Shawn Thew/European Pressphoto Agency
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, left, with his British counterpart, Phillip Hammond, talked Thursday at the Pentagon about "the need for new options" if Syria uses chemical weapons.
The New York Times
Twice in four months Israel has sought to disrupt the pipeline of weapons to Hezbollah.
It was the second time in four months that Israel had carried out an attack in foreign territory intended to disrupt the pipeline of weapons from Iran to Hezbollah, and the raid was a vivid example of how regional adversaries are looking after their own interests as Syria becomes more chaotic.
Iran and Hezbollah have both backed President Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian civil war, now in its third year. But as fighting in Syria escalates, they also have a powerful stake in expediting the delivery of advanced weapons to Hezbollah in case Mr. Assad loses his grip on power.
Israel, for its part, has repeatedly cautioned that it will not allow Hezbollah to receive "game changing" weapons that could threaten the Israeli heartland after a post-Assad government took power.
And as Washington considers how to handle evidence of chemical weapons use by the Syrian government, a development it has described as a "red line," Israel is clearly showing that it will stand behind the red lines it sets.
"The Israelis are saying, 'O.K., whichever way the civil war is going, we are going to keep our red lines, which are different from Obama's,' " said Ehud Yaari, an Israel-based fellow of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/05/world/middleeast/israel-syria.html?_r=0
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