[42] After evading the authorities for a short period, Alwan and his chief co-conspirators Raef al-Maarri and Muhammad Nabhan were apprehended and brought to military trial, where they were found guilty of treason and sentenced to death. By no stretch of the imagination will you come back without the reactor having been destroyed. The researchers believed that this was the sign of the existence of a cooling system, an essential element in a reactor. The In January 2007, a pipeline leading from the Cube to the Euphrates was identified in satellite photos. [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. Authorize the operation.. 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. "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.". WebUSS Shamal. This became a source of outcry across Syria and numerous intellectuals began highlighting the new regime's sectarian character through media outlets and publications. After the coup, the Ba'athist Military committee initiated a series of purges that altered the structure of the Syrian armed forces; by replacing 90% of its officer corps with Alawites. However, that day the military intelligence raided the apartment where the plotters were planning to assemble. The new chief of staff initiated a process of rehabilitation but when he was shown the findings from Othmans computer, Ashkenazi realized that he was facing a series of problems completely different from what he had been preparing for: how to get rid of the new threat in a way that would not spark a new war with Syria and Hezbollah and if a war did break out how to ensure that the IDF would win this time. In April 2007 the Winograd commission published its devastating interim report on the conduct of the war, in which it was very critical of Olmerts functioning the previous year. 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. The second option that was ultimately accepted, was sketched by the air force commander on a paper napkin in a brief conversation with the prime minister. The silence on the Israeli side, which overall was maintained in accordance with the advance planning, helped reduce the sense of humiliation felt by the Syrian president and gave credence to his range of plausible deniability. Yet in 2008, IAEA inspectors found traces of radioactive substances there, and the agency said there was a high probability that a nuclear reactor had been in operation at the site. Bus bombs kill 14 in Syria capital; shells elsewhere kill 10 Assad was building a plutonium nuclear reactor, he argued. Cheney, as usual the rapacious hawk, wanted the United States to attack and destroy the reactor as a public and deterrent message, a warning against the development of additional secret nuclear programs in other countries. 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. Summary. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. You have to make all kinds of split-second decisions. US carries out additional airstrikes in Syria following rocket - CNN Salah Jadid bicycled into the city that morning, and captured the Bureau of Officers' Affairs, which later became his personal fiefdom. By then, Mughniyeh was dead. Covering about 10 sq km (4 sq miles), it has two 3km-long (2 mile) runways, as well as dozens of hangars, buildings and storage facilities. The war and the investigations revealed hugs gaps in the armys capabilities and the readiness of its units. Olmert, a few of the ministers and some of the army officers who clearly favored the prime minister, suspected Barak of being driven by hidden personal motives. Syria The hitch, however, did not cast a pall on the success of the operation. In Olmerts circle they describe a bleak mood prevailing after the discovery. Mapcarta, the open map. [citation needed]. If we fail, you can disown us. The squadron commander and his deputy take the ones on whom they agree hands down will get the bombs to the target.. The plebeian character of the struggle and the radical ideologies spawned radical solutions to the agrarian problem. We went through the whole process until the correct decision was made. When the F-16I crew reported Arizona, it was 12:25 A.M., Israel time, on Friday, September 6. 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. In the air force it was decided to brief only the top command in each of the two operational squadrons about the nature of the target that was to be attacked. [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. 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. 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 He was waiting for us outside the plane as we landed, with hugs. 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. The US bombing of Syria, explained in 400 words - Vox Meir Dagan was very determined. 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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. We began to suspect that there, in broad daylight, a reactor was hiding.. When Assad's forces reached the outskirts of the base, it was broad daylight. At a distant and isolated site called Al Kibar, less than a kilometer west of the Euphrates River, the Cube aroused their interest in particular. WebCNN . Instead, they had become deeply hostile to pan-Arabist thought and had become radical socialists instead. [25], On the night of 78 March, tanks and units loyal to the conspiracy began moving on Damascus. And then we started to fly back, in accordance with the planning, at a low altitude. Mar 23, 2018. 