Syria deepens its footprint in Lebanon

Hizballah and Syria are building a massive fortified wall, running from Rashaya Al-Wadi on the western, Lebanese slopes of Mt. Hermon (85 kilometers southeast of Beirut) in the south, to the Lebanese Beqaa Valley town of Aita el-Foukhar, in the north, debkafile's military sources reveal.
The structure, 22 kilometers long in parallel to the Lebanese-Syrian border promises to be one of the biggest fortified structures in the Middle East. It is designed as an obstacle against any Israeli tank forces heading through Lebanon toward the Syrian capital, Damascus. When it is finished, the barrier will isolate a key Lebanese border region - 14 kilometers wide and 22 kilometers long - from the rest of the country and place it under Hizballah-Syrian military control.

This region is inhabited most by Druzes and Christians.
The project became possible in the last year, after Lebanon's Druze leader, Walid Jumblatt, turned away from his pro-Western allegiance and threw in his lot with the pro-Syrian camp, lining up with Syrian president Bashar Assad and Hizballah's secretary Hassan Nasrallah and buying into the military alliance headed by Iran.
Behind the rising wall, Hizballah and Syria can freely smuggle weapons across concealed from outside surveillance, while deepening Syria's footprint in Lebanon.
In any case, as debkafile has disclosed, they pulled off their subterfuge for getting the Scuds across by stationing two Hizballah brigades on the Syrian side of the border for training in the new missiles. When Israeli failed to make good on its threat to strike those missiles if they reached Hizballah hands, Damascus and Hizballah felt free to go forward with Part Two of their plan for Lebanon's militarization - first the Hizballah militia's transformation into a modern army with sophisticated weapons, and now the raising of a fortified wall and creating a Syrian-controlled buffer region inside Lebanon, 55 kilometers east of Beirut and 35 kilometers north of South Lebanon and the Israeli border.
According to our military sources, Syria intends to keep that region off-limits to Lebanese military access -except for Hizballah. Syrian troops, officers and arms stores are to be based there and maintained in a state of war readiness.

Syria stands to gain another prime strategic asset with its control of Rashaya Al-Wadi, at the southernmost point of the new wall: This scenic village commands the Taim valley, whence flow a number of water courses that feed the River Jordan and the Sea of Galilee; for the first time in many years, Damascus will be placing a hand on one of Israel's primary water sources.
Satisfied that the Netanyahu government will continue to sit on its hands, Syria and Hizballah are not hiding the massive barrier project's progress. Long convoys of trucks crossing in from Syria can be seen converging on the site, loaded with cement and other building materials.
Our Middle East sources report that the project is so immense and the work so intensive, that shops in Damascus have run out of cement, forcing many other construction works in Syria to a standstill.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Emanuel to rabbis: US "screwed up"
By HERB KEINON
16/05/2010 02:52

Officials deny administration changing view on Israeli nuclear policy.

The Obama Administration has "screwed up the messaging" about its support for Israel over the last 14 months, and it will take "more than one month to make up for 14 months," White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel said Thursday to a group of rabbis called together for a meeting in the White House.

"During the elections there were doubts about President Obama's support for Israel, and now they have resurfaced," Emanuel said, according to one of those who participated in the meeting. "But concerning policy, we have done everything that we can that is in Israel's security and long range interests. Watch what the Administration does."

Dennis Ross, who runs the Administration's Iran policy, allayed fears during the meeting that by calling for a nuclear free Middle East the US policy regarding Israel's nuclear capabilities was changing.

Since 1995, Ross explained, the Administration's policy, supported by Israel, was to support a nuclear free Middle East in conjunction with comprehensive peace. Emanuel, according to a participant in the meeting, said "We understand Israel's full layer of deterrence."

These comments came during the second of two White House meetings with a carefully selected slate of 15 rabbis from across the US representing the Orthodox, reform and Conservative streams. The first meeting took place on April 20, shortly after Obama was widely perceived to have treated Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu shabbily during their last White House meeting.

