Israel prepares for 'regional deterioration'

Israel is gearing up for a deterioration in the region, with a growing number of new threats facing the Jewish state, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. Netanyahu made the comments as he watched an exercise simulating the response to a chemical attack on a residential neighbourhood in Jerusalem as part of an annual civil defence drill. His remarks came after several ministers raised the alarm over the planned delivery of Russian anti-aircraft missiles to Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad has been waging a bloody two-year war against insurgents bent on overthrowing him. "These things we are seeing here are meant to protect Israel from an accumulation of new threats. These threats are piling up around us," he said in remarks communicated by his bureau. Israel, he said, was working with "prudence and great responsibility" but was gearing up for the regional situation to get worse. "We are anticipating a deterioration," Netanyahu said, without elaborating. Earlier, public radio said Netanyahu had ordered his cabinet to stay silent on the issue of Russian missile deliveries to Syria a day after two senior ministers criticised Moscow and warned that Israel would not sit quietly if it felt under threat. Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon had on Tuesday warned Israel would "know what to do" if Russia delivered anti-aircraft missiles to Assad. "The deliveries have not taken place and I hope they do not. But if, by misfortune, they arrive in Syria, we will know what to do," he told reporters. Israel has launched several air raids inside Syria this year, targeting convoys transporting weapons to its arch foe Hezbollah in Lebanon. Moscow on Tuesday defended its arms shipments to Damascus. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the missiles were a "stabilising factor" which could act as a deterrent against foreign intervention, as fears grow that the Syrian conflict, which has claimed more than 94,000 lives, could spill over into neighbouring countries. Meanwhile, The Syrian government has condemned an EU decision to lift a ban on supplying arms to rebel fighters, saying the move will sabotage peace efforts, Syria's state television reported on Wednesday. "The recent EU decision proves they are hindering the international efforts aimed at achieving a political settlement to the crisis in Syria based on national dialogue among Syrians," the broadcaster quoted an unnamed foreign ministry official as saying. The European Union decided on Monday to lift its arms embargo on Syria after hours of fraught negotiations, although ministers agreed not to supply any weapons before August. The Syrian official accused the EU of providing "support and encouragement to terrorists by providing them with weapons in clear violation of international law and the UN charter," the report said. Syria's main opposition bloc is urging the European Union to quickly supply rebels fighting President Bashar Assad's forces with sophisticated weapons and help them overthrow his regime. Wednesday's call follows EU's decision this week to let the Syrian arms embargo expire, paving the way for individual countries in the 27-member union to send weapons to Assad's outgunned opponents. But the decision may have little impact on Syria's 2-year-old conflict, since no single European country is expected to send lethal weapons to the rebels in the coming weeks. A Syrian National Coalition statement urged the EU to promptly send "specialised weaponry to repel the fierce attacks waged against unarmed civilians" by Assad's regime and its Hezbollah and Iranian allies. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the Syrian civil war.