ISRAEL NEEDS OUR HELP - Listen in the US, UK and Europe

 

 

After watching this attached news item just listen in people - whether you Brits & Americans want to hear the truth or not we're telling it!

 

This blog is proud to be pro-Israel and we are proud to be a voice of Israel.

 

We feel we owe it to Israel that the West and mainly the US and UK assists Israel in their hour of need.

 

Before any of you say - 'why should we help Israel' remember this, and let it sink in!

 

ISRAEL was created in 1948 as a nation, despite it legally & historically and morally being the Jewish land from before even the term Britain came into being and America was discovered. Since 1948, whether you want to admit it or not, Israel has been fighting the same war as us, long long before it came to the British or US shores. If Israel hadn't been fighting this war it would have come to those shores decades before.

 

With the help of Hitler the islamist attack did come to us due to thousands of Muslim volunteers for the Nazi SS that joined the forces of Hitler. But thankfully WE won the war and that victory held off that evil for a while at least.

 

Since 1948 Israel has paid the price in thousands of lives, soldiers, civilians and even babies horrifically murdered in a way similar to the soldier recently butchered on a British street. Israel's economy has been stretched to the limit in paying the economic cost, despite the aid it gets, which is reality, whether it be from the US, UK or Europe, is minimal compared to the real cost of fighting all of our enemies.

 

In 2001 Israel sent advisors to Afghanistan to aid British and US troops in the new kind of warfare we are now fighting. Thousands of lives, British and American have been saved due to this - that is official from Col Richard Kemp who was in charge of British forces in afghan at the time.

 

Israel didn't have to help, but they felt they should help their allies. All they now need in return is our help, support and to know that we, their allies will stand by them as they are at risk from attack. But what do they hear from London and Washington - Betrayal, cowardess appeasing to our enemies and shirking! Shameful, disgusting and a fucking down right shame and it makes me ashamed to be British.

 

If only the majority of the British and American people & more so leaders had the same sized balls of our soldiers!

Israel prepares for war - terrifying time for Israeli families as theIDF prepares Israel's defense

The temperature is hitting 35C (95F) and the queues outside the gas mask distribution centre in Tel Aviv - the only one in the region - are moving painfully slow.

Some people have been waiting six hours for the masks they fear may be needed if the US and its allies bomb Syria.

Empty water bottles and cigarette packets lie on the ground nearby and a man selling frozen drinks says he's sold 300 since the morning.

At the front of the queue an official pushes open the heavy glass door, shouts out a name and hands over a clutch of boxes containing the gas masks to a woman relieved the ordeal is finally over.

Others push forward, holding up their identity cards, hoping the official will write down their names and put them next in line.

While tempers fray and frustrations show, there is no sense of panic here.

Retaliation fears

But there is fear that either the Syrian military or Hezbollah in southern Lebanon could attack Israel in retaliation for Western air strikes.

And the worst-case scenario is that chemical weapons are used in any of these retaliatory attacks.

"It's frightening for me and my baby," says a woman named Yulia as she waits in a special queue for people with young children.

Her baby is just three-months-old.

"It's also frightening because my husband could be called in for the military reserve. The repercussions for us could be really, really bad."

There have been long queues at all the distribution centres across Israel over the past few days. Ten thousand masks were handed out on Thursday alone.

According to senior Labour Party politician and former minister Isaac Herzog, the population's fears are driven by the assumption that Syria has a large stock of chemical weapons which could be wielded against Israel.

"There is pressure now [on stocks of gas masks] because... my Syrian opposition sources say [Syrian President] Bashar al-Assad has 3,000 tonnes of sarin gas," Mr Herzog says.

"That's an enormous quantity."

While his is a much higher figure than most other estimates, Syria is believed to have the fourth-largest stocks of chemical weapons in the world, making this a particularly worrying time for Israelis with children.

"Being a wife, and a mother, and having a family here, this is very unnerving," says Taire Shraga, a marketing director based in Jerusalem.

"My daughter doesn't even have a safe room in her pre-school."

Call to carry on

But even among those queuing up for gas masks, there are plenty who believe the chances of Syria attacking Israel in retaliation for Western air strikes are slim.

And this chimes with the assessment of the Israeli military and intelligence agencies.

To emphasise the point, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday again called on people to carry on with their lives as normal.

Overall, the mood in the country does seem relatively calm even after announcements that air defences in the north were being strengthened and some reserve soldiers were being called up.

