JERUSALEM: Israel’s prime minister insisted Sunday that he will not allow “dangerous weapons” to reach Lebanon’s Hezbollah militants, following reports that Israel recently carried out an airstrike in northern Syria against a shipment of advanced missiles.

The airstrike in Latakia reportedly targeted Russian Yakhont anti-ship missiles, one of the types of advanced weapons that Israeli officials have previously said they would not allow to reach Syria. It would be the fourth known airstrike against Syria this year.

Asked about the reports on the CBS-TV show “Face the Nation,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to confirm or deny Israeli involvement in the latest airstrike.

“My policy is to prevent the transfer of dangerous weapons to Hezbollah … in Lebanon and other terror groups as well. And we stand by that policy,” he said.

Israel has been carefully watching the Syrian conflict since it erupted in March 2011. While it has been careful not to take sides in the civil war, Israel has repeatedly said it would take action to prevent what it calls “game changing” weapons, including chemical weapons and advanced guided missiles, from reaching Hezbollah or other hostile militant groups. Syria’s President Bashar Assad is a key backer of Hezbollah.

In January, Israeli aircraft destroyed what was believed to be a shipment of advanced Russian anti-aircraft missiles in Syria that were bound for Lebanon. In May, a pair of Israeli airstrikes near Damascus targeted advanced Iranian ground-to-ground missiles also thought to be headed for Hezbollah. Israel has never confirmed involvement in any of the airstrikes.

Following the May attack, Syrian President Bashar Assad vowed to retaliate if Israel struck his territory again. Assad has not commented on the latest alleged airstrike.

Hezbollah has also been quiet. The group’s Al-Manar TV station reported on its website on the day of the July 5 explosions that blasts were heard in the area.

It said the blasts were most likely caused by shells from rebel-held areas that crashed into an army base. It quoted a “military expert” as denying reports that the attack originated from the air or sea or that any “enemy” aircrafts were involved.

Yakhont missiles are powerful anti-ship weapons launched from the shore that are difficult to defend against.

They travel at twice the speed of sound close to the surface of the water, making it hard for radar to detect them. Israel sees them as threatening its military and commercial installations along the coast, including its offshore natural gas reserves.

Hezbollah used a less-advanced Iranian surface-to-sea missile to hit an Israeli warship during a monthlong 2006 war. That attack killed four Israeli sailors.

JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will seek alternate sleeping arrangements when traveling after receiving a sky-high bill for installing a customized bed on a recent flight to London, officials close to the Israeli leader said.

Netanyahu found himself facing a public uproar on Sunday after Channel 10 TV reported over the weekend that he had spent $127,000 in public funds on a special sleeping cabin for the five-hour flight to attend Margaret Thatcher’s funeral last month.
Netanyahu’s office initially defended the decision, saying the prime minister had a busy schedule ahead of the flight and needed to be fresh for important meetings in Britain.

But following public criticism, officials close to Netanyahu said late Saturday that he had been unaware of the cost, and once informed, he ordered the bed be canceled on all future flights. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

The Israeli prime minister’s office does not have its own plane, such as the U.S. presidential aircraft Air Force One. Instead, Israeli leaders must charter a plane when traveling abroad. Some commentators claim it would be cheaper in the long run to purchase and maintain a special plane reserved for official travel of the prime minister and other officials.

The uproar comes at a delicate time. Netanyahu’s government is in the process of drawing up a budget expected to include painful austerity measures and tax increases due to a widening deficit.On Saturday night, several thousand people took to the streets in Tel Aviv and other cities to protest the expected budget cuts. Netanyahu was meeting Sunday with top officials to discuss likely cutbacks in the defense budget.

Micky Rosenthal of the opposition Labor Party called for an inquiry into the prime minister’s “scandalous behavior” according to the Maariv daily on Sunday.

“We thought that nothing could surprise us anymore when it came to the Netanyahus’ personal behavior. Well, we thought wrong,” wrote Sima Kadmon, a political commentator in the Yediot Ahronot daily.
“It is unbelievable that not a single person in the prime minister’s inner circle saw how reprehensible this was. Not a single person showed a tiny bit of common sense. There was no one who anticipated just how angry people would be when they learned about this,” Kadmon said about the custom-made bed.
Earlier this year, Netanyahu stopped buying ice cream from his favorite Jerusalem parlor after an Israeli newspaper discovered his office was spending $2,700 a year for the treat.

BEIRUT: Israel rushed to beef up its rocket defenses on its northern border Sunday to shield against possible retaliation after carrying out two airstrikes in Syria over 48 hours — an unprecedented escalation of Israeli involvement in the Syrian civil war.

Syria and its patron Iran hinted at possible retribution, though the rhetoric in official statements appeared relatively muted.

Despite new concerns about a regional war, Israeli officials signaled they will keep trying to block what they see as an effort by Iran to send sophisticated weapons to Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia ahead of a possible collapse of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime.

