KING JESUS IS COMING FOR US ANY TIME NOW. THE RAPTURE. BE PREPARED TO GO.
MY HEALTH IS REALLY GOING DOWN HILL.I NEED PRAYER PLEASE CHRISTIANS.I WILL STILL TRY TO PUT STORIES ON.BUT I DON"T KNOW ANYONE WHO WILL TAKE OVER MY SITE AND PUT STORIES ON FOR ME.SO WITH GODS HELP I CAN STILL PUT A STORY OR 2 ON A DAY.
By Maayana Miskin-First Publish: 5/10/2013, 2:11 PM-Israelnationalnews
Anat Hoffman, a Reform Jew who is head of the controversial Women of
the Wall group, spoke to the media Friday after members of her group held public prayers at the Kotel (Western Wall).“We are continuing in the path of the paratroopers who liberated the Kotel,” Hoffman told Haaretz,
referring to the soldiers who fought in the Old City of Jerusalem
during the Six Day War. The Kotel trraditional prayer rules were enacted
by Israel's government immediately after it was liberated.Hoffman dared Israeli politicians to officially bar her group’s
practices at the holy site. “I’d like to see Minister of Religious
Affairs Naftali Bennett, and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, making a law
that forbids women from reading the Torah here, or banning it for six months,” she said. “There would be an earthquake in the Jewish world.”Women of the Wall were ordered to pray at Robinson's Arch by a
Supreme Court ruling. However, a new court ruling, which is being
appealed, allows the group to hold its prayers at the women's section of
the Kotel until the prayer section there is expanded. Robinson's Arch is a beautiful part of the Kotel which is in demand for private bar and bat mitzvahs.Thousands of orthodox Jewish young women and girls gathered at the Kotel on Friday morning before and during the Women of the Wall's appearance, in a display
of support for traditional Jewish practice at the holy site and because
it was Rosh Chodesh Sivan. They filled the entire women's section as
they often do and the Women of the Wall, numbering less than 30, were
barely noticeable in the crowd.Arutz Sheva's Rochel Sylvetsky, who was at the Kotel,
observed that "since majority rules in democracies, the WoW's paltry
showing proves that they have no right to demand the changes opposed by
so many, but since Israel is an enlightened democracy, the courts did
gve the minority group the right to a place to pray - which they refused
because they seem to relish the attention." She praised the quiet
prayers of the thousands of young women and expressed regret that some
of the men acted threateningly towards the Women of the Wall supporters.
"It would have been much better to prove their point quietly, through
the masses of traditional women who showed who the real women of the
wall are," she said.Groups of young men who crowded the men's section insulted the Women
of the Wall members, shouted and ran towards them when they were
leaving. There were reports of at least one person throwing water at the
group. Police were on hand to ensure that the prayer rally went
smoothly, and arrested three people for disturbing the gathering.Members of Knesset had mixed opinions regarding the rally. MK Ruth
Kalderon of Yesh Atid expressed her support, saying, “I am with my
sisters at the Western Wall.”MK Yoni Chetboun of Bayit Yehudi criticized the Women of the Wall
group. “They are a group of provocateurs, representing those who wish to
stir up conflict and hate within Israeli society regarding subjects
about which there is general consensus, such as the Kotel,” he accused.MK Elazar Stern of Hatnua said he believes group prayer sessions
should be allowed in the women’s section of the Kotel, and that women
should be allowed to wear traditionally male prayer garments such as
tallit and tefillin there. However, he said, “I am against marching to
the Kotel in tallit and tefillin. In that case, the religion involved is
not Judaism, rather, provocation becomes the religion.”Miri Regev of the Likud, however, was at the Kotel to see the
situation firsthand and condemned the Women of the Wall for not going to
Robinson's Arch once she saw the thousands of traditional Orthodox
worshipers, although she had originally thought to support the fringe
group.
