http://www.breitbart.com/jerusalem
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) sent the following statement to news agencies, including Breitbart News:
In response to projectile fire that hit near the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council earlier today, Israeli Air Force (IAF) aircrafts targeted two military
infrastructures that belong to the Hamas terror organization. These were in the northern and southern areas of the Gaza Strip.
The IDF said that the rocket from Gaza landed in an open area and no injuries were reported.
After the rocket was launched, an Islamic State-affiliated group, Ahfad al-Sahaba, claimed credit for the terror rocket attack.
Israel routinely holds Gaza's Hamas rulers responsible for any rocket fire from the coastal enclave.
While the IAF operated in Gaza today, the Israeli military has been intently focused on Israel's northern border with Syria after repeated spillover mortar
and bullet rounds from the Syrian civil war landed in Israel's Golan Heights in recent days.
On Monday, the IDF announced that stray bullet fire hit a United Nations peacekeeping position in the Golan.
On Sunday, for the second straight day, the IAF struck Syrian military targets after spillover fire landed in Israel.
On Saturday night, the IAF carried out three retaliatory strikes targeting Syrian Army positions inside Syria from which ten mortars were reportedly fired
into the Jewish state earlier that day.
The IDF believes much of the fire originated with fighting across the border in Syria, particularly in Quneitra, the small village near the Golan Heights'
border with southern Syria that falls within a zone formerly demilitarized by the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF).
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the Israeli strikes "once again made our policy clear: We are not willing to accept any spillover or leakage
of fire from any front. We will respond with force to any fire on our territory."
The IDF has instructed Israeli civilians to stay away from the border area near Quneitra.
http://www.breitbart.com/jerusalem
The military said it targeted two Syrian artillery positions and an ammunitions truck. There were no immediate reports of casualties. But as an added
precaution, the military instructed Israeli civilians from gathering in open areas in the border area.
It was the second straight day that Israel responded to what it has described as errant fire from Syria. Israel has tried to stay out of the six-year
civil war in Syria and refrained from taking sides, but has responded to spillover fire on numerous occasions.
Israel also is believed to have carried out airstrikes on suspected weapons shipments to its archenemy Hezbollah, whose fighters are in Syria backing
government forces.
"Our policy is clear: We will not tolerate any spillover or trickle whatsoever-neither mortars nor rockets, from any front," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
told his cabinet on Sunday. "We will respond strongly to any attack on our territory or our citizens."
He also said Israel views "with utmost gravity" Iranian attempts to gain a foothold in Syria or to provide advanced weapons to Hezbollah, its Lebanese
proxy.
In Saturday's fighting, Israeli aircraft struck various positions, destroying two tanks, in response to more than 10 projectiles that landed in its territory,
the military said.
Syrian state media said a number of people were killed.
http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Syria-warns-Israel-Further-attacks-will-have-serious-repercussions-497912
http://www.debka.com/article/26115/Golan-battles-bring-Hizballah-near-Israeli-border
The rebel militias set up a coalition to coordinate their offensive. It is dominated by the Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), which Damascus claims is an arm
of Al Qaeda-Syria. In fact, it is an alignment of dozens of Islamist groups, some of which belonged and still do to Jabhat Fateh al-Sham - the former Nusra Front.
Fighting on the side of the Assad regime are the remnants of the Syrian army's 90th Brigade, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards South Syrian command center,
and the pro-Iranian Afghan Shiite militia.
They are joined by members of Hezbollah's Southern Shield Brigade.
This brigade is made up of Palestinians, Druzes, Circassians and local Syrians, whom Hizballah recruited and has posted in Hermon villages ready to launch
terrorist attacks inside Israel.
The battle around Quneitra was preceded on June 17 by the assassination of Majd a-Din Khalik Khaymoud, commander of the Southern Shield Brigade and his
two lieutenants, who were caught in an ambush near the village of Khan Arnabah. No party took responsibility for this attack.
Then, on Saturday, June 24, the rebel coalition launched its offensive on the Syrian-Hizballah units at Al-Baath, boasting that they would not stop until
they reached Damascus. Although they caught the enemy by surprise, they were unable to follow up with a rapid advance, because they were pushed back by superior fire power. Since the Syrian mortars were aiming their fire at the rebel units concentrated around
Quneitra, i.e., from east to west, some of the shells spilled over the border into the Golan.
When the rebels saw they were falling short of their objective, they drummed up a more modest goal: It was to open a second front in order to lighten
the pressure on a separate rebel organization which for nearly three weeks has been fighting off fierce assaults on their positions in the southern Syrian town of Daraa, close to the Jordanian border.
Assad's army, combined with large-scale Hezbollah units and pro-Iranian forces, are therefore in full flight to seize control of Syria's borders with
Jordan and Israel. Amman and Jerusalem therefore face a twin peril on the Daraa and Al-Baath fronts. Both are anxious to keep Hizballah as far as possible from their territory.
But for now, both these war-fronts hang in the balance and are undecided. Also undecided on how and when to react are Israel and Jordan. Hezbollah is already
3km from the Golan border, although Israel's government and military leaders have pledged repeatedly that they would be allowed to come in so close.
