DAMASCUS, Syria – Russian President Vladimir Putin says he’s supplying the long-range anti-aircraft missile S-300 to Syria despite pleas from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry not to do so, according to a report in Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

Putin argued that the S-300 is a “defensive” weapon and will help stabilize the region.

In June 2012, Syria was supposed to receive the S-300s but the contract was canceled due to Western political pressure. The announcement is intended to show Moscow’s support for al-Assad at all costs.

Putin’s rebuff of Netanyahu and Kerry comes following two separate Israeli airstrikes on Syria this month, with a promise of more if Jerusalem believes that Syrian weapons transfers to Hezbollah will continue.

The two initial airstrikes, however, were launched from Israeli aircraft in Lebanese airspace, with the first strike hitting a convoy of what are said to have been advanced weapons for Hezbollah.

Hezbollah already is assessed to have quite an arsenal of missiles from Syria, which has served as a conduit for Iran to pass them along to its proxy.

Two days following that attack, Israel launched a second airstrike – again from Lebanese air space – on a military research facility on a high hill overlooking Damascus.

The second airstrike brought a Syrian threat to retaliate, declaring that the airstrikes were an “act of war” and prompting Syrian charges that the Israelis were working with the Syrian opposition. Those rebels currently are embroiled in a civil war against the Syrian government.

Sources believe, however, that Syria won’t retaliate and, given the state of its military, such retaliation is considered remote.

Yet, Israeli officials already have served warning that they will continue airstrikes against any target they perceive as weapons destined for Hezbollah in Lebanon, with the prospect that continued shipments of weapons could mean Israeli effort to topple al-Assad’s government. That prospect also could set off the Russians.

The launching of Israeli airstrikes brought protests from Lebanon and the United Nations, saying that such incursions into Lebanese airspace were contrary to United Nations Resolution 1701.

Lebanon lacks any kind of air defenses, including ground-to-air anti-aircraft missiles, although Iran, whose presence is very much evident in Lebanon and is closely allied with the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad, has offered such assistance.

Informed sources say that Russia intends to ship four batteries of the S-300s which have from 100 to 150 simultaneously deployable, guided anti-aircraft missiles.

Sources say that once deployed, they will be manned by Russian military “advisers,” since the Syrians are not technically prepared to operate such advanced and complicated systems. They say Israel therefore could hurt Russians should there be more strikes.

This shipment of S-300s is yet a further indication of Russia’s commitment to al-Assad, despite rumors that the Russians are seeking an alternative to his leadership of Syria in an effort to bring stability to the country for Moscow’s own geostrategic purposes.

It is a further indication that the Russians believe that al-Assad has the upper hand in the civil war against the armed opposition, which appears to be increasingly disorganized with internal disputes over leadership and direction.

In addition, Iran and Hezbollah fighters increasingly are assisting al-Assad’s government forces in training and leadership for the beleaguered Syrian armed forces.

Putin wants to give al-Assad more time and to stop any foreign intervention or outside supply of weapons to the Syrian opposition, and to prevent the establishment of a no-fly zone.

For the rest of this report and other Intelligence Briefs, please go to Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin:

• Syria/Washington/Europe: Signs of caving</a
• Qatar/Syria: Doha had arranged kidnapping
• United States: Records may not break rules
• United States: Ill-prepared for EMP attack

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WASHINGTON – As the Obama administration comes under increasing pressure to get more involved militarily in Syria to overthrow the embattled regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a new Harvard University study has calculated the past and future costs for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

According to the study, those two wars will cost the United States a staggering $4 trillion to $6 trillion.

While the study points out that $2 trillion already has been spent for each of the two wars, this is only a fraction of the total costs for the long-term commitments and the expenses for medical care and disability benefits to veterans that will have to continue for decades.

The initial $2 trillion to fight the wars in Iran and Afghanistan came from borrowed money.

“The decision to finance the war operations entirely through borrowing has already added some $2 trillion to the national debt, contributing about 20 percent of the total national debt added between 2001 and 2012,” the report said.

In addition to waging the actual conflict, these costs include spending on medical care for the wounded soldiers and repairs and replacement of military equipment for them.

The study also points out that this cost includes an increase in military benefits which the Bush administration initiated in 2001. Costs to cope with veterans’ rising health care and disability are expected to rise over the next 40 years.