"I would say 60-70% of Israelis think Syria will not attack Israel if the American operation is limited to a surgical attack and doesn't attempt to wipe out President Assad's regime," says Professor Ephraim Yaar, head of Tel Aviv University's conflict resolution programme and an expert in Israeli public opinion.

"If the American operation is more extensive, damaging Assad's regime and his strongholds, then it would not be only Syria, but also Hezbollah we would have to worry about."

Intelligence experts believe Mr Assad knows that attacking Israel would prove to be suicidal for his regime as the Israeli military would hit back hard.

But experts are concerned that the powerful Shia militia Hezbollah, based in Lebanon, may try to launch some kind of attack, although again they say the chances are quite small.

"I think the likelihood that Hezbollah will open fire on Israel after an attack on Syria is even higher than the probability that Syrians themselves would do it," says former Israeli national security adviser Giora Eiland.

"It makes sense that if Syria is attacked by the United States or by its allies, then Iran will give an instruction to Hezbollah to open fire on Israel."

The question is whether it would be a small-scale symbolic attack which Israel could ignore or something much larger which would provoke an Israeli response.

 

Amid Syria tensions, IDF deploys Iron Dome battery in greater Tel Aviv area

Iron Dome battery deployed in Gush Dan region
 of central Israel, August 30, 2013 

IDF takes measures against possible Syrian reaction to US strike, despite assessments Assad unlikely to retaliate against Israel.


The IDF deployed an Iron Dome battery in the greater Tel Aviv area overnight Thursday amid preparations for a potential US strike on Syria.
Jerusalem has assessed that their is a low probability that Syria would strike Israel in retaliation to Western military intervention, according to officials. Nevertheless, the deployment of the Iron Dome battery in the Gush Dan region was the latest in a number of preparations that the IDF has taken in recent days.

Earlier this week, the IDF deployed air defenses around the country and called up a few hundred reserve soldiers ahead of the expected American strike.
“We have a clear responsibility to prepare the army for all possibilities. We took a number of decisions to prepare ourselves for a scenario we hope will not materialize,” a military source said Wednesday.

As part of the preparations, the IAF deployed Iron Dome anti-rocket batteries in Haifa, Ashkelon and Eilat, and is set to place additional batteries in the northern regions of Amakim and Safed.

“We’ll take additional decisions down the line about placing Iron Dome batteries in northern areas, and possibly further south,” the military source said.

Patriot and Arrow 3 anti-ballistic missile batteries, which are deployed at all times, have also been moved around the country.

As of Wednesday evening, a few hundred reservists had been ordered to report for IAF duty – including Iron Dome operators – as well as for Military Intelligence and Home Front Command roles.

“We can expand the call-up if necessary. But this is not a widespread call-up,” the army source emphasized.

The IDF’s overall state of readiness is at normal, he said.

“We’ll only change this when the US begins operating in Syria. There are no special orders from the IDF’s Operations Branch, other than orders for front-line units to be prepared for the possibility of a cancellation of weekend leave,” the source stated.

He added that “naturally forces that are on the northern front lines, particularly on the Golan Heights, will be on high alert over the weekend.”

The Home Front Command, too, has urged members of the public to continue their lives as usual. It reported receiving 20,000 calls to its hot lines in the past day, causing the lines to crash.

“We’ve had far higher call numbers in the past. We will upgrade the phone lines,” the source said.
Similarly distribution centers for gas masks have been experiencing a surge of visits from concerned citizens, and extra staff will be sent to handle the increase in activities.

The army source speculated that the timing of the US strike would depend on a few variables, such as the exit of UN chemical weapons inspectors from Syria. According to his assessment, the strike will occur sometime around this weekend.

The past week has seen loads of harsh rhetoric coming from Syrian and Iranian officials.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards chief Maj.-Gen. Muhammad Ali Jafari said Wednesday that a US military attack on Syria would lead to the “imminent destruction” of Israel.





Source Jerusalem Post

Security cabinet approves limited enlistment of IDF reservists

 

Netanyahu urges Israelis to carry on withdaily lives, despite events in Syria; security sources: information indicates "low probability" that Assad will respond in retribution to US action by striking Israel.

Even as Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday called on Israelis to carry on with their daily routines in light of a possible strike on Syria, the security cabinet approved a limited call-up of reservists in vital military capacities.

The IDF deployed air defenses around the country on Wednesday and called up a few hundred reserves ahead of an expected US strike on Syria, but the moves were seen to be precautionary measures as the chances of a Syrian Attack on Israel remain low, a senior military source asserted.

As part of the preparations, the Israel Air Force deployed Iron Dome anti-rocket batteries in Haifa, Ashkelon and Eilat, and is set to place additional batteries in the northern regions of Amakim and Safed.

Even as Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesay called on Israelis to carry on with their daily routines in light of a possible strike on Syria, the security cabinet pproved a limited call-up of reservists in vital military capacities.

The IDF deployed air defenses around the country on Wednesday and called up a few hundred reserves ahead of an expected US strike on Syria, but the moves were seen to be precautionary measures as the chances of aSyrian retribution attack on Israel remain low, a senior military source asserted.

As part of the preparations, the Israel Air Force deployed Iron Dome anti-rocket batteries in Haifa, Ashkelon, and Eilat, and is set to place additional batteries in the northern regions of Amakim and Safed.

"We'll take addition decisions down the line about placing Iron Dome batteries in northern areas, and possibly further south," the source said.

Patriot and Arrow 2 anti-ballistic missile batteries, which are deployed at all times, have also been moved around the country.

The security cabinet was briefed by Chief of General Staff Benny Gantz, as well as other senior defense officials.

The information presented at the meeting indicated a "low probability" that Syrian President Bashar Assad would respond to US military action by striking Israel. Nevertheless, the sources said, Israel was preparing for any eventuality, which explained the limited reserve call-ups.

One of the reasons for the "low probability" assessments of a Syrian response against Israel is the assessments in Jerusalem that Assad is cognizant of messages Israel has sent indicating that an attack on Israel would ignite a counter-attack that would bring his regime down.

Following the security cabinet meeting, the second urgent security consultation in as many days, Netanyahu issued a statement Wednesday saying Israelis need not alter their daily routine.

"The IDF is ready to defend against any threat and prepared to respond severely against any attempt to harm Israeli citizens," he said.

"We can expand the call-up if necessary. But this is not a wide-spread call-up," a security source stressed.

The IDF's overall state of readiness is at normal, he said. "We'll only change this when the US begins operating in Syria. There are no special orders from the IDF's Operations Branch, other than orders to frontline units to be prepared for the possibility of a cancellation of weekend leave," the source stated.

"Naturally, forces that are on the northern frontlines, particularly on the Golan Heights, will be on high alert over the weekend," he said.

The Home Front Command has urged members of the public to continue as normal. It reported receiving 20,000 calls to its phone lines in the past day, causing the lines to crash. "We've had far higher call numbers in the past. We will upgrade the phone lines," the source said.

Asked how the IDF assessed the chances of rocket fire by smaller terrorist organizations, like Islamic Jihad in Gaza, which reportedly threatened to respond to a Syria strike by firing on Israel, the senior military said, "There is no indication they decided to do this [realize their threats]. But the possibility of attacks by terror groups in Gaza and Sinai is also being factored in."

Netanyahu's appeal to the country's citizenry to carry on with their daily lives came amid a rush on gas mask distribution centers around the country.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, commenting on developments in Syria, said, "What we're seeing today is part of a historic event which occurs once in a hundred years. We're not involved in this and we're not getting involved. The Syrians crossed a red line set by the United States, prohibiting use of chemical weapons against civilians."

He added that the images that emerged from Syria in the aftermath of the chemical attack are horrific. "Human beings cannot accept a reality like this, but those who are dealing with this issue are not us, but rather the Western world under the leadership of the United States."

He said the cabinet decision to activate some precautionary defense moves are part of Israeli preparations for all scenarios, but stressed that he did not expect an escalation and that there was no need for panic.

"We must make preparations, but also to safeguard normal daily life," he  said.

SYRIA - STANDING UNITED AGAINST EVIL - No more appeasing! It's war to bring freedom or appeasing to bring slavery - the choice is ours

THE VIEW OF THIS BLOG

Should we go into Syria? Should we topple the Assad regime?  Answer to both is - YES! And we couldn't care what the UN comes back with! 

 We're sick of hearing Brits and Americans say "Its nothing to do with us!" - Well sorry to disappoint but its EVERYTHING to do with us! 

Let's all get into the 21st century and accept the fact this isn't 1874 when Britain sent in gunboats to serve "British interests" alone  & certain Americans need to get their heads out their Obama voting butts & accept the fact that America cant just get involved "only " if "US interests" are at stake, as is being suggested ATM! We should stop being selfish. 

