Israeli warplanes struck a military base near the Syrian port city of Latakia on Thursday, an Obama administration official told CNN. ● An explosion at a missile storage site in the area was widely reported in the Israeli press, but an attack has not been confirmed by the Israeli government. The target, according to the Obama administration official, was missiles and related equipment the Israelis felt might be transferred to the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah. The official declined to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the information. When asked for comment, an Israel "Defense" Forces spokeswoman [arrogantly] told CNN: "We don't refer to foreign reports."

EU diplomats who traveled to Washington over the NSA’s spy program have been left with their questions unanswered. The US insisted all the intelligence gathered in Europe was related to warzones in the Middle East and would continue. The European Union’s delegation of politicians trusted with getting answers from Washington over the National Security Agency’s (NSA) espionage programs in the EU left with more questions than they arrived with.

The Diplomat: Outrage Over NSA Spying Spreads to Asia
PressTV: EU lawmakers condemn US spying on citizens, leaders

Newly leaked documents show the US National Security Agency infiltrates the main communication links that connect Yahoo and Google’s data centers outside the US. ● On Wednesday, the Washington Post broke the story based on documents obtained from former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden and interviews with knowledgeable officials. According to the Post’s report, the US spy agency, along with its British counterpart, the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), secretly breaks into the internal networks of Yahoo and Google and intercepts information flowing between data centers that these two largest Internet companies by overall data traffic maintain across the globe. By tapping into those networks, the NSA collects hundreds of millions of user accounts belonging to all people around the world.

Alex Lantier: Secret NSA program gains “bulk access” to Google, Yahoo data centers ■ The US military-intelligence complex has developed through criminal means the surveillance infrastructure of a global police state. The National Security Agency (NSA) is spying on hundreds of millions of users of Google and Yahoo services, according to a report yesterday in the Washington Post based on internal documents provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. The NSA has broken into the main communication links connecting Yahoo and Google data servers worldwide. In a program codenamed “MUSCULAR,” operated jointly with Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), the agencies collect and monitor all communications—involving US and non-US citizens alike—between these servers.

Washington Post: NSA infiltrates links to Yahoo, Google data centers worldwide, Snowden documents say
InvestmentWatch: NSA Gets Access To The Cloud Of US Tech Companies, Siphons Off Data

The National Security Agency advised its officials to cite the 9/11 attacks as justification for its mass surveillance activities, according to a master list of NSA talking points. ● Invoking the events of 9/11 to justify the controversial NSA programs, which have caused major diplomatic fallout around the world, was the top item on the talking points agency officials were encouraged to use. Under the sub-heading, “Sound Bites that Resonate,” the document suggests the statement: “I much prefer to be here today explaining these programs, than explaining another 9/11 event that we were not able to prevent.” NSA head Gen. Keith Alexander used a slightly different version of that statement when he testified before Congress June 18 in defense of the agency’s surveillance programs.