Israel has repeatedly threatened to intervene in the Syrian civil war to stop the transfer of what it calls “game-changing” weapons to Hezbollah, a Syrian-backed group that battled Israel to a stalemate during a monthlong war in 2006.

Since carrying out a lone airstrike in January that reportedly destroyed a shipment of anti-aircraft missiles headed to Hezbollah, Israel had largely stayed on the sidelines. That changed over the weekend with a pair of airstrikes, including an attack near a sprawling military complex close to the Syrian capital of Damascus early Sunday that set off a series of powerful explosions.

The Israeli government and military refused to comment. But a senior Israeli official said both airstrikes targeted shipments of Fateh-110 missiles bound for Hezbollah. The Iranian-made guided missiles can fly deep into Israel and deliver powerful half-ton bombs with pinpoint accuracy. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was discussing a covert military operation.

Syria’s government called the attacks a “flagrant violation of international law” that has made the Middle East “more dangerous.” It also claimed the Israeli strikes proved the Jewish state’s links to rebel groups trying to overthrow Assad’s regime.

Syria’s information minister, Omran al-Zoubi, reading a Cabinet statement after an emergency government meeting, said Syria has the right and duty “to defend its people by all available means.”

Israeli defense officials believe Assad has little desire to open a new front with Israel when he is preoccupied with the survival of his regime. More than 70,000 people have been killed since the uprising against Assad erupted in March 2011, and Israeli officials believe it is only a matter of time before Assad is toppled.

Still, Israel seemed to be taking the Syrian threats seriously. Israel’s military deployed two batteries of its Iron Dome rocket defense system to the north of the country Sunday. It described the move as part of “ongoing situational assessments.”

Israel says the Iron Dome shot down hundreds of incoming short-range rockets during eight days of fighting against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip last November. Hezbollah fired some 4,000 rockets into Israel during the 2006 war, and Israel believes the group now possesses tens of thousands of rockets and missiles.

The Iron Dome deployment followed a surprise Israeli drill last week in which several thousand reservists simulated conflict in the north. In another possible sign of concern, Israel closed the airspace over northern Israel to civilian flights on Sunday and tightened security at embassies overseas, Israeli media reported. Israeli officials would not confirm either measure.

Reflecting fears of ordinary Israelis, the country’s postal service, which helps distribute government-issue gas masks, said demand jumped to four times the normal level Sunday.

Israel’s deputy defense minister, Danny Danon, would neither confirm nor deny the airstrikes. He said, however, that Israel “is guarding its interests and will continue to do so in the future.”

“Israel cannot allow weapons, dangerous weapons, to get into the hands of terror organizations,” he told Army Radio.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s president asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday to form the next government, and Netanyahu pledged that his new administration will be committed to advancing peace talks with the Palestinians.
Israeli President Shimon Peres formally requested Netanyahu to build a governing coalition, after conducting consultations with all 12 parties that won seats in last week’s election. A majority of newly elected lawmakers recommended Netanyahu as prime minister-designate.
Netanyahu now has six weeks to form a coalition government, with an extension of 14 days if needed. If he succeeds, he will begin his third term as Israeli premier.
At a televised news conference, Netanyahu said the government’s top priority should be to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon. He also said the government should “deal with another deadly weapon being stockpiled near us and threatening our cities and civilians,” a thinly veiled reference to weapons caches in Syria. An attack on a weapons convoy in Syria this week has been widely attributed to Israel, though Israel has not commented on the matter.
Netanyahu also said his next government would be “committed to peace.”
“I call on Abu Mazen (Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas) to come back to the negotiating table,” Netanyahu said. “It’s a shame, with every day that passes without us talking and trying to find a solution for peace for our two nations.”
Netanyahu also vowed to push for more universal military service that would put an end to longstanding draft exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students, lower housing prices and revamp the Israeli system of governance. Those were three high-priority issues for the new centrist party Yesh Atid, which emerged as the second largest party in the January elections after Netanyahu’s Likud party.
Party leader Yair Lapid, a former television anchorman, campaigned on middle-class issues like the high cost of living, and also criticized Netanyahu’s outgoing government for including too many ministers.
Netanyahu said he wants a broad governing coalition that will bring stability to the government and allow it to confront these challenges.
“At a time when there are so many forces trying to splinter Israel, we have to unite,” Netanyahu said.
It will be difficult for Netanyahu to form a wide coalition. Lapid’s new centrist party is expected to be Netanyahu’s main coalition partner, but to ensure a parliamentary majority, the two will need at least one more mid-sized partner.
The most likely candidates are two parties that stand staunchly against Lapid’s demands for compulsory military service for ultra-Orthodox Jews and advancing peace talks with the Palestinians.
The ultra-Orthodox Shas party is likely to resist any change to Israel’s draft law, and the pro-settlements Jewish Home party will likely resist attempts to restart talks with the current Palestinian leadership.
Lapid has said he will not sit in a government that does not restart moribund peace talks with the Palestinians, but the issue could get sidelined since the largest parties share more common ground on domestic matters like the army draft.
Israel’s new members of parliament are scheduled to be sworn in next week.