In addition to Emanuel and Ross, the other Administration officials in the meetings were Dan Shapiro, the deputy national security adviser who supervises policy for Israel and its neighbors; Susan Sher, the chief White House liaison to the Jewish community; and Danielle Borin, Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement and Special Assistant to Vice President Joe Biden.

Ross opened Thursday's meeting, saying he hoped that the rabbis "had seen the manifestations of the change" of the Administration's tone since they met the first time a month ago.

Ross quoted Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who last week in Washington declared that regarding defense and security the relationship between Israel and the US has never been stronger.

Ross said that the US was providing Israel with everything it needed "in a tough neighborhood," integrating Israel into America's "military architecture," especially in the missile defense sphere.

Ross said that both he and Shapiro were meeting Israeli officials on a weekly basis, either in Jerusalem or Washington, regarding defense issues.

Shapiro pointed out the Administration on Thursday announced a $205 million allocation for the Iron Dome missile defense system, on top of the annual $3 billion in military aid. One of the participants in the meeting quoted him as saying there could be no two state solution without effective missile defense and no successful peacemaking if others perceived any gap between the US and Israel.

Emanuel said, according to a participant in the meeting, that he has worked for two US administrations, and was a congressman during a third, and that the cooperation between the two countries on security issues has never been better. But, he said, things have been "static" at "the top," which has created "some angst" out there. He pointed out that the US pushed Israel's acceptance this week into the OECD.

Regarding Iran, Emanuel said that the US could not unilaterally impose sanction and have them effective. He said that if the US would move before sanctions pass the UN Security Council, it would give a gift to Russia and China and get them off the hook as far as having to take a stand on sanctions.

The sanctions that are being drawn up will not be incremental and will impact the Iranian economy in a serious way, Emanuel was quoted as saying. But the sequence is important, he said, and has to be first UN sanctions, followed then by EU ones and then finally by steps from Washington.

Emanuel said that the Administration's priorities in the Middle East centers around three issues: isolating Iran, "removing America's footprint in Iraq" which is perceived as an intrusion into Arab and Moslem lands, and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process which he said is key to Israel's security, and also helps both Isarel and the US

Regarding the proximity talks, which will enter a second round later this week with the arrival of US envoy George Mitchell, Ross said both sides needed to create an atmosphere where the talks could succeed. He said the US was not looking to impose a settlement, but that when the sides reached an impasse in negotiations they often needed a third party to suggest a way to bridge the gaps.

During the first meeting in April, Emanuel, according to a participant at that meting, said that Obama understood why Israelis were cynical of the peace process, since bilateral negotiations - the Oslo process - led to the terrorism of the Second Intifada; and unilateral action - withdrawal from Lebanon and disengagement from Gaza - left them with a strengthened Hamas and Hizbullah.

He also said that no Israeli government could make peace without security, and that Israel needed to know that the US was behind them.

Jack Moline, a Conservative rabbi at Congregation Agudas Achim in
Alexandria, Virginia, initiated the two meeting meetings after a talk he had Emanuel about the Obama administration¹s perceived deficit of friendliness toward Israel.

The two meetings were part of a charm offensive after the Obama-Netanyahu meeting last month.

In recent weeks, several high-profile US Jewish communal figures have slammed the Obama administration over the intensity and public nature of its criticisms of Israeli actions on these fronts.

Moline said the rabbis, all of whom attended both of the meetings, were selected because of the high profiles they have in their communities, and because they had concerns about how the Obama administration was conducting Middle East policy ­ but they had not displayed outright hostility to the president.

The rabbis who were in this group were chosen because they're in touch with their different congregations in different parts of the country, Moline said.

One source said the meeting was a sign that the Administration was concerned they may "be losing the Jews."

Not all the rabbis came away entirely mollified, but they were impressed at the seriousness of the outreach.

Efrem Goldberg, the rabbi at Florida's Boca Raton Synagogue, which is Orthodox, said he left the meeting still wondering if the administration is on the right track, but cautiously optimistic because of the depth of commitment to Israel he heard.

I left with a clear impression that these individuals have a real passion about Israel, even if he did not agree with them on tactics, Goldberg said.

