Israel silent on Syria attack but convenes security cabinet to discuss developments
No statement was released following the meeting of trimmed down forum.
By HERB KEINONNetanyahu at security meeting before end of cease-fire(photo credit: GPO)
Israel formally continued its policy of not responding to reports that it was behind the attack in Syria, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon and Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman making no public comments about the matter.But the trimmed down security cabinet met in a special session Tuesday for some two hours in a meeting that was reportedly devoted to discussing the developments in the north. No statement was released following that meeting.The security cabinet includes Netanyahu, Ya'alon, Liberman, Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch, Interior Minister Gilad Erdan and Economy Minister Naftali Bennett.
Syria attack, January 18, 2015Up until December, when Netanyahu fired then finance minister Yair Lapid and then justice minister Tzipi Livni, they too were members of the security cabinet. They have not been replaced on that forum. According to Hezbollah, which is active on the side of President Bashar Assad in the Syrian civil war, an Israeli helicopter fired two missiles Sunday at a military convoy in the Syrian town of Quneitra, not far from the Israeli border in the Golan Heights.Six Hezbollah operatives and six Iranian soldiers were reported killed in the hit.The killings raised the possibility of a retaliatory attack, with a senior Iranian official suggesting that Israel would be hit at "the right time and right place."Reuters contributed to this report.