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/perspective/features/2017/06/26/ANALYSIS-Is-Iran-plunging-the-Middle-East-into-another-war-.html
As Iran has also wreaked havoc in Iraq and Yemen, concerns are rallying on Tehran going the distance to pull the US full-scale into the Syria inferno.
Such a mentality results from misunderstanding the nature of what is known as the Iranian regime.
Escalating tensions
After establishing a foothold in the strategic town of al-Tanf near the Iraq-Jordan-Syria border, US forces designated a buffer zone to provide protection
for their own troops and resources, alongside their allies of anti-Assad opposition rebels.
1) On three different incidents Iran-backed militias have made advances into the buffer zone, only to receive warnings and eventually be attacked by US
warplanes.
2) Raising the stakes, on two occasions Iran-made pro-Assad drones have been downed by US-led coalition forces.
3) And maybe the ultimate incident came when a US F/A-18 fighter jet shot down a Syrian Sukho-22 warplane after the latter dropped bombs on US-backed
Kurdish forces north of Raqqa, the self-declared capital of ISIS.
Understanding its conventional and non-conventional forces stand no match against the classical armies of the US and the unity of its Arab allies, Iran
has for the past 38 years resorted to tactics of its own.
Terrorist attacks across the region through proxy groups such as the Lebanese Hezbollah have proven successful. The 1982 Beirut bombings of US and French
barracks led to the American pullout of this highly fragile country. As a result, Tehran has used this method ever since to send its message. Following the wars of Afghanistan and Iraq, Iran yet again resorted to paramilitary and proxy methods to advance its
interests in the region.
Seeing no strong response only emboldens Iran in its pursuit of wreaking havoc. Witnessing the disastrous and premature withdrawal of US forces from Iraq,
and Obama's refusal to live up to his own red line after Assad resorted to the extreme low of gassing his own people in 2013, Iran came to a conclusion such actions will continue unabated.
The language of force
There have been cases otherwise, however, including Operation Praying Mantis on April 18th, 1988 when the US Navy launched a campaign against Tehran's
naval fleet in retaliation for the Iranian mining of the Persian Gulf during the Iran-Iraq war and the subsequent damage to an American warship.
The attack came as a major wake-up call for Iran as the mullahs in Tehran only understand the language of force. The 59 cruise missiles the US used to
target the Syrian regime airfield used to launch a chemical attack on Homs earlier this year also rose eyebrows not only in Damascus, Moscow and Tehran, but the world over.
The recent incidents in Syria are further serious signals for Iran that such belligerence no longer will go tolerated, especially considering a new US
administration in Washington adopting a far different perspective and strategy than its predecessor.
What needs grave understanding is the fact that Iran is the last party that seeks a full blown war in Syria, Yemen or any other region of the Middle East.
The Iranian regime is seeking a win-win solution, enjoying an open hand in meddling across the region to such extent to prevent any major international community retaliatory action.
Has Iran been successful? To this day, mostly it has, unfortunately, thanks to the West's highly flawed belief in adopting a policy of engagement with
Iran to tame the mullahs and enjoy short-term economic gains.
The tides, however, are changing for the better. Iran's Achilles Heel must be the main target as seen in the recent US Senate resolution imposing sanctions
on the regime's ballistic missile program, support of terrorism and human rights violations.
Tehran may kick, scream and threaten to abandon the Iran nuclear deal in retaliation. Yet rest assured the mullahs will not make such a grave mistake,
triggering the automatic re-imposition of sanctions under six previous United Nations Security Council resolutions.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards lies at the heart of the mullahs' illicit activities both inside the country and abroad. This entity also controls around
40 percent of the country's already fragile and highly corrupt economy.
To this end, there is no need for another war in the region. Iran knows better that such an outcome would only accelerate developments against its interests.
The US and Arab world can and should lead the international community by designating the Revolutionary Guards as a foreign terrorist organization.
This will be a complementary measure to the abovementioned Senate resolution, and bring Tehran to its knees. Such an initiative will place the international
community alongside the Iranian people in their struggle against the ruling mullahs' regime.
This is especially true after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson referred to Washington's support for domestic forces seeking peaceful regime change
in Iran.
http://www.breitbart.com/jerusalem/2017/06/27/israel-warns-iran-against-arming-hezbollah-in-lebanon/
An unnamed diplomatic source in Europe said Israel had asked him and other representatives from countries that have ties with Iran to convey the message
that Jerusalem would not stand by while Tehran's proxy Hezbollah establishes underground factories to produce advanced rockets, Hebrew-language media reported.
Such weapons have until now been smuggled through Syria but the Israeli Air Force strikes weapons convoys bound for Hezbollah.
A senior Israeli official confirmed the claim and said Jerusalem has stressed to the international community that Iranian support for Hezbollah must become
a priority when dealing with Iran.
"The Lebanese government cannot address this issue and thus the address for dealing with it is found with other forces that have influence over the issue,"
the official said, according to Haaretz.
On Friday, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah warned that "hundreds of thousands of fighters" would assist Syria and Lebanon in a war with Israel.
