[Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA: The Hebrew film clip of the very unusual report
broadcast on Israel Television Channel Two on 8 November 2007
www.keshet-tv.com/VideoPage.aspx?MediaID=26008&CatID=333&CurrentCatID=333 ]

Israel on alert for Syria airstrike
Uzi Mahnaimi, Tel Aviv The Sunday Times [UK] November 11, 2007
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article2848246.ece

THE defensive missile shield around Israel's Dimona nuclear reactor was
placed on red alert 30 times last week amid fears of an airstrike by Syria.

A battery of American-made Patriot antiaircraft missiles has been moved to
Dimona in the Negev desert following intelligence that a strike may be
launched in retaliation for Israel's bombing of a suspected nuclear site in
Syria two months ago.

In a highly unusual move, the officers in charge of the missiles were
permitted to talk to Israeli state television about their preparations. "We're
ready to launch the missiles in seconds, once we're on full alert," said
First Lieutenant Adi, a young female officer who is the deputy commander of
the battery.
Tension with Damascus has heightened since September 6 when Israeli fighters
destroyed the suspected nuclear installation in northern Syria.

"The fact that the Syrians didn't launch an immediate strike against Israel
doesn't mean that they won't retaliate in due course," said an Israeli
defence source. "Dimona is on the top of their list."

Tension is mounting in Israel. "Every civilian aircraft en route from Cairo
to Amman, or from Jeddah to Cairo and vice versa, which deviates even
slightly from its route, sets off an alarm and risks a missile being fired,"
said the female commander of the Patriot battery.

The unit is authorised to shoot down any aircraft which approaches, civilian
or combat.

An Israeli Mirage jet that approached Dimona by mistake was shot down during
the Six-Day War in 1967, while a Libyan Boeing 727 which lost its way in a
storm in 1973 and approached Dimona was also downed. All 113 on board were
killed.