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Israel

Israel Acknowledges Syrian Airstrike - Iran: You Will "Regret" It

ASSOCIATED PRESS, REUTERS, BBC (UK)

Worldcrunch

JERUSALEM – Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak appeared to admit for the first time that his country launched an air raid last week on a military research center near Damascus. Barak's apparent acknowledgment of the Jan. 30 strike on the Syrian target was followed up Monday by a veiled threat against Israel from Iran, a key ally of the Damascus regime.

"They will regret this recent aggression," Saeed Jalili, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, told a news conference in Damascus a day after holding talks there with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, according to Reuters.

Speaking in Munich on Sunday, Barak left little doubt that Israel was behind the strike on the Syrian facility that was believed to contain weapons bound for Lebanon. “I keep telling frankly that we said - and that's proof when we said something we mean it - we say that we don't think it should be allowed to bring advanced weapons systems into Lebanon,” reports the Associated Press.

There had been little doubt as to whether Israel was behind the raid before this, as US officials confirmed it came from their allies. The attack was meant to destroy a convoy of SA-17 surface-to-air missiles used to destroy reconnaissance aircrafts gathering intelligence for Israel.

Here's the video broadcast by Syrian TV of the aftermath:

Bashar al-Assad condemned the operation, broadcasted footage of the aftermath and claimed his country was able to cope with “current threats…and aggression,” reports the BBC.

It’s not the first time Israel is held accountable for an air raid in Syria, the last one was in 2007 on a nuclear reactor and arms convoy heading for Hamas headquarters.

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FOCUS: Israel-Palestine War

Americans Don't Understand Biden — And Biden Doesn't Trust Netanyahu

Challenged back home, U.S. President Joe Biden has just published an op-ed in the Washington Post in which he outlines a future for the Palestinian territories that's different from the one envisaged by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and threatens violent settlers in the West Bank with sanctions. But where are the teeth?

Photo of ​U.S. President Joe Biden walking toward the left of the image as he leaves the White House on Nov. 14

U.S. President Joe Biden leaving the White House on Nov. 14

Pierre Haski

-Analysis-

PARIS — Joe Biden has a problem, and then some.

The first is that a large proportion of Americans don't understand his policy of support for Israel and his refusal to call for a ceasefire. This is particularly true among young people, with 70% of 18-34 year-olds saying they disagree with the way he has been handling the conflict.

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The second problem is that the president of the United States does not trust Benjamin Netanyahu, the man leading Israel at such a crucial time. He already didn't trust him before October 7, and he is wary of his ideas for the post-war period in the Palestinian territories.

Thus unable to satisfy his opponents on the ceasefire question (he wants to give the Israeli army a chance to destroy Hamas's infrastructure in Gaza), Joe Biden has published an op-ed in the Washington Post to show his disgruntled constituents that he won't let Netanyahu dictate the agenda, and perhaps to gain time.

For the first time, the American president threatens to impose sanctions against violent settlers in the occupied West Bank. This is a new development, after years of ceremonial condemnation, to no avail, of Israel's expanding colonization efforts, often through violence.

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