To date, there have been some 2.5 million service men and women who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation New Dawn and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.

There were 6,658 U.S. military fatalities as of March 8, 2013, which didn’t include contractors, coalition partners, Iraqi and Afghan partners and civilians, according to the study.

By September 2012, some 1.56 million U.S. troops had returned home and left active duty, thereby becoming eligible for veterans medical care and benefits.

These veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are using VA medical services and applying for disability benefits at much higher rates than in previous years, a development which has created a tremendous backlog in processing claims.

The bottom-line price tag of up to $6 trillion also includes the continuing costs for nation-building in both countries that will be ongoing for many years to come.

“The large sums borrowed to finance operations in Iraq and Afghanistan will also impose substantial long-term debt servicing costs,” the study added.

The Iraqi war ended in December 2011 while the Afghanistan war is to wind down by the end of 2014. In both cases, the U.S. is expected to continue expenditures to try and ensure the stability of both countries through training and equipment.

The Harvard report is called “The Financial Legacy of Iraq and Afghanistan: How Wartime Spending Decisions Will Constrain Future National Security Budgets.”

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DAMASCUS, Syria – Because of the increasing number of violent deaths of Syrian civilians at the hands of al-Nusra, which is affiliated with al-Qaida of Iraq, the Syrian government had asked the United Nations Security Council to blacklist the group, according to report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

Only Britain and France blocked the request.

The United States already has designated al-Nusra a terrorist organization, but there remain questions about whether it should increase aid to include weapons to the Syrian opposition, because it increasingly is being infiltrated by al-Nusra and other Islamist militant fighters from throughout the Middle East and Afghanistan.

Al-Nusra, which has integrated into the Syrian armed opposition of the Free Syrian Army, has pledged allegiance to al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, according to al-Nusra leader Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani, who recently was wounded in an attack.

Al-Zawahiri is the successor to Osama bin Laden, who was killed two years ago by U.S. SEALs in Pakistan.

Al-Nusra has carried out more than 600 terrorist acts within Syria in the past year, according to Bashar al-Jaafari, Syria’s ambassador to the U.N.

Al-Jaafari confirmed that al-Nusra continues to attack hospitals and schools, desecrate holy places, assassinate religious figures and abduct U.N. personnel.

Yet, Britain and France blocked any U.N. Security Council action to declare officially that al-Nusra is a terrorist organization, which has vowed to turn Syria into an Islamic emirate.

There are indications that the U.N. Security Council could reconsider if it can persuade Britain and France to rescind their objection. If blacklisted, all of al-Nusra’s global assets would be frozen.

Qatar and Saudi Arabia and some of the other Persian Gulf states have been providing millions of dollars in funding each month to the foreign fighters. With such financing, these foreign fighters have bought many of their weapons on the black market.

The United States and other Western countries, however, are considering arms shipments to the Syrian opposition but have balked until now out of concern that such weapons will fall into the hands of al-Nusra and other Islamist radical fighters.

One idea is to screen who receives the weapons to ensure against them winding up in the hands of the Islamist fighters.

However, Syrian sources tell WND that elements of the Syrian opposition, including the Western-backed Free Syrian Army, would sell the weapons to the militant fighters or later claim they “lost” them. Such a reality, they say, questions the logic of providing weapons to the opposition.

The al-Nusra fighters, who come from various Middle East countries, are considered to be very ruthless but well organized with a disciplined command structure, according to Syrian security sources.

Given the increase in killings of Syrian civilians at the hands of al-Nusra and other foreign fighters, Syria is organizing its own resistance movement within the country similar to the Iranian and Syrian-backed Hezbollah, the Shi’ite resistance group in Lebanon.

According to Iran’s Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Gen. Hassan Firouzabadi, Syria is forming the resistance group against the terrorists and other extreme groups fighting alongside al-Nusra.

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DAMASCUS, Syria – Syria appears to be taking aim at its next-door neighbor Turkey for the assistance it is providing to the Syrian opposition and foreign fighters at the behest of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and certain Western countries, including the United States, according to report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

In a wide-ranging discussion with WND, Syrian Prime Minister Wael Nader al-Halqi accused Turkey’s government of conspiring to overthrow the embattled regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and to undertake a systematic dismantlement of its industrial infrastructure by aiding the armed opposition and Islamic foreign fighters.

