Report: Syria Will Fire Missiles at Tel Aviv if Israel Attacks Again

The Assad regime says missiles targeting Tel Aviv will be launched if Israel strikes Syria again according to a report in the UK’s Sunday Times. Israel has hit targets inside Syria three times in recent weeks. Officials in Jerusalem have warned that if its neighbor does fire at Israel, “crippling consequences” will result. The Syrians are known to have Tishreen missiles – a weapon described as “accurate” and armed with a half-ton payload — aimed toward Israel. The likelihood of Israel striking inside Syria again increased last week when Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected the latest plea by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to withhold shipments of sophisticated S-300 missile batteries it contracted to sell to Damascus before the civil war erupted two years ago. If and when the S-300s arrive in Syria, Israel can be expected to launch a strike to destroy the weapons in order to prevent them from reaching the Lebanon-based Hizbullah terrorist organization. The new tension is arguably also tied to the US-Russia posturing. Russia has sent more than a dozen war ships to the area in a move the Americans call “aggressive” and the Israelis say threatens their own naval assets. Meanwhile, allegations of two more incidents in which President Assad’s forces used chemical weapons were made on Saturday. Also on Saturday, the elderly father of a senior regime official was reported kidnapped by unknown parties. The victim is the father of Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Meqdad, a spokesman for the Assad government.