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A satellite photo of the facility that was destroyed in Syria. (Reuters)
Last update - 16:58 06/04/2008
Israel, U.S. plan to release details on Syria attack
By Barak Ravid and Amos Harel
Tags: U.S., North Korea, Israel 

Israel and the United States are coordinating the release of details on the air force strike in Syria last September, which foreign reports claim targeted a nuclear installation Syria was constructing with North Korean assistance. American officials may reveal details of the strike later this month during congressional hearings.

Even though the defense establishment in Israel is opposed to any publication of details of the attack, the Prime Minister's Bureau and U.S. President George W. Bush's administration are of the opinion that it is now possible to reveal details because there is little chance of a conflagration as a result of a Syrian decision to avenge the attack.

Details of the attack are likely to be revealed by senior Bush administration officials during hearings before Congress. Advisers to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Yoram Turbowicz and Shalom Turjeman, discussed the issue last week in Washington with senior U.S. intelligence officials, and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley.
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During the meetings, the two sides agreed on which details of the attack to make public and which details could have negative implications. According to foreign reports, Israel transfered to the U.S. detailed intelligence on the installation attacked, and the two sides agreed not to reveal any details without prior coordination.

The view in Washington and in Jerusalem is that publishing details of the attack will bolster Israel's deterrence and may even lead Syria to cool its close ties with Iran and North Korea.

According to the American assessments, the revelations about the attack will also bolster its hand in negotiations with North Korea on dismantling its nuclear arms.

However, the Israel defense establishment is strongly opposed to revealing any details of the attack in Syria and expressed concern that any airing of the details of the attack will result in lifting the strict censorship that was imposed in Israel on this incident.

Senior figures in the defense establishment and the Israel Defense Forces said in recent day that Israel must convince the Americans to deliver the report to Congress "in closed session."

Intelligence analysts in Israel maintain that any further release of the details on the strike will contribute to the already tense situation between Syria and Israel, which has been exacerbated in part because of Hezbollah's plans to avenge the assassination of the group's terrorist mastermind, Imad Mughniyah.

Any official release of the details of the attack and the nature of the installation may push Syria's Bashar Assad into a corner and put pressure him to respond, say intelligence officials.

The possibility of details being made public has also contributed to the mutual suspicions between the PMO and the Defense Minister's Bureau. In political circles it is now commonly accepted that the release of details of the attack may help bolster the public image of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Some politicians have offered assessments that Olmert may decide to lift the curtain on details of the attack close to the 60th anniversary of Israel's independence, in early May.

Other political sources say that the American revelations on this matter will not result in a change in Israel's censorship policy, and insist that Olmert will not discuss the subject of the attack during holiday interviews.

The hearings at the House Intelligence Committee may be held in the coming weeks. Congressmen have included in the bill on the intelligence budget that American intelligence agencies will not be given large portions of their budget unless they reveal in full the details of the strike in Syria and the nuclear cooperation between Pyongyang and Damascus.

This has led U.S. and Israeli officials to conclude that American officials will release details of the strike during the hearings.

Talks between the U.S. and North Korea are schedule to resume tomorrow in Singapore. One of the American conditions for lifting the sanctions on Pyongyang is for it to expose its nuclear collaboration with other countries, which North Korea maintains does not exist. According to South Korean media sources, Pyongyang has agreed to provide the U.S. with information on its nuclear cooperation with Syria, on condition that Washington will not make this public. The same sources stated that the U.S. has given North Korea a list of engineers that are suspected of involvement in the construction of the installation that was targeted in Syria.

Meanwhile, readiness levels are high at Northern Command and in security for Israeli missions abroad, as well as at airlines, as concerns remain that Hezbollah will try to avenge the assassination of its terrorist mastermind, Imad Mughniyah in February.

The statement by Defense Minister Ehud Barak last week, that Israel would retaliate with a heavy hand against any attack, was made following deliberations with intelligence officials. There are concerns that an order to carry out a terrorist attack has already been issued - and Barak's tough words were meant to signal Hezbollah and its patrons, Syria and Iran, that Israel will respond to any attack.

