Syria Says It Fired On Israeli Aircraft

Claims Israel Violated Airspace, "Dropped Ammunition;" Unclear If It Was A Jet Or Drone

(CBS/AP)  Syrian air defenses opened fire on Israeli aircraft that violated Syrian airspace overnight Thursday, a Syrian military spokesman said.

The Israelis broke the sound barrier and "dropped ammunition" over deserted areas of northern Syria overnight, the spokesman was quoted by the official Syrian Arab News Agency.

"We warn the Israeli enemy government against this flagrant aggressive act, and retain the right to respond in an appropriate way," the Syrian spokesman said.

It was not clear if Syria was accusing the Israelis of using warplanes or some type of other aircraft like drones.

"The Israeli enemy aircraft infiltrated into the Arab Syrian territory through the northern border, coming from the Mediterranean heading toward the eastern region, breaking the sound barrier," the spokesman said. "Air defense units confronted them and forced them to leave after they dropped some ammunition in deserted areas without causing any human or material damage."

Israel's army said it had no knowledge of the incident, reported CBS News correspondent Robert Berger.

"Tensions have been running high on the northern border for the past few months, with wide speculation in the Israeli media that war could break out this summer," reported Berger. "Israel has conducted a series of war games on the Golan Heights in the past few months. But a week ago or so, Israel's defense minister said the threat of war with Syria had diminished."

Israel acknowledges flying over Lebanon routinely, but it is unclear how often its aircraft fly over Syria.

---

Watch Katie Couric's interview with Syrian President Bashar Assad on the CBS Evening News 6:30 PM EDT.

---

Syria Defiant On Security
Syrian President Bashar Assad tells Couric tightening his country's border security won't help stem the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq.

---

At the beginning of last summer's war against Lebanon, Israeli warplanes buzzed the palace of Syrian President Bashar Assad in what analysts called a warning to Damascus. In June of the same year, they also flew over Assad's summer home in the coastal city of Latakia, after Syrian-backed Palestinian militants in Gaza captured a young Israeli soldier.

Meanwhile, Israel allowed hundreds of Arab Druse clergymen from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights to cross military lines into Syria on Thursday for an annual pilgrimage to a holy shrine.

As the bearded clerics in black robes and white turbans walked some 330 yards through the buffer zone between Israeli and Syrian checkpoints at the town of Quneitra, about 30 miles south of Damascus, relatives welcomed them on the Syrian side.

Six of the 528 clerics were elderly or handicapped and had to be driven to the Syrian side in U.N. buses.

An official at the International Red Cross who supervised the transfer at Quneitra, said that Israeli authorities allowed the pilgrims to stay in Syria for four days. In past years, they were permitted in for two weeks. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.

Sheik Abdullah Amashah, 65, from the Golan village of Bakata, said he was happy to come and hoped the "peace process would resume" so that families on the two sides of the border "can reunite and live together."

Medhat Saleh, a Syrian government official in charge of Golan issues, said that about 700 Druse clergymen had applied for permission to visit Syria, but that Israel allowed only 528 of them to come. He said the other applicants were turned down for "security reasons or some tax-relating reasons."

Also Thursday, Democratic presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich (left, in Lebanon), on a Mideast visit that included a stop in Syria, said the country lambasted by the Bush administration deserves credit for taking in more than a million Iraqi refugees. The Ohio congressman met with Syrian President Bashar Assad during his visit to Damascus. "What most people are not aware of is that Syria has taken in more than 1.5 million Iraqi refugees," Kucinich said. "The Syrian government has actually shown a lot of compassion in keeping its doors open, and being a host for so many refugees."

[tbweb]

Is it me, or does anyone else find irony is defending terrorist organizations that strive to take over entire countries?

Yes, they are still terrorist organizations, YES, its our duty to oppose them no matter how much they lied to get elected.

WTFU people.
Posted by pwrslm at 11:00 PM : Sep 06, 2007,,,

Many Israeli''s were considered terrorists back in the old days with warriors like Moshe Dyan and a few others. In most cases people don''t just decide to become terrorists for no reason at all, something drives them to it. The root problems need to be addressed and resolved, stop focusing on the symptoms.

