Israel strikes inbound weapons

Israel had long threatened force to prevent advanced weapons from reaching Lebanon's Hezbollah. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, officials said that Friday's strike in Syrian territory targeted missiles bound for the Lebanese militant group.

Acting Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour was critical of the strike: "Attacks such as these will result in more tension and blow up the situation which it promoted," he said. "This will not give Israel the peace or security that it wants. In its own way, rather, it will push the region into an inflamed struggle and into the unknown."

CNN television had reported that international intelligence agencies were reviewing the information, and that the US did not believe that Israeli warplanes had entered Syrian airspace to launch the strikes.

Once Israel's involvement had been confirmed, President Barack Obama said he would leave it to that country to comment on the attack.

Asked at a press conference in Costa Rica how he would respond to allegations that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons against rebels, Obama said he had not ruled out any action against the country but that he was unlikely to deploy ground troops. Allegations of chemical weapons had come earlier in the week, well ahead of the air strikes against Hezbollah.

There has been no word from Syrian officials or state media.

Though a 1974 peace treaty is in effect to officially demilitarize Israel's Golan Heights border region with Syria, wounded combatants and stray mortar have increasingly landed within the zone over the course of the two-year civil war.

mkg/kms (reuters, AFP, dpa)