Israeli jets 'drop ammunition' in sortie over Syria

Israeli jets have violated Syrian air space and have been accused of dropping ammunition whilst doing so. The Syrians opened fire on the jets as they entered their airspace from the direction of the Mediterranean.

The Israeli aircraft "infiltrated Syrian air space through the northern border, coming from the direction of the Mediterranean, and headed towards northeastern territory, breaking the sound barrier," said the official Syrian news agency, Sana. "The Syrian Arab Republic warns the government of the Israeli enemy and reserves the right to respond according to what it sees fit."

A Syrian official added: "They dropped bombs on an empty area while our air defences were firing heavily at them." Residents said they heard the sound of five planes or more above the Tal al-Abiad area on Syria's border with Turkey, about 100 miles north of the Syrian city of Rakka.

The Israeli army refused to comment on the incident but no casualties or damage were reported. "We cannot discuss military operations," a spokesman said.

There were rumours recently of Israel and Syria engaging in secret peace talks, talks which the more extreme neo-con elements of this US administration have always objected to, and this report certainly troubling.

Mohsen Bilal, the Syrian Information minister, said: "Israel does not want peace. It cannot survive without aggression, treachery and military messages." The recent offer to Israel of $30bn (£14.8bn) in American aid over the next 10 years had encouraged the Israeli government to "such arrogance that it delivered this morning message", he claimed. Mr Bilal added that his government was "seriously studying the nature of the response" but did not say whether it would be military or diplomatic.

In the past, Syria has approached the UN Security Council in response to Israeli violations of Syrian territorial integrity and has not retaliated directly. But the two nations have been sending mixed messages to each other about their peace prospects. Syria has stepped up calls for talks to discuss the return of the strategic Golan Heights, captured by Israel in 1967.

This action is certainly unlikely to help foster peaceful relations between the two country's and, coupled with Bush's new found verbal aggression towards Iran, must worry anyone who is watching what is taking place in the Middle East.

Israel is unlikely to have engaged in such an overt act of aggression without American connivance.

The real question is what was achieved by such an act of aggression. More may come out in future, but at the moment I can see the raising of tensions between the two country's as the only obvious result, perhaps softening and preparing American public opinion for some kind of joint US/Israeli intervention against Iran and Syria.

Ha'aretz report Olmert's denial:

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Thursday denied all knowledge of an Israel Air Force jet entering Syrian airspace overnight, despite Syria's announcement that its military shot at an IAF warplane in the northern part of the country.

"I don't know what you are talking about," Olmert said in response to a question on the issue from Haaretz, hours after his office and the Israel Defense Forces both said they refused to respond to Damascus' claims.

The prime minister was speaking at an event for his Kadima party to mark the Jewish New Year holiday next week. He insisted that it was business as usual, asking reporters, "do I not look relaxed?"

State Department spokesman Tom Casey declined to comment on what he said were two different versions of events from both Israel and Syria.

Asked whether the United States had asked either Israel or Syria for their version of events, Casey said he was not aware of any U.S. contacts with either government on the issue.

So, whilst both Israel and the US issue denials, the US have not even gone to the bother of asking Israel whether or not the Syrian charges are true or false.

What's fascinating is how little coverage this event is generating in the west. Had this happened the other way around, and Syrian jets had entered Israeli sovereign territory, we would currently be reading pages and pages of news reports concerning the danger to Israel and her need to respond this act of Syrian aggression.

Israel does so, and we read very little condemnation of her actions, instead we read half hearted Israeli and US denials and are asked to pretend that the whole thing is very confusing and that no-one really knows what happened as both sides are telling different stories. However, the fact that the US have allowed themselves plausible deniability by refusing to even ask the Israelis whether or not the incident actually took place, should give any sentient person pause.

The incident, in all probability, took place; the real question is why it happened and what it signifies.

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