Escalation in Syria

This is what is being reported in the Israeli press.

Report: Syria prepared to fire missiles at Tel Aviv

Sunday Times says Assad regime puts advanced surface-to-surface Tishreen missiles on standby with orders to hit Tel Aviv should Israel launch another airstrike. Expert: Missiles 'extremely accurate' and can cause 'serious harm'

Russian S-300 missile (Archive photo: AFP)

YNet,

20 May, 2013

Syria has put its most advanced missiles on standby with orders to hit Tel Aviv if Israel launches another strike on its territory, The Sunday Times reported overnight Sunday.

According to the British newspaper, reconnaissance satellites have been monitoring preparations by the Syrian army to deploy surface-to-surface Tishreen missiles.

An Israeli official told The New York Times that Israel, which has launched three recent attacks on Syria, was considering further strikes and warned President Bashar Assad that his government would face "crippling consequences" if he hit back at Israel.

The Sunday Times said the deployment of the Syrian-made Tishreen missiles, each of which can carry a half-ton payload, marks a significant escalation of tension "in a region in which the United States and Russia appear to be preparing for a Cold War-style stand-off."

Uzi Rubin, Israel's leading missile expert, told the newspaper that the Tishreen missiles are "extremely accurate and can cause serious harm.

"Even if they don't hit Ben-Gurion (Airport) directly, they would halt all commercial flights out of the country," he said.

An Israeli official told The New York Times last week that Israel, which has reportedly launched three attacks on Syria recently and destroyed advanced anti-aircraft and surface-to-surface missiles that were designated for Hezbollah, was considering additional strikes and warned President Assad that his regime would face "crippling consequences" if he hit back at Israel.

In a rare interview on Saturday, Assad told Argentine newspaper Clarin that Israel was supporting the Syrian opposition, which he dubbed terrorists.

"Israel is directly supporting the terrorist groups in two ways, firstly it gives them logistical support and it also tells them what sites to attack and how to attack them. For example, they attacked a radar station that is part of our anti-aircraft defenses, which can detect any plane coming from overseas, especially from Israel," the Syrian president said.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Russia is continuing to arm Assad's regime and has sent a dozen or more warships to patrol waters near its naval base in Syria, a move that American and European officials have called aggressive, saying it was designed to warn the West and Israel not to intervene in the country's civil war.

Also on Friday, the New York Times reported that Russia has transferred to Syria advanced anti-ship cruise missiles, which threaten Israeli Navy vessels and the Jewish states gas fields located up to 300 kilometers (186 miles) from the coast.

According to the report, Russia has previously provided a version of the missiles, called Yakhonts, to Syria. But those delivered recently are outfitted with an advanced radar that makes them more effective.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow's weapons sales would "not in any way alter the balance of forces in this region or give any advantage in the fight against the opposition."

Battle for strategic Qusair: Syrian army, Hezbollah fight rebels for supply corridor

Intense fighting is reported from the strategic Syrian town of Qusair, as rebels and government forces fight to control the area. Opposition activists say 30 members of Hezbollah were killed, while the government claims to have captured the area.

RT,

20 May, 2013

Earlier Monday, Syrian state news agency SANA reported that the army had "restored security and stability to most Qusair neighborhoods" and was "chasing the remnants of the terrorists in the northern district.” The agency quoted a military source as saying that army units dismantled a number of explosive devices, planted by terrorists in al-Souk area in the middle of the city.

The source added that army units are continuing hunting the remnants of terrorists in some hideouts in the northern and southern areas of the city.

“The Syrian army managed to make a full circle around the city, fighting the opposition fighters. The main achievement is to stop the line of supply chain between Lebanon and Syria,” local journalist Abdallah Mawazini told RT.

“They started from the western side of the city, in the rural areas. They control this zone with some fighters from Lebanon. Some extremist groups were preparing to go into Syria to fight with the rebels, they were going to go make a bigger front in order to fight and expand the fighting line between the government and the opposition,” he said.

But opposition activists denied that Qusair had been captured, saying that they had pushed back most of the attacking forces to their original positions, destroying at least four Syrian army tanks and five light Hezbollah vehicles.

Troops backed by Hezbollah “made incursions into Qusair, but they are now basically back to where they started at the security compounds in east Qusair and at a...roadblock to the south,” local activist Tareq Murei told Reuters.

Murei said that six people were killed by Hezbollah’s multiple rocket launches on Monday.

The Free Syrian Army meanwhile said that Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah should be held “personally responsible” for the situation because he was allegedly meeting with all the fighters heading to Qusair. “We are today calling Nasrallah a killer of the Syrian people,” FSA spokesperson Louay Almokdad told Al Arabiya English. “We are certain these are fighters of Hassan Nasrallah. They are no longer Hezbollah, they are fighters of Hassan Nasrallah and Ali Khamanei.”

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that 48 rebels had been killed, as well as four civilians. The Observatory's director, Rahim Abdurahman, put Hezbollah casualties at 23 dead and 70 wounded. Lebanese security sources said at least 12 Hezbollah fighters had been killed.

Qusair, which is about 18 miles (29km) southwest of Homs, is seen as a key city for both sides. It helps link the Syrian capital of Damascus with government strongholds on the Mediterranean coast and is a passageway for rebel supplies and fighters from Lebanon.

According to UN figures, more than 80,000 people have been killed since the uprising against Bashar Assad began in March 2011.

'No options off the table'

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a Monday statement that "no options are off the table" if the Syrian government refuses to negotiate the country's future at the upcoming Geneva conference.

The comment came just four days after he accused the Assad regime of being "determined to conceal the truth" about what was happening, due to its refusal to allow a UN team to investigate reports that chemical weapons had been used by the Syrian army.

But while Hague points the finger at the Assad government, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has urged the Syrian opposition to take part in the peace conference, without setting any preconditions. The conference is being organized by the US and Russia, as a way to seek a resolution to the conflict.

"Our colleagues, including Americans, together with who we put forward this initiative [to hold the conference], took the obligation to work closely with the opposition in order to make it change its approach to the immediate start of the negotiations and stop conditioning it with unrealistic things," Lavrov said in a statement.

Lavrov also stressed that Iran must be among nations invited to the conference.

Istanbul and Madrid are expected to host meetings of various Syrian opposition groups this week, he said.