The Syrian prime minister accused the foreign fighter opposition of dismantling 22 of Syria’s 72 pharmaceutical factories and then sending them into Turkey as part of the systematic theft of Syrian assets.

Al-Halqi said that Turkey also imports weapons – many heavy and sophisticated – from such Gulf Arab countries as Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and is a repository for foreign fighters and advisers who also come from Jordan, where U.S. Special Forces for many months have been training foreign fighters who enter Syria through Turkey.

He said that Turkish ambulances are being used to bring in weapons, an action which is considered to be contrary to international law due to the harm it can bring to medical teams if such actions are detected.

He was particularly incensed with Turkey over human trafficking that occurs through Turkey, especially of young Syrian women who then are sold to “old men in the Gulf countries.”

He said that there have been some 18,000 cases of human trafficking of human organs such as eye retinas in which some people are taken prisoner and actually killed in Turkey, “robbed of their organs and reburied back in Syria.”

A medical doctor himself, al-Halqi said he has spoken to patients who described buying eye corneas from Turkey, since they can afford them.

There was no way for WND independently to verify such allegations.

Al-Halqi also referred to the systematic dismantlement of Syria’s infrastructure that then is hauled back to Turkey. This includes communications, railway system, hospitals, cultural artifacts and mosques.

The Syrian prime minister also blamed Turkey for the explosion in Aleppo a month ago that provided the foundation for claims Sarin gas was used to kill civilians and some 15 Syrian army soldiers.

He claimed that the weapons with Sarin were “manufactured in Turkey and funneled to the terrorists,” meaning foreign fighters.

In recent days, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Syria of using chemical weapons without giving specifics about when and where the weapons may have been used.

However, his comments come following the alleged use of Sarin in Aleppo. He accused Syria of having crossed U.S. President Barack Obama’s “red line” by saying, “It has been passed long time ago.”

“We want the United States to assume more responsibilities and take further steps,” Erdogan told NBC in a recent interview.

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Nasrallah’s call to action follows comments by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad about turning the Golan Heights into a “resistance front” against Israel. His declaration came following two separate Israel airstrikes on Syria in the past few weeks, ostensibly to halt what Jerusalem said were missiles being sent from Syria to the Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Israel once again threatened further airstrikes against Syria if it continues providing advanced weapons to Hezbollah. Following the last Israeli airstrike two weeks ago at a military research center on the outskirts of Damascus, Syrian deputy foreign minister, Faisal Mekdad, said Syria would retaliate and called the Israeli attack a “declaration of war.”

Sources say that al-Assad’s intent to turn the Golan into a “resistance front” was a signal to militants to launch retaliatory attacks from there.

Up until the beginning of the Syrian civil war, the Golan had remained relatively quiet. Both al-Assad, and his father before him, Hafaz al-Assad, had kept the front line between Syria and the Israeli-held Golan calm, even though an official state of war still exists between the two.

This was done by maintaining battalions of Syrian troops on the Syrian side. However, the civil war forced the military to redeploy most of those troops elsewhere in the country, leaving the area vulnerable to opposition forces such as the Syrian Free Army, those rebelling against al-Assad, to attempt to occupy the area.

The volatility of the area has prompted United Nations observers to consider removing their forces from the Golan due to the increased instability.

Nasrallah, whose fighters have been in Syria to prop up the al-Assad government in the civil war and the fighting against foreign fighters, promised to support al-Assad’s efforts “to liberate the Syrian Golan.”

With Nasrallah backing al-Assad, sources say that the Israelis are taking it seriously.

In 2006, Hezbollah and Israel fought a war for 34 days, resulting in a stalemate but a psychological victory for the resistance group. Israel’s intention at the time was to eliminate Hezbollah as a threat to the country.

Instead, Hezbollah has grown stronger, with increased military assistance and training from Syria and Iran, which also backs al-Assad.

Nasrallah’s backing of al-Assad also underscores the regional expansion of the resistance group beyond Lebanon’s borders to include Syria. Hezbollah justifies its existence as a resistance group by claiming a duty to protect the existence of Lebanon, particularly from Israeli attack.

