Space Travel News  
WAR REPORT
Israel army video hints at Syria, Iran attacks: report

by Staff Writers
Jerusalem (AFP) Feb 16, 2011
A video of the accomplishments of Israel's recently-retired military chief hints at Israel's unacknowledged role in attacks on the Iranian and Syrian nuclear programmes, according to an Israeli daily.

The video, shown on Monday at a farewell ceremony for outgoing chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi, showed scenes from the bombing of a suspected nuclear reactor in Syria in 2007, and of the damage caused by the Stuxnet computer worm which ravaged Iran's nuclear programme, the Haaretz newspaper said.

The article was only published in Hebrew and did not appear in the paper's English language version.

Both of these events occurred during Ashkenazi's four-year tenure as military chief, but Israel has never admitted involvement in either event.

The clip also showed news footage asking if Israel could have been involved in the two attacks, Haaretz said.

A military spokeswoman said the army "did not intend to elaborate," on the report.

While Israel has declined to comment on the 2007 attack, WikiLeaks documents indicate that the Israeli air force bombed a Syrian nuclear reactor just weeks before it went online.

"On September 6, 2007, Israel destroyed the nuclear reactor built by Syria secretly, apparently with North Korea's help," then US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice wrote in a cable dated April 2008.

"We have good reason to believe that the reactor was not built for peaceful purposes," she wrote.

Former US president George W. Bush recounted in his memoirs that he resisted Israeli pressure to bomb the site.

The second element of the video referred to the destructive Stuxnet worm which apparently shut down a fifth of Iran's nuclear centrifuges in November and helped delay its ability to make its first nuclear weapons.

There has been widespread speculation Israel was behind it and Tehran has also blamed Washington and the Jewish state for the killing of two nuclear scientists in November and January.

Recently, the New York Times, quoting military and intelligence experts, said Israel had tested the effectiveness of the worm at the heavily-guarded Dimona complex in the southern Negev desert which houses the Middle East's sole, albeit undeclared nuclear weapons program.

Israel has backed US-led efforts to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapons capability through sanctions, but has also refused to rule out military force.



Share This Article With Planet Earth
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit
YahooMyWebYahooMyWeb GoogleGoogle FacebookFacebook



Related Links



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


WAR REPORT
EU's Ashton targets Palestinian state by September
Jerusalem (AFP) Feb 15, 2011
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Tuesday said the international community still sought to achieve a peace deal and a Palestinian state by September, despite the region's political turmoil. Despite the impasse in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and the resignation of the Palestinian cabinet as well as Saab Erakat, their chief negotiator, Ashton said the goal was still achievable. ... read more







WAR REPORT
ILS Appoints Vice President Of Sales Marketing And Communications

Ariane 5's Mission With The Automated Transfer Vehicle Is Postponed

Ariane 5 Ready For Launch Of Automated Transfer Vehicle Johannes Kepler

Ariane 5 Ready To Receive Yahsat 1A And Intelsat New Dawn

WAR REPORT
Walking On Mars

Opportunity Catching The Rays During Solar Conjunction

Mars, Brought To You By Corporate Sponsors

Volunteers begin virtual Mars 'space walk'

WAR REPORT
Astrobotic Technology Annouces Lunar Mission On SpaceX Falcon 9

LRO Could Have Given Apollo 14 Crew Another Majestic View

NASA's New Lander Prototype Skates Through Integration And Testing

Draper Commits One Million Dollars To Next Giant Leap's Moon Lander

WAR REPORT
Launch Plus Five Years: A Ways Traveled, A Ways To Go

Mission To Pluto And Beyond Marks 10 Years Since Project Inception

WAR REPORT
New Instrument Will Help Confirm Kepler Planet Finds

NASA Finds Earth-Size Planet Candidates In Habitable Zone

Las Cumbres Scientists Play Key Role In New Planetry System Discovery

A Six-Planet System

WAR REPORT
University of Ulster Launches Rocket Project with Japan Space Agency

ATK And Astrium Unveil Liberty Rocket For NASA CCDev-2 Competition

Renewed Call For Competitive US Spaceflight Marketplace

Rocket Team Hot Fire AJ26 Flight Engine For Taurus II

WAR REPORT
U.S. wary of China space weapons

Slow progress in U.S.-China space efforts

China Builds Theme Park In Spaceport

Tiangong Space Station Plans Progessing

WAR REPORT
NASA'S Stardust Spacecraft Completes Comet Flyby

NASA spacecraft unravels comet mystery

The Two Faces Of Tempel 1

Stardust Set To Meet Its NExT Comet


The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2010 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement