Israeli jets bombed Syria on Sunday, rocking Damascus for hours and sending pillars of flame into the night sky in what a Western source called a new strike on Iranian missiles bound for Lebanon's Hezbollah. Local people reported massive explosions and internet video showed the capital's skyline lit by flashes;Without a declaration of war Israel attacked a sovereign nation, including a Syrian military base. Israel instituted its "decline to confirm" strategy, which the world allowed it to use for decades on nuclear weapons. Obama toed the line for Israel as President, something he did twice before, as Senator and President elect.
Israel, while declining to confirm the strike, stressed its focus was to deny its Lebanese foes new Iranian firepower and not take sides between Assad, long seen as a toothless adversary, and rebels who have won sympathy from Israel's Western allies but who also include al-Qaida Islamists hostile to the Jewish state.
A confidant of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Israel hoped that by not confirming its attack, it would not force its enemies into serious retaliation.
After an Israeli strike on Friday, US President Barack Obama defended Israel's right to defend itself from Hezbollah, which fired many rockets into Israel during a war in 2006.
When does a state have the right to attack another state, multiple times, to get at a terrorist organization? Apparently for Israel and the U.S., any time and with impunity. There are no global structures left to reign in those intent on expanding their power through violence.
