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Page added on September 8, 2018
Israel’s Secret War Against Iran Is Widening
It has recently become clear that Israel is engaged in a secret war against Iran in Syria. The war is conducted mainly by means of air power, presumably combined with the intelligence work necessary to provide the country’s airmen with the relevant targets; there is also evidence that targeted killings are among Israel’s tactics in Syria. The objective of this campaign, as plainly stated by senior officials such as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, is the complete withdrawal of Iranian forces and their proxies from Syria.
Given the government’s strategy, this objective is unlikely to be achieved. But its lesser goal of disrupting Tehran’s efforts to consolidate and entrench itself in Syria is within reach.
Israel has carried out periodic strikes against the Syrian regime and Hezbollah targets throughout the country’s civil war. Starting this year, however, there has been a sharp increase in the frequency of such attacks and the commencement of the direct targeting of Iranian facilities and personnel. The imminent demise of the Syrian rebellion spurred this shift.
So long as the insurgency remained viable, Israel was content to observe from the sidelines. At most, the Israeli government maintained a limited relationship with rebels in the Quneitra area to ensure that the war did not reach the border with the Golan Heights while intervening sporadically to disrupt the supply of weaponry to Hezbollah in Lebanon. Beyond that, Israel was content to allow Bashar al-Assad’s regime and Iran and the mainly Sunni Islamist rebels to subject one another to a process of mutual attrition.
This year, however, it became clear that the rebellion, thanks to Iranian and Russian intervention, was going to be defeated. Israel could no longer afford the luxury of relative inaction if it wished to prevent the consolidation of an independent infrastructure of military and political power by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Syrian soil, along the lines of its existing bases in Lebanon and Iraq. Israel’s direct targeting of this nascent infrastructure began shortly thereafter.
It’s difficult to trace the precise contours of this campaign, given Israel’s reticence about taking responsibility for attacks. It is also sometimes in the interest of both Tehran and the Assad regime to avoid publicizing Israel’s strikes.
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Fighters were armed and paid to keep Iranian-linked forces away from Israel’s border.
But it’s clear that the largest-scale clashes so far took place on May 10, when in response to Iranian forces firing 20 Grad and Fajr-5 rockets toward Israeli positions on the Golan Heights, Israel launched an extensive air operation, targeting Iranian infrastructure throughout Syria. This operation involved 28 aircraft and the firing of 70 missiles, according to Russian Defense Ministry figures. The targets included a variety of facilities maintained by the IRGC in Syria: a military compound and logistics complex run by the Quds Force, an elite paramilitary unit of the IRGC, in Kiswah; an Iranian military camp north of Damascus; weapons storage sites belonging to the Quds Force at Damascus International Airport; and intelligence systems and installations associated with the Quds Force.
But Netanyahu recently indicated that the campaign was not over. “The Israel Defense Forces will continue to act with full determination and strength against Iran’s attempts to station forces and advanced weapons systems in Syria,” Netanyahu told an audience in the southern Israeli town of Dimona on Aug. 29.
Israel seemed to express its determination to act in a series of explosions last weekend at the Mezzeh military airport near Damascus. Both the pro-regime Al Mayadeen website and the pro-rebel Syrian Observatory for Human Rights attributed the attack to Israel, but it was silent on the matter. Syrian state television and the official SANA news agency later denied that an Israeli attack had taken place.
An aerial attack on an Iranian convoy near Tanf in southern Syria on Sept. 3 similarly passed without any official claim of responsibility. An Iranian citizen and seven Syrians were killed in the attack, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The U.S.-led anti-Islamic State coalition maintains a base at Tanf, but the coalition denied any involvement in the incident. Tanf, of course, is far to the east of the Quneitra Crossing and the Golan Heights. But Israel’s concerns are not solely, or mainly, with the border area. Israel also appears to be concerned not only with physical infrastructure but also with the passage of Iran-associated militia personnel across the border between Iraq and Syria.
In mid-June, an airstrike took place on Harra, southeast of Albu Kamal on the Syrian-Iraqi border. The target was a base of the Kataib Hezbollah militia, a leading Iran-supported irregular force. Twenty-two members of the organization were killed in the strike. No country claimed responsibility for the attack. An Iranian militia commander quoted by Reuters said the United States was probably responsible. Such an action, however, would be directly contrary to the generally observable U.S. approach regarding the Iraqi Shiite militias. Washington seeks the political defeat of the militias but also is concerned with avoiding military clashes among political elements in Iraq. Finally, the unattributed killings of Aziz Asber, the head of the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center in Masyaf, and Ahmad Issa Habib, the commander of the Palestine department of Syria’s military intelligence, on Aug. 5 and Aug. 18, respectively, have led to some speculation as to possible Israeli responsibility.