[tbweb]

Posted by tbweb

Your logic is like a thesis from a middle school english class about the most complex relationships in the world. Very naive....no insult intended.

Posted by pwrslm at 10:57 PM : Sep 06, 2007,,,

I support Israel, it was intended to be soft but to make a simple point at the same time. My knife cuts both ways, there is a nasty version too! Now you''re being naive.

[pwrslm]

Israel is kicking dirt in their neighbors eyes again
Posted by Spectrum108

Sure. Rhetoric to stir up the local populations against Israel is always Israels fault.

To bad they made it all up, eh?

[pwrslm]

Is it me, or does anyone else find irony is defending terrorist organizations that strive to take over entire countries?

Yes, they are still terrorist organizations, YES, its our duty to oppose them no matter how much they lied to get elected.

WTFU people.

[pwrslm]

Posted by tbweb

Your logic is like a thesis from a middle school english class about the most complex relationships in the world. Very naive....no insult intended.

[tbweb]

The United States is Israel''s main ally and Israel can always count on America. If Israel needs money, the U.S. gives Israel billions of dollars in aid and loans annually. If Israel gets into trouble at the U.N. the U.S. protects Israel by using its Veto power. While Israel is an independent nation and free to pick and choose and go it''s own way, U.S. aid and support is not entirely free, there are strings attached, lets be realistic! The strings I refer to are with U.S. foreign policy agendas. Because of Israel''s close ties to the U.S., Israel should have a foreign policy agenda that matches the U.S. as close as possible when it comes to potential adversaries the U.S. might encounter on the battlefield. The U.S. does not currently sell military items to China but the U.S. Defense Department reports Israel has over 60 active military contracts with China! Short of claiming this is stabbing the U.S. in the back which I personally think it is, Israel needs to get real! While supporting Israel in spirit, the U.S. should not support Israel in the real World with U.S. money and military sales until Israel gets on the same page and stops selling military items to China. If Israel wants complete independence then stop accepting massive U.S. aid. What is Israel''s thinking? I don''t get it with military sales to China when the U.S. doesn''t.

[candojj1]

vote Paris Hilton. F em all. dumbells. Truth is good and and good is truth. Since none of this is ever going to happen from politicians, as the voice of the people means nothing, then we might as well have a babe in fancy underwear on the news saying "thats hot"

[killtheliars]

jowand,

I guess you have proof of this? When I say proof I mean evidence not the word of an Israeli politician?
Also wasn''t Hizbolah elected as part of the government of Lebanon? Or are you one of those who believe people can have elections but the winners can only take power if Israel and the Bush administration approve of them? If you are then you are not actually for democracy. Democracy means the people in a country elect the leaders they wish to follow.

[jowand]

Israel has no right to be a player in the oil game, there is no oil under what they call their land so they have no right to profit from what is under someone elses country.
Posted by killtheliars at 02:39 PM : Sep 06, 2007

What did you say when you found out Syria is allowing Iran to ship thousands of rockets, through Sysria, to Hizbolah a terrorist organization. Your web handle says it all.

[killtheliars]

Why would anyone not condem Israel for fying in another country''s air space? Wether you support Israel or not if Syria is not sending mortars or rockets into Israel why should Israel be allowed to violate their space? It seems like alot of people feel that Israel has a right to dictate to other countries. They don''t, there is no basis for that belief, and anyone who actually believes that God favors Israel over other countries is not really sane.
What really bothers me is if Israel is voilating their airspace unprovoked then Syria has a right to fire on their jets. If they get lucky and hit one it will start another war in which Israel will try to involve the U.S. and we odviously have our hands full already.
Israel has a right to defend herself against unwarrented aggression, but they do not have a right to invade or bully other coutries into giving them concessions like access to water that does not run through their country or to land to build pipelines. Israel has no right to be a player in the oil game, there is no oil under what they call their land so they have no right to profit from what is under someone elses country.