There was a lot of highlighting of the actual activities and policies of the administration, Moline said ­and some frustration that what the Obama administration has done for Israel has not been comprehensively and accurately reported. They emphasized that whatever the messaging has been over the past year and half, the policies have been in place.

JTA contributed to this report

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Russia, Damascus sign arms deal
By TOVAH LAZAROFF
16/05/2010 03:04

Syria to receive warplanes, air defense systems and armored vehicles.
Israel viewed with concern Saturday reports that Russia has signed contracts to deliver fighter jets, air defense systems and armored vehicles to Syria.

Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation chief Mikhail Dmitriyev said Russia will sell MiG-29 fighter jets, Pantsyr short-range air defense systems and armored vehicles. He didn't give any numbers or provide any further details.

The report comes after a visit by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to Damascus earlier this week. During that visit Medvedev met with Hamas spiritual leader Khaled Mashal.

Friday's statement about the arms sale carried by Russian news agencies confirmed earlier media reports.

Previous Russian sales of advanced anti-tank missiles and other weapons to Syria have irked Israel, which said some ended up with Hezbollah.

Israel and Russia have already been at odds in recent years over Moscow's pledge to provide Iran with the advanced S-300 air defense system.

Though the order was placed in 2007, none of the systems have been delivered, allegedly due to technical glitches- though many believe the delay stems from international opposition to the sale.

Still earlier this week Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov rebuffed a request by the US not to deliver the weapons to Iran.

During a visit to Moscow in February Prime MInister Binyamin Netanyahu discussed Russian weapons sales with Medvedev.

An Israeli official told The Jerusalem Post on Saturday that the government has long been concerned by Russia's sale of weapons to the region.

"We have raised concerns with the Russias as to their weapons sales to the region at the highest level," said the official."We have seen Russian weapons that have been given and sold to different countries with terrorist group."

The official added that during the Second Lebanon War in 2006, Hizbullah was found to have Russian weapons.

"We think it is a problem when states that oppose peace and reconciliation and that are part of the extremist axis receive military support" from countries such as Russia, said the official.

AP contributed to this report.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

IDF Updates Arms Strategy

by Maayana Miskin
The IDF has revealed a new strategy designed to secure the army's weapons and ammunition in case of war. Over the past two years, the army has been shifting equipment in order to keep it secure.

The policy was revealed by head of IDF Logistics Brigadier-General Nissim Peretz on Wednesday in a conference at the Institute for National Security Studies.

Top commanders looked into various methods of protecting supplies, and ultimately decided that fortification was not the answer, Peretz said. The new strategy will allow the IDF access to supplies in case of war while protecting equipment from targeted strikes, he explained.

A second new IDF tool revealed this week is the Magna thermal camera system. The IDF website reported that the system, developed by the Magna Company in its Dimona branch, is being installed in the Hevron region.

The system combines thermal and regular cameras, and can scan several miles of space. Regional commanders hope the system will provide security in areas where there is no fence between Judea and pre-1967 Israel. (IsraelNationalNews.com)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two Israelis Lightly Hurt in Friday Shooting Near Ofra

by Gil Ronen
Two Israelis, a man and a woman, were lightly wounded near the Police Junction near Ofra Friday evening, in a shooting attack apparently carried out by Arab terrorists. The two entered Ofra in their car after being hurt by flying glass as a result of shots fired at the car. They received medical attention on the spot.

After the shooting, IDF forces combed the area in order to find the shooters. IDF Radio reported that the IDF's Civil Administration told "senior Palestinians" that Israel views the incident gravely and demands that they take action "to calm the spirits."

According to PA news agency Ma'an, a Fatah terrorist faction took responsibility for the attack. A statement by the "Al Aqsa Martyrs" said that the shooting was a protest against the opening of talks between Israel and the PA, and also to exact revenge for the shooting of a PA Arab youth whose body was found near Ramallah Friday morning..

Ma'an said that the youth was 16-year-old Ayssar Yasser Al-Zaben, from the village of Mazra Ash-Sharquieh. It quoted PA "security sources" who said the youth had been throwing rocks at a car driven by "settlers," and that the "settlers" had shot him. (IsraelNationalNews.com)