CIA won’t do torture again, Don pick vows
ISRAELI FORCES struck back Wednesday night, dropping bombs on dozens of Iranian targets in retaliation for missiles fired at military positions in the Golan Heights, authorities said.
The fighting came in the wake of President Trump’s decision to pull the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal.
Syrian air defense forces fired surface-to-air missiles, but military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said no Israeli planes were hit.
The battle began when the Iranian Al Quds force launched about 20 rockets at several Israeli front-line military positions in the occupied Golan Heights section, Conricus said.
The spokesman wouldn’t say how he knew Iran was responsible, only saying Israel views the attack “very severely.”
Israeli defense systems intercepted “some” of the rockets and damage was minimal, according to military officials. No one was killed in the strike.
“This event is Conricus said.
Minutes later, Syrian state media said air defense systems in Damascus had shot down “hostile Israeli missiles.” The Syrian government also said it had fired at least 50 missiles at Israeli forces early Thursday, marking the first time Syria has attacked Israel in years. not over,”
Moments before the Golan Heights barrage, the Iran-allied Houthi rebels in Yemen fired ballistic missiles at Riyadh, the capital of American-allied Saudi Arabia. The missiles were shot down by Saudi air defense forces, according to military officials.
Earlier this week, Israel fired missiles at a military outpost near Damascus, killing at least 15 people, eight of whom were Iranians, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The region has been on high alert since Trump announced Tuesday that the U.S. will exit the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, a move that drew condemnation from European allies and several Middle Eastern nations.
The deal eased sanctions on Iran in exchange for agreeing to restrictions on its nuclear program making it impossible to produce a bomb.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced last month that his government had “proof” Iran ran a secret nuclear weapons program despite the agreement.
Trump cited Netanyahu’s announcement as he officially nixed the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which he blasted as “defective at its core.”
U.S. intelligence agencies and Trump’s own secretary of state have broken with his assessment, countering that Iran has upheld its end of the deal so far.
France, Germany and the U.K. rapidly condemned Trump’s decision and pledged to work together to uphold the agreement with or without the U.S.
Netanyahu traveled to Moscow on Wednesday to meet with President Vladimir Putin and discuss military coordination in Syria.
Russia has also sent forces to Syria to back Assad. But Israel and Russia have maintained close communications to prevent their air forces from coming into conflict.
After 10 hours together, Netanyahu said he conveyed Israel’s obligation to defend itself against Iranian aggression.
“I think that matters were presented in a direct and forthright manner. These matters are very important to Israel’s security at all times, and especially at this time,” he said.
Israel views Iran as its archenemy, citing Iran’s calls for Israel’s destruction, support for militant groups across the region and growing military activity in neighboring Syria. Israel has warned that it will not allow Iran to establish a permanent military presence in Syria. WASHINGTON — President Trump’s CIA nominee said Wednesday at her confirmation hearing that she doesn’t believe torture works as an interrogation technique and that her “strong moral compass” would prevent her from carrying out any presidential order she found objectionable.
Under questioning by members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, acting CIA Director Gina Haspel said she would not permit the spy agency to restart the kind of harsh detention and interrogation program it ran at black sites after Sept. 11.
Senators asked how she would respond if Trump — who has said he supports harsh interrogation techniques like waterboarding and “a hell of a lot worse” — ordered her to do something she found morally objectionable.
“I would not allow CIA to undertake activity that I thought was immoral, even if it was technically legal,” said Haspel, a 33-year veteran of the agency. “I would absolutely not permit it.”
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), an outspoken critic of torture based on his own experience as a POW in Vietnam, said the prospective spy chief’s statement wasn’t good enough.
“Her refusal to acknowledge torture’s immorality is disqualifying,” he said in a statement.
The CIA director position opened up after Mike Pompeo was named secretary of state. Haspel would be the first female CIA director.
While she has deep experience, her nomination is contentious because she was base chief of a covert detention site in Thailand where terror suspects were waterboarded.