Israel Strikes Iranian Targets Within Syria After Iran Attacks Golan Heights
Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman reminded Iran “that if it rains here [in Israel], it will pour there.”
I blogged in April that while everyone talks about Russia, Syria, and America, the real story about Syria concerned Iran and Israel.
It looks like that has finally come to the forefront early Thursday morning local time after Iran attacked Israel from Syria and Israel responded with its own fire power.
Israel claimed that Iranian forces within Syria fired rockets into Israel-controlled Golan Heights. Military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus confirmed that the Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted “several of the rockets” and did not know about any casualties or damage.
From The New York Times:
The Israeli military said in a statement that it “views this event with great severity and remains prepared for a wide variety of scenarios.” The Syrian state news agency reported that the country’s air defenses responded to at least two waves of Israeli missile attacks after the strike against the Israeli positions.
Israel and Iran have been conducting a shadow war in Syria under the cover of that country’s civil war. As Iran has tried to build up its military capabilities inside Syria, Israel has carried out scores of strikes against what it says are advanced weapons and convoys destined for its enemies in the region.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow and he reiterated Israel’s right to protect itself:
“I presented Israel’s obligation and right to defend itself against Iranian aggression, from Syrian territory,” Mr. Netanyahu said in a statement. “The Iranians declare their intention to attack us. They are trying to transfer forces and deadly weapons there with the explicit goal of attacking the state of Israel as part of their strategy to destroy the state of Israel.”
Russia is basically Syria’s and Iran’s only strong ally.
Well, Israel struck back at Iranian targets in southern and central Syria. The military “focused on sites related to logistics, intelligence and ammunition storage.” From the BBC:
- Intelligence sites associated with Iran and the “Radical Axis” – a term Israeli officials use to refer to an alliance between Iran, Syria, Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement and Palestinian militant groups such as Hamas
- A logistics headquarters belonging to the Quds Force
- A military logistics compound in Kiswah, a town south of Damascus
- An Iranian military compound north of Damascus
- Quds Force munition storage warehouses at Damascus International Airport
- Intelligence systems and posts associated with the Quds Force
- Observation and military posts and munition in the Golan demilitarised zone
- The Iranian launcher from which the rockets were fired overnight
Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman reminded Iran “that if it rains here [in Israel], it will pour there.” He told the media that the IDF “hit almost all of the Iranian infrastructure in Syria.”
No confirmed reports of casualties in Syria has come out.
Netanyahu has claimed “that the Revolutionary Guard had moved advanced weapons to Syria, including ground-to-ground missiles, weaponized drones and Iranian antiaircraft batteries that he said would threaten Israel’s military jets.” This has led Israel to warn Iran that the country “would respond to any attack.”
Netanyahu also informed Russia about the attack before it happened.
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Comments
Be vigilant IDF.
Could these be the first real shots fired in an out and out war? With Iran firing the first “shots” it sort of shows the need to stop their nuclear development program, and despite the talking heads and the various Countries who want the deal to stay in place, just how dangerous and ready to use those weapons that Iran is.
Iran’s leaders believe they will usher in the 12th Imam, that their actions are sanctioned by their god, and their sacrifice will bring them everlasting glory and rewards.
With the profits the other countries involved make off Iran, you can see where their bread is buttered, and that is the true reason they wanting to keep the Obama deal going. Short term profit is more important than keeping Iran from having nuclear capabilities.
Putting the statements and actions of the last few days together, I think Israel has been declaring that they are ready for this war, and that they are judging that Iran is not quite ready for it yet.
If you believe war is inevitable, then always best to start it at a time of your choosing, rather than at a time of your enemies choosing.
Iran is finding out the downside of “asymmetrical war”, which is using proxies and other agents to launch small but painful attacks on your enemies. The problem is that the country doing it should never go so far as to provoke their target into an outright military response, especially if they’re not ready to meet it.
Now Iran is in the very uncomfortable position of having to either Go Big or Go Home, and it looks like they aren’t ready to Go Big yet.
also, it looks like the recent Israeli delegations to Moscow were done to get Russia to agree to turn off it’s advanced AA systems, in exchange for an agreement that none of their people would be harmed.
No, they aren’t ready yet. In fact, my read of the Obama administration’s capitulation and betrayal of the US (and Israel) as detailed in the JCPOA is that it’s a farce in terms of an arms control agreement. But it did obligate the US to defend Iran’s nuclear program against physical and cyber sabotage. See Annex III.
And Iran’s nuclear program is synonymous with the IRGC. So we’d be obligated to defend IRGC facilities.
Essentially, the JCPOA was designed to help Iran the time to get ready for this war under a US protective umbrella.
