Assad "to delcare war" on Israel -- Explosion Rocks Damascus; Israeli Jet Shot Down

 

חברה הצלה ארץ ישראל‏@IsraelHatzolah

REPORTS OF SYRIAN ARMY ON ITS WAY TOWARDS BORDER OF ISRAEL STATE ALERT WAS DECLARED BY ISRAEL

BREAKING: Eye witnesses in capital city of #Syria say #Israeli military has dropped nuclear-type bomb. pic.twitter.com/pYofymNaMJ

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Following evidence of chemical warfare and an increasingly reticent US position, Israel has in recent days taken widely reported steps to neutralise threats emanating from within civil war-torn Syria.

While strikes from Lebanese airspace this weekend are not thought to have been on chemical weapons caches, the recent Israeli intelligence regarding the use of such weaponry is thought to have spurred on a round of strikes, including the latest just hours ago.

Syrian state television has reported that a major strike on an ammunition depot in Qassiyoun mountains shook Damascus, while Hezbollah's Al-Manar station claimed the explosion may have been a downed Israeli jet.

Rumours are surfacing online that following the latest volley of attacks on the Syrian regime, President Bashar al-Assad will soon officially declare war on Israel, with speculators pointing to 5am local time for official confirmation. This information continues to persist despite the technical state of war that currently exists between the two states.

Many however, have been quick to dismiss these reports as strictly rumour, with various commentators claiming that such a move would be sure to end Assad's reign of terror in Syria "within a week".

The news of an Israeli intervention in Syria has caught the Obama administration on the back foot, with the US president refusing to comment at length about the strike. Obama said, "The Israelis, justifiably, have to guard against the transfer of advanced weaponry to terrorist organizations like Hezbollah."

The US president made no mention of supposed "red lines" being crossed, despite evidence of Syria's used of chemical weapons against rebel forces. Critics have hit out at Barack Obama in recent days for failing to put forward any coherent strategy to bring the violence in Syria to an end.

The inaction, according to some, is another example of Obama's "lead from behind" strategy, the same tactic he employed during the intervention in Libya.

This has been an updated report on the original article below. 

Syrian state television has reported that a series of heavy explosions in the capital were caused by Israeli rocket strikes.

An Israeli warplane was shot down by Syrian air-defense unit during a raid near Damascus early Sunday, Hezbollah's Manar television station reported, citing security sources in the Syrian capital.

There was no independent confirmation of the claim.

State television said the blasts early Sunday morning targeted a military research centre on the outskirts of the capital. The research centre in Jamraya was the target of an earlier Israeli strike in January.

"The new Israeli attack is an attempt to raise the morale of the terrorist groups which have been reeling from strikes by our noble army," Syrian television said, referring to recent offensives by the forces of Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, against the armed opposition.

A Damascus resident described the blasts to Al Jazeera, saying they felt like "an earthquake" and "unprecedented".

There was no immediate comment from Israeli officials on Sunday's explosions.

"We don't respond to this kind of report," an Israeli military spokeswoman told the Reuters news agency.

The US State Department had no immediate comment and the Israeli Embassy in Washington declined comment.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based watchdog group, has also reported several explosions in the capital and its surrounding countryside.

The Syrian state media claims, reported by the Reuters news agency, come after Israel confirmed that its air force hit a shipment of missiles in Syria bound for Hezbollah.