In expanding that role and to be included in the “resistance front” on behalf of Syria, Hezbollah’s opponents in Lebanon have seized on Nasrallah’s comments to demand that the resistance group be kicked out of the Lebanese cabinet.

“An absolute majority of the Druze oppose Israeli occupation,” said Salman Sahar-Deen, a Golan Druze. “But they are split on supporting Syria. What Nasrallah is proposing does not suit our capabilities nor our doctrine.”

Some sources say that perhaps having Nasrallah involved in the Golan, in fact, could help Israel, since the area is becoming increasingly populated by al-Qaida’s affiliate, al-Nusra.

This development reportedly has become a source of increasing worry for Jerusalem, since the Golan overlook’s northern Israel.

Within Lebanon, Nasrallah’s threat to retake the Golan for Syria has been met with harsh criticism from Hezbollah’s political opponents, especially the Sunni March 14 group.

Senior March 14 officials are concerned that Nasrallah has set for himself the goal of liberating the Golan from the Israelis. They say that contradicts Lebanon’s disassociation policy, which is to not meddle in Syria’s affairs or lend to the unrest in the region.

They said it violates the Baabda Declaration and the 1989 Taif Agreements which underscore such a disassociation from wider conflicts.

Various sources in Lebanon see the potential for a widening of the Syrian conflict and, in that connection, do not hold much promise for a conference proposed by the U.S. and Russia to end the Syrian conflict.

These sources say that neither the governments of Syria nor Iran would be included in such discussions and it would be unrealistic, given their involvement, not to have them represented at the conference.

According to sources, the U.S. wants Russia to agree to gradual Syrian regime change by having the government and armed opposition enter into discussions, followed by the formation of a transitional government.

The problem with that, sources say, is that al-Assad has no intention of stepping down and, given the recent victories the government has achieved over the armed opposition, the likelihood of that happening appears limited.

Senior Syrian government officials told WND that there is the possibility that al-Assad may even run again in 2014 when his term as president is up, suggesting the government feels it is in an even stronger position than it was a few months ago.

At the same time, these officials said they have gotten the message to implement the needed reforms demanded by the opposition, but the shooting first must stop before discussions can begin and those talks could include al-Assad himself.

The intense solar storms are expected to last as long as until 2020.

Until now, the sun has remained relatively dormant, but with four X-class eruptions in one week, it is beginning to reach its “solar storm maximum” in this latest 11-year cycle of activity.

Scientists of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Solar Dynamics Observatory say that the latest eruptions are the first X-class flares that the sun has produced in this cycle.

Of the four X-class flares, the first registered at X1.2, scientists said. It was the weakest, but as the week continued, more powerful flares registered at X3.2, which scientists say has been the strongest of the year.

The numbers assigned to the flares correlate to their strength. An X2, for example, is twice as intense as an X1, while an X3 is three times as intense.

The strongest flare recorded during the sun’s 11-year cycle was an X6.9. This occurred on August 9, 2011. The second strongest was an X5.4 on March 7, 2012.

The sun is going through Solar Cycle 24, which began in January 2008. So far during Solar Cycle 24 there have been 19 X-class solar flares, scientists say.

Read the documentation that’s sparking the worry about the EMP threat, in “A Nation Forsaken”.

Along with the radiation from the flares, there also is a coronal mass ejection, or CME. During a CME, billions of tons of highly charged particles are ejected to interact with Earth’s magnetic field, causing radio blackouts and the shutdown or destruction of vulnerable electrical grid systems and sensitive electronic components.

The initial X-class flares came from the same active sunspot region, which scientists identify as AR-1748. They say it was away from the Earth, although it is possible that their effects could “just glance the Earth’s magnetic field.” As it was, it caused some radio blackout, scientists said.

While the flares spewing from this sunspot went off into space, the AR-1748 is rotating more in alignment with Earth, scientists say.

Scientists said that an increased number of solar flares are expected as the sun approaches its peak of high activity. The Space Weather Prediction Center said that upcoming solar activity is expected to be moderate, with a 50 percent probability of more X-class flares erupting in the weeks ahead.

Because the United States and other Western countries are technologically based societies, with critical infrastructures run by electronics, the increase in space weather activity takes on a high level of importance.

For one thing, the U.S. national grid system is vulnerable in its own right.

But with an electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, generated from the sun’s flares – some of which can be up to 10 times the size of the Earth – the unprotected grid, including transformers, electrical components and automated control systems that everyone takes for granted in their everyday lives, could either be severely damaged or fried, taking months if not years to replace.

NASA estimates that a direct hit to Earth from one of these enormous flares would have a catastrophic impact on the nation’s critical infrastructures over a very wide geographical area.

In the first year alone, NASA estimates, such a disaster could cost just the U.S. upwards of $2 trillion. It also would take from four to 10 years to recover – if that even would be possible – and affect the lives of some 160 million people, threatening starvation and death.

Some EMP experts say that such a catastrophic event could  wipe out America’s urban centers, due to their total dependency on critical infrastructures for electricity, communications, food and water delivery, oil and gas, transportation, automated banking and financial institutions and even emergency services.

The experts say grocery stores, for example, would have their shelves cleared in a matter of hours due to the panic that would sweep the population. Normally, grocery stores carry a maximum of three days of products before being restocked. However, restocking would come to a halt due to the inability of trucks to function, with fueling stations unable to pump the fuel needed to run the vehicles.

Automated control devices that regulate the flow of oil and natural gas through the hundreds of thousands of miles of pipelines that crisscross the nation would be tripped, causing geographically widespread secondary fires and explosions.

Such an event would not just occur out in a remote field. Fires and explosions also could occur under streets and even into people’s houses.

The inability of fire and medical emergency services to respond would result in further disastrous consequences for the population.

Because automated systems ensure fresh water delivery, all filtering and sewage systems in the urban setting would face the high prospect shutting down, leading to disease such as cholera and dysentery. In addition, there would be little likelihood of medical attention because the hospitals and first responders’ emergency equipment which rely on electronics and communications equipment may no longer function.

Hospitals would have backup generators. However, if the generators have electrical starters, they might not function at all. Others may run on gasoline or diesel and only function for as long as there is fuel, which would need to be trucked in by vehicles with automated starters.

NASA estimates that as many as 350 of the large, customized transformers, which maintain a power supply across the nation and are only produced abroad, would be destroyed.

Because they are expensive – some costing as much as $20 million a copy – utilities don’t keep spares on hand. They could take years to replace, especially if a number of technologically dependent countries’ transformers are affected by a direct solar flare impact.

Read the documentation that’s sparking the worry about the EMP threat in “A Nation Forsaken”.

DAMASCUS, Syria – The recent Israeli airstrikes inadvertently may have given the Syrian government — embattled by a civil war against armed opposition fighters and foreign Islamist militants — an unexpected opportunity, according to report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

In an effort to unite the warring factions within his own country, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad could reshape regional perceptions that Israel and the rebel opposition within his country are fighting together, according to analysts.

Such a development would work to the advantage not only of Syria but also Iran and its proxy, Hezbollah. The intention would be to draw Israel into the conflict and force the rebel forces to seriously consider reuniting with the government to fight a common foe.

While Syria has accused foreign militant forces of targeting Syria’s infrastructure, sources believe that the Israeli bombing of Syria could be exploited to get militants to target Israel instead.

Indeed, opposition forces within Syria condemned two recent Israeli airstrikes in Syria.
The secretary general of the Palestinian Fatah Movement in Lebanon, Fathi Abu al-Aradat, called on Islamic nations to reconsider their position on Syria and defend the Arab country against “Israeli aggression.”

“We are fighting the Zionist regime and its aggression,” he said, adding that his Palestinian group, which is Sunni, would side with any Arab nation against Israel.

“Since Syria is an Arab country, defending it is a national, moral, ethnic, Arab and humanitarian obligation,” he said.

His and other reactions follow two recent but separate Israeli air strikes inside Syria.

One hit missiles Syria allegedly was sending to Hezbollah. The other target was the Jamraya military research facility visible from Damascus. Sources told WND that the targets contained unassembled missile components also thought to be destined to Hezbollah. The Jamraya facility similarly was targeted by an Israeli airstrike last January.

Hezbollah, which fully backs Assad’s government, know what will get on Israel’s nerves and appears to be playing it to the hilt.

Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah in a recent speech said that in response to the Israeli bombing of the military research center just outside Damascus for allegedly supplying missiles to his resistance group, Syria would supply what he referred to as “game-changing” weapons.

He also raised the ante by suggesting that Hezbollah would aid in liberating the Golan Heights, which was part of Syria but has been held by Israel since the 1967 war.

Nasrallah said the airstrikes were meant not only to neutralize Syria because of its support for Hezbollah and its alliance with Israel’s nemesis – Iran – but to prevent advanced weapons from reaching his group.

Hezbollah already is assessed to have thousands of long-range missiles that can hit anywhere in Israel.

Nasrallah also has reinforced his commitment to the protection of the al-Assad regime itself by underscoring his strong support for the Syrian army – something which sources say has gone well beyond his previous declarations of support for the Syrian people.

Sources say he has given the strong indication that the matter is not just protecting the Syrian people but salvaging the al-Assad regime because it has become a strategic issue for the region.

This was underscored by Nasrallah in a meeting he held with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikheil Bagdanov in Beirut two days before heading to Tehran for a two-day World Summit of Ulama and Islamic awakening.

Such a meeting with Bagdanov openly displayed the close ties between Hezbollah and Moscow while showing that Israel’s actions potentially could have international repercussions.

Al-Assad now has announced that despite the bombings to prevent the flow of weapons to Hezbollah, Syria would continue sending Hezbollah the advanced weapons.

In effect, sources say, Israel has handed al-Assad an opportunity to goad Israel to take action against Syria and thereby give the perception that it is working with the opposition to topple his regime.

In pressing this strategy, Syria’s foreign ministry sent letters to the United Nations and the U.N. Security Council maintaining that Israel’s “aggression” shows the links between Jerusalem and terrorist groups operating in Syria, including the al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front.

Iran and Hezbollah have vowed to protect the al-Assad regime at all costs. Indeed, Syrian Prime Minister Wael Nader al-Halqi told WND in an interview that Syria has become the “axis of resistance,” reaffirming that the al-Assad regime will survive despite heavy Western pressure to topple it.

For the rest of this report, and other Intelligence Briefs, please to go Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin:

• Syria/Turkey: Taking aim
• Syria: U.N. balks at Damascus’ request to blacklist al-Qaida affiliate
• United States: $6 trillion for war?

Keep in touch with the most important breaking news stories about critical developments around the globe with Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin, the premium, online intelligence news source edited and published by the founder of WND.

For the complete report and full immediate access to Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin, subscribe now.

BEIRUT, Lebanon – Israel was the first to raise the prospect that the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad may have used the chemical weapon Sarin on the civilian population, and that raised U.S. concerns that Damascus had crossed a “red line” that President Barack Obama said would be a game changer on U.S. military involvement, according to report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

Until now, the Obama administration has resisted outside pressure to create a no-fly zone and provide weapons to the Syrian opposition. With the revelation by a senior Israeli intelligence officer that chemical weapons may have been used, however, the administration wasn’t so sure.

However, U.S. Secretary John Kerry said that there was no solid evidence of their use, saying that the revelation on their possible use was only an Israeli intelligence assessment. The administration then said it needed more solid evidence, such as soil and tissue samples, as well as who used them.

Israelis suggested it was a “slip” by the senior intelligence official who publicly offered the assessment, leading to the prospect that the revelation actually was designed to probe Obama’s “red-line” philosophy and to shape U.S. reaction to Obama’s claim to hold to a “red line” on Iran’s development of a nuclear weapon.

Sources say that the revelation was a possible concerted attempt to ambush U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who was wrapping up a visit in Israel.

Israel believes that Iran is near a breakthrough in the development of a nuclear weapon, but U.S. intelligence doesn’t agree.

Israel is concerned that Iran’s nuclear development program is to mask a nuclear weapon program and has put pressure on the United Nations and the U.S. as well as many NATO allies to impose unilateral sanctions on Iran for its nuclear enrichment efforts.

The Jewish state believes that Iran’s uranium enrichment efforts are to produce sufficient amounts to produce a nuclear weapon.

Iran, however, vehemently denies that its nuclear program is to develop nuclear weapons and insists that it is to enrich uranium to fuel its reactors and enrich up to 20 percent for medical research. Enrichment of 90 percent or better is necessary to produce a nuclear weapon.

