[33][note 2] The purges resulted in the culmination of neo-Ba'athist transformation of Syrian military, which became mostly stripped of Sunni officers and packed with loyalist Alawite officers. [12] In 1956, the Ba'ath Party organized the first labour protest in Syrian history. The prevailing conspiracy theory held that Barak was waiting for the final version of the Winograd commission investigative report on the second Lebanon war, which was to be published within a few months, in the expectation that the commission would obligate Olmert to resign. It was a square building with an area of about 1,600 square meters (more than 17,200 square feet), which was 20 meters (close to 66 feet) high. Barak also thought an attack could embroil Israel in a war with Syria, in which it would again become clear that the IDF and the home front were not properly prepared. However, that day the military intelligence raided the apartment where the plotters were planning to assemble. There was silence. You dont see what is happening inside. The Syrian regime completed the destruction of the building. Shallal is situated nearby to Kur Udani and Ranhebas. For combat pilots to hear a thing like that it is completely contrary to their intuition and ethos.. In the air force, they characterized the release of the fuel tank into Turkey as an operational error, although tactically it was possible to have justified the crews considerations. [21] The Damascus faction was the enemy of the military committee because of their support for Nazim al-Kudsi's Government and the Hawranist were considered as rivals because of their stance against pan-Arabism. Is climate change killing Australian wine? On August 31, Olmert and Barak held a limited operational consultation with the heads of the defense organizations. Some 59 cruise missiles were The politicians were waiting in suspense for the final report, which was due to be published in January 2008. It is far from any settlement. The Israeli leadership began to converge on the decision bombing of the reactor in the near term and the selection of the more limited action by the air force. You feel a slight shaking of the wing as they are released. Some 59 cruise missiles were fired at the Syrian Air Force facility in response to what President Donald Trump said was a chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held town three days before. Syria war: Why was Shayrat airbase bombed? - BBC News The ninth communique reinstated the five members of the military committee in the armed forces. U.S. Response to the al-Shabab Attack in Somalia In the force they were worried about a series of possible complications during the attack, ranging from the presence of a concealed battery of anti-aircraft guns in the area of the reactor to the concern that it was not possible to determine with certainty that the reactor would be destroyed in a single sortie, so that a second one, immediately following the first, might be needed to complete the mission, this time under more complicated circumstances, in which the aim of the operation had already been revealed to the Syrians. The spokesman also described the effectiveness of the US strike as "extremely low", saying only 23 missiles had reached Shayrat. Had it not been for his carelessness and the Mossads brilliant work, it is doubtful that the operation to destroy the reactor would have taken place. US bases in north-east Syria have come under attack before, with the US responding with air strikes. [23], While it planned the coup, the military committee and its members were frowned upon by civilian Ba'athists. The trick was not to take responsibility and immediately after the bombing to push ahead with a diplomatic effort that would convince other countries of the reliability of the information about what the Syrians were preparing and spur them to act to restrain him., Two different air force strike options were on the table, the difference between them was the size of the aerial force that would be used. Shayrat airbase was the target of the US' first deliberate direct attack on Syrian forces since the start of the war six years ago. Hariri was appointed chief of staff. A large, cubical building that was still under construction in the heart of the Syrian desert, not far from Deir al-Zour, was a focus of the Israeli defense establishment starting from the end of 2006. From the beginning, the military committee members formed state policies behind the backs of other NCRC members when the civilian leadership found out, al-Atrash said: "Why do not these gentlemen speak? There are things you dont talk about. According to reports in the American media, his assassination was a join Mossad-CIA operation in revenge for Mughniyehs role in hijacking a TWA airliner in Beirut in 1985, and for attacking U.S. Marines in Lebanon two years earlier. The attacks were claimed by Islamic State group militants. Syria The Mossad intelligence division distributed a document with an assessment to that effect in February 2004. There is no reason for anyone to be in this area except for herdsmen. A Syrian living a few kilometres from the airbase told the BBC that he was awoken