The U.S. intelligence community has been leaking information on Israeli air strikes in Syria, and U.S. President Barack Obama is behind the leaks, according to a report in the World Tribune.
Diplomats told the Tribune that the Obama administration has enabled the U.S. intelligence community to disclose details of Israeli military operations against the armed forces under Syrian President Bashar Assad. These leaks include reporting Israeli air and naval strikes on advanced Iranian and Russian weapons that arrived in 2013.
“This is a decision that could come only from Obama,” a diplomat said. “[T]his reflects his dismay over the Israeli operations, which the president believes could result in a regional war.”
“The leaks will continue because there is a lot of resentment within the U.S. intelligence community over Israeli assessments regarding such countries as Egypt, Iran and Syria,” the diplomat added.
The latest leak attributed to the U.S. intelligence community was about a July 5 Israeli strike on a recent shipment of the P-800 Yakhont coastal defense system, at Latakia.
The diplomats said the CIA disclosed the Israeli strike to the press, and later said the operation was only partly successful. “While the warehouse was destroyed, American intelligence analysts have now concluded that at least some of the Yakhont missiles had been removed from their launchers and moved from the warehouse before the attack,” a U.S. official told the New York Times on July 31.
The diplomats told the World Tribune Israel has protested the U.S. leaks, which have increased tension with Damascus. They said the leaks have strained the CIA's relations with Israel’s Mossad. The CIA director is John Brennan, regarded as a confidante of Obama.
“The Israelis have also been going to their friends in Congress to stop the leaks,” the diplomat said.