on whom they agree hands down will get the bombs to the target.. One of the key figures who led to the decision to bomb the Syrian reactor, the head of the Mossad at the time, Meir Dagan, died in March last year. On December 19, 2003, a Saturday morning, I turned on the radio and heard on a news broadcast that the Americans and the British had persuaded Libya to dismantle its nuclear program, says Amnon Sufrin, who was then head of the intelligence division at the Mossad. By the 1950s the party had managed to acquire an urban middle-class base. The prime minister, who managed to take a two-hour nap, went on to Tel Aviv to follow the operation from the air force underground command post together with Barak, Livni, the chief of staff and the air force commander. In January 1964 an Arab League summit meeting convened in Cairo and decided: The establishment of Israel is the basic threat that the Arab nation in its entirety has agreed to forestall. Read about our approach to external linking. F-15 pilot talks about striking the Syrian nuclear reactor. The collapse of the UAR, coupled with mutinies, purges and transfers left the officer corps in complete disarray and open to anti-government agitation. They are the best in the world. The committee decided state policies before the sessions of the NCRC, and by doing so became the real seat of power. Capt Davis said they targeted "aircraft, hardened aircraft shelters, petroleum and logistical storage, ammunition supply bunkers, air defence systems, and radars", describing them as "things that made the airfield operate". In early November 2015, just over a month after launching an air campaign against Mr Assad's opponents, the Russian military reportedly began using Shayrat as a forward operating base for Mi-24 and Mi-35 attack helicopters. Major Y., a researcher in MIs technology branch, composed a document headed An Issue for Examination. This is a well-known procedure in MI whereby, with the approval of the head of the organization and the head of the research division, a researcher is permitted to publish a dissenting assessment, even if it is not accepted by the chain of command, in order to prompt examination of a new hypothesis. [19] Without the peasantry there could not have been a Ba'athist revolution in Syria. WebThe Bombing of Shallal occurred on 23 January 1965 during the War over Water when the Israeli Air Force bombed the Syrian water pumping station at Shallal to prevent the Mughniyeh was in the know about the most top-secret missions of Hezbollahs patrons, Iran and Syria. To go in with two kinds of planes, with different kinds of armament, because every plane is vulnerable to blocking in a different way, but this way, the second kind could compensate. [26] Later that morning, the coupmakers convened at the army headquarters to celebrate. WebThe Syrian Civil War is an ongoing violent conflict in Syria between pro-democratic insurgents and Syrian President Bashar al-Assads long-standing dynastic regime. One of the American media organizations had asked the Pentagon a question about the presence of a nuclear installation in Syria. For me, today it connects with our ability to remove threats in distant countries in the third circle [meaning, Iran]. Syrian Civil War | Facts & Timeline | Britannica This became a source of outcry across Syria and numerous intellectuals began highlighting the new regime's sectarian character through media outlets and publications. As was its wont, Damascus denied everything, and the IAEA did nothing about all this despite Syrias blatant violation of a treaty to which it was a signatory. Shelly said to us: You are champions.. 2023 BBC. At the 5th National Ba'ath Party Congress, held on 8 May 1962, it was decided to reestablish the party and keep Aflaq as Secretary General of the National Command. We began to suspect that there, in broad daylight, a reactor was hiding.. The Syrian pro-opposition website, Orient News, meanwhile said the jet's pilot had been identified as the commander of an Su-22 squadron at Shayrat. To make sure the reactor would be destroyed, it was necessary to deploy tremendous firepower, in the form of a relatively extensive aerial bombardment. Some of its planes had been ordered to bomb rebel positions. WebShayrat airbase was the target of the US' first deliberate direct attack on Syrian forces since the start of the war six years ago. The United States, along with Britain and Mr Trump's National Security Adviser, H R McMaster, said measures had also been put in place to avoid hitting what were believed to be stores of Sarin at Shayrat, so that it "would not be ignited and cause a hazard to civilians or anyone else". At 1:30, we got back to Israel and landed at the base. But it was aimed at this particular airfield for a reason, because we could trace this murderous attack back to that facility.". Anyone who goes running to television risks causing a war.. Dagans weekly meeting with the prime minister in Tel Aviv was scheduled for 8 A.M. the next day. Ultimately, however, the bombing of the reactor would not have happened without three people who believed in the mission and pushed the operation forward, unstintingly, throughout: Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Mossad chief Meir Dagan and Israel Air Force commander Eliezer Shkedi., >> Ten years of silence on Syria strike. [26], Assad led a small group of conspirators to capture the al-Dumayr air base, 40 kilometers (25mi) north-east of Damascus the only unit that resisted the coup. When the F-16I crew reported Arizona, it was 12:25 A.M., Israel time, on Friday, September 6. It was the prime minister at that time, Menachem Begin, who established the doctrine whereby Israel will not allow any of its foes in the Middle East to develop nuclear weapons. The leader of Islamic State and one of the worlds most wanted men has been killed during an overnight raid in Syria by US special forces.. According to various reports at the time, Mughniyehs friend General Suleiman had no kinder a fate. [24], On 8 February 1963, the Iraqi Regional