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Israeli Raid on Syria Had Iran in Sights

Hush-hush attack may have targeted North Korean nukes

By Jonas Oransky,  Newser Staff

Posted Sep 17, 2007 5:50 PM CDT
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(Newser) – Arab governments aren’t talking too loudly about the reported Israeli bombing of Syrian territory two weeks ago.  They’re waiting to see what the fallout is, Newsweek notes, for the real intended target—Syrian sponsor Iran. The raid appears to have been a signal that Israel will act against Tehran with or without Western support, Newsweek sleuths conclude, and may even have been an attack on imported North Korean nuclear technology.

The magazine is careful with the latter claim—even US hawk John Bolton wasn’t trumpeting the connection, Newsweek cautions—but Israel reportedly showed satellite imagery of Syrian sites to US officials last month, claiming to have spotted Pyongyang’s hand. Indeed, an Israeli analyst reports that a North Korean ship—sailing under a South Korean flag—docked in a Syrian port just days before the attack, the Telegraph adds.

An Israeli woman walks at an observation point on Mt. Bental in the Golan Heights, close to the border with Syria, in a Friday Sept. 7, 2007 photo. It has been a quarter-century since Syria and Israel turned their guns on each other in outright war. But tensions again are...
An Israeli woman walks at an observation point on Mt. Bental in the Golan Heights, close to the border with Syria, in a Friday Sept. 7, 2007 photo. It has been a quarter-century since Syria and Israel...   (Associated Press)
Israeli tanks are seen at an army base in the Golan Heights close to the border of , Friday Sept. 7, 2007. Syria lashed out at Israel again Friday and threatened possible government action, a day after Damascus said its air defenses opened fire on Israeli aircraft that dropped munitions inside...
Israeli tanks are seen at an army base in the Golan Heights close to the border of , Friday Sept. 7, 2007. Syria lashed out at Israel again Friday and threatened possible government action, a day after...   (Associated Press)
Syrian deputy foreign minister, Faisal Mekdad, left, walks with the U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Michael Williams, following their meeting in Damascus Thursday June 14, 2007. Williams met earlier in the day with Syrian Vice-President Farouk al-Sharaa. He told reporters following the meeting that he...
Syrian deputy foreign minister, Faisal Mekdad, left, walks with the U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Michael Williams, following their meeting in Damascus Thursday June 14,...   (Associated Press)
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem, front, is followed by his officials as he arrives for a meeting with his Turkish counterpart Ali Babacan in the Foreign Ministry in Ankara, Turkey, Monday, Sept. 10, 2007. Turkey's Foreign Ministry has requested information from Israel over fuel tanks found near its border with...
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem, front, is followed by his officials as he arrives for a meeting with his Turkish counterpart Ali Babacan in the Foreign Ministry in Ankara, Turkey, Monday, Sept....   (Associated Press)
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Israeli opposition party wants to be briefed on the raid
AFP

Read the Telegraph's break
Telegraph (UK)

 
Iran • Israel • North Korea • Syria • nuclear weapons • United States • John Bolton • Damascus

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