at about 03:45 by the force of the explosions. The conflict in Syria is often referred to as a civil war, meaning a conflict between citizens of the same country. May I suggest they appoint a liaison officer to communicate their views to us? military hid airstrikes that killed dozens Read about our approach to external linking. Concurrently, the preparations began in the IDF for the possibility of things going sour, but in order to maintain the secrecy of the operation, it was necessary to tailor a false narrative for most of the commanders, and later also for the public and the media. The following afternoon, the Syrian news agency issued a laconic statement to the effect that during the night its air defense system had chased away Israeli planes that had penetrated Syrias air space. 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. 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. The operation was approved unanimously and at the armys recommendation the limited air attack option was chosen. [26] Captain Salim Hatum, a party officer, seized the radio station. Assad was building a plutonium nuclear reactor, he argued. The people who were seen nearby mostly arrived on motorcycles; it looked as though the structure stood empty at night. As in Mughniyehs case, Israel was accused of the killing but Jerusalem never officially responded. This system created a class society reflecting urban-rural living patterns. He succeeded in persuading Bush to halt the diplomatic move and to commit to preventing leaks. Two explosive devices attached to the vehicle blew up as it passed under Jisr The dilemma Israel faced with respect to the choice between effectiveness and secrecy did not end with the question of the operation itself. Trump: "Assad choked out the lives of helpless men, women and children". When Assad's forces reached the outskirts of the base, it was broad daylight. The traditional elite that took power in Syria when the country gained independence had come to power during the Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon. Top Israeli officials, most of them intelligence people, set out for Western countries and a number of friendly countries in the region to share the incriminating information about the secret Syrian reactor. Syrian artillery units opened fire on the construction site. While Aflaq cautioned the plotters because of the party's lack of support, they failed to share his worries, and planned to launch the coup on 7 March. 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. The Military Academy at Homs was put under Ba'athist controlseveral hundred Ba'athists, including Assad's brother Rifaat al-Assad, were given a crash course in military teaching before being given command. I said to him: The air force did what it was assigned to do., The prime minister celebrated the achievement by raising a toast. The opposition-run health directorate says at least 84 people died. I cant remember him ever hugging me on any other occasion but this time he was all smiles. At the beginning of the discussion Livni still hestitated, but she was convinced by the chief of staffs arguments that the proposed military action would ensure a more certain outcome. Read about our approach to external linking. We were able to say with certainty: This reactor is intended to produce plutonium and for military purposes only, says Yadlin. Barak, shouting, argued that he had not authorized the presentation. 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. Come to think of it the court of history. [22] The military committee ordered a group of junior officers to recruit the leading independent Colonel Ziad al-Hariri, the commander of the front facing Israel, to their cause. [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. Many of the people involved in the action deserve to get credit and also demand it, said one person who played a key role in planning the operation. 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. Then, he in fact presented opposite arguments: Suddenly there wasnt a problem in rushing to bomb, even though an attack in Iran was a far greater challenge than bombing in Syria. Gates and some of Bushs advisers believed that an attack should be left in Israels hands. The Syrian silence helped this. WebThe United States stands with Burundi in the face of al-Shababs May 3 attack on Burundian soldiers serving at the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) base in Ceel The squadrons to which the mission was assigned were brought into the picture during the month of June, and only in a limited way. [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. 