"The Israeli enemy should know that if it launches an attack on Syria or Lebanon, it's unknown whether the fighting will stay just between Lebanon and
Israel, or Syria and Israel," Hassan Nasrallah said, adding that a future conflict would be "very costly for Israel."
"I'm not saying countries would intervene directly - but it would open the door for hundreds of thousands of fighters from all around the Arab and Islamic
world to participate in this fight - from Iraq, Yemen, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan," he said.
A day prior, Israel charged Hezbollah with violating United Nations Security Council resolutions by constructing a string of military observation points
under the guise of installations belonging to an environmental NGO.
"Hezbollah is using an environmental organization as a cover for activities along the border with Israel," Israel's military intelligence chief Maj. Gen.
Hertzl Halevi said at the Herzliya Conference.
IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot told the same conference on Wednesday that Hezbollah remains Israel's primary nemesis.
Israel's Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon told the UNSC that Hezbollah was engaged in a "dangerous provocation" and urged the council to demand that Lebanon
dismantle the observation posts in adherence to UN Security Council Resolution 1701, passed at the end of the Second Lebanon War in August 2006.
The UN on Friday denied the claims, with UNIFIL, the body's interim force in southern Lebanon, reporting that it "has not observed any unauthorized armed
persons at the locations or found any basis to report a violation of Resolution 1701."
On Sunday, Breitbart Jerusalem reported that former deputy defense minister Ephraim Sneh told the Herzliya conference that harming Lebanese infrastructure, as
per the current IDF policy, is the wrong way to respond to Hezbollah rockets, since "Iran does not give a damn if Lebanon's infrastructure is destroyed."
http://nypost.com/2017/06/27/why-iran-and-israel-may-be-on-the-verge-of-conflict-in-syria/?utm_campaign=applenews&utm_medium=inline&utm_source=applenews
This week, however, the Israel Defense Forces closed the area for visitors, letting in only the local farmers who worried about missing the cherry harvest.
That's because for three days in a row, mortar shells flew across the border onto the Israeli-controlled side of the Golan, putting war gawkers at too
much risk.
Most likely, the shells overflew their real target: one of the sides in the increasingly heated battle in an area around Quneitra, a town divided between
Israel and Syria. Various Sunni militias are entrenched in the area, and Syrian forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad are trying to clear them out.
Control of the road between Quneitra and Dara to the south (where the uprising against Assad started six years ago) is key for the Syrian army - and even
more so for its patrons in Tehran. By capturing this road, and the area east of Israel and north of Jordan, they can establish a land corridor from Iran, through Iraq, to Damascus and Syria's neighbor, Lebanon.
The Syria war is complex, involving many powers pulling in all directions. But Iran and its allied militias - Shiite Iraqis, foreigners from Afghanistan
and elsewhere, Hezbollah, Assad's army - have emerged as a chief worry for policymakers in Riyadh, Amman and Jerusalem.
True, Israel knows how to handle spillover from war on its border. IDF surgical strikes hit Syrian army targets over the past few days, which was enough
to at least pause the cross-border seepage of fire into the Golan.
The larger concern for Israeli policymakers here is that Iran and its allied militias, already in control of south Lebanon, are trying to cement a beachhead
in Syria.
It's not just Syria. IDF intelligence chief Herzi Halevi said Iran is also building arms factories in Lebanon, a country now dominated by its local proxy,
Hezbollah. The mullahs, he said, similarly use Yemeni proxies, the Houthis, to manufacture weapons in that strategically located country next door to Saudi Arabia.
So where's America in all this?
The Obama administration considered Iran an ally in the fight against ISIS. That, and the nuclear deal that filled the mullahs' coffers with cash, worried
the Saudis so much that they quietly turned to Israel as an ally to confront Tehran.
And not only Saudis. Ha'aretz reports Jordan and Israel have tightened intelligence cooperation in recent weeks to better address the growing Iranian
threat on Syrian territory near both countries' borders.
US forces are reportedly also operating there in growing numbers. Better yet, President Trump has made clear his predecessor's romance with Tehran was
just a fling. The administration has been warning Iran to watch its step as it stomps around the Middle East.
That may have been behind the seemingly-out-of-the-blue White House announcement Monday, confirmed by the Pentagon Tuesday, that it's detected signs Syria
is preparing a new chemical attack. Trump officials warned Assad would pay a "heavy price" for using chemical weapons again.
According to a Fox News report, Trump is quietly organizing a regional conference, inviting Sunni allies and perhaps even Israel. If so, good - but administration
officials will surely hear a lot about the need for America to take a clear stand against Iran's expansion.
The region is on edge. A victory over ISIS seems close now, but if Iran emerges on top, a wider and more vicious war may ensue, with dire consequences
for everyone, including America.
For Israelis, meanwhile, such an outcome could be much scarier than what happened this week to a few Golan tourists that temporarily lost a front-row seat for
watching the war below.
http://www.charismanews.com/politics/issues/65907-so-what-was-iran-s-missile-strike-on-syria-really-about
Iran struck Islamic State targets in Syria on June 18, in retaliation for Islamic State's twin terror attacks against prominent Iranian institutions June
7. Iran had not launched a missile strike on another nation since the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s.