What is taking place, then, is an ongoing, rolling campaign intended to disrupt Iran’s attempt to consolidate and deepen its project in Syria. Will the Israeli campaign succeed? It is difficult to see how the country can achieve its maximal goal of complete Iranian withdrawal from Syria. The Iranian investment in Syria is very large, formally based, and long-standing. Tehran has spent upwards of $30 billion in the country over the last seven years. The Iranian project is also multifaceted. It includes the creation of structures within Syria’s official security forces, such as the National Defense Forces, and militia deployments. Air attacks and targeted killings are unlikely by themselves to lead to a strategic decision by Iran to reverse course and abandon all these investments.
It’s perhaps more appropriate to view the Israeli campaign as one element of a broader, multiprong effort to contain and roll back Iran’s gains of recent years across the region. New U.S.-led sanctions and efforts by other regional states elsewhere comprise additional fronts in this campaign.
Given the depth and extent of the Iranian investment in Syria, and the relatively sporadic (if kinetic) Israeli actions, it seems likely that a long, open-ended contest lies ahead. The Israeli campaign resembles nothing so much as the country’s approach toward other troubled areas on its borders, such as Hezbollah-controlled southern Lebanon and Hamas-controlled Gaza. This is the familiar method of “cutting the grass”—albeit carried out on a vastly larger lawn and using a broader and more intricate range of equipment for the purpose.
13 Comments on "Israel’s Secret War Against Iran Is Widening"
joe on Sat, 8th Sep 2018 9:11 am
And this is news because? Its not been much of a secret. Check out this ‘scoop’ from 2015.
“https://www.timesofisrael.com/yaalon-syrian-rebels-keeping-druze-safe-in-exchange-for-israeli-aid/”
“Israel acknowledges it is helping Syrian rebel fightersDefense minister says Jerusalem assists insurgents in exchange for promise Druze will be kept out of harm’s way
By RAPHAEL AHREN 29 June 2015, 2:26 pm”
Israel, the US/UK/Israel France/Germany Saudi/Qatar/UAE and Turkey have been trying to impliment the PNAC plan for over a decade now.
They are trying to undo a century of established borders and make Israel safe, problem is that Israel wasn’t part of the old system and allowing them to impliment apartheid and Jewish superiority laws only makes things harder not easier to complete the policy. The end result has been that Hillay/Obama tried to back a failed coup attempt against Erdogan to pave the road for Kurdish independence and allow a ripe ground to spread the new border making jihad. Heck, it worked in Yugoslavia, why not Arabia! But it’s failing, Qatar/Turkey/Iran now form up the bulk of muslim resisted ce to Zionism, Egypt nearly made the cut but Sisi was able to keep Egypt out of the resistance, Libya had to go cause Gaddafi wouldn’t kill Arabs to save Israel even though he got a pass for decades of Terrorism and even the Lockerbie bomber was released. I guess a knife up the ass is what you get from the deep state if you don’t do what ur told. Trump is learning that lesson daily.
Sissyfuss on Sat, 8th Sep 2018 9:14 am
Just another trigger event for WWIII. So many to choose from and the clock reads almost midnight.
Anonymouse1 on Sat, 8th Sep 2018 3:54 pm
This ‘secret’ has to be one of the worst kept secrets in the Middle East. I would say its second only to Jewsraels ‘secret’ stockpile of nuclear weapons.
The lamestream media seems to have this notion in their heads, that a war is only war, when it is formally declared. Things only seldom work that way. The united states of Israel has been attacking Sryia and Iran, and more, for years, decades even. The only ones this is news to, is to the guys at the ‘news’. But I guess ‘secret’ war sounds more coverty and shadowy, than just, ‘war’.
makati1 on Sat, 8th Sep 2018 6:43 pm
Dumbed down Americans have no idea what is happening in the real world outside their Iron Curtain Police State. If the US MSM told them the world will end tomorrow, they would believe it. Especially if it came from some airhead celebrity.
Reading about US events is like watching monkeys at the zoo. It would be funny, if they were not trying to start wars everywhere and confined their insanity to the 50 states.
Theedrich on Sun, 9th Sep 2018 12:21 am
Mak is right. Only the sad-sack Latinos matter. Mass deaths on the other side of the earth are eclipsed by Leftist screams that Trump has separated alien children from their alien parents, just as O and Bush did before him (but those precedents don’t exist, in the mass mind). The American proxy slaughter of Yemenis or Syrians, and the danger of WW III, are impossibilities. Anyway, a New York Times anti-Trump Op-Ed is far more important.
Yes indeedy. Once again the control of the media proves to be what really matters.
Cloggie on Sun, 9th Sep 2018 1:14 am
“Israel, the US/UK/Israel France/Germany Saudi/Qatar/UAE and Turkey have been trying to impliment the PNAC plan for over a decade now.”
Really? Then why did France and Germany refuse to participate in Iraq?
#FreedomFries
#CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys
Probably because they knew from their own intelligence agencies that 9/11 was a CIA/Mossad inside job.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/aug/18/francesco-cossiga-obituary
In November 2007, the Corriere della Sera reported that Cossiga had declared that everyone knew that 9/11 had been engineered by the CIA and Mossad with the “help of the Zionist world” to discredit the Arabs. He was, of course, being ironic – though this did not stop the statement circulating all over the internet
Cossiga was not ironic at all and the lying bitches of the Guardian substituted “all intelligence agencies” with “everyone”.