Obama and Kerry should be tried and hung.
THIS.
This is why allowing the Iranians Nuke Tech is (and was) a Bad Idea, Obama, Hillary, and co. notwithstanding.
The ruling Mulahs sincerely believe it’s their duty to bring on the appocalypse, and that destroying Isreal is a requirement thereof. They don’t care about their own population, so deterence is a non starter.
This sort of exchange usually is indecisive and can continue indefinitely. If Israel wants to stop the exchanges it will have to invade Syria and remove the Iranians, Assad and Hezbollah. That begins the spiraling tit-for-tat process with no obvious end in sight.
Trump has green-lighted anything Israel wants to do, so anything is possible now. There was a headline somewhere on the web yesterday or the day before: “Netanyahu has no constraints now.”
Respectfully disagree – Israel does not need to physically invade with ground troops to accomplish it’s objectives. Just continue to hit any target which it’s intelligence services identify as being Iranian. Out of self preservation if nothing else, the various groups operating inside Syria will figure out that it’s not healthy to associate with the Iranians, but they might be ok if they leave the Iranians alone.
Also, immediately hit back hard on any site launching an attack (missile) on Israel. Again, if only for reasons of self preservation, the groups operating there will get the message that they need to keep their weapons aimed at each other.
It seems clear that the Russians have already gotten this message loud and clear, since all of their advanced AA systems appear to have been turned off during the recent wave of attacks.
Israel’s goal here is to single out the Iranians in Syria, to cause everyone there to feel that they’ll be better off if they kick the Iranian’s out. Then the players can go on about their business of sending Syria back to the stone age, which is actually not Israel’s problem at all.
Except the real reason Russia’s turned off the Russian air defenses is because they do not want them destroyed and know IDF will not attack Russia directly.. meanwhile Iran’s Russian built air defenses(same as used by Russians in Syria) are getting blown up.
Iran has been asking for a serious whipping ever since they attacked our embassy and took hostages. Someone on this forum suggested taking out Iran’s hydroelectric dams, that seems like a good way to make their lives miserable for at least a decade or two.
Inform Iran publicly that if Iranian missiles land in Israel, Israeli missiles will land in Iran, not Syria. Any military or political facility near Tehran will do nicely.
Well, Israel finally got what it wanted, a military response from Iran.
What has happened in the last two months is analogous to two neighbors who do not get along. Neighbor A peeks at neighbor B, from the yard of a third neighbor [neighbor C], and neighbor B responds by not only punching neighbor A in the eye, but going to C’s yard and throwing rocks at the A’s car, damaging it. When this gets no response from A, B goes next door to C’s yard and damages more of A’s property. C expresses his displeasure with B’s actions, but is ignored. Finally, A gets fed up and throws rocks at B from C’s yard. this now allows B to retaliate in “self defense”. Is this clear to everyone. Now, in most civilized countries this type of behavior would not be allowed. B would have found himself in court on charges of trespass, criminal mischief, and if anyone was harmed assault long before A retaliated. However, for some reason, the world community finds this type of behavior acceptable, when Israel is doing it.
Israel has been emboldened by the positions taken by both Washington and Riyadh. It wants a military confrontation with Iran and it wants it before Iran has a working nuclear weapon, which could occur within months, once Iran restarts its centrifuges, or sooner if it acquires one from another nuclear nation. And, while this is entirely understandable from the Israeli point of view, it does not make Israel’s actions proper. Israel will NOT attack Iran, proper, until it has ironclad assurances that the US, and Saudi Arabia, will publicly back its actions.
How this will all work out, and to whose benefit, is still to be seen.
Syria is in a state of war with Israel, so Israel has every right to enter its territory and attack anything in its territory. Further, Iran is effectively at war with Israel (and the USA) too, so Israel has the right to attack its military targets anywhere in the world.
if this were indeed true, then Israel would be hitting Iran and Syria, itself. It is not. It limited its attacks, until today, to Iranian military resources inside Syria, while not striking Syrian forces directly. It is doing this ti entice Iran to attack it, which Iran finally did. The reason for this is to draw the US into active support of Israel by allowing Israel to make a claim of self defense against Iranian aggression. This is all a GAME.
Israel wants an excuse which will guarantee that the US will back it militarily in a war against Iran. It poked and prodded at Iran until Iran responded and now Israel is pointing at Iran and saying, see, these animals are vicious and attacked us without provocation. It is a good strategy. But, US military involvement is not necessarily in the best interests of the US.
You have no idea what you’re talking about. The very last thing Israel wants is US boots on the ground in its defense, and US servicemen dying for it.