In the 1930s did Brits say the Sudetenland  got nothing to do with Britain? or Poland? Did the US ignore the  plight of the subjected nations as the Nazi war machine engulfed Europe? 

The answer to all the above is a resounding NO! If it were a resounding YES then millions upon millions more Jews would have perished in gas chambers, the world would today be subjected to slavery & suffering & death would be the norm! So please people grow a backbone & stand by what needs to be done! 

Freedom isn't cheap! It comes with a price - if we adopt the 'selfish' attitude we might as well just surrender now & allow the enemy to subject us to the world of misery they intend!

 We can no longer survive on our own! We can no longer ignore evil because it interrupts our comfort zone!  We cannot sit back for instance  & allow our ally Israel to be wiped out because it might mean some of us might have to pay the ultimate sacrifice! 

We cannot sit back & witness Israelis & even non Israelis in the middle east to be murdered horrifically by chemical attack because it will sadly mean we will have to lose our own sons & daughters on the alter of freedom! 

In World War Two & the Cold War if we had that attitude then the enemy would have won & again we would today be slaves to Nazi or Communist tyranny! 

A soldier becomes a soldier & he or she is fully aware that being a soldier means fighting for righteousness & even maybe paying the ultimate sacrifice so others may live! Others meaning British, American, Israeli, Syrian etc etc - ALL innocents! 

It's part of the job, it comes with the package of being a soldier - Many of us have been prepared to make that sacrifice & many soldiers amongst us sadly witnessed those that did! 

In 1939 Britain stood alone against a Nazi ruled Europe - it was a stubborn & proud act of bravery on the part of the British Nation, but ultimately Britain was ever grateful when the US entered the war! 

Today Israel is in EXACTLY the same position the UK was in in 1939, threatened with attack  & Israel will need help from us, her allies, as Britain needed Americas help in World War Two - It's our duty to Israel, a fellow ally,  not forgetting millions of innocent Syrians are calling for help as their children are gassed to death!   

What I'm trying to say is its a joint effort, it's a case of free nations standing united against evil! 

Gone are the days where nations were individually threatened, because today we are ALL threatened by the SAME enemy that wishes to destroy ALL of us! Make it sink in people, digest it because its that notion alone which will be the salvation of our way of life, not appeasement! 

Recently, due to cowardess, spineless appeasing & poor leadership President Obama & Prime Minister Cameron tried to Shirk their responsibilities and instead of attacking Syria a long time ago, which is what was needed,  instead they stupidly decided to arm the Syrian opposition which was like handing a meat clever to a serial killer! 

They hoped that it would mean the end of Assad, but instead it's made him stronger & as a double kick in the teeth to the US & UK tax payer it's meant that their hard earned taxes have been spent on arming our enemies - NICE!

This is why we DEMAND military action to get rid of Assad & his tyranny & we also demand that the victorious powers do what happened in 1945 in Germany and replace the rotten edifice COMPLETELY with a TRUE democracy & not an Islamist infested government filled with murderers & child rapists, as has been the case in Iraq & Afghanistan! 

For once we demand that our leaders grow a pair of balls the size that our soldiers have and do what needs to be done! 

Military strikes on Syria now very likely

The US & UK are gathering their military cheifs together for possible strokes on Syria. 

US defence secretary Chuck Hagel has said his forces were ‘ready to go’ on the President's say-so and one Pentagon source admitted the bombardment could even begin tomorrow. 

Britain has a RAF base in Cyprus, less than 100 miles from Syria, while the Royal Navy has several warships and a submarine with missiles on board already in the Mediterranean..

Four American destroyers are currently deployed in the eastern Mediterranean and equipped with long-range Tomahawk missiles that could strike Syria.

Both countries are set to publish intelligence reports later today, based on intercepted communications and surveillance, which will set out why they are sure the chemical attack in Damascus was carried out by al-Assad's forces and not rebels.

Mr Hague from the UK said  "This is the first use of chemical warfare in the 21st Century, it has to be unacceptable," he said. "We have to confront something that is a war crime."

When asked by reporters about comparisons with Iraq, he said the situation was "entirely different" as a "crime against humanity HAD been committed" in Syria.

In other developments:

UN weapons inspectors have returned to the site of the suspected attack after a day's delay over security concerns

UN special envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi said it seemed clear some type of chemical substance was used "that killed a lot of people"

It is understood the most likely military response would be a one-off or limited guided missile strikes on Syrian military targets fired from US Navy warships.