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. [6] By then, Mughniyeh was dead. Baraks behavior, says one of the top defense people, was simply deplorable, Especially taking into account the disagreement about bombing the nuclear sites in Iran, which erupted two years later. WebA bomb attack on a military bus in central Damascus has killed 14 people, Syrian state media say. According to the report, Ibrahim Othman, head of the Syrian Atomic Energy Commission, had come to Austria to participate in the deliberations of the International Atomic Energy Agency. There was not much traffic in the area. The "War over Water", also the Battle over Water, was a series of confrontations between Israel and its Arab neighbors from November 1964 to May 1967 over control of water sources in the Jordan River drainage basin. At the Mossad they remained skeptical. Bibi, he said to his veteran opponent, its at midnight tonight. Netanyahu wished him success and said, I will react in accordance with the circumstances. Olmert, like Ashkenazi, stressed the need for secrecy after the attack as well. Al-Hariri led a brigade from the Syrian front towards Israel, while Ba'athists were able to gain control of a second brigade stationed in Suwayda. In one plane, a problem was solved, after [it had become clear that] not all the systems were working. Syrian Nuclear Reactor Strike: Battle of the Memoirs, U.S. intelligence's presentation about the Syrian nuclear reactor. We had a number of kinds of weapons, a mix that wouldnt leave you with a single malfunction point without the ability to compensate for it. Attacking a hot reactor was liable to create tremendous environmental pollution. It was decided to attack but to authorize a small forum the trio of Olmert, Barak and Livni to decide upon the timing of the attack and the nature of the operation. 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. The approach was: confirm or rule out. Asia. In 1965, there were three notable border clashes, starting with Syrian shootings of Israeli farmers and army patrols, followed by Israeli tanks and artillery destroying the Arab heavy earth moving machines that were used for the diversion plan. In the meantime, Shkedi went to the Hatzerim and Ramon air bases to talk with the crews that would take part in the operation and to reveal the real target to most of them. Sources told the Guardian newspaper that US intelligence officials believed Russian personnel were at Shayrat "when Sarin was loaded on to a Syrian jet", but that "they have not established whether the Russians knew it was happening". That was marked as a point of no return, because an attack on a hot reactor was liable to cause tremendous environmental damage. In a series of cabinet meetings, the hostility between the prime minister and his defense minister became more extreme. According to the plan, upon hitting the target, all the planes were required to report to the others over the communications network. The potentially hostile unit stationed in Qatana, south-west of Damascus, did not intervene probably because Widad Bashir had taken control over communications in the Damascus area. US carries out additional airstrikes in Syria following rocket - CNN WebBy ALBERT AJI and BASSEM MROUE October 20, 2021. Why now? The war is referenced in the famous US antiwar 1965 song "Eve of Destruction" by Barry McGuire with the line "And even the Jordan River has bodies floatin'". And since the existence of Israel is a danger that threatens the Arab nation, the diversion of the Jordan waters by it multiplies the dangers to Arab existence. I was very much in agreement with the decision to attack, even though it was with a heavy heart., Ashkenazi went back to the General Command building in Tel Aviv. Some of its planes had been ordered to bomb rebel positions. In Washington the Israeli delegation met with Vice President Dick Cheney and top people in the CIA and the National Security Council. The plebeian character of the struggle and the radical ideologies spawned radical solutions to the agrarian problem. The military committee decided it had to capture al-Kiswah and Qatana, two military camps, seize control of the 70th Armoured Brigade at al-Kiswah, the Military Academy in the city of Homs and the Damascus radio station. A turning point in Israel's history Before successful strike, Israel's most resounding intel failure. WebShayrat airbase was the target of the US' first deliberate direct attack on Syrian forces since the start of the war six years ago. But when you put researchers on a project, if theres something they will find it.. [13], The Ba'ath Party faced a significant dilemma: take power through competitive elections or forceful takeover. Later, somewhat larger forums were also convened. [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. Nevertheless, the Arab states were not prepared to coexist with a project which seemed likely to make a major contribution to Israel's economic growth. The PM hoped that the U.S. would take it upon itself to destroy the reactor. The inequality between urban and rural dwellers, together with capitalist penetration of the agrarian sector and the traditional elites' monopolisation of most large revenue sources, led to the establishment of peasant movements who fought for change or opposed the system. The Nasserists became allies of the Ba'ath, even while they supported Gamal Abdel Nasser and the reestablishment of the UAR. [19] The new middle class alone could only produce instability, but together with the peasantry, the revolution became possible. Barak tried to block approval of the operation and Olmert read out arguments from a piece of paper like a lawyer arguing in court, for the record. The 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 [19], In 1962, the military committee of the Syrian Regional Branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party spent most of its time planning to take power through a conventional military coup. 