By Rachel Hirshfeld-First Publish: 5/10/2013, 11:38 AM-Israelnationalnews
As hundreds gathered at the scenic Emek Tzurim National Park in
Jerusalem to celebrate the accomplishments of a number of hand-picked
individuals who have succeeded in enacting a uniquely Zionist agenda
within Israeli society, one of the buses taking participants to the site
was caught unaware by violent Arab protesters.In the middle of the At-Tur neighborhood of Jerusalem, Arab
instigators threw rocks at the passenger bus en route to the ceremony of
the Moskowitz Prize for Zionism. The incident passed without any
serious damage or injuries.“Forty-six years after the liberation of Jerusalem from Jordanian
occupiers, Jerusalem is not yet under full Israeli sovereignty,”
asserted project manager at the Institute for Zionist Strategies, Adi Arbel, who was on the scene at the time of the riots.Established by Dr. Irving and Cherna Moskowitz, the Moskowitz Prize
was established “as an expression of support for people who put Zionism
into action in today’s Israeli society, acting for the benefit of the
common good in order to ensure the strength and resilience of the
national Jewish homeland,” according to its website.Recipients of the 2013 “Spirit of Zion” category of the Moskowitz
Prize included Amotz Eyal, founder of the Tazpit news agency, which,
since its founding in 2010, remains dedicated to monitoring and
reporting events in Israel and disseminating accurate, current and
unbiased information to the press, notably in Judea and Samaria (Yehuda
and Shomron), where such information is all too often overlooked,
tainted or ignored.Also awarded the “Spirit of Zion” prize was Michal Barkai, founder of
the pre-military academy unit to foster female leadership in the Israel
Defense Forces—an initiative that was previously lacking in Israeli
society.Both recipients epitomize the essence of the prize, which, according
to its website, “is an award for new initiatives, young Israelis with
vision who recognize the need to stand up and be counted. These are
people who dream, our next generation of dedicated, creative citizens
who have what it takes to make a difference for the Zionist dream to
continue as a vibrant reality today.”Awarded in the “Lion of Zion” category included, Yigal Cohen-Orgad,
chancellor of Ariel University; Rabbi Moshe Levinger of Gush Emunim; and
Dr. Zvi Zameret, leader in Zionist education.“Lion of Zion” recipients include "Israeli men and women acting from a
feeling of personal responsibility, vision and national mission, each
in his field, and often while sacrificing their personal welfare and
even endangering their personal security,” notes the prize’s website.During the ceremony, Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon invigorated
the audience, vowing that the state of Israel will not institute a
construction freeze in Judea and Samaria.“There will be no building freeze,” Danon affirmed. “We have proven
in the past that stopping building does not result in peace and we will
continue to build.”Other notable personalities in attendance
included: Cherna Moskowitz, founder of the prize; Avigdor Kahalani,
former decorated Israeli soldier and politician; Yoaz Handel, Israeli
journalist and head of the Institute of Zionist Strategy, Shaul
Goldstein, former mayor of the Gush Etzion Regional Council; and Nitsana
Darshan-Leitner, head of the Shurat HaDin Israel Law Center.“It is due to people like the Moskowitz family and the individuals
who won the awards that there is no doubt in my mind that Zionism will
triumph… When Arabs in Jerusalem throw rocks, Jews use them and build,”
Arbel told Arutz Sheva, reflecting on the day’s events.
By David Milliken and Leika Kihara | Reuters – 19 mins ago MAY 10,13
"There are no taboo subjects as we are in an informal setting," International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde Lagarde said.
GROWTH DEBATE
UK finance minister George Osborne, host of the two-day meeting in a stately home set in rolling countryside 40 miles outside London, is keen for his peers to focus on what more central banks can do to help growth at a time when most governments are trying to cut spending and bloated debts."(This is) an opportunity to consider what more monetary activism can do to support the recovery, while ensuring medium-term inflation expectations remain anchored," he said.Osborne has tasked the next UK central bank governor, Mark Carney, with finding new ways to boost growth when he succeeds Mervyn King in July.Debate is also heating up about the need to ease up on austerity, something that Germany, Britain and Canada view as a mistake but Washington, Paris and Rome are in favor of."For a global recovery ... it cannot be led by the United States alone ... There are countries in Europe that have more fiscal space to create a bit more economic demand," Lew said.Rehn said there was room for a "smoother path of fiscal adjustment" in Europe as long as structural reforms intensified.Britain's finance ministry said the talks over Friday and Saturday at the 17th-century country house were also likely to focus on bank regulation, tax avoidance and free trade.
