Syrian Air Defense repels airstrikes on Damascus suburbs

According to a source in the Syrian intelligence services, the unannounced airstrike hit an ammunition storage facility at the Mazzeh military airbase, however, the military airfield itself was not affected.

The source specified that Syrian air defense systems had repelled the airstrikes. The Times of Israel newspaper reported, citing sources, that the strikes had been conducted by Israeli aircraft.

A chain of explosions at Mazzeh military airport in Damascus, Syria, late Saturday was caused by a short circuit at a nearby ammunition depot, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem has said. "As we understood from sources in the Syrian Defense Ministry, the reason for these explosions was a short circuit resulting from overheating, which was not the result of illegal Israeli aggression," he told Rossiya 24 television. It comes after previous reports suggested the site was targeted by an Israeli missile attack or airstrike. The airport is a key Syrian air force base located in the Mazzeh (Mezzeh) municipality to the southwest of central Damascus.

As the 1980s drew to a close, Maxwell's empire was in trouble. With interest rates high and the share price falling in his major companies, he secretly brought millions of his own shares through tax havens in Virgin Islands, Gibraltar and Liechtenstein. Maxwell purchased these through collateral for bank loans. He was secretly withdrawing vast sums of money from the pension funds of his 24,000 Mirror Group employees which he invested in French and Israeli companies. By 1990 repayments to his bankers had reached £415m a year while he was caught in a vicious debt spiral.

With police and journalists on his trail, an increasingly desperate Maxwell turned to Israel to bail him out. Mossad turned him down. When Israel refused to help, Maxwell threatened to spill the beans about his spying in the Daily Mirror. When the first claims of links between Mossad and Maxwell became public, the intelligence agency was seriously alarmed. Though he was a hero to many in Israel, Mossad concluded he had to be silenced before he could do serious damage. They recruited a four man "kidon" (death squad) to kill Maxwell.

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A botched Spanish autopsy concluded his death was due to heart failure. They ruled out suicide because Maxwell was a good swimmer. His unhappy insurers insisted on a second autopsy which occurred before his burial in Jerusalem. This one found the most likely cause was drowning but the insurers refused to pay up anyway saying it was suicide. Maxwell was buried with full state honours in Jerusalem's Mount of Olives. Prime Minister Shamir, who probably authorised his death, eulogised "He has done more for Israel than can today be said". His death could not be spoken about either.

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