by Shlomo Cesana, David Baron, Daniel Siryoti and Israel Hayom staff
U.S. officials tell The Wall Street Journal: Another round of Israeli airstrikes could target a new Russian transfer of Yakhont advanced anti-ship missiles in the near future • Russia moving more quickly than previously thought to deliver S-300 surface-to-air defense systems to Syria • CIA Director John Brennan in Israel to coordinate policy.
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The Guards guided-missile
cruiser Varyag at sea
Photo credit: Wiki Commons
U.S. officials told The Wall Street Journal on
Thursday that another round of Israeli airstrikes could target a new
Russian transfer of advanced anti-ship missiles in the near future.
Israeli and Western intelligence services believe the Yakhont missiles,
which have been sold by Russia to Syria in recent years, could be
transferred to Hezbollah within days, the newspaper reported on its
website Friday.
At the same time, The New York Times reported
Friday that the Yakhont missiles have already been delivered to Syria's
armed forces. Israel has repeatedly reinforced, with words and actions,
its stated red line: that it will not allow the transfer of
"game-changing" weaponry to Islamic terror groups such as Hezbollah.
Israel has also relayed messages that it is not seeking a confrontation
with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces, but will act against
transfers of weaponry through his territory.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's
last-minute trip to Russia on Tuesday apparently did not change the
Russians' intentions to also deliver the advanced S-300 anti-aircraft
missile system to Syria. According to the Journal, U.S. officials
believe that Russia is moving more quickly than previously thought to
deliver S-300 surface-to-air defense systems to Syria. U.S. officials
told the paper that the S-300 system, which is capable of shooting down
guided missiles and could make it more risky for any warplanes to enter
Syrian airspace, could leave Russia for Syrian port of Tartus by the end
of May.
Together, the S-300 anti-aircraft and
anti-missile system, and the Yakhont anti-ship system, would pose a
formidable threat to any outside intervention in Syria, based on the
international Libya model. The anti-ship missiles would be a serious
threat to the Israeli navy, as well as the facilities above Israel's
newfound underwater gas reserves. The S-300 could threaten Israeli
military and civilian aircraft flying Israeli airspace, and not just
over Lebanese and Syrian airspace.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Russia
has sent a dozen or more warships to patrol waters near its naval base
in Syria, a buildup that U.S. and European officials see as a newly
aggressive stance meant partly to warn the West and Israel not to
intervene in Syria's bloody civil war. Russia's expanded presence in the
eastern Mediterranean, which began attracting U.S. officials' notice
three months ago, represents one of its largest sustained naval
deployments since the Cold War, according to the Journal.
The paper reported that Russia currently has
11 ships in the eastern Mediterranean, organized into three taskforces,
including destroyers, frigates, support vessels and
intelligence-collecting ships. Another three-ship group of amphibious
vessels is headed to the region. Russia's navy chief confirmed that
warships from Russia's Pacific Fleet had entered the Mediterranean for
the first time in decades, and that the taskforce might be reinforced
with nuclear submarines, as the country starts building up a permanent
fleet in the region. The group includes the destroyer Admiral
Panteleyev, two amphibious warfare ships called Peresvet and Admiral
Nevelskoi, and a tanker and a tugboat.
"The taskforce has successfully passed through
the Suez Canal and entered the Mediterranean. It is the first time in
decades that Pacific Fleet warships have entered this region," Pacific
Fleet spokesman Capt. 1st Rank Roman Martov told RIA.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
meanwhile told Lebanese TV station al-Mayadeen on Thursday that Moscow
had not backed down from its contract to supply S-300 systems to Syria.
"We are not signing any new contracts, but we
will complete the old ones, especially with regards to aerial defense
systems," Lavrov said. In what could be perceived as a message to
Israel, he said, "Those that aren't planning on acting aggressively
against sovereign nations should not have any reason to fear this."
The unofficial response from Israeli
government officials to Lavrov's statements amounted to saying that
actions will be the deciding factor and not declarations. A senior
government official noted that the deal between Russia and Syria had
been signed in 2010 and was delayed multiple times, despite numerous
Russian statements that it would be carried out.
"We relayed the message [to Russia]. Bringing
weapons to Syria destabilizes the area and carries the risk of seeing
them transferred to Hezbollah," a government official said.
In a sign of the growing tension in the
region, CIA Director John Brennan arrived in Israel Thursday and met
with the top officials in Israel's defense establishment, with a central
focus on the developments in Syria. It was Brennan's first trip to
Israel since assuming his position two months ago. The CIA chief went
straight into a meeting in Tel Aviv with Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon,
a senior Israeli official told AFP.
Channel 10 TV said that Ya'alon reaffirmed
during the talks that Israel "will not permit the transfer of weapons"
from Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon. According to local press reports,
Brennan's visit is aimed at coordinating U.S. and Israeli positions over
the escalating crisis in Syria, specifically as international
diplomatic momentum between the U.S. and Russia gathers for a peaceful
resolution to the crisis.
According to the reports, the U.S. is
concerned that Israel will act independently to strike any advanced arms
shipments in Syria it believes may be headed to Hezbollah, potentially
scuttling the international diplomatic maneuvering.
Shlomo Cesana, David Baron, Daniel Siryoti and Israel Hayom staff
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=9329
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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