BBC defence correspondent Caroline Wyatt said it was understood military targets had already been chosen and they would probably focus on command centres believed to be involved in the use of chemical weapons.

She said cruise missiles could be launched from US ships in the Gulf or the Mediterranean, or Royal Navy vessels including submarine HMS Tireless.

Sources mail online & BBC News

IDF intercepted Syrian regime chatter on chemical attack as Israel US &UK prepare their forces for the coming conflict

Real-time Israeli intelligence confirmed Assad behind horrific assault last week it has been reported. 

An IDF intelligence unit listened in on senior Syrian officials discussing a chemical attack that allegedly took place on the outskirts of Damascus and left hundreds of Syrian civilians dead last Wednesday, a major western publication reported.

According to the report Saturday in Focus magazine, a squad specializing in wire-tapping within the IDF’s prestigious 8200 intelligence unit intercepted a conversation between high-ranking regime officials regarding the use of chemical agents at the time of the attack.

 

The report said the intercepted conversation proved that Bashar Assad’s regime was responsible for the use of nonconventional weapons.

Meanwhile British Prime minister David Cameron has cut short his Cornwall holiday to chair a Syria crisis meeting as Britain and the U.S. prepare to launch missile strikes.

Rebel groups claimed that in Wednesday’s attack as many as 1,300 people were killed in the eastern suburbs of Damascus. The reports were accompanied by a string of grisly photos and videos depicting scores of dead civilians, including children.

 

An Israeli TV report on Saturday claimed that the missiles were fired by the 155th Brigade of the 4th Armored Division of the Syrian Army, a division under the command of the Syrian president’s brother, Maher Assad.

The nerve gas shells were fired from a military base in a mountain range to the west of Damascus, the Channel 2 report said.

 

The embattled regime has concentrated its vast stocks of chemical weaponry in just two or three locations, the TV report continued, under the control of Syrian Air Force Intelligence, itself reporting to the president.

 

The TV report further added that “the assessment in Israel” is that the attack was intended to serve as the possible start of a wider operation.

 

On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the situation in Syria couldn’t be allowed to continue.

 

Netanyahu said that Israel “will always know how to protect [its] citizens” should Syrian weapons be turned on the Jewish state and the IDF is preparing itself daily to meet the threat.

 

“Our hand is always on the pulse,” he said. “Our finger is a responsible one and if needed, is on the trigger. We will always know how to protect our citizens and our country against those who come to injure us or try to attack us.”

Speaking ahead of the weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said that reports of the mass chemical weapons attack outside Damascus point to “a terrible tragedy and a terrible crime.”

 

“Our hearts go out to the women, children, babies and civilians injured so cruelly by the use of weapons of mass destruction,” the prime minister said.

 

In Syria  snipers have reportedly shot at UN weapon inspectors heading to the site where more than 300 people died in a suspected chemical weapons attacks last Wednesday.

The convoy was forced to turn back and one vehicle was no longer usable after being 'deliberately shot at multiple times'.

 

A UN spokesman said: 'The first vehicle of the Chemical Weapons Investigation Team was deliberately shot at multiple times by unidentified snipers in the buffer zone area.'

Israel, like the rest of the world, has refrained from responding to the Syrian crisis in any large-scale way, taking in only a small number of injured Syrians and reportedly carrying out covert air strikes at regime weapons sites. Yet officials have said action must be taken, with most expecting Washington to respond to the attack.

Sources - Times of Israel & Mail online 

Breaking: Rockets Fired From Southern Lebanon Over Israel’s North

Iron Drome

A short time ago, civilians in Israel’s northern region faced rocket fire from Southern Lebanon. Three or four rockets were fired over Israeli territory. One of the rockets was intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system between the northern Israeli cities of Acre and Nahariya. The remainder of the rockets of fell outside of Israeli territory.
 
 There were no immediate reports of casualties. The red alert siren sounded in the cities Nahariya, Acre, Kiryat Shmona and Karmiel, and residents reported hearing explosions.

Lebanese media reported that the IDF promptly retaliated, attacking targets in south Lebanon, but the army denied those reports.

An Israeli Iron Dome battery intercepted one of the rockets. Israeli TV aired footage of minor damage caused by a fragment from the rocket that fell on the outskirts of a town outside Nahariya. It was initially unclear where the other three rockets fell.