In addition, Iran said it has an absolute right to enrich uranium as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and as a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is the international nuclear watchdog.

Israel, which is assessed to have upwards of some 200 tactical and strategic nuclear weapons, is neither a signatory to the NPT nor a member of the IAEA.

The effort by the senior Israel intelligence official was to judge how “moveable” Obama’s “red line” on Syria’s use of chemical weapons would be, according to Alistair Crooke, a former British Intelligence MI6 official.

“If Obama’s red line on Syria were to be shown to be somehow ‘moveable,’ then Israeli officials could suggest that Obama’s ‘red line’ on Iran may prove to be equally ‘unreliable,’ thus exposing him to domestic pressures to state a more ‘concrete’ red line for Iran, just as Israel advocates,” Crooke said.

Keep in touch with the most important breaking news stories about critical developments around the globe with Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin, the premium, online intelligence news source edited and published by the founder of WND.

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BEIRUT, Lebanon – Israel’s recent airstrikes on Syria are calculated to force Iran to respond, thus opening the door for a counter-attack aimed at Iran’s nuclear facilities, according to sources in Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

The Jewish state believes Iran is in the process of making nuclear weapons.

Sources here say the two airstrikes in three days on Syria have gotten the expected response from Tehran, and the Islamic Republic and its proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah, have pledged full support of Syria, suggesting they would launch their own attacks in response.

While sources say that the immediate airstrikes were aimed at weapons transfers from Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon, the intent actually is aimed at provoking a response from Tehran that will provide a basis for an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities.

Israel believes that Iran is approaching the point that the uranium which already has been enriched will form a stockpile that can be further enriched to nuclear weapons grade of 90 percent or more to acquire the means of making nuclear weapons.

Israel believes Iran technologically is fast approaching, if it hasn’t already reached, the point at which it has declared a “red line” in achieving weapons-grade enrichment for nuclear weapons.

Israel believes that it not only must knock out what it perceives is Iran’s nuclear weapons development program but it also views Iran and Hezbollah as providing fighters to sustain the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

If the Syrian regime survives, Israel believes that it then could be threatened with Iranian missiles aimed at its heartland.

As WND/G2Bulletin recently pointed out, Syria for all intents and purposes has its military and intelligence being run primarily by Iran. Iranian Revolutionary Guard members are not only training but fighting in Syria, as are fighters from Iran’s proxy, Hezbollah.

Analysts believe having al-Assad’s regime rely on Hezbollah fighters may have been calculated by the Syrian president to draw Israel into the conflict, believing Tel Aviv supports the Syrian opposition.

The Israeli airstrikes also could give the Syrian president a basis to suggest that Tel Aviv actually is aiding Syrian opposition forces to oust his regime.

The Israeli airstrikes aren’t without risk, since this perception could prompt Syria to retaliate by firing missiles into Israel.

Israel may have calculated, however, that because Syria has its hands full fighting opposition forces that the attacks were worth the risk.

However, these sources believe that the real target in striking Syria is aimed at Iran. Israel had expectations that a wedge could be driven between Damascus and Tehran, with the prospect of weakening the al-Assad regime until it fell.

Keep in touch with the most important breaking news stories about critical developments around the globe with Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin, the premium, online intelligence news source edited and published by the founder of WND.

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In an interview with WND, Syrian Prime Minister Wael Nader al-Halqi said that immediately following the incident, Syria requested a U.N. investigation and then followed up with a second request.

However, he said, the U.N. hasn’t responded to either request.

He said that Syria is ready to commit to whatever the U.N. wants, “mindful of the experience in Iraq” in which then-President Saddam Hussein refused further intrusive U.N. inspection teams to look for weapons of mass destruction. That then prompted U.S. military action in March 2003.

He said, however, that the U.N. has now asked for the ability to go anywhere in Syria, which al-Halqi said was made at the request of the United States and may have been the reason why the U.N. had not responded to the Syrian government’s two previous requests.

Late separate reports suggest that a U.N. team staged in Cyprus is prepared now to go into Syria to conduct the inspection, although a leading member of a U.N. commission of inquiry, Carla Del Ponte, said that evidence suggests that Syrian rebels may have “used Sarin,” which is a nerve agent that can be delivered in artillery shells, among other means of delivery.