The emergency rescue of Cyprus in March acted as a reminder of the need to finish an overhaul of the banking sector, five years after the world financial crisis began.As at last month's IMF meeting, Germany may come under pressure to give more support to a banking union in the euro zone. The plan could help strengthen the single currency area, but Berlin worries it may pay too much for future bank bailouts."Banking union is an important project that should be based on two pillars: one, common supervision, and two a resolution mechanism. We shall discuss both," German central bank chief Jens Weidmann said.While the first step - to create a single bank supervisor under the ECB - looks set to be in place by mid-2014, a second pillar, a 'resolution' fund to close failed banks, is in doubt. And there is little prospect that a single deposit guarantee scheme, will ever see the light of day.Osborne will nonetheless push his fellow G7 ministers to set up mechanisms to shut down failing banks, which would otherwise be considered "too big to fail".Some of the officials said they did not know why Britain had called the meeting so soon after the IMF discussions in Washington. But Osborne said there was value in talks that were more informal than larger meetings of the world's major economies which form the Group of 20.No formal decisions are expected at the meeting, which will help prepare the way for a G20 leaders' summit in Russia in September.(Additional reporting by William Schomberg and Christina Fincher. Editing by Jeremy Gaunt/Mike Peacock)
By | Associated Press – Thu, May 9, 2013
MY HEALTH IS REALLY GOING DOWN HILL.I NEED PRAYER PLEASE CHRISTIANS.I WILL STILL TRY TO PUT STORIES ON.BUT I DON"T KNOW ANYONE WHO WILL TAKE OVER MY SITE AND PUT STORIES ON FOR ME.SO WITH GODS HELP I CAN STILL PUT A STORY OR 2 ON A DAY.
Women of the Wall: We’re 'Liberating' the Kotel
Head of ‘Women of the Wall’ group compares provocation-causing group to soldiers who fought for Jerusalem.
Anat Hoffman-Israel news photo: Flash 90
Arab Rock Attack Will Not Quash 'Spirit of Zionism'
En
route to celebration honoring individuals who "put Zionism into
action," Jewish participants come under Arab rock attack in Jerusalem.
Moskowitz Prize for Zionism-Arutz Sheva staff
Heading to G7, U.S. tells Japan to stick to currency rules
By David Milliken and Leika Kihara | Reuters – 19 mins ago MAY 10,13
By David Milliken and Leika Kihara
AYLESBURY, England (Reuters) - The United States told Japan
on Friday to stick to the rules when it came to the value of its
currency, setting the stage for a potentially frank meeting of Group of
Seven finance ministers outside London.Treasury Secretary Jack Lew
said Japan had "growth issues" that needed to be dealt with but that
its attempts to stimulate its economy needed to stay within the bounds
of international agreements to avoid competitive devaluations."I'm just going to refer back to the ground rules and
the fact that we've made clear that we'll keep an eye on that," Lew told
the CNBC news channel.The yen hit a four-year low against the dollar earlier
on Friday, beyond the psychologically important 100 yen mark. It also
trades at a three-year low against the euro.The moves were
driven in part by Japanese investors shifting into foreign bonds, a move
that has been expected since the Bank of Japan unveiled a massive stimulus plan.
Tokyo insisted its tumbling yen would not be a hot
topic at the meeting of finance chiefs, despite revived rhetoric about a
currency war."The Bank of Japan isn't targeting currency rates, which are determined by the markets," the bank's governor, Haruhiko Kuroda, said.Policymakers are concerned that Japan is engineering an
export-led recovery that could hinder other regions' ability to grow.But having urged Tokyo for years to do something to
revive its economy, other world powers are not in a strong position to
complain now that it is. Then there is the fact that central banks such
as the Federal Reserve and Bank of England have printed money in the way
the Bank of Japan is."It is important
that in line with the previous decisions at the G20 and IMF that there
is no talk about currency wars," EU economics chief Olli Rehn told reporters as he arrived at the summit. "There is discussion about how better to coordinate our economic policies."German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said foreign
exchange rates would be on the agenda and that Japan had promised to
take a cautious approach to the currency issue.Participants welcomed the return to an informal G7 with
no official communiqué. That could mean more robust debate than is
generally aired at meetings of the United States, Germany, Japan,
Britain, Italy, France and Canada, or at the broader G20 group."There are no taboo subjects as we are in an informal setting," International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde Lagarde said.
