Israel to ask Obama to use air strikes in case of Syrian missile transfer

FLC

"... "These missiles are not just a problem for Israel," the official added. "They include [anti-ship] missiles, and who has the biggest navy in the Mediterranean?" – a reference to the US. Israeli military and government officials concede that it is unlikely that they will be able to persuade Washington to take military action in Syria unless chemical weapons are involved.But they want to use Obama's scheduled five hours of talks with Netanyahu on Wednesday evening to secure a guarantee of US support for more pre-emptive Israeli strikes, even if they risk provoking a cross-border conflict with Hezbollah. "What I hear over and over again from Israeli generals is that another war with Hezbollah is inevitable," a western diplomat said, pointing to estimates that the Shia militia has up to 60,000 missiles hidden in southern Lebanese villages. He said neither side had anything to gain from a new conflict now. 

Netanyahu's office concedes that it is more likely to succeed in securing US support over Syrian missiles than to persuade Obama to share the Israeli prime minister's position on Iran. There have been many exchanges between the Israeli and US governments in the run-up to the Obama visit attempting to narrow the gap between their Iran policies. Obama has pledged not to allow Iran to build a nuclear weapon and US officials say they will know when the Tehran regime takes the decision to make a bomb and begins to assemble it..."