The Syrian military has held war games that included the test--firing of missiles and air force and ground troop operations “similar to a real battle,” state-run media reported yesterday — a show of force as Damascus defies pressures over its deadly crackdown on regime opponents.
Syria is under both Arab and international pressure to end its crackdown on an eight-month uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime that the UN says has killed more than 4,000 people.
The maneuvers, which state TV said took place over the weekend, came as Syria said it was still negotiating with the Arab League over the bloc’s request to send observers into the country. Tightening sanctions by Arab and other nations have failed to halt the crackdown on anti-government protesters.
Photo: EPA/SANA
Syria’s military conducts war game every year, but these maneuvers were of a higher-level, combining missile tests, the air force and ground troops.
State TV said the exercise was meant to test “the capabilities and the readiness of missile systems to respond to any possible aggression.”
The drill showed Syrian missiles and troops were “ready to defend the nation and deter anyone who dares to endanger its security” and that the missiles hit their test targets with precision, state TV said.
Photo: AFP/SANA
In October, Assad warned the Middle East “will burn” if the West intervenes in Syria and threatened to turn the region into “tens of Afghanistans.”
Syria is known to have surface-to-surface missiles such as Scuds, capable of hitting deep inside its archenemy, Israel.
Although the US and the EU imposed waves of sanctions against Syria in the past months, Washington and its allies have shown little appetite for intervening in another Arab nation in turmoil as they did in Libya.
Meanwhile, Assad has a number of powerful allies that give him the means to push back against outside pressure.
A conflict in Syria risks -touching off a wider Middle East confrontation with Israel and Iran in the mix.
Syria would not have to look far for prime targets to strike, sharing a border with US-backed Israel and NATO-member Turkey. Assad’s regime is the closest Arab ally of Iran and also has ties to Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah movement and other radical groups, including the militant Palestinian Hamas.
In case of international intervention, Assad and his main Middle East backer, Iran, could launch retaliatory attacks on Israel or — more likely — unleash Hezbollah fighters or Palestinian militant allies to do the job.
Northern neighbor Turkey has imposed sanctions on Syria and opened its doors to anti-Assad activists and breakaway military rebels, which also could bring Syrian reprisals.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia