Israeli officials are “furious” with the White House for telling the world that Israel was behind the October 30 strike on a Syrian military site.
According to The Times of Israel, although Israel “has not acknowledged carrying out the strike,” U.S. officials made it clear that Israel bombed a Syrian storage site containing Russian missiles.
A November 1 report on Israel’s Channel 2 said the leak “came directly from the White House.” Israel’s Channel 10 TV described the leak as “scandalous” and “unthinkable.”
Channel 2 military analyst Roni Daniel said Israel had not claimed responsibility for the attack because they wanted to maintain “plausible deniability.” This would keep Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from feeling he had to respond to the strike.
Now, because of the White House leak, that deniability is gone, and Daniel expects Assad “will respond.”
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins.