Syrian medical staff take part in a training exercise to learn how to treat victims of chemical weapons attacks, in a course organized by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Gaziantep, Turkey. (photo credit: MURAD SEZER/REUTERS)
X ![]()
Dear Reader,
As you can imagine, more people are reading The Jerusalem Post than ever before. Nevertheless, traditional business models are no longer sustainable and high-quality publications, like ours, are being forced to look for new ways to keep going. Unlike many other news organizations, we have not put up a paywall. We want to keep our journalism open and accessible and be able to keep providing you with news and analyses from the frontlines of Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World.
As one of our loyal readers, we ask you to be our partner.
For $5 a month you will receive access to the following:
- A user experience almost completely free of ads
- Access to our Premium Section
- Content from the award-winning Jerusalem Report and our monthly magazine to learn Hebrew – Ivrit
- A brand new ePaper featuring the daily newspaper as it appears in print in Israel
Help us grow and continue telling Israel’s story to the world.
Thank you,
Ronit Hasin-Hochman, CEO, Jerusalem Post Group
Yaakov Katz, Editor-in-Chief
UPGRADE YOUR JPOST EXPERIENCE FOR 5$ PER MONTH Show me later Don’t show it again
The Mossad, Israel’s national intelligence agency, was responsible for the assassination of Syrian scientist Dr. Aziz Asbar in a car bomb on Saturday, a senior Middle Eastern intelligence official told The New York Times.
The official confirmed this incident, along with three other assassinations on foreign soil in a report published in the Times on Monday.
The Middle Eastern intelligence official added that he believed the reason for the assassination was Asbar’s involvement in Syria’s missile program, even before the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011.
While Syria and Hezbollah quickly pointed fingers at the Jewish State, Israel, which does not respond to foreign media reports, had no comment on the assassination.
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman downplayed the possibility of Israeli involvement, telling Channel 2 news that, “Every day in the Middle East there are hundreds of explosions and settling of scores. Every time they try to place the blame on us. So we won’t take this too seriously.”
“Assuming that he was indeed involved in terrorist activity, I welcome his departure from the world,” said Intelligence Minister Israel Katz regarding the New York Times report, in an interview with Army radio Tuesday.
However, according to the intelligence source, the Mossad had been tracking Asbar for a long time.
(function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||[];w.ldAdInit.push({slot:10834723912266086,size:[0, 0],id:”ld-9628-9059″});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src=”//cdn2.lockerdomecdn.com/_js/ajs.js”;j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,”script”,”ld-ajs”);
Dr. Aziz Asbar, one of the directors of the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC), was killed along with his personal driver as they left Asbar’s home.
According to Hezbollah’s al-Manar news site, Asbar headed Department 4 at the center, which focuses on the development of all of Syria’s ballistic missile and rocket programs. The department is also in charge of Institute 4000 which has several chemical-weapons programs.
Asbar was involved in the manufacturing of chemical weapons including Sarin gas, despite Syria agreeing to dismantle its chemical weapons stockpiles in 2013, according to Western officials,
Israeli officials have raised concerns in the past about the transfer of advanced weaponry from Iran to Hezbollah.
Israel reportedly struck the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center several times, most recently on July 22, when Arab media reported that Israeli jets hit the one of the center’s arms production sites.
Israel is also believed to have struck the presumed base of the Syrian Arab Army’s secretive Unit 450, a branch of the Center which works on the Assad regime’s chemical weapons program. Western intelligence agencies and Syrian opposition figures alleged that Unit 450 had been dispersing chemical weapons stockpiles around the country, as well as to Hezbollah.
Anna Ahronheim contributed to this report.
Comments are closed.