BICOM

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet yesterday that Israel is cooperating closely with the United States to act in the event of regime change in Syria.

Netanyahu said, “We are monitoring developments in Syria, where there are dramatic developments almost daily.” Alluding to the danger that Syria’s chemical stockpile could fall into rogue hands that could threaten Israel in the event of Assad’s ousting, Netanyahu added “We are cooperating with the US and, together with the international community, are taking the necessary measures to prepare ourselves for the possibility of far-reaching changes in the regime, with implications for the sensitive weapons systems there.”

However, senior Israeli defence official Amos Gilad is quoted reassuring that “for the time being,” Syria’s chemical weapons are “under control” of the Assad regime. Nonetheless, Gilad did warn that there “could be chaos” if Assad were to leave Syria as “in the Middle East, you never know who will fill the power vacuum.”

Meanwhile, in Syria itself, the violence of Assad’s forces against the country’s civilians continues. Widespread media reports in the UK say that Syrian air force planes bombed a bread queue of around 1,000 people in the opposition-held town of Halfava. Apparently, over ninety civilians were killed in the air strike.