Situated nearly 1,800 kilometers (1,118 miles) away from Israel, Iran reportedly has missiles capable of reaching the Jewish state. The precision-guided
Zolfaghar missiles Iran fired Sunday into the Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor have a range of about 750 kilometers (466 miles). Iran proceeded to showcase Zolfaghar missiles Friday during anti-Israel "Al-Quds Day" rallies.
The Israeli government has ongoing concerns about Iran's nuclear program, ballistic missile program and state sponsorship of terrorism, but the Iranian
missile strike in Syria seemingly had little to do with the Jewish state.
Dr. Raz Zimmt, an Iran expert at two Israeli think tanks, the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) and the Forum for Regional Thinking, told
JNS.org Iran's missile attack was "a direct response to the [June 7] terror attack in Tehran and a message both for domestic, regional and international use."
Zimmt explained that, internationally, Iran "wanted to send a message that it considers its missile capabilities to be vital to its national interests,
especially in light of the growing U.S. criticism against this capability." The U.S. Senate passed new sanctions against Iran's ballistic missile program June 15.
"The Iranian regime wanted to send a message to its rivals, especially the Saudis, and to a lesser extent, in my view, Israel, showing its strength as
a regional power," Zimmt said.
Missile Accuracy 'the Lesser Issue'
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot said the Iranian missile launch was "smaller" than what was reported and achieved "far from precise hits."
Yet accuracy "is the lesser issue," said Dr. Eado Hecht, a military expert at Bar-Ilan University's Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies.
"If [the Iranians] launch towards targets in an Israeli city, then it really does not matter on which street the missile falls-their capability of hitting
a target area the size of Haifa or Tel Aviv is a given," Hecht told JNS.org.
Hecht said the strike in Syria demonstrated Iran's ability to reach a target area as far as 700 kilometers (435 miles) away. That does not prove Iran
can strike Israel with its missiles, but the regime is assumed to have such a capability, according to Hecht, who added that it is difficult for the Jewish state to gather information on Iranian missiles solely from test-launches.
Overall, Iran's "message is more to others rather than to Israel" through the strike on Syria, said Hecht.
"I think demonstrating this capability and the willingness to use it was directed more to the Saudis than to Israel," he said.
Iran Showcases Its Strength
INSS analyst Zimmt said he sees the recent escalation between the Shi'a power of Iran and the Sunni power of Saudi Arabia as contributing to Iran's efforts
to showcase its strength.
"Iran considers current developments in the region as an expression of a combined effort by the Saudi-American-Zionist alliance to curb its influence
in the region, while it continues its own efforts to expand its influence," he said.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) military force has come under criticism domestically following the Islamic State terror attacks in Tehran,
"so it had to react," said Zimmt.
"The bottom line," he said, "is that Iran always tries to turn a challenge or weakness, such as the terror attack, into an opportunity to show its strength."
Israel on Monday night carried out retaliatory strikes against Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip after a projectile
was launched into the Jewish state earlier in the day.
was launched into the Jewish state earlier in the day.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) sent the following statement to news agencies, including Breitbart News:
In response to projectile fire that hit near the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council earlier today, Israeli Air Force (IAF) aircrafts targeted two military
infrastructures that belong to the Hamas terror organization. These were in the northern and southern areas of the Gaza Strip.
The IDF said that the rocket from Gaza landed in an open area and no injuries were reported.
After the rocket was launched, an Islamic State-affiliated group, Ahfad al-Sahaba, claimed credit for the terror rocket attack.
Israel routinely holds Gaza's Hamas rulers responsible for any rocket fire from the coastal enclave.
While the IAF operated in Gaza today, the Israeli military has been intently focused on Israel's northern border with Syria after repeated spillover mortar
and bullet rounds from the Syrian civil war landed in Israel's Golan Heights in recent days.
On Monday, the IDF announced that stray bullet fire hit a United Nations peacekeeping position in the Golan.
On Sunday, for the second straight day, the IAF struck Syrian military targets after spillover fire landed in Israel.
On Saturday night, the IAF carried out three retaliatory strikes targeting Syrian Army positions inside Syria from which ten mortars were reportedly fired
into the Jewish state earlier that day.
The IDF believes much of the fire originated with fighting across the border in Syria, particularly in Quneitra, the small village near the Golan Heights'
border with southern Syria that falls within a zone formerly demilitarized by the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF).
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the Israeli strikes "once again made our policy clear: We are not willing to accept any spillover or leakage
of fire from any front. We will respond with force to any fire on our territory."
The IDF has instructed Israeli civilians to stay away from the border area near Quneitra.
Israel Strikes Syrian Army Two Days In Row Following Projectile Fire into Golan Heights -
http://www.breitbart.com/jerusalem
The IDF on Sunday said it attacked a series of targets belonging to the Syrian military after several projectiles from
neighboring Syria landed in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights for a second day.
neighboring Syria landed in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights for a second day.
The military said it targeted two Syrian artillery positions and an ammunitions truck. There were no immediate reports of casualties. But as an added
precaution, the military instructed Israeli civilians from gathering in open areas in the border area.
