Netanyahu Confirms Secret Attack on Syria

Israel's opposition leader, Binyamin Netanyahu, has given the first confirmation from Israel of a mysterious air strike on an unknown target deep in Syria earlier this month - fueling frenzied speculation about exactly what happened.

The leader of the rightwing Likud party revealed he had given prime minister Ehud Olmert his backing for the attack, which Damascus said took place on September 6. Before that, the Israeli government had enforced a news blackout on the story.

Asked during a TV interview, Mr Netanyahu said: "When a prime minister does something that is important and necessary to Israel's security ... I give my backing. Here, too, I was a partner in the issue from the start, and I gave my backing."

He refused to give further details.

The revelation of Mr Olmert's consultation with the leader of the opposition suggested the mission was of unusual importance. But there is still no hard information from Israel or any other source about what actually happened. Syria protested to the UN about the "flagrant violation" of its airspace. Officials in Damascus have reported that their air defenses forced Israeli F15 jets to flee, dropping "munitions" and fuel tanks in the desert near the Turkish border.

US and other officials have claimed that Israel hit Syrian targets that may have had links to North Korean nuclear arms - dismissed by Damascus as "a big lie". Other suggestions were that the target was Iranian weapons destined for Hizbullah or that the raid was a "dry run" for an attack on Iran.