[ice49s]

Thank you for going and telling the whole picture of what''s happening in Iraq.
The good, the bad and all in the middle things that are happening.

[lars008-2009]

Posted by Sevenveils at 01:29 PM : Sep 06, 2007

what do you call an ideology that:

kills you if you don''t join it...

http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=82201&ln=eng&txt=islam%20law%20kill%20kaafir

kills you if you leave it...

http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=696&ln=eng&txt=kaafir%20kill

kills you if you don''t do what they tell you to do..

http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=6035&ln=eng&txt=kaafir%20kill

kills you if you speak against it%u2026.

http://islamqa.com/index.php?QR=22809&ln=eng

kills anybody that is not a member of it...

http://www.hauns.com/~DCQu4E5g/koran5.html

still practices slavery

http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=12562&ln=eng&txt=slavery

still practices pagan rituals...

http://answering-islam.org/Silas/pagansources.htm

allows the r a p e of babies and animals...

http://www.homa.org/default.asp?TOCID=2083225445

a. satanic cult???
b. fascist nazi terrorislam???
c. all the above???

Our Prophet commanded us to fight the kaafirs when we are able and to attack them in their homelands and to give them three choices before we enter their lands: either they become Muslim and be like us, sharing our rights and duties; or they pay the jizyah (poll tax) and feel themselves subdued; or they fight, in which case their wealth, women, children and homes become permissible as booty for the Muslims.
http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=13759&ln=eng&txt=before%20islam%20arabia%20pagan

[michaelh2001]

It would be silly to think that things are as bad as they are going to get in the Middle East. Things will get much worse... When you have significant territorial disputes mixed with mythological fervor, how can there be peace?

[sevenveils]

Hey V_1618!
Maybe the rest of the world doesn''t want to be controlled by clerics and a man made religion.

Try following the bible you were born with, sometimes referred to as common sense instead of forth hand interpretations of a crazy man.

[sevenveils]

Syria is much the puppet of Iran.
Syria doesn''t sneeze without Iran''s permission.

[cmp271]

There are other things at play here. Syria and Israel need to just chill out. The problem is we have so many in Iraq, we need to get them out of there before they are squeezed.

What is it with the mid-east they have to always squabble like children. Can''t they get along with each other, after all everyone is related in one way or another.

[lars008-2009]

it is fascist nazi terrorislam stupid%u2026.

non muslims of the world unite... fight against the tyranny of the fascist nazi terrorslam imperialist empire of the darkside...

I was a fanatic...I know their thinking, says former radical Islamist
By blaming the Government for our actions, those who pushed this "Blair''s bombs" line did our propaganda work for us.
More important, they also helped to draw away any critical examination from the real engine of our violence: Islamic theology.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=465570&in_page_id=1770
Bless the Beasts and Children
Fascist nazi terrorslam kills every man woman and child in the village again%u2026 typical mo for terrorslam%u2026
http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wp/bless-the-beasts-and-children.htm

Our Prophet commanded us to fight the kaafirs when we are able and to attack them in their homelands and to give them three choices before we enter their lands: either they become Muslim and be like us, sharing our rights and duties; or they pay the jizyah (poll tax) and feel themselves subdued; or they fight, in which case their wealth, women, children and homes become permissible as booty for the Muslims.
http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=13759&ln=eng&txt=before%20islam%20arabia%20pagan

the truth about fascist nazi terrorislam...
http://www.terrorismawareness.org/what-really-happened/

[processor2]

Typicla American liberals


They''ll question any news source from the
Western press, but some ranting from a Syrian/Islamic blogosphere,
and liberals will accept it as "truth"
with their legs spread wide-open

...

[processor2]

Typicla American liberals


They''ll question any news source from the
Western press, but some ranting from a Syrian/Islamic blogosphere,
and liberals will accept it as "truth"
with their legs spread wide-open

...

[v_1618]

I THINK THE WORLD HAS THE RIGHT TO TASTE THE SHARIA LAW.. MAYBE IS A GOOD AND BETTER WAY OF LIFE WITH MORE HAPPINESS AROUND THE WORLD ...