It was the second straight day that Israel responded to what it has described as errant fire from Syria. Israel has tried to stay out of the six-year
civil war in Syria and refrained from taking sides, but has responded to spillover fire on numerous occasions.
Israel also is believed to have carried out airstrikes on suspected weapons shipments to its archenemy Hezbollah, whose fighters are in Syria backing
government forces.
"Our policy is clear: We will not tolerate any spillover or trickle whatsoever-neither mortars nor rockets, from any front," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
told his cabinet on Sunday. "We will respond strongly to any attack on our territory or our citizens."
He also said Israel views "with utmost gravity" Iranian attempts to gain a foothold in Syria or to provide advanced weapons to Hezbollah, its Lebanese
proxy.
In Saturday's fighting, Israeli aircraft struck various positions, destroying two tanks, in response to more than 10 projectiles that landed in its territory,
the military said.
Syrian state media said a number of people were killed.
Syria warns Israel: Further attacks will have serious repercussions -
http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Syria-warns-Israel-Further-attacks-will-have-serious-repercussions-497912
The Syrian military threatened Israel on Sunday evening that should it launch any further attacks on Syrian army targets,
Israel will have to take the responsibility for repercussions that can ensue, according to The Jerusalem Post's sister publication Maariv, citing Lebanese television news outlet Al Mayadeen.
This threat comes after the IDF struck targets belonging to forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime in response to the errant fire that
hit northern Israel earlier in the day.
Israel will have to take the responsibility for repercussions that can ensue, according to The Jerusalem Post's sister publication Maariv, citing Lebanese television news outlet Al Mayadeen.
This threat comes after the IDF struck targets belonging to forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime in response to the errant fire that
hit northern Israel earlier in the day.
Several projectiles fired from Syria landed in open territory in Israel's Golan Heights on Sunday afternoon, the IDF
confirmed. No injuries were reported in the incident.
confirmed. No injuries were reported in the incident.
The military stated that the errant projectiles were the result of internal fighting in Syria.
Sunday was the second day in a row that the Israeli-Syrian border has been effected by a spillover from the ongoing
conflict in Syria.
conflict in Syria.
Golan battles bring Hezbollah near Israeli border -
http://www.debka.com/article/26115/Golan-battles-bring-Hizballah-near-Israeli-border
In the last 48 hours, Israel has conducted airstrikes on and aimed tank fire at Syrian army positions near Quneitra's
northern suburb of Baath city, 3km from IDF Golan border defenses. (See map). Those positions were the source of the mortar shells that exploded on the Israeli Golan - 10 on Saturday, June 24 and three the next day. They came from a battle in which Syrian
and Hizballah units were fighting off a Syrian rebel offensive around Quneitra.
northern suburb of Baath city, 3km from IDF Golan border defenses. (See map). Those positions were the source of the mortar shells that exploded on the Israeli Golan - 10 on Saturday, June 24 and three the next day. They came from a battle in which Syrian
and Hizballah units were fighting off a Syrian rebel offensive around Quneitra.
The rebel militias set up a coalition to coordinate their offensive. It is dominated by the Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), which Damascus claims is an arm
of Al Qaeda-Syria. In fact, it is an alignment of dozens of Islamist groups, some of which belonged and still do to Jabhat Fateh al-Sham - the former Nusra Front.
Fighting on the side of the Assad regime are the remnants of the Syrian army's 90th Brigade, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards South Syrian command center,
and the pro-Iranian Afghan Shiite militia.
They are joined by members of Hezbollah's Southern Shield Brigade.
This brigade is made up of Palestinians, Druzes, Circassians and local Syrians, whom Hizballah recruited and has posted in Hermon villages ready to launch
terrorist attacks inside Israel.
The battle around Quneitra was preceded on June 17 by the assassination of Majd a-Din Khalik Khaymoud, commander of the Southern Shield Brigade and his
two lieutenants, who were caught in an ambush near the village of Khan Arnabah. No party took responsibility for this attack.
Then, on Saturday, June 24, the rebel coalition launched its offensive on the Syrian-Hizballah units at Al-Baath, boasting that they would not stop until
they reached Damascus. Although they caught the enemy by surprise, they were unable to follow up with a rapid advance, because they were pushed back by superior fire power. Since the Syrian mortars were aiming their fire at the rebel units concentrated around
Quneitra, i.e., from east to west, some of the shells spilled over the border into the Golan.
When the rebels saw they were falling short of their objective, they drummed up a more modest goal: It was to open a second front in order to lighten
the pressure on a separate rebel organization which for nearly three weeks has been fighting off fierce assaults on their positions in the southern Syrian town of Daraa, close to the Jordanian border.
Assad's army, combined with large-scale Hezbollah units and pro-Iranian forces, are therefore in full flight to seize control of Syria's borders with
Jordan and Israel. Amman and Jerusalem therefore face a twin peril on the Daraa and Al-Baath fronts. Both are anxious to keep Hizballah as far as possible from their territory.
But for now, both these war-fronts hang in the balance and are undecided. Also undecided on how and when to react are Israel and Jordan. Hezbollah is already
3km from the Golan border, although Israel's government and military leaders have pledged repeatedly that they would be allowed to come in so close.