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". The Nasserists became allies of the Ba'ath, even while they supported Gamal Abdel Nasser and the reestablishment of the UAR. Party leaders then opted to overlook democratic norms and procedures. We made certain five times that it was all systems go., Even today, he remembers the moment of impact. Yet no less, it is also a story of a big intelligence failure the worst since the Yom Kippur War, according to a number of top intelligence people in which Israel somehow managed for years not to notice a reactor being built right under its nose, in a neighboring country on whose surveillance Israel was spending vast amounts of money. In a series of cabinet meetings, the hostility between the prime minister and his defense minister became more extreme. The explanation that was offered was concern about the possibility of hostilities breaking out over mutual miscalculations: Israel and Syria are suspicious of each other and exchanging threats in the context of the results of the last war in Lebanon. They put on the table an intelligence finding of the type rarely encountered in this country. Michael Hayden, the head of the CIA, wrote years later in The Washington Post that he told Bush that his agency had concluded that the site at Al Kibar was part of a nuclear weapons program and there was no other explanation for its existence. We had hundreds of miles to fly, some of them in an area full of missiles. Read about our approach to external linking. This is the story of a single night more than a decade ago, and a daring, hair-raising operation executed by the Israeli air force, army and intelligence community that destroyed an atomic plant in northeastern Syria. [18], In Syria, religious minorities were often underprivileged, and a specific ethnicity usually belonged to a specific social class. [c], At the beginning, there were no signs of the quarrels that would destroy the military committee. On 9 March the NCRC released Lu'ay al-Atassi from jail, promoted him to the rank of lieutenant general, appointed him commander-in-chief and NCRC chairman, the de facto head of state. In mid-August, Olmert convened a dramatic cabinet meeting to discuss the implications of the attack. Olmert stayed in his office to work. 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. The ninth communique reinstated the five members of the military committee in the armed forces. 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'". The greatest challenge, relates Col. There were no political considerations behind his recommendations. The spokesman also described the effectiveness of the US strike as "extremely low", saying only 23 missiles had reached Shayrat. He succeeded in persuading Bush to halt the diplomatic move and to commit to preventing leaks. The odds were low but they did exist. On the way back, in order to reduce weight and save fuel, one of the planes jettisoned an empty fuel container. military hid airstrikes that killed dozens There was not much traffic in the area. Olmert implored Bush and Cheney to attack nevertheless, and argued that such a move would also help deter Iran. Olmert conducted himself in this affair with courage and skill and did not shy away from making decisions. The year before, he commanded the mission to kidnap two Israeli army reservists on the northern Israeli border near Zarit that triggered the Second Lebanon War. Their mission this time was not to take down enemy aircraft. This small and secret coterie headed by Suleiman was directly subordinate to the president; in Israel it was called the shadow army.. We said to Barak: For every baby who is born in the next 200 years along the Euphrates with a deformity or a genetic defect, they will blame us straightaway. In a meeting on August 1, Barak forbade head of the IDF Planning Directorate Ido Nechushtan (who two years later would replace Shkedi as commander of the air force) to screen a presentation that reviewed the strategic picture and recommended a swift attack. Considering that the members of the Military Committee were all too young to be perceived as the real leaders of Syria by the populace, the Military Committee appointed Colonel Amin al-Hafiz to the post of Minister of the Interior. The Syrian reactor, before and after the Israeli strike. 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. At that same time, hundreds of people on the ground began suffering symptoms consistent with reaction to a nerve agent, according to the doctors and nurses who treated them. Why now? Read about our approach to external linking. The planes took off from Ramon and Hatzerim and headed northward along the shore of the Mediterranean, with ample use of electronic warfare as camouflage. Shayrat airbase is located in Homs province, about 25km (15 miles) south-east of the city of Homs. Haaretz Daily Newspaper Ltd. All Rights Reserved. It is far from any settlement. Gates and some of Bushs advisers believed that an attack should be left in Israels hands. You dont see what is happening inside. Prime Minister, trust the air force pilots. We set out around 10:30 P.M., recalls Amir. 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.
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