Israelis get ready for Syrian WMD attack

Phillip Klein:

Omri Azarzar, 27, stood outside a post office in the southern part of the city here on Tuesday afternoon where the Israeli government was distributing gas masks to residents amid increasing fears Israel could be targeted by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

As the United States prepares military action against Syria, Israelis must face the reality that the chemical attack that prompted U.S action occurred within a few hours driving distance of Israel’s major population centers.

“If he’s shooting gas on his own people, there’s no reason why he wouldn’t shoot on us,” Azarzar said.

Israel only has funds to provide gas mask kits to 60 percent of its population, and the recent spike in demand has led to long lines. By 2:30 p.m. Israeli time, the distribution center here had stopped giving out waiting numbers to new arrivals.

With his motorcycle helmet dangling from his arm, Azarzar clutched onto a ticket bearing the number 807. “They’re only up to number 135 now,” he sighed.

I caught up with Michal Ben-Meir as she was moving her three young children to a shaded area. She explained that she had been waiting five hours to exchange her gas masks for properly fitting ones, and was still 30 numbers away.

This center was especially crowded because it was the one facility currently serving the heavily populated Tel Aviv and the surrounding area.
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There is much more.

The mask may help against Sarin gas, but others attack the skin and it is not effective against them.  The safest bet is to defeat the rockets carrying the gas, preferably in their launch phase.  If Syria does launch an attack on Israel, it would not surprise me to see an armor attack on Damascus by the Israelis.  If that happens, the Syrian government would have a difficult time responding to it.