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Israel's attack on Syria: The story unfolds.....

The attack by Israel on Syria back in September has basically been shrouded in mystery. That the Americans were involved in some way now appears to be beyond doubt. Interestingly, the fact that one country has bombed in another sovereign State appears to have drawn little or no criticism.

Asia Times on Line now reports on the alleged reasons for the attack - to flag a signal to Iran:

"Until late October, the accepted explanation about the September 6 Israeli air strike in Syria, constructed from a series of press leaks from US officials, was that it was prompted by dramatic satellite intelligence that Syria was building a nuclear facility with help from North Korea.

But new satellite evidence has discredited that narrative, suggesting a more plausible explanation for the strike: that it was a calculated effort by Israel and the United States to convince Iran that its nuclear facilities could be attacked as well.

The narrative promoted by neo-conservatives in the George W Bush administration began to unravel in late October with the release by a private company of a series of satellite images showing that the same square, multi-storey building that was hit by Israeli planes on September 6 had been present on the site four years earlier. Although the building appears to be somewhat more developed in the August 2007 image, it showed that the only major change at the site since September 2003 was what appears to be a pumping station on the Euphrates and a smaller secondary structure."

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