War Thread - The Official Israel v. Syria, Hezbollah, Iran, Hamas War Thread 2008.

-looking more and more like a cease fire is going to be reached between Israel and Hamas

Hamas to tell Egypt will accept Gaza truce


Published: 04.24.08, 17:07 / Israel News



Hamas will tell Egyptian mediators on Thursday it is prepared to accept a truce with Israel in the Gaza Strip with a timetable for extending it to the West Bank, a Palestinian official close to the talks said.



The official, who declined to be named, said any truce would depend on Israel opening all of Gaza's border crossings and halting all military action in the Strip, adding that the group had backing from other Palestinian factions. (Reuters)

[link to www.ynetnews.com]

Move along, nothing to see here.

HAMAS MAY SAY THEY ACCEPT IT, BUT THEY REALLY HAVE SET CONDITIONS THAT PROVE THEY DO NOT.

DEBKA HAS IT RIGHT FOR ONCE:

Exclusive: Hamas rejects Egyptian-brokered deal for Gaza truce
April 24, 2008, 4:50 PM (GMT+02:00)

The Palestinian terrorist group’s reply was handed to Egyptian intelligence minister Gen. Omar Suleiman Thurs. April 24. It was delivered by Hamas leaders Mahmoud a-Zahar and Siad Siyam, who flew in to Cairo with their orders after Hamas’ Damascus-based leaders conferred with Syrian and Iranian intelligence officers in the Syrian capital. They also ordered Hamas-Gaza to step up its attacks on Israel.

DEBKAfile’s sources report:

The Hamas reply came in the form of consent to a truce wrapped round in blatantly unacceptable conditions: Egypt and Israel must open all Gaza Strip border crossings and remove the economic and physical blockade clamped down on the terrorist-ruled enclave; Israeli cease all its counter-terror operations in stages, first in Gaza and then on the West Bank.

The first sign of the negative reply ahead was Hamas’ call Thursday morning to the Gazan masses to stage “angry protests” after Friday worship at the mosques by mobbing the Erez border crossing to Israel and the Rafah crossing into Sinai.

Bracing for another round of Hamas-led violence, Egypt and Israel placed their forces went on high alert along their frontier and their borders with the Gaza Strip. The Israeli high command had been warned that Hamas was preparing to follow the protests up with another round of attacks on the Gazan-Israel border after earlier rounds in the last two weeks temporarily sealed the crossings. Wednesday, Israel reopened all the Gaza transit points for dozens of trucks to bring food, essential supplies and fuel to the Palestinian population.


LOOK FOR FIRE WORKS STARTING TOMORROW PROVING HAMAS DOES NOT ACCEPT IT!


WHATS UP WITH SYRIA???

wHATS UP WITH syRIA?

wHATS UP WITH syRIA?


Syria is simply playing the media while the U.S. Congress hears of her nuclear program. Don't worry y'all, though it may appear there is some type of peace on the horizon, it will not happen until Israel has to decimate Syria due to a very vicious war.

Military Man,

whats up with this ???

random??



21:56 Cluster bomb explosion wounds four children in southern Lebanon (AP)

Israel: Syria may rethink retaliation in light of nuclear revelations

By Amos Harel, Barak Ravid and Shmuel Rosner, Haaretz Correspondents

Tags: Israel, U.S., Syria

The closed-door hearings of the House Intelligence Committee regarding a site in Syria that the Israel Air Forces bombed last September were closely followed Thursday by senior officials in Israel.

U.S. officials said that the Israeli strike destroyed a Syrian nuclear reactor built with North Korean design help.

Senior Israeli defense sources said Thursday night that it was still early to gauge how Damascus would react to the news, but warned that the Syrians may now reconsider and decide to retaliate against Israel in some way.
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In recent internal discussions, senior Israeli defense establishment officials expressed concern that the official American release of details about the strike would embarrass Syrian leader Bashar Assad, and lead him to take a more aggressive stance toward Israel.

Intelligence officials said that the reports on the nature of the site make Assad vulnerable, internationally and domestically. Most senior members of his regime in Damascus apparently were not aware that the country had a nuclear program, they explained.

Defense sources said Thursday night that there was still risk of an escalation in the area and warned that Israel must be cautious and avoid embarrassing Assad unnecessarily.

Meanwhile, the Israeli government decided to maintain its silence over the September 6, 2007 strike.

However, the hearings may have raised a new problem in Israel: Members of Congress were shown a video recorded by an agent inside the Syrian nuclear plant prior to the attack.

This revelation may lead the Syrians to the source of the leak that allowed Israel and the U.S. to gather intelligence on the nuclear site.

In Washington, a senior U.S. official said the facility in Syria was destroyed soon before it would have become functional, at which point testing would have begun. At the time of the attack, no uranium was evident at the site.

The reactor site was veiled in secrecy until this week. U.S. intelligence and government officials had refused to confirm suspicions that the site was to be a nuclear reactor.

The administration has thus far refused to reveal why it chose to release the information now, but the briefings come at a critical time in the diplomatic effort to get North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons.

As part of that process, North Korea is required to submit a "declaration" detailing its programs and proliferation activity, but the talks have stalled over Pyongyang's refusal to publicly admit the Syria connection. However, officials say the North Koreans are willing to accept international "concern" about unspecified proliferation.

Syria had not declared the alleged reactor to the International Atomic Energy Agency, nor was it under international safeguards, possibly putting Syria in breach of an international nuclear nonproliferation treaty.

House Foreign Affairs Middle East Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Gary Ackerman (Democrat-N.Y.) sharply criticized the administration for embargoing the information and the press leaks surrounding it.

"This is the selective control of information that led us to war in Iraq," he said.

U.S. officials were also briefing members of the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, at its Vienna headquarters.

In recent weeks, a debate has raged in Israel over which details of the attack should be revealed. In deliberations, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert argued that it is necessary to agree to the American request to reveal details pertaining to the nuclear ties between Syria and North Korea, but said the countries should decide jointly on what should be made public.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak opposed the release of any new details on the attack or the nuclear ties between Damascus and Pyongyang, arguing that this would only push the Syrians into a corner and would escalate tensions

[link to www.haaretz.com]

what do you make of this Military Man - looks like Barak may be warm to this cease fire with Hamas (i never liked him as prime minister, and he doesn't look to be doing all that much better as defense minister)

[link to www.jpost.com]

"Israeli defense officials said it was likely that Defense Minister Ehud Barak would agree to the cease-fire, since he opposed a large military operation in Gaza, currently Israel's only other viable option in face of the rocket and terror attacks."

what do you make of this Military Man - looks like Barak may be warm to this cease fire with Hamas (i never liked him as prime minister, and he doesn't look to be doing all that much better as defense minister)

[link to www.jpost.com]

"Israeli defense officials said it was likely that Defense Minister Ehud Barak would agree to the cease-fire, since he opposed a large military operation in Gaza, currently Israel's only other viable option in face of the rocket and terror attacks."


(IsraelNN.com) Hamas terrorist leaders, after meeting with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman Thursday night, announced another ceasefire offer, but foreign media doubted that a deal is in the offing. The Egyptian government-controlled news agency reported that Hamas agreed to stop attacking Israel with rockets for six months in return for Israel's halting the targeting of Hams terrorists.

Earlier this week, Hamas suggested a 30-day ceasefire and a 10-year truce, but both offers were limited and undefined. In one case, Hamas said it would continue to smuggle weapons into Gaza and produce rockets during any truce.

Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Dan Gillerman stated, "We do not intend to give them that time and we do not believe any truce offer that comes from Hamas is indeed trustworthy."

No one is ready for peace.

Hamas has new arms from Iran.

Hezbollah is moving south of the Litni River and they are not letting the UN search them.

Syria has five divisions called out to the Syrian Israeli frontier.

No peace will be had this year.