Mossad Chief Calls On World to 'Act Now' To Stop Iranian Bomb - by Deborah Danan -
Mossad chief Yossi Cohen has called on the world to "act now" to prevent an Iranian nuclear bomb, Israeli media reported Sunday.
"Today's Iran is the North Korea of yesterday, and so we need to act now so that we don't wake up to [an Iranian] bomb," Channel 2 on Sunday cited Cohen as saying.
According to the report, Israeli security officials have warned against taking a hard line against Iran, fearing that Israel will make the same mistakes the U.S. did by entering Iraq in pursuit of WMDs in the 2000s.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address the UN General Assembly in New York. Netanyahu said he will use the speech to warn against the growing Iranian military presence in Lebanon and Syria. According to Israeli sources, it will mark the first occasion the prime minister directly addresses Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.
"Israel will not tolerate an Iranian military presence on our northern borders. An [Iranian] military presence endangers not just us, but also our Arab neighbors," Netanyahu told reporters on Friday.
Last week, Netanyahu said the deal, signed under the Obama administration in 2015, should either be amended or scrapped entirely.
"Our position is straightforward. This is a bad deal. Either fix it - or cancel it. This is Israel's position," he said.
On Sunday, Breitbart Jerusalem cited Channel 2 as saying that Netanyahu plans to present President Donald Trump with a detailed proposal outlining how "to cancel or at the very least introduce significant changes" to the deal.
Netanyahu denied a Reuters report citing U.S. officials close to the deal as saying that Israel and Saudi Arabia would not be in favor of scrapping the deal entirely and, despite reservations about Iran's behavior, would prefer it remain intact.
Trump has said that he may make changes to the deal and has until October 15 to announce whether Iran has held up its end of the agreement.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on Sunday that Tehran will respond to any "wrong move" by the U.S.
"The Iranian nation has stood firmly and any wrong move by the hegemonic system on the JCPOA would draw a reaction from the Islamic Republic," he said, according to Iran's Press TV.
He added on Twitter that the U.S. was the "great Satan" full of "viciousness."
On Monday, Israeli media reported that government officials have accused the UN agency in charge of overseeing Iran's compliance with the deal of failing to investigate or inspect new illegal sites that Tehran did not disclose under the terms of the deal.
Fix Or Nix Iran Deal or World Faces Islamist Empire With Hundreds of Nukes - by Deborah Danan - http://www.breitbart.com/jerusalem/2017/09/19/netanyahu-fix-nix-iran-deal-world-faces-islamist-empire-hundreds-nukes/
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned in his address to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday that the "bad" Iranian nuclear deal's "sunset clause" must be removed or else the world will face a "radical Islamist empire" armed with hundreds of nuclear bombs.
"The Iranian nuclear deal not only doesn't block Iran's path to the bomb, but actually paves it, because the restrictions placed on Iran's nuclear program have what's called a sunset clause," Netanyahu explained, adding that "in a few years, those restrictions will be automatically removed not by a change in Iran's behavior ... but by a mere change in the calendar."
"I warned that when that sunset comes, a dark shadow will be cast over the entire Middle East and the world. Because Iran will then be free to enrich uranium on an industrial scale, placing it on the threshold of a massive arsenal of nuclear weapons," the prime minister said.
"The greatest danger is that Iran will not be able to build a single bomb by breaking the deal. But they will able to build many nuclear bombs by keeping the deal!" he warned. "Imagine the danger of hundreds of nuclear weapons in the hands of a vast Islamist empire with the missiles to deliver them anywhere in the world."
Netanyahu continued by reiterating his call to either fix or nix the deal, signed in 2015 under the Obama administration.
Scrapping it, he said, would mean "restoring massive pressure on Iran, including crippling sanctions until Iran fully dismantles its nuclear weapons program."
Amending it would mean inspecting all of the Islamic Republic's military and research facilities and penalizing Tehran over every minute violation of the deal.
"But above all, it means getting rid of the sunset clause," he added.
Earlier in the address, Netanyahu praised President Donald Trump for "speaking the truth about Iran" and said that he agreed unequivocally with the U.S. president's assertion that the nuclear deal was an "embarrassment."
Netanyahu said that in all the years spent at the United Nations hearing speeches by heads of state "none were bolder, none were more courageous and forthright than the one delivered by President Trump today."
Iran risks 'mortal peril' by threatening Israel, fix or nix nuclear deal - Herb Keinon -
In Farsi, tells Iranians: You are Israel's friends.
"Fix it or nix it," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, telling the world body that Israel's policy on the Iranian nuclear deal is simple: "Change it or cancel it."
Netanyahu's speech began with enumerating Israel's diplomatic breakthroughs, and how the country has significantly improved its relations with many countries because of what it has to offer in terms of technology and anti-terrorism expertise, and ended with a warning that it would not tolerate Iran's efforts to establish permanent bases on Israel's borders or open new terrorist fronts against Israel in Syria.