ANALYSIS: Is Iran plunging the Middle East into another war? - By Heshmat Alavi -
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/perspective/features/2017/06/26/ANALYSIS-Is-Iran-plunging-the-Middle-East-into-another-war-.html
The days of ISIS are numbered and voices are heard about the entire region being forced into a far more disastrous
conflict. Various parties, mainly the US and Iran, have begun jostling, seeking to inject their influence onto what the future holds for Syria.
conflict. Various parties, mainly the US and Iran, have begun jostling, seeking to inject their influence onto what the future holds for Syria.
As Iran has also wreaked havoc in Iraq and Yemen, concerns are rallying on Tehran going the distance to pull the US full-scale into the Syria inferno.
Such a mentality results from misunderstanding the nature of what is known as the Iranian regime.
Escalating tensions
After establishing a foothold in the strategic town of al-Tanf near the Iraq-Jordan-Syria border, US forces designated a buffer zone to provide protection
for their own troops and resources, alongside their allies of anti-Assad opposition rebels.
1) On three different incidents Iran-backed militias have made advances into the buffer zone, only to receive warnings and eventually be attacked by US
warplanes.
2) Raising the stakes, on two occasions Iran-made pro-Assad drones have been downed by US-led coalition forces.
3) And maybe the ultimate incident came when a US F/A-18 fighter jet shot down a Syrian Sukho-22 warplane after the latter dropped bombs on US-backed
Kurdish forces north of Raqqa, the self-declared capital of ISIS.
Tehran's habit
Understanding its conventional and non-conventional forces stand no match against the classical armies of the US and the unity of its Arab allies, Iran
has for the past 38 years resorted to tactics of its own.
Terrorist attacks across the region through proxy groups such as the Lebanese Hezbollah have proven successful. The 1982 Beirut bombings of US and French
barracks led to the American pullout of this highly fragile country. As a result, Tehran has used this method ever since to send its message. Following the wars of Afghanistan and Iraq, Iran yet again resorted to paramilitary and proxy methods to advance its
interests in the region.
Seeing no strong response only emboldens Iran in its pursuit of wreaking havoc. Witnessing the disastrous and premature withdrawal of US forces from Iraq,
and Obama's refusal to live up to his own red line after Assad resorted to the extreme low of gassing his own people in 2013, Iran came to a conclusion such actions will continue unabated.
The language of force
There have been cases otherwise, however, including Operation Praying Mantis on April 18th, 1988 when the US Navy launched a campaign against Tehran's
naval fleet in retaliation for the Iranian mining of the Persian Gulf during the Iran-Iraq war and the subsequent damage to an American warship.
The attack came as a major wake-up call for Iran as the mullahs in Tehran only understand the language of force. The 59 cruise missiles the US used to
target the Syrian regime airfield used to launch a chemical attack on Homs earlier this year also rose eyebrows not only in Damascus, Moscow and Tehran, but the world over.
The recent incidents in Syria are further serious signals for Iran that such belligerence no longer will go tolerated, especially considering a new US
administration in Washington adopting a far different perspective and strategy than its predecessor.
Solution
What needs grave understanding is the fact that Iran is the last party that seeks a full blown war in Syria, Yemen or any other region of the Middle East.
The Iranian regime is seeking a win-win solution, enjoying an open hand in meddling across the region to such extent to prevent any major international community retaliatory action.
Has Iran been successful? To this day, mostly it has, unfortunately, thanks to the West's highly flawed belief in adopting a policy of engagement with
Iran to tame the mullahs and enjoy short-term economic gains.
The tides, however, are changing for the better. Iran's Achilles Heel must be the main target as seen in the recent US Senate resolution imposing sanctions
on the regime's ballistic missile program, support of terrorism and human rights violations.
Tehran may kick, scream and threaten to abandon the Iran nuclear deal in retaliation. Yet rest assured the mullahs will not make such a grave mistake,
triggering the automatic re-imposition of sanctions under six previous United Nations Security Council resolutions.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards lies at the heart of the mullahs' illicit activities both inside the country and abroad. This entity also controls around
40 percent of the country's already fragile and highly corrupt economy.
To this end, there is no need for another war in the region. Iran knows better that such an outcome would only accelerate developments against its interests.
The US and Arab world can and should lead the international community by designating the Revolutionary Guards as a foreign terrorist organization.
This will be a complementary measure to the abovementioned Senate resolution, and bring Tehran to its knees. Such an initiative will place the international
community alongside the Iranian people in their struggle against the ruling mullahs' regime.
This is especially true after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson referred to Washington's support for domestic forces seeking peaceful regime change
in Iran.
Israel Warns Iran Against Arming Hezbollah In Lebanon - by Deborah Danan -
http://www.breitbart.com/jerusalem/2017/06/27/israel-warns-iran-against-arming-hezbollah-in-lebanon/
Israel has sent messages to Iran via diplomatic channels in Europe warning the regime that it "will not tolerate" expanding
Hezbollah's arsenal with weapons factories in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah's arsenal with weapons factories in southern Lebanon.