Del Ponte had said there was “strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof” that the rebels initiated the Sarin attack, although the U.N. has not entirely endorsed Del Ponte’s preliminary findings.

Sarin is a colorless, odorless liquid or gas that attacks the respiratory system and can lead to death. It is banned under international law as a weapon of mass destruction, or WMD.

The Russian foreign ministry which backs the Syrian government said that allegations from Israel and the United States on the Syrian government’s possible use of Sarin are “signs that world public opinion is being prepared for possible military intervention” into Syria.

However, al-Halqi was adamant that the Syrian government did not use Sarin on its own population, and insisted that it came from “terrorists,” referring specifically to the foreign fighters who are thought to have the capability of handling and using Sarin.

“There is no rational human being that would think the Syrian army would inflict casualties on itself,” considering that some 15 Syrian army soldiers were killed in the explosion.

“Syria will never use chemical weapons against its citizens,” al-Halqi insisted.

Al-Halqi, who previously was the minister of health, has been prime minister since August 2012.

Al-Halqi, a mild-mannered person who spoke without notes, gave an extensive litany of statistics and information on what he considers to be the outside threat to his country.

He further claimed that the weapons with Sarin were “manufactured in Turkey and funneled to the terrorists.”

He went on to say that the Syrian government has YouTube and other captured videos, including those from captured cell phones, showing armed terrorist groups testing Sarin on rats, as well as launching attacks on the Syrian population.

Al-Halqi was firm in claiming that foreign fighters not only were behind the Sarin attack but said the Sunni Salafis affiliated with al-Qaida and its offshoot in Syria, the al-Nusra group from al-Qaida in Iraq, are primarily behind the attacks underway in the country now.

He said that some 65,000 tons of heavy weapons have been funneling into Turkey from Kuwait, Jordan, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Turkey, which like these countries is Sunni, backs Saudi efforts to remove the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power and replace it with a Sunni regime.

Al-Assad is a Shi’ite al-Alawite, although the majority of the Syrian population is Sunni.
Many of the weapons, he said, have been captured, including some from Israel which included “Stingers” and anti-tank rockets and mortars.

He said that the foreign fighters are targeting primarily the country’s industrial and health infrastructures, either by destroying them or “stealing the equipment and sending it into Turkey.”
He said that of the 72 pharmaceutical factories in the country, some 22 of them have been completely dismantled and sent into Turkey.

“The question,” he asked, “is why?” In answering his own question, he said the purpose is to take “Syria’s industrial competitiveness into Turkey.”

He said the terrorists also are preventing farmers from reaching their fields, stealing full silos of grain and other agricultural goods, and sending it to Turkey. As a consequence, he said, Syria now needs to import food for its population.

By preventing farmers from planting in season, he said, they are harvesting only 10 percent of what the country used to grow.

In venturing along the streets of Damascus amid the fortified bunkers and armed checkpoints, small shops displayed fresh fruits and vegetables while restaurants and other commercial shops remained open despite the frequent surprise shelling on the city.

However, outside Damascus, the government is attempting to send in food, medicines and other basic necessities to the Syrian population, even in rebel-occupied areas.

“Despite the crisis,” al-Halqi said, “the government still is doing its duty to its people” by handling more than a million internally displaced persons, providing shelters despite the destruction of many of the some 775 sheltering centers around the country.

He said the government still pays its employees even in the restive areas.

Al-Halqi reaffirmed that Syria is working toward a multi-party system which the Syrian opposition in the government said that it has been trying to do since 2005.

The prime minister remains defiant in the face of what he believes is outside aggression by Western powers using foreign fighters as proxies.

Syria is the “axis of resistance,” al-Halqi said, reaffirming that the al-Assad regime will survive despite heavy Western pressure to topple it.

He said he’s personally met with opposition groups who eventually put down their arms.

“The door’s always open to armed groups if they lay down their arms,” al-Halqi said.

Indeed, a visit to the old quarter of Damascus showed members of the unarmed opposition encouraging armed opposition members to return.

One opposition fighter who returned signed a pledge to lay down his arms and said that he and others are coming back because the al-Nusra armed fighters look upon the Syrian rebels as “infidels,” making them concerned for their own lives.