Israel bombs pro-Assad Lebanon militants after rocket attack

JERUSALEM | (Reuters) - Israel's air force on Friday bombed a militant base in Lebanon used by allies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and radical Islamists in retaliation for a rare cross-border rocket salvo a day earlier, Israeli and Lebanese officials said.

There were no reported casualties in the Israeli raid near the Rashidiyi Palestinian refugee camp between Sidon and Beirut, or the rocket strike on Thursday in Israel's northern Galilee region.

Israel says world paying 'lip service' to alleged Syria gas attacks

By Jeffrey Heller

JERUSALEM |(Reuters) - Israel said on Thursday it believed Syrian forces had used chemical weapons in the killing of hundreds of people in the rebel-held suburbs of Damascus, and it accused the world of turning a blind eye to such attacks.

"The world condemns, the world investigates, the world pays lip service," Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz said on Israel Radio.
"Nothing tangible or significant has been done in the past two years to halt (President Bashar al-) Assad's incessant massacre of his citizens," he said.
Opposition activists have accused Assad's forces of gassing hundreds, including women and children, in Wednesday's attack, allegations which government officials deny.

Israeli minister says Syria used chemical weapons

JERUSALEM (AP) -- A senior Israeli official says chemical weapons were used in the attack in Syria that left at least 100 people dead in the eastern suburbs of Damascus.

Yuval Steinitz, the minister for intelligence and strategic affairs, says Israel's assessment is based on "intelligence estimates." He did not elaborate.

Steinitz told Israel Radio on Thursday that the attack the previous day was not the first time such agents were used.

Israel says Arab citizen joined Syrian rebels

JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israel's internal intelligence agency says it has detained a member of the country's Arab minority for allegedly joining an al-Qaida linked group in Syria.

The Shin Bet announced Wednesday that a 26-year-old resident of the Arab village of Taybeh was detained in July. It said the man was indoctrinated in radical Islam while studying pharmacology in Jordan. It said he later went to Syria where he joined Jabhat al-Nusra, an al-Qaida-linked rebel group fighting in Syria's civil war.

It said he spent a total of one week in Syria. It gave no details on his activities or how he was arrested.

It said he was indicted earlier this month in a civilian court on security charges that included contacting a foreign agent.

A shell fired from Syria hit near the Israel-Syria border in the northern Golan Heights.

A shell fired from Syria, where insurgents and government troops are locked in fierce fighting, exploded in the Israeli-occupied sector of the Golan Heights plateau on Sunday, a military spokeswoman told AFP.
"A shell fired from Syria hit an open area near the Israel-Syria border in the northern Golan Heights," the spokeswoman said. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
"Initial evidence suggests the shell was a result of errant fire from Syria. IDF (Israel defence forces) soldiers are currently searching the area," she said. "The UN forces operating in the area were notified of the incident." [AFP]