An unnamed diplomatic source in Europe said Israel had asked him and other representatives from countries that have ties with Iran to convey the message
that Jerusalem would not stand by while Tehran's proxy Hezbollah establishes underground factories to produce advanced rockets, Hebrew-language media reported.
Such weapons have until now been smuggled through Syria but the Israeli Air Force strikes weapons convoys bound for Hezbollah.
A senior Israeli official confirmed the claim and said Jerusalem has stressed to the international community that Iranian support for Hezbollah must become
a priority when dealing with Iran.
"The Lebanese government cannot address this issue and thus the address for dealing with it is found with other forces that have influence over the issue,"
the official said, according to Haaretz.
On Friday, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah warned that "hundreds of thousands of fighters" would assist Syria and Lebanon in a war with Israel.
"The Israeli enemy should know that if it launches an attack on Syria or Lebanon, it's unknown whether the fighting will stay just between Lebanon and
Israel, or Syria and Israel," Hassan Nasrallah said, adding that a future conflict would be "very costly for Israel."
"I'm not saying countries would intervene directly - but it would open the door for hundreds of thousands of fighters from all around the Arab and Islamic
world to participate in this fight - from Iraq, Yemen, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan," he said.
A day prior, Israel charged Hezbollah with violating United Nations Security Council resolutions by constructing a string of military observation points
under the guise of installations belonging to an environmental NGO.
"Hezbollah is using an environmental organization as a cover for activities along the border with Israel," Israel's military intelligence chief Maj. Gen.
Hertzl Halevi said at the Herzliya Conference.
IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot told the same conference on Wednesday that Hezbollah remains Israel's primary nemesis.
Israel's Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon told the UNSC that Hezbollah was engaged in a "dangerous provocation" and urged the council to demand that Lebanon
dismantle the observation posts in adherence to UN Security Council Resolution 1701, passed at the end of the Second Lebanon War in August 2006.
The UN on Friday denied the claims, with UNIFIL, the body's interim force in southern Lebanon, reporting that it "has not observed any unauthorized armed
persons at the locations or found any basis to report a violation of Resolution 1701."
On Sunday, Breitbart Jerusalem reported that former deputy defense minister Ephraim Sneh told the Herzliya conference that harming Lebanese infrastructure, as
per the current IDF policy, is the wrong way to respond to Hezbollah rockets, since "Iran does not give a damn if Lebanon's infrastructure is destroyed."
Why Iran and Israel may be on the verge of conflict - in Syria - By Benny Avni -
http://nypost.com/2017/06/27/why-iran-and-israel-may-be-on-the-verge-of-conflict-in-syria/?utm_campaign=applenews&utm_medium=inline&utm_source=applenews
Some Israelis like to go to the Golan, where from the safety of a ramp overlooking the valley below, they can watch
- no binoculars needed - the most consequential regional event of the age: the Syrian civil war.
- no binoculars needed - the most consequential regional event of the age: the Syrian civil war.
This week, however, the Israel Defense Forces closed the area for visitors, letting in only the local farmers who worried about missing the cherry harvest.
That's because for three days in a row, mortar shells flew across the border onto the Israeli-controlled side of the Golan, putting war gawkers at too
much risk.
Most likely, the shells overflew their real target: one of the sides in the increasingly heated battle in an area around Quneitra, a town divided between
Israel and Syria. Various Sunni militias are entrenched in the area, and Syrian forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad are trying to clear them out.
Control of the road between Quneitra and Dara to the south (where the uprising against Assad started six years ago) is key for the Syrian army - and even
more so for its patrons in Tehran. By capturing this road, and the area east of Israel and north of Jordan, they can establish a land corridor from Iran, through Iraq, to Damascus and Syria's neighbor, Lebanon.
Throw in Yemen, and Iran's dream of a "Shiite crescent" that would make it the Mideast's dominant force comes true.
The Syria war is complex, involving many powers pulling in all directions. But Iran and its allied militias - Shiite Iraqis, foreigners from Afghanistan
and elsewhere, Hezbollah, Assad's army - have emerged as a chief worry for policymakers in Riyadh, Amman and Jerusalem.
True, Israel knows how to handle spillover from war on its border. IDF surgical strikes hit Syrian army targets over the past few days, which was enough
to at least pause the cross-border seepage of fire into the Golan.
The larger concern for Israeli policymakers here is that Iran and its allied militias, already in control of south Lebanon, are trying to cement a beachhead
in Syria.
And that's exactly what's happening. "Iran is attempting to use the civil war to establish air force and naval bases
in Syria," Israel's Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz told Israel Radio this week.
in Syria," Israel's Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz told Israel Radio this week.
It's not just Syria. IDF intelligence chief Herzi Halevi said Iran is also building arms factories in Lebanon, a country now dominated by its local proxy,
Hezbollah. The mullahs, he said, similarly use Yemeni proxies, the Houthis, to manufacture weapons in that strategically located country next door to Saudi Arabia.
So where's America in all this?
The Obama administration considered Iran an ally in the fight against ISIS. That, and the nuclear deal that filled the mullahs' coffers with cash, worried
the Saudis so much that they quietly turned to Israel as an ally to confront Tehran.