GROWTH DEBATE
UK finance minister George Osborne, host of the two-day meeting in a stately home set in rolling countryside 40 miles outside London, is keen for his peers to focus on what more central banks can do to help growth at a time when most governments are trying to cut spending and bloated debts."(This is) an opportunity to consider what more monetary activism can do to support the recovery, while ensuring medium-term inflation expectations remain anchored," he said.Osborne has tasked the next UK central bank governor, Mark Carney, with finding new ways to boost growth when he succeeds Mervyn King in July.Debate is also heating up about the need to ease up on austerity, something that Germany, Britain and Canada view as a mistake but Washington, Paris and Rome are in favor of."For a global recovery ... it cannot be led by the United States alone ... There are countries in Europe that have more fiscal space to create a bit more economic demand," Lew said.Rehn said there was room for a "smoother path of fiscal adjustment" in Europe as long as structural reforms intensified.Britain's finance ministry said the talks over Friday and Saturday at the 17th-century country house were also likely to focus on bank regulation, tax avoidance and free trade.
The emergency rescue of Cyprus in March acted as a reminder of the need to finish an overhaul of the banking sector, five years after the world financial crisis began.As at last month's IMF meeting, Germany may come under pressure to give more support to a banking union in the euro zone. The plan could help strengthen the single currency area, but Berlin worries it may pay too much for future bank bailouts."Banking union is an important project that should be based on two pillars: one, common supervision, and two a resolution mechanism. We shall discuss both," German central bank chief Jens Weidmann said.While the first step - to create a single bank supervisor under the ECB - looks set to be in place by mid-2014, a second pillar, a 'resolution' fund to close failed banks, is in doubt. And there is little prospect that a single deposit guarantee scheme, will ever see the light of day.Osborne will nonetheless push his fellow G7 ministers to set up mechanisms to shut down failing banks, which would otherwise be considered "too big to fail".Some of the officials said they did not know why Britain had called the meeting so soon after the IMF discussions in Washington. But Osborne said there was value in talks that were more informal than larger meetings of the world's major economies which form the Group of 20.No formal decisions are expected at the meeting, which will help prepare the way for a G20 leaders' summit in Russia in September.(Additional reporting by William Schomberg and Christina Fincher. Editing by Jeremy Gaunt/Mike Peacock)
Islamic cleric in Gaza rejects Israel's existence
By | Associated Press – Thu, May 9, 2013
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — A prominent Islamic scholar making a landmark visit to the Gaza Strip declared Thursday that Israel has no right to exist and voiced his support for rocket fire on Israel, giving a boost of legitimacy to the militant Islamist Hamas rulers of the Palestinian territory.Yusuf al-Qaradawi
is the latest of a few high profile figures visit Gaza, boosting the
Hamas effort to break its international isolation. The U.S., EU and
Israel brand Hamas a terror group, while the rival Fatah, which rules in the West Bank, enjoys Western backing.Al-Qaradawi issued the strongest anti-Israel declarations of any of the visitors to date."This land has never once been a Jewish land. Palestine is for the
Arab Islamic nation," said al-Qaradawi, a Qatar-based cleric made famous
by his popular TV show and widely respected in the Muslim world."The rockets made in Gaza are more powerful than the (Israeli) occupation's rockets," he added.Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007 following several days of
fighting against the rival Palestinian faction Fatah. Since then, Hamas
militants have launched thousands of rockets into Israeli towns. Israel
carried out two punishing military offensives, one in the winter of
2008-2009 and another late last year which killed the chief of the Hamas
military wing.Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005, but imposes a maritime blockade
and controls the flow of goods coming from Israel into the territory.
Gaza's Hamas rulers and their backers still refer to Israel as "the
occupation," referring to Israel's control of the West Bank and
reflecting a belief that the presence of a Jewish state in the Middle
East is an illegitimate occupation.The Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority,
which governs in the West Bank, condemned al-Qaradawi's visit, saying
his presence is cementing the rift between the two Palestinian factions.Fatah and Hamas have tried to reconcile their differences in recent
years but failed. Western leaders have demanded that a unified
Fatah-Hamas government must recognize Israel and agree to enter peace
negotiations. Hamas has refused.The emir of Gulf state of Qatar also visited last year, and Turkey's
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he'll visit by the end of the
month, despite a U.S. plea that he delay the trip in order not to harm
efforts to broker a reconciliation between Turkey and Israel.Al-Qaradawi arrived in Gaza late Wednesday to an enthusiastic welcome
by Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and his Cabinet ministers. They
hosted the cleric Thursday in a tent set up on the site of the prime
minister's office, which Israeli warplanes demolished in 2009.
By | Associated Press – 17 hrs ago MAY 10,13
Hezbollah: Syria to supply weapons to militia
By | Associated Press – 17 hrs ago MAY 10,13
BEIRUT (AP) — Syria will supply "game-changing" weapons to Hezbollah,
the chief of the Lebanese militant group said Thursday, less than a
week after Israeli airstrikes on Damascus targeted alleged shipments of
advanced Iranian missiles bound for Hezbollah.Israel has
signaled it will respond with airstrikes to any future weapons
shipments, meaning it could quickly get drawn into Syria's civil war if
the Hezbollah chief's declaration is more than an empty threat.Tension has been rising in the region since Israel struck targets inside Syria
on Friday and Sunday. Hezbollah and Israel fought several battles in
the past three decades, including a 34-day war in 2006 that left some
1,200 Lebanese and 160 Israelis dead.Israel has largely tried to stay out of Syria's 26-month-old
conflict. It never acknowledged the airstrikes, but Israeli officials
have signaled Israel's air force would strike against any shipments of
strategic missiles that might be bound for Hezbollah.
Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging threats over the past months.Israeli officials say the Lebanese militant group has tens of thousands of rockets, though most of them are unguided. The shipments targeted last week included precision-guided missiles, the officials said.Hezbollah chief Sheik Hassan Nasrallah has said in the past that his group has missiles that can strike anywhere in Israel, including as far south as the Red Sea resort of Eilat.Meanwhile, Hezbollah and Iran have become increasingly involved in Syria's civil war, supplying troops and military advisers to help Syrian President Bashar Assad fight armed rebels trying to oust him.Nasrallah spoke Thursday to mark the 25th anniversary of the founding of Hezbollah's radio station, Al-Nour, in a speech televised in Beirut. Nasrallah has rarely appeared in public since the 2006 war, for fear of being targeted by Israel.Nasrallah said Hezbollah could expect strategic weapons from Syria in the future.
"Syria will give the resistance special weapons it never had before," Nasrallah said. "We mean game-changing."Nasrallah said the weapons shipments were Syria's response to the Israeli airstrikes. "This is the Syrian strategic reaction," Nasrallah said. "This is more important than firing a rocket or carrying out an airstrike" against Israel.The military alliance between Syria and Hezbollah will continue, the Hezbollah chief said."We in the Lebanese resistance declare that we stand by the Syrian popular resistance and give our material and moral support, and cooperate and coordinate in order to liberate the Syrian Golan," he said.
Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed the strategic plateau.Asked to comment on Nasrallah's declaration, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said: "We don't respond to words. We respond to action."In a related development, Israeli security officials said Thursday they have asked Russia to cancel the imminent sale of an advanced air defense system to Syria.
The officials said Israel shared information with the United States in hopes of persuading Russia to halt the planned deal to provide S-300 anti-aircraft missiles. The Israeli officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.In Rome, Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday the transfer of advanced missile defense systems from Russia to Syria would be a "destabilizing" factor for Israel's security.Kerry said the U.S. has expressed concerns about what such defensive systems in Syria would mean for Israel's security, though he declined to address what the missiles might mean for Syria's civil war.Earlier Thursday, the Assad regime said it welcomed efforts by the United States and Russia to try to bring the sides to the negotiating table before the end of the month.Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said the government is willing to consider any proposals for a political solution of the conflict, while it retains the right to fight "terrorists," the regime's term for the opposition fighters and their supporters.
Al-Zoubi did not specifically mention the U.S.-Russian initiative in his brief remarks to reporters in Damascus, carried by the state-run SANA news agency.The main Western-backed opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition, said Wednesday it welcomes the U.S.-Russia effort to reach a political solution but that any transition must begin with the departure of Assad and officials in his regime.The U.S.-Russian initiative is identical to a plan, set out in Geneva last year, to bring the Damascus regime and opposition representatives together for talks on an interim government. Each side would be allowed to veto candidates it finds unacceptable.The Geneva proposal also called for an open-ended cease-fire and the formation of a transitional government to run the country until new elections can be held.Even modest international efforts to halt the fighting have failed as neither side in the Syrian civil war has embraced dialogue, underlining their resolve to prevail on the battlefield.In Cairo, the U.S. ambassador to Egypt, Anne Patterson, briefed Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby on the U.S.-Russian efforts, according to a diplomat at the Arab League. Patterson called for Arab support for the plan, including pressing the Syrian opposition to back it, said the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss details of a private meeting.Separately, Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammed Amr Kamel welcomed an international Syria conference and said Egypt is willing to help make it work.At the United Nations, an Arab-backed resolution calling for a political transition in Syria and strongly condemning Assad's regime's escalating use of heavy weapons and "gross violations" of human rights was circulated Thursday to the 193-member U.N. General Assembly.The Arab group decided to seek approval of a wide-ranging resolution on Syria in the assembly, where there are no vetoes, to reflect international dismay at the growing death toll, which has surpassed 70,000, and the failure to end the more than 2-year-old conflict.A General Assembly resolution would also counter the paralysis of the deeply divided U.N. Security Council, where Syrian allies Russia and China have vetoed three Western-backed resolutions aimed at pressuring Assad to end the violence. Unlike Security Council resolutions, which are legally binding, General Assembly resolutions cannot be enforced. But if they are approved, especially by a large majority, they do reflect world opinion and can carry moral weight.
In fighting Thursday, Assad's forces attacked rebel positions in Aleppo and Idlib in the north, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The group said warplanes hit rebels near the Mannagh military air base outside Aleppo.The rebels stormed the base near the border with Turkey and captured parts of it on Sunday but were later forced to retreat in the face of the regime's superior air power.In neighboring Idlib province, heavy clashes were under way Thursday outside several army bases near the government-controlled provincial capital, according to the Observatory, which relies on a network of informants inside Syria.In Damascus, the state-run SANA news agency said government troops regained control of one more village and some land near the border with Lebanon on Thursday. The agency claimed troops inflicted heavy losses on the rebels in Aleppo and Idlib.In Lebanon, a senior security official said several rockets landed Thursday on Lebanese territory, the latest incident of the Syria conflict spilling over the country's volatile borders. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with state regulations. There were no reports of casualties in the northwestern Lebanese town of Harmel.___Associated Press writers Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, Aron Heller in Jerusalem, Bradley Klapper in Rome and Sarah El Deeb in Cairo contributed to this report.
Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging threats over the past months.Israeli officials say the Lebanese militant group has tens of thousands of rockets, though most of them are unguided. The shipments targeted last week included precision-guided missiles, the officials said.Hezbollah chief Sheik Hassan Nasrallah has said in the past that his group has missiles that can strike anywhere in Israel, including as far south as the Red Sea resort of Eilat.Meanwhile, Hezbollah and Iran have become increasingly involved in Syria's civil war, supplying troops and military advisers to help Syrian President Bashar Assad fight armed rebels trying to oust him.Nasrallah spoke Thursday to mark the 25th anniversary of the founding of Hezbollah's radio station, Al-Nour, in a speech televised in Beirut. Nasrallah has rarely appeared in public since the 2006 war, for fear of being targeted by Israel.Nasrallah said Hezbollah could expect strategic weapons from Syria in the future.
"Syria will give the resistance special weapons it never had before," Nasrallah said. "We mean game-changing."Nasrallah said the weapons shipments were Syria's response to the Israeli airstrikes. "This is the Syrian strategic reaction," Nasrallah said. "This is more important than firing a rocket or carrying out an airstrike" against Israel.The military alliance between Syria and Hezbollah will continue, the Hezbollah chief said."We in the Lebanese resistance declare that we stand by the Syrian popular resistance and give our material and moral support, and cooperate and coordinate in order to liberate the Syrian Golan," he said.
Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed the strategic plateau.Asked to comment on Nasrallah's declaration, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said: "We don't respond to words. We respond to action."In a related development, Israeli security officials said Thursday they have asked Russia to cancel the imminent sale of an advanced air defense system to Syria.
The officials said Israel shared information with the United States in hopes of persuading Russia to halt the planned deal to provide S-300 anti-aircraft missiles. The Israeli officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.In Rome, Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday the transfer of advanced missile defense systems from Russia to Syria would be a "destabilizing" factor for Israel's security.Kerry said the U.S. has expressed concerns about what such defensive systems in Syria would mean for Israel's security, though he declined to address what the missiles might mean for Syria's civil war.Earlier Thursday, the Assad regime said it welcomed efforts by the United States and Russia to try to bring the sides to the negotiating table before the end of the month.Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said the government is willing to consider any proposals for a political solution of the conflict, while it retains the right to fight "terrorists," the regime's term for the opposition fighters and their supporters.
Al-Zoubi did not specifically mention the U.S.-Russian initiative in his brief remarks to reporters in Damascus, carried by the state-run SANA news agency.The main Western-backed opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition, said Wednesday it welcomes the U.S.-Russia effort to reach a political solution but that any transition must begin with the departure of Assad and officials in his regime.The U.S.-Russian initiative is identical to a plan, set out in Geneva last year, to bring the Damascus regime and opposition representatives together for talks on an interim government. Each side would be allowed to veto candidates it finds unacceptable.The Geneva proposal also called for an open-ended cease-fire and the formation of a transitional government to run the country until new elections can be held.Even modest international efforts to halt the fighting have failed as neither side in the Syrian civil war has embraced dialogue, underlining their resolve to prevail on the battlefield.In Cairo, the U.S. ambassador to Egypt, Anne Patterson, briefed Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby on the U.S.-Russian efforts, according to a diplomat at the Arab League. Patterson called for Arab support for the plan, including pressing the Syrian opposition to back it, said the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss details of a private meeting.Separately, Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammed Amr Kamel welcomed an international Syria conference and said Egypt is willing to help make it work.At the United Nations, an Arab-backed resolution calling for a political transition in Syria and strongly condemning Assad's regime's escalating use of heavy weapons and "gross violations" of human rights was circulated Thursday to the 193-member U.N. General Assembly.The Arab group decided to seek approval of a wide-ranging resolution on Syria in the assembly, where there are no vetoes, to reflect international dismay at the growing death toll, which has surpassed 70,000, and the failure to end the more than 2-year-old conflict.A General Assembly resolution would also counter the paralysis of the deeply divided U.N. Security Council, where Syrian allies Russia and China have vetoed three Western-backed resolutions aimed at pressuring Assad to end the violence. Unlike Security Council resolutions, which are legally binding, General Assembly resolutions cannot be enforced. But if they are approved, especially by a large majority, they do reflect world opinion and can carry moral weight.
In fighting Thursday, Assad's forces attacked rebel positions in Aleppo and Idlib in the north, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The group said warplanes hit rebels near the Mannagh military air base outside Aleppo.The rebels stormed the base near the border with Turkey and captured parts of it on Sunday but were later forced to retreat in the face of the regime's superior air power.In neighboring Idlib province, heavy clashes were under way Thursday outside several army bases near the government-controlled provincial capital, according to the Observatory, which relies on a network of informants inside Syria.In Damascus, the state-run SANA news agency said government troops regained control of one more village and some land near the border with Lebanon on Thursday. The agency claimed troops inflicted heavy losses on the rebels in Aleppo and Idlib.In Lebanon, a senior security official said several rockets landed Thursday on Lebanese territory, the latest incident of the Syria conflict spilling over the country's volatile borders. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with state regulations. There were no reports of casualties in the northwestern Lebanese town of Harmel.___Associated Press writers Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, Aron Heller in Jerusalem, Bradley Klapper in Rome and Sarah El Deeb in Cairo contributed to this report.