And Turkey only participated because it has a neo-Ottoman agenda of its own. Turkey is not interested in “fighting terrorism” or expanding US-influence in the ME.
deadly on Sun, 9th Sep 2018 3:19 am
It ain’t no secret war. And who really gives a shit if it is or not. Freaking dumbasses in this world no matter where you go.
I am all for Israel to go it alone and strike Iran where it hurts the most, wherever that is.
If it is Israel against Iran, nobody else needs to be involved. The Israelis can kick the Iranians in the nuts, see what happens.
The Israelis can fight there own battles, they don’t need help from anyone, esp. the US military.
The Israelis want help because they are cowards who hide behind US might.
Israelis want their moms to fight their battles for them.
Babies through and through.
How do you like them apples?
Dumbasses practicing their dumbfuckery everywhere you go.
Get a life.
deadly on Sun, 9th Sep 2018 3:24 am
Ya, The Israelis can fight their own battles, not there.
Mistakes sometimes, most of the time.
Problem is, nobody gives a shit anymore if Israel tries to pull some stupid shit and more stupid shit ensues, because nobody gives a shit about the Israelis anymore, just don’t care.
Got my own problems to solve, leave me alone with problems of your own making, ya dumbasses.
Cloggie on Sun, 9th Sep 2018 3:49 am
The Israelis can fight there own battles, they don’t need help from anyone, esp. the US military.
The Israelis want help because they are cowards who hide behind US might.
Israelis want their moms to fight their battles for them.
Babies through and through
Um “deadly”, these “cowards” own you. US might, or what’s left of it after Vietnam, Iraq and Syria, is under their (neocon) control, well until November 2016 that iwas. It is unclear what The Donald really has in his sleeve.
https://rense.com/general45/sharonsinfamouscomment.htm
During an argument between the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, Peres said that Isralis’ policies of continued violence might “turn the US against us”.
To this Sharon retorted:
“EVERY TIME WE DO SOMETHING, YOU TELL ME AMERICANS WILL DO THIS AND WILL DO THAT. I WANT TO TELL YOU SOMETHING VERY CLEAR: DON’T WORRY ABOUT AMERICAN PRESSURE ON ISRAEL;
WE, THE JEWISH PEOPLE, CONTROL AMERICA. AND THE AMERICANS KNOW IT.”
— Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
October 3, 2001
(IAP News)
Cloggie on Sun, 9th Sep 2018 5:31 am
Historic Revisionism finally arrives at British MSM via Peter Hitchins:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-6146905/amp/We-DIDNT-win-war-PETER-HITCHENS-writes-provocative-book-challenging-think-WW2.html
In geopolitical terms, the British were the biggest losers of them all, yet they manage to declare the half-American drunkard Churchill to be the “Greatest Britton of all Times”. Real title should be: “best politician kosher money can buy”.
joe on Sun, 9th Sep 2018 9:29 am
Cloggie on Sun, 9th Sep 2018 1:14 am
“https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_military_intervention_in_Libya”
British MI6 were already in bed with Ghadaffi they then turned on him when he probobly refused to go along with the pnac plan.
“https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/nov/09/how-britain-did-gaddafis-dirty-work-libya”
the UK/France/Italy helped Killary (psychobitc) Clinton to get rid of Ghadaffi resulting (undeniably) in the rise of isis there and UK/France was instrumental in the disasters that followed including the refugee crisis. The jihadis that the UK sent to fight Ghadaffi are blowing up kids in Manchester now. 9-11 is Americas version of what the UK has been doing for generations.
“https://medium.com/insurge-intelligence/the-manchester-bombing-as-blowback-the-latest-evidence-83ec2127801d”
The France intervention was in support of a fake jihadi group, the deep state want us to think it’s us v them.
Erdogan and Trump is finding out who their real enemies are, and they are much closer to home.
joe on Sun, 9th Sep 2018 9:33 am
Any serious academic reading of history will inform even a passive learner that Britian sold its empire for ‘lease lend’, not sure if anyone in the modern UK even knows what war he’s on about, there’s been so many since….
Cloggie on Sun, 9th Sep 2018 10:55 am
The France intervention was in support of a fake jihadi group, the deep state want us to think it’s us v them.
Erdogan and Trump is finding out who their real enemies are, and they are much closer to home.
The topic was revisionism finally arriving at the British Isles, but you prefer to talk about Libya
I understand that.
My understanding of the Libyan drama was that it was entirely the work of two persons:
– Bernard Levy, a “french” “philosopher”
– “French” president, in France nicked as “Sarko the American”, because he ain’t no Gaullist, that’s for sure.
Both shady figures have an ethnic affiliation nobody likes to mention in civilized company, as nobody likes to be called an anti-semite, so that will remain a mystery, their ethnic affiliation that is,