Israeli officials held a secret meeting last week in which they discussed the possibility of a pre-emptive attack on war-torn Syria, according to Vice Premier Silvan Shalom.
Shalom said the meeting was held the morning after Tuesday’s election. It had not been made public before today, but he insisted the focus was Syria’s chemical weapons and whether Israel ought to attack to avoid them falling into the hands of either Hezbollah or “al-Qaeda inspired groups,” apparently a euphemism for the Western-backed rebels.
The decision officials came to was that Israel will attack Syria at the first sign of any transfer of any portion of its chemical weapons arsenal, or at the first sign that the Assad government might be losing control over those weapons.
“The concept, in principle, is that this must not happen,” Shalom said. Israeli military officials confirmed the report but insisted there was no specific situation to lead anyone to believe such a risk was imminent.