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. Syria On Tuesday, US military radar systems monitored a Syrian Air Force fixed-wing aircraft take off from Shayrat and fly over Khan Sheikhoun on two occasions - at 06:37 local time (03:37 GMT) and 06:46. 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. [14] The UAR would prove to be Egypt-dominated, and the Ba'ath Party was forced to dissolve itself, but in 1961 the UAR collapsed because of a military coup in Syria. They put on the table an intelligence finding of the type rarely encountered in this country. [1] [2] References ^ "Top Syrian general declares defection on Al Arabiya". Why Now? Shallal Shallal is a village in Shallal is situated close to the villages El Mazyunat Khaddzh Khasan and Jubb as Safa. Amir relates that a number of years later he watched a video that had been filmed in the command post during the attack. [40][41] The Army Headquarters, personally defended by al-Hafiz, and the broadcast station were attacked, and the ensuing battle left hundreds of people dead, including several civilian bystanders. A lot of people told him that it wasnt possible that there was a reactor, and that it would be a pity to waste the resources and the time. Uranium fuel rods. An event with a relatively small footprint, a sharp and quiet action at a site far from where people were living, if Israel did not take responsibility for it and if its leaders did not prattle in its aftermath, would enable Assad to downplay the event. And before that, at the end of 2008 and beginning of 2009, came the Israeli military operation known as Cast Lead against Hamas in Gaza. The Ministry of Defence headquarters were seized without a fight, and General Zahr al-Din, the commander-in-chief, was put under arrest. While the conspirators of the military committee were all young, the sitting regime had been slowly disintegrating and the traditional elite had lost effective political power.[20]. Mar 23, 2018. Any report in the media was liable to awaken the Syrians out of their complacency, alter their defensive preparedness around the reactor and deny the IDF the advantage of surprise. [8] The failure in the 1948 ArabIsraeli War led to the downfall of the traditional elite and the rise of the military in politics. An estimated three thousand families owned half of the land in Syria. The first research breakthrough occurred in November 2006. In his memoirs, Bush wrote that following Haydens assessment, he told Olmert at their meeting on June 19 that he could not justify an American attack on a sovereign state. It was then 2:00 A.M. on Wednesday. When he turned on the ignition of his jeep, it blew up. If the ground-to-air-systems wake up, you are in a vipers nest. 2 yr. ago It was about the "Headwater Diversion Plan" adopted by the Arab League to divert two of the three [2], Small scale water-related skirmishes had occurred following the 1949 agreements. We made certain five times that it was all systems go., Even today, he remembers the moment of impact. He pushed for formulation of alternative proposals. The planning and the unfolding conspiracy was inspired by the Iraqi Regional Branch's successful military coup. 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. WebThe 1963 Syrian coup d'tat, referred to by the Syrian government as the 8 March Revolution ( Arabic: ), was the successful seizure of power in Syria by the The prime minister warned the American president that setting the diplomatic channel in motion would make it possible for the Syrians to play for time in the talks while hastening the completion of the construction of the reactor. In the week the prime minister went to Washington, a person who did not share Bushs enthusiasm for Olmert returned to the core of decision-makers in Israel: Ehud Barak. Before taking control, the Ba'ath Party gambled that it would be allowed to share power with Gamal Abdel Nasser in the United Arab Republic (UAR). Prime Minister, what do we do? Olmert replied: We destroy it.), In a rare public reference to these developments while giving testimony in the trial against him in the affair involving Morris Talansky (involving unlawful acceptance of gifts of cash from a New York businessman), the prime minister related: The head of the Mossad called me. This is right next door. Prior to the meeting the president consulted his advisers. At 8 P.M. he summoned leader of the opposition Netanyahu to the prime ministers residence. Everything happens within a few seconds. Do you remember something in the north that was bothering me? said the prime minister to the president. Syrian Caught in a pincer movement, the commander of the 70th Armoured Brigade, Lieutenant General Abd al-Karim surrendered to the plotters Umran took over as acting commander of the 70th Armoured Brigade.
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