Netanyahu Vows To Topple Hamas If Elected

Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu on Tuesday promised that a government under his leadership would topple the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip.

“[Kadima leader] Tzipi Livni and the people of Kadima scoffed at the predictions regarding rocket fire. A government under my leadership will overthrow the Hamas rule in Gaza and bring about a cessation of rocket fire,” Netanyahu said during a tour of Ashkelon following the first Grad rocket attack since the conclusion of Operation Cast Lead some two weeks ago.

“The policy of blindness followed in the past years has brought us to this situation,” Netanyahu continued. “Residents can no longer count on miracles and Kadima policy.”

Livni herself hinted that Hamas may come up against another IDF operation should rocket

fire continue hitting the south of Israel.

“My opinion on this matter is clear: Every attack must be met with a response,” the foreign minister told Jerusalem Radio Tuesday, rejecting out of hand the possibility of diplomatic contact with Hamas.

“Any negotiations with Hamas, whether direct or indirect, are harmful. From a strategic standpoint […] I think that we should make peace with the moderate elements,” Livni said.

Meanwhile, Defense Minister and Labor leader Ehud Barak said that despite the continued rocket fire, Hamas was still interested in maintaining a state of calm in Gaza.

“We hit Hamas very hard, and it is picking up the pieces right now,” Barak said during a tour of the North. “It is really interested in quiet, but the rocket fire is a fact, and we cannot ignore facts.”

Barak also warned that continued rocket fire would be met with a harsh response, “harsher even” than Operation Cast Lead.

via Bibi vows to topple Hamas if elected | Jerusalem Post.

Russian Naval Task Force Led By Aircraft Carrier Docks At Syrian Port

The force, which includes the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier, the Admiral Levchenko destroyer and the Nikolay Chiker salvage tug, was due to call in at the Syrian port of Tartus Monday, Jan. 12 after carrying out joint exercises with the Turkish navy last week.

DEBKAfile’s military sources report that the arrival of the Russian flotilla in wartime is unusual and especially significant given Syria’s role as one of the staunchest backers of Hamas which is embroiled in a war against Israel further down the coast in Gaza.

Our sources believe Moscow may be signaling its disapproval of Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip.

DEBKAfile’s military sources report that 50 Russian seamen are permanently based at the Syrian maintenance and resupply facility, the only Russian base in the Mediterranean.

Russia is expanding Tartus port, which has six piers and building a pier at a second Syrian port – Latakia.

During the Russian-Georgian War last August, the Russian government decided to turn the Syrian port into a back-up facility for its Black Sea fleet and its base at the Ukrainian port of Sevastopol.

via DEBKAfile – A Russian naval task force led by aircraft carrier docks at Syrian port.