Related articles:
  • ANALYSIS: The air strike in Syria is a secret that cannot be kept
  • IDF lifts censorship of Sept. 6 IAF strike on target inside Syria
  • J'lem outraged by Netanyahu's admission of IAF strike on Syria
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      1.   Why haven`t the Syrians released anything? 03:16  |  natan 06/04/08
      2.   A double-shovel needed 03:20  |  Mark Lincoln 06/04/08
      3.   Let no one mistake any mistake 03:41  |  Panther Jet 06/04/08
      4.   syria, iran, hezbollah must be told in no uncertain terms any 04:12  |  ralph 06/04/08
      5.   Congress is an information sieve 04:49  |  spyguy 06/04/08
      6.   This is What Happened 05:00  |  MIKE 06/04/08
      7.   Congressional Right to Know 05:01  |  Mark of Lewiston 06/04/08
      8.   panther jet 4 05:20  |  potobac 06/04/08
      9.   Pather Jet - on War 05:51  |  Mark of Lewiston 06/04/08
      10.   F9F-4 06:18  |  Mark Lincoln 06/04/08
      11.   Building being rebuilt... for months? 06:29  |  Jacob Blues 06/04/08
      12.   "Foreign reports"? like whose? 06:44  |  Rowan 06/04/08
      13.   z 06:49  |  z 06/04/08
      14.   More sick war mongering by the Bush camp 06:56  |  Dutch 06/04/08
      15.   "Let no one mistake" 07:07  |  Warren J. 06/04/08
      16.   Entangling U.S. with Israel 07:40  |  Atoo 06/04/08
      17.   and iran and the rest should 07:53  |  sam i am 06/04/08
      18.   ISRAEL WILL RUIN THE U.S. 08:09  |  john adams 06/04/08
      19.   Israel did what was needed to be done 08:15  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 06/04/08
      20.   Olmert: the best gift you can give us is silence 08:17  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 06/04/08
      21.   #2, Mark Lincoln 08:30  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 06/04/08
      22.   Cipora ML is screaming to hide the sound of the truth 08:41  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 06/04/08
      23.   # 3 i DO believe you`re "mistaken", pantherjet 08:47  |  eric 06/04/08
      24.   #5 Mighty impressive looking rose-coloured glasses, CJK 09:50  |  Johnboy 06/04/08
      25.   Important despatches from Israel`s Ministry of Truth 10:27  |  Clickfool 06/04/08
      26.   A big, square, empty warehouse was flattened # 2 10:31  |  Clickfool 06/04/08
      27.   #18, fool, quoting Mark 10:50  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 06/04/08
      28.   In the meantime - CSM RELEASED GREAT ART 10:57  |  GREAT LINK 06/04/08
      29.   to Cipora 10:58  |  ALL 4 PEACE 06/04/08
      30.   John Adams #15 - Israel only helps the U.$. to Controlled Suicide 11:04  |  Mahatma Ghandi 06/04/08
      31.   RETALIATION IS IMMINENT 11:04  |  indrajaya 06/04/08
      32.   #7, MarkL claims that neither Iran nor Syria 11:05  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 06/04/08
      33.   Syria was presumably the home of the WMD 11:57  |  Iz Ray Leigh 06/04/08
      34.   Plant Enriched Depleted Bovine Waste for Bovinic Bomb Project 12:12  |  Mike Adams 06/04/08
      35.   Plant Enriched Depleted Bovine Waste for Bovinic Bomb Project 12:12  |  Mike Adams 06/04/08
      36.   Timing the Revenge 12:14  |  Gadees 06/04/08
      37.   Revealing our secrets to serve US interests 12:28  |  Tzfonit 06/04/08
      38.   Syrian..Attempt at a small nuclear detonation...? 12:31  |  Stephen. 06/04/08
      39.   FIRST, U.S. "INTELLIGENCE" REPORT 12:32  |  Robert 06/04/08
      40.   #9 "But they cannot build anything from the ruins" 13:09  |  Johnny 06/04/08
      41.   Hey, Mark Lincoln, Cipora`s a closet fan of yours.# 27 13:21  |  Clickfool 06/04/08
      42.   Playing With Bee Hives 13:25  |  gadees 06/04/08
      43.   So, What Was It? 13:43  |  Jeff Northridge 06/04/08
      44.   Answering Jeff Northridge # 43 14:14  |  Clickfool 06/04/08
      45.   ATOO " Israel wanted to start a war" bombing an empty warehouse?? 14:20  |  PETER SM 06/04/08
      46.   JOHNBOY Rose colored V`s Dark glasses and a walking stick 14:30  |  PETER SM 06/04/08
      47.   What`s the big deal? 14:40  |  Murray of Montreal 06/04/08
      48.   US Congress 14:43  |  Gary Schroeder 06/04/08
      49.   Post #3 Panther Jet 14:48  |  Gary 06/04/08
      50.   Clickfool it was nothing, otherwise the Syrians 15:01  |  Iz Ray Leigh 06/04/08
      51.   #26: If Americans Had Nothing to Do With It... 15:01  |  Ovadiah ben Avraham 06/04/08
      52.   October Surprise 15:09  |  Ovadiah ben Avraham 06/04/08
      53.   What did it achieve? 15:41  |  Chris Linthwaite 06/04/08
      54.   For Iz ray Leigh, who has difficulty with logic # 50 15:45  |  Clickfool 06/04/08
      55.   How Olmert will apologize for not informing the IAEA 16:21  |  Tosefta 06/04/08
      56.   #8 and 9 and of course there is always #0 16:46  |  Panther Jet 06/04/08
      57.   #23 Eric Idle From (New) Mexico 16:54  |  Panther Jet 06/04/08
      58.   The end game is to attack before Bush steps down! 16:54  |  lakshmi 06/04/08
      59.   #32 Cipora, Re your sick falsehoods 17:02  |  Dutch 06/04/08
      60.   #40 Gary 17:04  |  Panther Jet 06/04/08
      61.   The US is not a honnest peace procke, they are part of the confli 17:05  |  Moise 06/04/08
      62.   Say Nothing 17:06  |  MIKE 06/04/08
      63.   But, you will never dare to attack Iran because you`re afraid 17:10  |  Aounist 06/04/08
      64.   The Artical is Speculation 17:25  |  Ron 06/04/08
      65.   #32 Interplanetary traveller missed some events 17:30  |  Labhras 06/04/08
      66.   Mark (2) so you may show us the photo or give the link 17:37  |  Karl 06/04/08
      67.   #55 Tosefta 17:42  |  Panther Jet 06/04/08
      68.   If Hizballah attack; the Israel position should be to attack Syri 18:05  |  r 06/04/08
      69.   37 Tzfonit - Israelis Don`t Have to Reveal Anything 18:12