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| Israel carried out airstrike on Syria: officials |
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CNN television said on Friday that U.S. and Western intelligence agencies were reviewing information suggesting Israel likely conducted a strike in the night from Thursday to Friday, just as Israel was flying many warplanes over Lebanon.
White House and Pentagon officials declined to comment on the reports.
An Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said on Saturday that Tel Aviv carried air raid into Syria on Friday.
The target of Friday's strike, the second by Israel in Syria this year, was not a Syrian chemical weapons facility, a regional security source earlier said.
A U.S. official, who also declined to be identified, had told Reuters on Friday the target was apparently a building.
The Israeli official who acknowledged the raid and described its target spoke on condition of anonymity. Israel's regime has not formally taken responsibility for the action or confirmed it happened.
The attack took place after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet approved it in a secret meeting on Thursday night, the regional security source said.
CNN quoted unnamed U.S. officials as saying Israel most likely conducted the strike “in the Thursday-Friday time frame” and its jets did not enter Syrian air space.
The Israeli air force has so-called “standoff” bombs that coast dozens of kilometers (miles) across ground to their targets once fired. That could, in theory, allow Israel to attack Syria from its own turf or from adjacent Lebanon.
Lebanese authorities reported unusual intensive Israeli air force activity over their territory on Thursday and Friday.
Syrian government sources denied having information of a strike. Bashar Ja'afari, the Syrian ambassador to the United Nations, told Reuters: “I'm not aware of any attack right now.”
Lebanese President Michel Suleiman said on Friday that Israeli warplanes have repeatedly violated his country’s airspace in recent days, and he called on the United Nations to press Israel to halt them.
The Syria crisis began in March 2011, and many people, including large numbers of soldiers and security personnel, have been killed in the violence.
The Syrian government says that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the militants are foreign nationals.
In an interview recently broadcast on Turkish television, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said that if the militants take power in Syria, they could destabilize the entire Middle East region for decades.
“If the unrest in Syria leads to the partitioning of the country, or if the terrorist forces take control… the situation will inevitably spill over into neighboring countries and create a domino effect throughout the Middle East and beyond,” he added.
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.jpg "An Israeli air force F15-E fighter jet takes off for a mission over the Gaza Strip, from the Tel Nof air base in central Israel on November 19, 2012.")