Israel confirms testing missile jointly with US.

Israel confirms testing missile jointly with US.

Press Tv | 03 Sep 2013 :: Israel says it has successfully conducted a joint missile test with the United States in the Mediterranean Sea, amid high tensions in the region over a possible attack on Syria.

According to the Israeli Ministry of Military Affairs, an Ankor-type radar missile was launched on Tuesday in the joint test with the US. 

Israeli media say the missile was fired to simulate ballistic missiles such as Shahab and Scud. 

This is while the US Navy says it has fired no missiles. 

Earlier in the day, the Russian Defense Ministry said it had detected two “ballistic targets” fired toward the eastern part of the Mediterranean from the sea’s central part. 

The launch of the ballistic objects was detected at 10:16 Moscow time (06:16 GMT) by a radar system in the southern Russian city of Armavir, a Defense Ministry spokesman was quoted by Russia’s Ria Novosti as saying. 

Tensions are running high as Washington is pushing for military action against Syria over the alleged use of chemical weapons by Syrian government forces in the suburbs of Damascus on August 21. 

Damascus has vehemently denied the accusations, saying the chemical attack was carried out by the militants themselves as a false-flag operation. 

Syria has been gripped by deadly unrest since 2011. According to reports, the Western powers and their regional allies - especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey - are supporting the militants operating inside Syria. 

On July 25, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said more than 100,000 people have been killed in Syria since the outbreak of the foreign-sponsored militancy in the country. (Courtesy:Press Tv)

Arms Shipments Seen From Sudan to Syria Rebels.

Arms Shipments Seen From Sudan to Syria Rebels.

13 Aug 2013 :: Syrian rebels, frustrated by the West’s reluctance to provide arms, have found a supplier in an unlikely source: Sudan, a country that has been under international arms embargoes and maintains close ties with a stalwart backer of the Syrian government, Iran.

In deals that have not been publicly acknowledged, Western officials and Syrian rebels say, Sudan’s government sold Sudanese- and Chinese-made arms to Qatar, which arranged delivery through Turkey to the rebels.

The shipments included antiaircraft missiles and newly manufactured small-arms cartridges, which were seen on the battlefield in Syria — all of which have helped the rebels combat the Syrian government’s better-armed forces and loyalist militias.

Emerging evidence that Sudan has fed the secretive arms pipeline to rebels adds to a growing body of knowledge about where the opposition to President Bashar al-Assad of Syria is getting its military equipment, often paid for by Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Saudi Arabia or other sympathetic donors.

While it is unclear how pivotal the weapons have been in the nearly three-year-old civil war, they have helped sustain the opposition against government forces emboldened by aid from Russia, Iran and Hezbollah.

Sudan’s involvement adds yet another complication to a civil war that has long defied a diplomatic resolution. The battle has evolved into a proxy fight for regional influence between global powers, regional players and religious sects. In Sudan’s case, it has a connection with the majority Sunni rebels, and a potentially lucrative financial stake in prosecuting the war.(Copy From:The Times of Israel )