 

Damage caused by the blasts

Several residents were treated for shock.

Lebanese media reported that two volleys of rockets had been fired from a Palestinian refugee camp near the Lebanese town of Tyre. There was an attempt to fire a third volley, but the missiles fell short of the border. The IDF said four makeshift rocket launchers had been located east of Tyre.

 

IDF sources said they regarded the incident as a one-off attack by a jihadist group rather than the beginning of a wider campaign. The army also called on northern residents to remain close to bomb shelters, though they could otherwise go back to their normal routines.

 

A resident of Kibbutz Evron, near Nahariya, told Ynet that the alarm sounded after “two booms” were heard, and that the residents quickly moved into bomb shelters.

 

“I heard booms,” a resident of Nahariya told Channel 2. “Everyone is in the bomb shelters.”

He said that residents hadn’t heard alarms for seven years — since the 2006 Second Lebanon War.

 

“I was on the phone to my grandma” when the alarms rang out. “I put down the phone and went down to the shelter,” he said.

 

There were reports Wednesday in Lebanon that Israeli helicopters had circled in the south of the country.

 

There were several reports in the past year of attempts to fire rockets into Israel from southern Lebanon. In November, during Israel’s brief round of fighting with Hamas in Gaza, Lebanese army forces operating in the town of Marjaayoun, about 10 kilometers north of the border, found and disarmed several rockets aimed at Israel.

 

One of four rockets fired from Lebanon into northern Israel

Rockets are a key tactic of the Lebanese Hezbollah and other terror groups on Israel’s northern and southern borders.

 

Thousands of projectiles fell on Israel during the Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006, and Hezbollah has since stockpiled tens of thousands of rockets it has said will be launched at Israeli cities in future fighting.

 

Israel last week deployed a sixth Iron Dome battery north of Tel Aviv, with an eye to the missile threat from the north.

 

The anti-missile system is a keystone of Israel’s air defense array and successfully intercepted hundreds of short- and medium-range missiles shot at Israeli cities during the conflagration in Gaza in November.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ain Tarma where 1,300 innocent Syrians were gassed in their beds - but the anti-Israel 'human rights' activists are silent about this - no word from BDS on this!

Deliberate murder - and BDS has nothing to say on this

Bodies are still being discovered after an alleged chemical weapons attack on the outskirts of Damascus that killed hundreds of people and the death toll will rise, a Syrian opposition spokesman said today.

The opposition accused government forces of gassing hundreds of people on Wednesday by firing rockets that released deadly fumes over rebel-held Damascus suburbs, killing men, women and children as they slept.
'We expect the number (of dead) to grow because we just discovered a neighbourhood in Zamalka where there are houses full of dead people,' Syrian National Coalition spokesman Khaled Saleh said in Istanbul, where the opposition has held regular meetings throughout the conflict.

Decomposing bodies

Fahad Almasri, spokesman for the rebel Free Syria Army in Paris, said its branch in Damascus had documented 1,729 deaths following Wednesday's attack. He added that 6,000 people were also suffering from breathing problems.
As innocent civilians recuperated in hospital, President Bashar Assad's forces - who are accused of being behind the chemical attacks - are said to be pressing on with their offensive in the rebel-held eastern Damascus suburbs.
The opposition said Assad's forces fired rockets that released deadly fumes over rebel-held eastern Damascus suburbs, which are part of what is known as the Ghouta.
The area is an expanse of old farmland dotted with large built up areas inhabited mostly by members of Syria's Sunni Muslim majority that have been at the forefront of the uprising against Assad's Alawite rule.
The government has denied the 'absolutely baseless' allegations that it used chemical weapons in artillery barrages there yesterday.

The attack will again test President Obama's warning in 2012 to Syria that using chemical weapons would be crossing a 'red line' - but a White House representative refused to give a definitive answer about whether this attack would prompt action from America.

But even the most conservative tally would make it the deadliest alleged chemical attack in
Syria's civil war and the world's most lethal chemical weapons attack since the 1980s.
As governments discussed a potential plan of action, activists said Assad's forces were firing rockets from multiple launchers and heavy mortar rounds on the neighbourhoods of Jobar and Zamalka, which are on the eastern outskirts of the capital.


Mass graves have become a norma sight in
Islamic hell-holes

Rockets also hit the nearby district of Qaboun to the north, where rebel fighters have repelled attempts by loyalist forces to overrun the area, and the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp area to the south, the activists added.

