Update: The Daily Mail obtained leaked emails allegedly indicating the White House approved a chemical weapons attack within Syria, a move that would be blamed on Syrian leader al-Assad and used as a reason to carry out military intervention in the country.
A Malaysian hacker leaked the emails initially, which showed interactions between Britam’s Business Development Director David Goulding and Philip Doughty, who is said to have founded the company. In the email, there is discussion about delivering chemical weapons to Homs.
There were reports of chemical weapons being used on Syrians in Homs, but the investigation proved inconclusive.
(MintPress) – The Israeli Government is warning a pre-emptive strike against Syria could be in order, citing concern that alleged chemical weapons could find their way into the hands of Hezbollah, or terrorist groups linked to Al-Qaeda who infiltrated the Syrian uprising.
If carried out, the attack would largely be because of a “what-if” scenario, with Israeli government officials claiming that the chemical weapons in the hands of Iran through Syria would warrant a threat to Israel.
The Times of Israel reports the nation deployed two Iron Dome barriers in the North on Sunday, the same day Netanyahu announced possible plans to strike Syria.
“We must look around us, at what is happening in Iran and its proxies and at what is happening in other areas, with the deadly weapons in Syria, which is increasingly coming apart,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting Sunday.
There’s been no explanation regarding how an Israeli air strike would be successful in ridding the country of alleged chemical weapons.
The country’s security officials met privately about the matter last week to go over alleged Syrian threats and what a pre-emptive strike would mean, according to Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom.
Netanyahu narrowly won Israeli elections on Tuesday, and is seeking to build a broad coalition with centrist parties in Israel.
Allegations
Days before Netanyahu’s statement, an Israeli Channel 2 news channel broadcast an interview with Reza Heydari, a defected Iranian diplomat who claimed that if Iranian officials get a nuclear weapon, they will use it on Israel — he, however, offered no evidence of such claims, according to the Associated Press.
This is not the first utterance of links between Syria and chemical weapons. The U.S. announced concerns over intelligence claims that Syria’s Bashar al-Assad was holding onto chemical weapons. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned action would be taken if it was discovered al-Assad had indeed used chemical weapons on his own people.
The U.S. has not specifically addressed Netanyahu’s threats, but it’s clear there is a divide between when — and if — military strikes would be necessary.
There was previously concern that al-Assad had used chemical weapons in Homs on Dec. 23, 2012, but investigations determined that was not the case.
Israeli officials, however, are saying with confidence that al-Assad has chemical weapons. Lawmaker and former deputy head of Israeli intelligence agency, Shin Bet, told Army Radio that “Syria has a massive amount of chemical weapons, and if they fall into hands even more extreme than Syria like Hezbollah or global jihad groups, it would completely transform the map of threats.”