Branch, led by Ali Salih al-Sa'di, took power in Iraq by overthrowing Abd al-Karim Qasim. The new middle class consisted of capitalists and entrepreneurs who opposed the traditional elite the monopolisation of power by the traditional elite led to the radicalisation of the new middle-class. The US says it conducted two rounds of air strikes in eastern Syria in one day against groups affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC). "Initial indications are that this strike has severely damaged or destroyed Syrian aircraft and support infrastructure and equipment at Shayrat airfield, reducing the Syrian government's ability to deliver chemical weapons.". [31][32], However, between 28 April-2 May, the Ba'athist-dominated Military Committee virtually renounced the agreement when it purged over 50 Nasserist officers from their high-ranking positions in the armed forces, leading to a wide-scale propaganda campaign by Egypt via radio denouncing the Ba'ath (Nasserist-leaning newspapers had been previously shut down.) [7]. The disagreement between them was a meeting between a certified lightweight who had never approved any real operational planning (Olmert) and a professional who had engaged in that for decades, from the days of Sayeret Matkal (the elite commando force Barak had led), and up through the weekly discussions on operations and incursions in the defense ministers and the chief of staffs offices (Barak). However, Israel began to pay serious attention to that inclination only after the discovery of a serious intelligence gap in another country: Libya. Video, The secret mine that hid the Nazis' stolen treasure, MasterChef Australia host Jock Zonfrillo dies, Trevelyan relative 'would consider' famine payment, Four dead after suspected pigeon racer dispute, Ding becomes China's first male world chess champion, UK chip giant Arm files for blockbuster share sale, Adidas sued by investors over Kanye West deal, US principal visits David sculpture after nudity row. [2] At this stage, some movements tried to establish a Syrian identity, most notably the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, or became advocates of communism and Islamism. Instead, he returned to Syria via a flight to Beirut on 23 June to protest the Committee's move against him. Alongside the urgent necessity of removing the surprising new threat in Syria, Olmert was keen to mend the flaws revealed in his functioning in Lebanon as well as the publics impression of him. [11] However, the Ba'ath Party was not a purely middle-class party, and from the very beginning, it sent party cadres to rural areas to recruit new members and form new party organisations. By the time Olmert left office less than two years later, Israel had again according to the foreign press heavily bombed an Iranian convoy in the heart of Sudan that was en route to Gaza. However, Hayden added a reservation: No other elements of such a program were identified, such as development of a warhead. And it was also the start of the intense hostility between that prime minister and his defense minister, which took root during that summer of 2007, and of the impassioned war over who among the top brass in the military organizations deserved the credit. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. To hear opinions from individuals beyond the heads of the military and the intelligence communities, Olmert consulted (as did then-Defense Minister Amir Peretz, separately) other experienced people and external oversight teams. They put on the table an intelligence finding of the type rarely encountered in this country. [d], Later, on 19 June, Chief of Staff al-Hariri led a high-ranking delegation that included Prime Minister al-Bitar, Aflaq and Education Minister Sami Droubi to Algeria for a state visit. The attacks were claimed by Islamic State group militants. As head of the Bureau of Officers' Affairs, Jadid appointed friends to senior positions, purged his enemies and appointed several Ba'athists to senior positions. The middle class owned the majority of small to medium properties. Prior to the meeting the president consulted his advisers. At the cabinet meeting, Ashkenazi presented the various alternatives and recommended attacking. The disagreement here is not between those who want a war and those who oppose it. Nechushtan, the head of the Planning Directorate, has said that according to the scenario the planning and intelligence directorates had drawn up, We were going to take Assad by surprise. You have done your bit for the people of Israel.. It was an extraordinary process, at the end of which the reactor was destroyed., Ido Nechushtan believes that this is the kind of problem that its important for Israel to know how to solve on its own. The approach was: confirm or rule out. Control of water resources and Israeli military attacks against the diversion effort are considered among the factors which led to the Six-Day War in June 1967. An analysis of the operational possibilities for destroying the reactor, gradually led Israel to a realization that would ultimately guide the decision on the method of action that would be used. Web23 Feb 2022. Syria war: Deadly bomb blasts hit military bus in Damascus The air force dubbed the plan with the code name Soft Melody (the general staff operation had a different code name, Ein Habasor, while at Military Intelligence they referred to the preparations as Outside the Box). I meet with him as a matter of course. [16], The 8 March Revolution has often been viewed as a mere military coup, but it had many of the ingredients of national revolts from below. [42] Nasser also announced his withdrawal from the 17 April unity agreement.[40][42]. US carries out additional airstrikes in Syria following rocket - CNN In July 1953, Israel began construction of an intake for its National Water Carrier at the Daughters of Jacob Jordan Bridge in the demilitarized zone north of the Sea of Galilee. We started to back-analyze the Libyan program and try to figure out where else in the region similar programs could be hiding..
