Israel trying to 'destabilize' Syria, al-Assad says Israel on Sunday implicitly confirmed it staged an air strike on Syria last week as President Bashar al-Assad accused the Jewish state of trying to further destabilize his war-torn country. The foreign minister of Damascus's ally Iran, meanwhile, said he welcomed Syrian opposition leader Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib's stated readiness to hold talks with representatives of the Assad regime. Four days after an air raid which Damascus said targeted a military complex near the capital, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak spoke to reporters in Munich but refrained from explicitly confirming that Israel staged the strike. Mr. Barak told the Munich Security Conference that it was "another proof that when we say something we mean it." "We say that we don't think that it should be allowable to bring advanced weapon systems into Lebanon, the Hezbollah from Syria, when Assad falls," Mr. Barak said. Wednesday's air strike targeted surface-to-air missiles and an adjacent military complex believed to house chemical agents, according to a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Damascus has threatened to retaliate, further fuelling fears of a regional spillover of the country's 22-month conflict which the UN says has already left more than 60,000 people dead. A fierce critic of both Mr. al-Assad and Israel, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel of waging "state terrorism" as he condemned the air strike on Syria as an unacceptable violation of international law. "We cannot regard a violation of air space as acceptable. What Israel does is completely against international law... it is beyond condemnation," Mr. Erdogan told reporters. In the wake of the strike, U.S. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta told AFP that Washington was increasingly concerned that Syria's "chaos" could allow Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah movement to obtain sophisticated weapons from Damascus. Israeli armed forces chief Lieutenant General Benny Gantz on Sunday started a visit to Washington with the Syrian conflict and Iran's controversial nuclear program on his agenda. And U.S. Vice President Joe Biden flew in to Paris for talks on Monday also covering Syria with President François Hollande. In Damascus, Mr. al-Assad accused Israel of seeking to "destabilize" Syria, state news agency SANA reported. The raid "unmasked the true role Israel is playing, in collaboration with foreign enemy forces and their agents on Syrian soil," he told Saeed Jalili, who heads Iran's Supreme National Security Council. Mr. al-Assad said Syria is capable of facing current challenges and can "confront any aggression" that would target the Syrian people. Amid the insecurity, Israeli security sources said the Jewish state plans to declare a buffer zone inside the Syrian border to prevent radical groups from approaching its territory. "There's a plan in the military's northern command for the 'day after' according to which, when Bashar Assad is no longer president of Syria, there's a fear that terror elements will try to approach the fence," one source told AFP.
War With Iran Immenent? - EU Oil Embargo on Iran AFTER Libyan Oil Pillaged - Read Description EU ambassadors have agreed upon an oil embargo against Iran, it must now be approved by EU foreign ministers. The sanctions would ban the buying of Iranian petroleum products, and would halt all imports to EU members by July 1, 2012. This follows new U.S. sanctions imposed at the beginning of January, 2012. Taken together, the U.S. and EU oil embargoes could halt 2.6 million barrels of oil, driving oil prices up and adding to the overall instability of the world economy. You'd think the Europeans would not want to do anything to stop Iranian oil, after all most of Iran's oil goes to Europe. But maybe that's why the EU (with help from the U.S.) took over Libya's oil in the fake revolution supported by NATO. Now they can go after Iran without too much worry about oil supply. Hours after the European Union imposes an oil embargo and sanctions on Iran's central bank, France, Britain and Germany say they are willing to negotiate with Iran if it is ready to talk seriously about its nuclear program. "We call on Iran's leadership immediately to suspend its sensitive nuclear activities and abide fully by its international obligations," the European countries say in a joint statement. "Until Iran comes to the table, we will be united behind strong measures to undermine the regime's ability to fund its nuclear program." In response, the offices of Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issues the following statement, according to NBC News: "We welcome today's decision by the European Union to ban imports of Iranian crude oil and petroleum products, freeze the assets of the Iranian central bank, and take additional action against Iran's energy, financial, and transport sectors." Iran says a European Union decision Monday to impose new sanctions over its nuclear program is "psychological warfare," Reuters reports. "... Imposing economic sanctions is illogical and unfair but will not stop our nation from obtaining its rights," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast is quoted as saying by state television, referring to Iran's nuclear energy ambitions. Updated at 11 a.m. ET: Russia's Foreign Ministry says the European Union was wrong to impose an oil embargo on Iran over its controversial nuclear program, The Associated Press reports. "It's apparent that in this case there is open pressure and diktat, aimed at 'punishing' Iran for uncooperative behavior. This is a deeply mistaken policy, as we have told our European partners more than once. Under pressure of this sort, Iran will not make any concessions or any corrections to its policies," the ministry says. Updated at 9:45 a.m. ET: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised a European Union decision to place sanctions on Iranian oil exports, Reuters reports. "I think this is a step in the right direction," Netanyahu said at a meeting of his Likud faction in parliament. "For now, it is impossible to know what the result of these sanctions will be. Heavy and swift pressure is needed on Iran and the sanctions must be evaluated according to their results." Netanyahu also said that despite world pressure so far "Iran is continuing undeterred to develop nuclear weapons," Reuters adds.
