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THE BURDEN OF DAMASCUS


Israeli warplanes launch air strike inside Syria


BBC News reports: “Israeli planes have launched a strike inside Syria from Lebanese air space.

Unnamed US-based Israeli officials said the target was a shipment of arms destined for Lebanon’s Hezbollah. The governments of Israel and Syria have not yet commented on the strike.

Israel launched a similar strike in January, when it also claimed to have targeted a Hezbollah-bound arms convoy.

Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama says he does not foresee sending US troops to tackle Syria’s civil war.

Western intelligence agencies have raised concerns that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons, something which the US has termed a ‘red line’.

Mr. Obama reaffirmed …that clear evidence of chemical weapons would be a ‘game changer’, but that any response would not be rushed.

Analysts say the US and its allies are discussing possible action including air strikes to enforce a no-fly zone, but Syria’s ally Russia is strongly opposed to such measures…” (I was stunned when President Obama stated on national and international television that Israel has a right to defend its people.

Syria has never yet witnessed the prophecy of Isaiah 17:1 — The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

The next five reports will possibly become the fulfillment of this text.)


Syrian Official: Israeli Strike ‘Declaration of War’


Israel National News reports: “Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Feisal al-Mekdad …called Israel’s bombing of a weapons transport in Syria a ‘declaration of war.’ Speaking in an interview on CNN, al-Mekdad said that Israel was siding with ‘Islamist terrorists’ to unseat President Bashar al-Assad, and that Syria would respond ‘at the time and in the manner that it chooses to.’

Israel has not confirmed or denied the claims that it had attacked a convoy in Syria that was transporting Iranian produced missiles to Hizbullah over Syrian territory. ‘We don’t respond to these kinds of reports,’ an IDF spokesperson told foreign news media…

Also condemning the strike was Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour, demanding that the Arab League take ‘a decisive stand against Israeli terrorism.’ Mansour complained that the League had remained silent ‘for too long’ in the wake of ‘Israeli hooliganism,’ and demanded that the League ‘immediately condemn the Israeli action against the Assad regime.’…”


Hezbollah: We will defend Syria against Israel, U.S.


The Jerusalem Post reports: “Hezbollah is ready to protect Syria against Israel and the US, a Hezbollah official was quoted by the Lebanese Daily Star as saying…

‘Hezbollah is ready to prevent Syria falling under the control of Tel Aviv and Washington,’ Ibrahim Amin Sayyed said at a memorial service in Baalbek.

Sayyed maintained the organization is not intervening in the Syrian conflict, but rather ‘it is an intervention in the conflict against America and Israel.’

‘We are present in Syria at the political and the strategic levels and for the defense of the great cause [Palestine],’ he added, noting Hezbollah does not work against the needs and demands of the Syrian people.

‘On the contrary, we support the people in their demands to reach a situation that preserves their dignity and freedom and ensures their participation in political life,’ he said…”


Exiled Muslim Brotherhood plans return to Syria


The Financial Times reports: “The Muslim Brotherhood is set to open offices inside Syria for the first time since the organisation was crushed there decades ago, in an apparent effort to capitalise on the increasingly Islamised rebellion.

Riad al-Shaqfa, the movement’s exiled leader, said in an interview with the Financial Times that a decision was recently taken to revive organisational structures inside Syria and followers have been asked to start opening party offices in rebel-held areas.

‘In the beginning we said this is a time for revolution, not ideology. Now there are many groups inside so we feel we should reorganise,’ he said, adding that the Brotherhood – a similar movement to its Egyptian counterpart – was hoping to promote a more moderate brand of Islamist thinking at a time of growing radicalisation…”