And not only Saudis. Ha'aretz reports Jordan and Israel have tightened intelligence cooperation in recent weeks to better address the growing Iranian
threat on Syrian territory near both countries' borders.
US forces are reportedly also operating there in growing numbers. Better yet, President Trump has made clear his predecessor's romance with Tehran was
just a fling. The administration has been warning Iran to watch its step as it stomps around the Middle East.
That may have been behind the seemingly-out-of-the-blue White House announcement Monday, confirmed by the Pentagon Tuesday, that it's detected signs Syria
is preparing a new chemical attack. Trump officials warned Assad would pay a "heavy price" for using chemical weapons again.
Yet, widely reported internal fights among administration bigwigs over America's involvement in the Syria war could
hamstring the united anti-Iran front that Sunni allies are hoping for. Washington's bickering over Trump's alleged ties to Russia, an Iran ally, isn't helping either.
hamstring the united anti-Iran front that Sunni allies are hoping for. Washington's bickering over Trump's alleged ties to Russia, an Iran ally, isn't helping either.
According to a Fox News report, Trump is quietly organizing a regional conference, inviting Sunni allies and perhaps even Israel. If so, good - but administration
officials will surely hear a lot about the need for America to take a clear stand against Iran's expansion.
The region is on edge. A victory over ISIS seems close now, but if Iran emerges on top, a wider and more vicious war may ensue, with dire consequences
for everyone, including America.
For Israelis, meanwhile, such an outcome could be much scarier than what happened this week to a few Golan tourists that temporarily lost a front-row seat for
watching the war below.
So What Was Iran's Missile Strike on Syria Really About? - Ariel Ben Solomon -
http://www.charismanews.com/politics/issues/65907-so-what-was-iran-s-missile-strike-on-syria-really-about
While Iran routinely threatens Israel and its Lebanese terror proxy, Hezbollah, has a vast arsenal of rockets pointed
at the Jewish state, experts say the Islamic Republic was sending messages elsewhere through its first missile strike on another country in three decades.
at the Jewish state, experts say the Islamic Republic was sending messages elsewhere through its first missile strike on another country in three decades.
Iran struck Islamic State targets in Syria on June 18, in retaliation for Islamic State's twin terror attacks against prominent Iranian institutions June
7. Iran had not launched a missile strike on another nation since the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s.
Situated nearly 1,800 kilometers (1,118 miles) away from Israel, Iran reportedly has missiles capable of reaching the Jewish state. The precision-guided
Zolfaghar missiles Iran fired Sunday into the Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor have a range of about 750 kilometers (466 miles). Iran proceeded to showcase Zolfaghar missiles Friday during anti-Israel "Al-Quds Day" rallies.
The Israeli government has ongoing concerns about Iran's nuclear program, ballistic missile program and state sponsorship of terrorism, but the Iranian
missile strike in Syria seemingly had little to do with the Jewish state.
Dr. Raz Zimmt, an Iran expert at two Israeli think tanks, the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) and the Forum for Regional Thinking, told
JNS.org Iran's missile attack was "a direct response to the [June 7] terror attack in Tehran and a message both for domestic, regional and international use."
Zimmt explained that, internationally, Iran "wanted to send a message that it considers its missile capabilities to be vital to its national interests,
especially in light of the growing U.S. criticism against this capability." The U.S. Senate passed new sanctions against Iran's ballistic missile program June 15.
"The Iranian regime wanted to send a message to its rivals, especially the Saudis, and to a lesser extent, in my view, Israel, showing its strength as
a regional power," Zimmt said.
Missile Accuracy 'the Lesser Issue'
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot said the Iranian missile launch was "smaller" than what was reported and achieved "far from precise hits."
Yet accuracy "is the lesser issue," said Dr. Eado Hecht, a military expert at Bar-Ilan University's Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies.
"If [the Iranians] launch towards targets in an Israeli city, then it really does not matter on which street the missile falls-their capability of hitting
a target area the size of Haifa or Tel Aviv is a given," Hecht told JNS.org.
Hecht said the strike in Syria demonstrated Iran's ability to reach a target area as far as 700 kilometers (435 miles) away. That does not prove Iran
can strike Israel with its missiles, but the regime is assumed to have such a capability, according to Hecht, who added that it is difficult for the Jewish state to gather information on Iranian missiles solely from test-launches.
Overall, Iran's "message is more to others rather than to Israel" through the strike on Syria, said Hecht.
"I think demonstrating this capability and the willingness to use it was directed more to the Saudis than to Israel," he said.
Iran Showcases Its Strength
INSS analyst Zimmt said he sees the recent escalation between the Shi'a power of Iran and the Sunni power of Saudi Arabia as contributing to Iran's efforts
to showcase its strength.
"Iran considers current developments in the region as an expression of a combined effort by the Saudi-American-Zionist alliance to curb its influence
in the region, while it continues its own efforts to expand its influence," he said.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) military force has come under criticism domestically following the Islamic State terror attacks in Tehran,
"so it had to react," said Zimmt.
"The bottom line," he said, "is that Iran always tries to turn a challenge or weakness, such as the terror attack, into an opportunity to show its strength."
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