Speaking from Ghouta, activist Khaled Amer said explosions from rockets hitting Zamalka were being heard.
In Jobar, a Damascus neighbourhood only two miles) from the historic centre of the ancient capital, explosions were heard at an army fortification and another compound housing tanks, apparently from a rebel attack on the facilities.
Fadi al-Shami of the Tarhrir al-Sham Brigade, which operates in the eastern Ghouta region, said scattered fighting was taking place along the Jobar-Zamalka axis and that opposition forces have moved closer to loyalist lines, partly to be in safer positions in case of another chemical attack.
But despite Syrian officials' denials about the attack, the U.S., Britain and France have demanded that a team of U.N. experts, who are already in the country to investigate previous alleged attacks, be granted immediate access to investigate the site.
The U.N security council did not explicitly demand a U.N. investigation of the incident, although it said 'clarity' was needed and welcomed U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon's calls for a prompt investigation by a U.N. inspection team.
The council's statement was watered down to accommodate objections from Russia and China, diplomats said. Moscow and Beijing have vetoed previous Western efforts to impose U.N. penalties on Assad.
It would appear that many rebels and activists in the opposition area say they had lost interest in U.N. investigations or help from Western powers abroad. Some say the rebels should take matters into their own hands and retaliate.
'The families of Ghouta have lost hope in any investigation committees, which have offered us no relief since the revolution began two years ago... We are 7 kilometres away, just a 5 minute car ride from were they are staying.
'We're being exterminated with poison gas while they drink their coffee and sit inside their hotels,' said activist Bara Abdelraman.
'As leaders of the activists and opposition, of course we still call for the entrance of investigators and vow to protect them, as it is a responsibility before God to do everything we can for our people who are being massacred.'
The government forces alleged continued bombardment of the ring of rebel-held suburbs around the capital, known as the Ghouta region will further hinder U.N. investigators from entering the area, only a few kilometres from where the team's Damascus hotel, activists claimed.
'We are asking for this team to go directly, with complete freedom... to the site of the crimes which took place yesterday,' George Sabra, a prominent member of the umbrella opposition's National Coalition.
He said the U.N. Security Council should amend the mission of the team, tasked with investigating a few sites of previous alleged chemical attacks, to give it the right to visit any site.
'But we are doubtful because the mission of these experts is constrained by the Syrian regime, limited to a few areas which it will take them to,' he said.
Syrian National Coalition spokesman Khaled Saleh warned there would be limited time to inspect the scene: 'There is a time limit for when the inspectors can prove with high probability that chemical weapons were used. We are saying let the inspectors go in either today, or tomorrow at the most.
'Politics is knocking on closed doors and we understand that the U.N. is one of those closed doors for us," he said. "We will continue pursuing a political solution but at the same time that does not stop us from pursuing other alternatives.'

France said today that the international community would need to respond with force if allegations that the Syrian government was responsible for a chemical attack on civilians proved true.

'There would have to be reaction with force in Syria from the international community, but there is no question of sending troops on the ground,' Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told French television network BFM.

If the U.N. Security Council could not make a decision, one would have to be taken 'in other ways,' he said, without elaborating.

The attack highlighted the sense of impunity within Assad's government, he said.
Fabius said that if Assad refused to let the U.N. inspection team investigate the site, he would have been caught with 'his hand in the till.'

Fabius, who had a working dinner with Foreign Secretary William Hague in Paris last night to discuss Syria, said the alleged attack had come almost exactly a year after U.S. President Barack Obama warned that the use of chemical weapons in Syria would be a red line.

It remains unclear whether this latest attack will bring about action from the U.S., as yesterday Principal Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest avoided a definitive answer about America's next move in a briefing with journalists.

When reporters pressed Earnest on whether President Obama is 'willing to use the stick along with the rhetoric' on Syria, he quipped that it was 'a philosophical question which I think is a legitimate one.
'It might be better answered by the Commander-in-Chief himself.'
Earnest insisted that a UN inspection team, which has been on the ground in Syria since Tuesday, should be allowed to investigate the sites of alleged chemical weapons use before the U.S. or any other country mounts an organized response.
'We think it's important for that investigative team to be given access to that area,' he said.
He would not comment, however, on whether or not a 'red line' would be crossed if the Assad government interferes with that investigation or refuses to grant the UN team access to critical sites, including those shown in videos that circulated online Wednesday.

 

 

 

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