EHUD BARAK: ASSAD’S FALL IS IMMINENT
Munich, 23 Rabiul Awwal 1434/ 3 February 2013 (MINA) – Israel’s defense minister is predicting that the fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad is imminent, and he says that would be a major blow to regional archrival Iran.
Ehud Barak’s appearance Sunday at a conference in Germany comes days after an Israeli airstrike that U.S. officials say hit a convoy of anti-aircraft weapons inside Syria bound for the Lebanese Hezbollah group.
Israel hasn’t publicly acknowledged that. Barak stopped short of confirming it Sunday, but said “what happened in Syria several days ago…” is “proof that when we said something we mean it – we say that we don’t think it should be allowed to bring advanced weapons systems into Lebanon.”
Predicting Assad’s fall would happen imminently, he added: “This will be a major blow to the Iranians and Hezbollah”, according to www.i4u.com reports monitored by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA), Sunday.
On the other side, Deputy Chairman of Iranian Armed Forces’ Chief of Staff Brigadier General Masoud Jazayeri said on Saturday, “Syria’s response to the recent aggression of the Zionist regime (Israel) against this country will send this regime into a coma,”.
He added that the Islamic anti-Israeli resistance movement has set its eyes on Syria’s “retaliatory measure” against the Israeli aggression.
The American and Israeli officials have come to fully realize that the self-restraint of the Syrian nation will not be unending, Jazayeri said.
The global arrogance and Israel are on the verge of collapse, the Iranian commander said, noting that the era when the hegemonic powers bullied independent nations has now come to an end.
“In the new era, the criminals should know that behind their every blow lies a massive retaliatory blow, whose time, level and magnitude will be determined by the resolve of the free and anti-hegemonic nations.”
The Syrian Army said in a statement on Wednesday that two people were killed and five others injured in an Israeli airstrike on a scientific center in Jamraya, located 25 kilometers (15 miles) northwest of the capital Damascus.
Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011. Many people, including large numbers of security forces, have been killed in the turmoil.
The Syrian government says the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the militants are foreign nationals. (T/P01/E1).
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
