Israelis Seized Nuclear Material in Syrian Raid

Originally posted by Freakaloin
1.you said he was a lunatic before he even said that

Well I guess that proves I was correct.
Thanks for pointing that out friend!

yeah if your a moron...

Originally posted by Freakaloin
yeah if your a moron...

Umm.....do you mean you're or you are and NOT 'your'? And you said I was the moron.

reply to post by MurderCityDevil


You hit the nail on this one, but this is why I love this place (ATS), we have the freedom to gather articles from all over and get them in one place, like you said many times the truth is still not revealed but at least we can have the full variety of sources at our disposal and not have to rely on one news release to formulate our opinions.


@Beachcoma,

Thanks for your efforts in following this story

The Syrian response to the OP is something we need in order to balance the allegations.

As of now, I have doubts on either side's version of the story but rest assured, there has to be some serious discussions going on behind closed doors on this very subject.

reply to post by JacKatMtn


Here here.

One thing I can be assured of from all of this is the truth has yet to be told.
No, I'm not going to believe whatever the Syrians have to say about this, just as I'm not going to believe whatever the US and Israel have to say about this.

Yes, I haven't heard much from Syria lately, but what I have heard from the US over the past few years has often turned up to be flat out lies.

As another user said earlier, fool me once...

Considering there are variations between the Israeli version and the US version, we know one of them is making stuff up.

I just (less than an hour ago) recieved an email from Stratfor, detailing their analysis of the events. Naturally, I cannot link to this, but anyone signed up to their Geopolitical Intelligence Reports would have recieved it.

Firstly, the obvious glares in the official story are made clear. They make a very good point, this story, despite making headlines earlier, has all but dropped out of the public consciousness already, whereas all sides have at least one good reason to keep it important news.

Why the secrecy? If the Syrians have nuclear facilities, the Israelis should be delighted to make it public. Frankly, so should the United States, since the Bush administration has always argued that nuclear proliferation to rogue states, including Syria, is one of the key problems in the world. The Syrians should be spinning the story like crazy as well, denying the nuclear program but screaming about unprovoked Israeli-U.S. aggression. The silence from one or two parties makes sense. The silence from all parties makes little sense.

The biggest problem is why Syria would be trying to obtain nuclear technology. Sandwiched between Israel and Turkey -- a country that has not had great relations with Syria in the past -- and constantly watched by the United States, the probability of it developing a nuclear capability undetected is infinitesimal, and the probability of Israel not taking it out is nonexistent...Trying to take on Israel or the United States in a nuclear gambit is not the Syrians' style.

There has been persistent discussion of nuclear material in Syria, which, if we took the words seriously, would tend to indicate that something radioactive, such as enriched uranium or plutonium, was present. If what was delivered was not equipment but radioactive material, the threat might not have been a Syrian nuclear program, but some sort of radioactive device -- a dirty bomb -- that might be handed off to Hezbollah. The head of Israel's military intelligence was quoted as saying something about the attack having re-established Israel's deterrence power after its failures in the 2006 conflict with Hezbollah. Perhaps the problem was that the material was being transferred from North Korea to Syria on its way to Lebanon, possibly to use against Israel.

That would explain Syria's relative silence. Concern that the deal with North Korea will fall apart might keep the United States quiet. But a Syrian transfer of such material to Hezbollah normally would set Israel to raging at the Syrians. The Americans might have kept quiet, but the Israelis would have leaked much earlier than this. Israel would want to use the threat as a tool in its public relations war.

The report concludes this was a psychological operation against Iran as much as a need to secure the material before it went to Hezbollah (assuming the material existed and that was its destination). Syria and Iran are close, of course, and such a display of intelligence ability could be a very stark warning to both powers, of both capability, ability to take action and plausible deniability. As other posters have noted, the silence of the other Arab states on this matter is very interesting, and may indicate a security threat that even worried them.

I would bet it was Saddam's old Chemical and Bio weapons stash that the Israelis said that they seen along time ago being moved to Syria with the help of the Russians (also corroborated by many Iraqi generals). Bush couldn't stop the invasion of Iraq to chase the weapons so they just say oh oops we found nothing, Not to mention the fact that we would need to confront Russia on the issue. Israel more than likely was ordered by Bush not to hit them till it looked like they were being moved or deployed. Recent tensions probably got Syria to start playing with their new found toys and in turn invited the Israelis to wipe them out.
Makes allot more sense to me than North Koreans in Syria.

Makes alot less sense. Syria and Iraq were never friends, the situation between them has always been one of cold hostility. And while Saddam did give his air force to Iran to mind in 1991, he expected to stay in power and expected them back. Whereas everyone knew the 2003 invasion was to overthrow Saddam. Dictators are not altruistic, they don't just hand out WMDs to surrounding states like candy when they realize their end is near. In fact, Saddam's strategy for dealing with the American invasion would have been augmented greately with tactical chemical and biological weapon usage.

And the word of Iraqi generals mean squat. Most were either rivals for Saddam's position or on the American payroll. Saddam would have lied to them in order to make himself look more powerful and secure. After all, if you failed in a coup attempt, Saddam might just wipe out your entire home town, like he has before. Fear can be quite a deterrent.

As for the Israelis, well...I doubt Israeli strategists were going to cry over Saddam being got rid of, and the Americans were itching to do the deed, so why not provide the US with a reason, even if the intelligence was iffy at best? I would, in their position.

Originally posted by Sky watcher
I would bet it was Saddam's old Chemical and Bio weapons stash that the Israelis said that they seen along time ago being moved to Syria with the help of the Russians

Don't you realize that is an impossiblilty since Saddam was not supposed to have any weapons of this type. /sarcasm

I am having a hard time comprehending this next article.

It was reported that the Syrian VP said the target hit by the Israelis was ASCAD, an agricultural research center, and provided images of the site.

Today the Arab league vehemently denies that their facility was the target.

And in a statement they called the allegations:

"Leaks in the Zionist media concerning this ACSAD station are total inventions and lies"

The Syrian VP claimed it, Zionist media is blamed for it

Am I missing something?

Arab League center denies it was Israeli raid target

DAMASCUS -- An agricultural research center run by the Arab League vehemently denied Sunday it was the target of a secret Israeli air raid on Syrian territory earlier this month.

The Arab Center for the Studies of Arid zones and Dry lands (ACSAD) issued a statement saying it was "surprised" by media reports that it was the target of an Israeli airstrike, and said it had nothing to hide from foreign journalists wishing to visit its facility.

Here is a update on this story:

Report: Israel blinded Syrian radar

After Israeli missile strike on Syria confirmed by both sides, the question remains – how did Israel's non-stealth jets infiltrate Syrian airspace undetected? US aerospace experts tell Aviation Week magazine that Israel used new US-developed technology that lets users invade and manipulate enemy communication networks

Originally posted by JacKatMtn
I am having a hard time comprehending this next article.

What's so hard to comprehend. Everyone that doesn't agree with their 3 (nothing got bombed, a agriculural station got bombed ....no wait anabandoned military base got bombed) versions of the same event is part of the Zionist controlled media.

Seems pretty simple to me.

I've stopped trying to that kind of logic as it is a Mobius strip that will drive you crazy.

Most Arab leaders don't do very good spin control damage, must be a democracy kinda skill I guess.