The reason Israel has been attacking Iranian installations in Syria is completely obvious to any normal person — because it wishes to prevent Iran from establishing itself there. An Iranian presence in Syria is a direct threat to Israel, and Israel cannot and will not allow it to happen. It has every right in the world, both legal and moral, to do whatever is necessary to prevent it. Your pretended arguments against it contradict themselves.
Yes, Israel also has every right to strike at Iran and Syria themselves. So far it has not chosen to do so. How is that any of your business, and how does its choice not to do so prove to you that it has no such right?
Mac45: Disagree in part. I think if you redefine Israel’s objective as nullifying Iran’s potential nuclear capabilities, then war or diplomacy are tactics, not ends. As such, I think Israel, and the United States, and the Sunni monarchies, have choices other than war.
You have three ways to achieve denuclearization: 1. Strikes directed at nuclear capabilities; 2. full-scale war and occupation; and 3., internal regime change.
Number 2 is off the table; Israel doesn’t have the capability with conventional means, Trump is not a nation builder, and as demonstrated during the Iran-Iraq War, nothing would legitimize the mullahs faster. (However, bear in mind that Iran’s will to fight doesn’t extend past the Shatt al-Arab.)
Numbers 1 and 3 are your best bets. The prospect of internal regime change is the mullah’s greatest enemy. Anxiety about it is how they begin and end each day. To that end, Obama’s deal was, for them, a tactic–they needed internal economic stability and international economic legitimacy. It worked, although poorly. The future here is likely to be massive domestic unrest accompanied or followed by a military coup, just to keep order.
I think what Israel did last night was a different thing–create a cordon sanitaire around northern Israel to weaken any Iranian efforts to coordinate with Hezbollah in what most believe is the coming war.
National conflicts involve national interests; what is “proper” usually has little to do with matters
I agree that the goal of the Israelis is to guarantee that Iran does not acquire nuclear weapons. And, that the strategic plan is to force a regime change which would be favorable to the Israelis. Currently, there is increasing internal unrest inside Iran. Also, Iranian activities inside Syria are costing the Iranians 10-20 billion dollars a year. The 2015 Iran Nuclear agreement essentially bought the mullahs and the IRGC time. And Israel apparently intends to continue to ramp up direct military expenditures and the destruction of military assets by Iran, it order to create increased economic problems for Iran. However, such military action might just increase support for the current Iranian regime, within Iran. Nothing brings a national population together faster than the an attack against that nation.
Now, here is the problem. Israel and Iran have no formal agreement not to place their military assets anywhere that they wish. Syria has no agreement with Israel not to allow other nations to place military assets within her borders. What Iran and Syria are doing, in Syria, is completely in accord with international norms [aka international law]. Israel did not formally demand the removal of Iranian military assets from Syria. It simply invaded Syrian territory and destroyed Iranian assets. Now, attempting to claim that Iran is at war with Israel, means that the fiction that third parties, who are backed by a sovereign nation and which attack another nation, are part of the nation backing them is no longer valid. That means that by backing the Syrian rebels, the US is technically at war with Syria and all of the assets of the US, at home and abroad, are fair game for Syria and any of her allies. Of course, it does not appear that the current administration is too concerned about that, as the two US missile strikes on Syria were clearly far outside international norms and were tantamount to acts of war against Syria. So, there is “proper” behavior in international affairs. It exists to forestall nations going to war on a whim.
You’re full of ****. It is a fact that a formal state of war exists between Israel and Syria, and an effective state of war exists between Israel and Iran. I can’t imagine what you mean by your reference to third parties; Iran itself has effectively and openly been at war with Israel for more than 35 years.
Further, Israel did demand the removal of Iranian military assets from Syria. Whether it did so “formally” is irrelevant, and I don’t even know what you even mean by that. The demand was made repeatedly, in all the news media and through every channel available, and there is no doubt that Iran got the message. What more do you think is needed, and why?
I must take issue with your use of the term “Israel-controlled Golan Heights”. Since 1981 the Heights have been fully subject to Israeli law, no more under the direct control of the national government than any other part of Israel.
It turns out that it was not just rockets aimed at the Golan; I just saw a report that in fact three Iranian Shafaq aircraft penetrated Israeli territory, in an attempt to attack the Ramat David air base. Five F-35s were scrambled, one Iranian was shot down, and the other two escaped back to Iran. In return the IDF has destroyed the Iranian base from which these planes were launched. Estimated Iranian casualties are 150 dead and 200 wounded. In expectation of an Iranian response all Israeli shelters are now open.
Well, it’s been 10 hours since I saw that report, with no confirmation anywhere else, so it’s looking more and more like fake news.
Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman just confirmed Wash DC Councilman’s claims that Jews control the weather?? LOL