"Those that threaten us with annihilation put themselves in mortal peril," he said. "Israel will defend itself with the full force of our arms and the full power of our convictions."
Netanyahu recalled his ardent opposition to the 2015 nuclear deal and those who said it would "somehow moderate Iran.
"I strongly disagree," he said.
"I warned that when the sanctions will be removed, Iran would behave like a hungry tiger unleashed.
Not join the community of nations, but devouring the nations one after the other.
That is precisely what Iran is doing today."
He said that unless the "sunset clause" was excised from the agreement, Iran would be on its way to become the next North Korea, another rogue state with nuclear capabilities.
In a rhetorical parallel to the Iron Curtain, Netanyahu said "an Iranian curtain is descending across the Middle East. It spreads this curtain over Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and elsewhere and pledges to extinguish the light of Israel."
But, Netanyahu continued, "I have a simple message for Khamenei: The light of Israel will never be extinguished."
During his address, Netanyahu turned directly to the Iranian people, greeted them in Farsi, and said Israel was not their enemy, and that once the regime is changed, the peoples can resume what was a historic friendship.
The prime minister made a point of praising US President Donald Trump a number of times during the address, both for the speech he gave earlier in the day and for his strong support of Israel at the United Nations.
Netanyahu said that in his 30 years of experience with the UN, he has not heard a bolder or more courageous speech than the one Trump delivered on Tuesday.
While Netanyahu did not pull out any props or gimmicks during his speech, he did make a joke about penguins, saying that while he has visited six continents this year, he has not yet visited Antarctica.
"I want to go there, too, because I have heard penguins are also enthusiastic supporters of Israel, they have no difficulty recognizing something rare black and white, right and wrong."
When it comes to Israel, he quipped, this power of recognition is too often absent.
Israel Prepared To 'Neutralize' Hezbollah with 'Overwhelming' Force in Next war - By Adam Abrams - http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=1604
Despite the raging civil war to Israel's north and east in Syria, the Jewish state's northern border has remained precariously quiet over the last decade. No stranger to looming threats, Israeli officials are planning and ready for several worst-case scenarios in the north as Iran and its terror proxy Hezbollah continue to forge their stranglehold on the region.
In a possible war scenario with Hezbollah, the Israeli military can launch a "massive and overwhelming" operation that would effectively "neutralize" a significant part of the Lebanese terror organization's military capability, Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, the head of the International Media Branch for the IDF Spokesperson's Unit, told JNS.org.
The IDF's operation would be based on "very accurate intelligence" collected "relentlessly" and "would minimize to the greatest extent possible, harm to non-combatants.... by using the most precise guided munitions that strike only at the legitimate military targets," Conricus said.
Striking only Hezbollah targets without collateral damage will be a challenging military feat because Hezbollah is deliberately "deployed in order to maximize collateral damage" to civilians, he added.
One-third of the homes in southern Lebanon's 130 villages are known to house military components belonging to Hezbollah.
"Hezbollah's strategic choice of the battlefield, embedding its military assets in Shiite villages and towns, has put the majority of the Shiite population in Lebanon in harm's way, using it as human shields...." Brigadier general (Res.) Assaf Orion, a senior research fellow at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), told JNS.org.
Defeating the terror group would likely involve "significant IDF ground incursions into Lebanon as well as taking out Hezbollah rocket positions located in high-density population areas," in hospitals, schools and apartment buildings, Dr. Jonathan Schanzer, senior vice president of research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank, told JNS.org.
In a future conflict, one could expect "significant damage to Israel," Orion said, but simultaneously "a devastating and unprecedented destruction in Lebanon, including a significant victory against Hezbollah's military forces and destruction of most infrastructure enabling its war fighting capacity."
Largest drill in decades
Due to Hezbollah's deep entrenchment within civilian infrastructure, the IDF has narrow windows of opportunity to engage "legitimate military targets," Conricus said.
However, the IDF is prepared for this scenario and recently completed its largest drill in two decades in Israel's northern region, simulating cross-border Hezbollah attacks on Israeli towns in which the terror group aims to commit massacres and take hostages.
The exercise was planned over a year and half in advance and tens of thousands of soldiers from all branches of the IDF participated.
During the initial stage of the drill, soldiers simulated rooting out Hezbollah terrorists from Israeli towns and defending the Jewish state's sovereignty. The drill's second stage simulated "decisive maneuver warfare" into the depths of Hezbollah's territory, Conricus said.
The exercise sought to enhance "coordination and synchronization" between the IDF's ground forces, air force, navy, intelligence and cyber units, and shorten "the intelligence cycle" from when a "target is identified to any type of munition meeting that target," he added.
Hezbollah's new capabilities and the coming two-front war
The IDF has acknowledged that since the 2006 Second Lebanon War, Hezbollah has matured from a guerilla organization to a fighting force equipped with heavy artillery, high-precision missiles and drones. The terror group also receives about $800 million a year in funding from Iran.
A third of Hezbollah's forces are currently entrenched in Syria's ongoing civil war -- becoming battle-hardened, but simultaneously overstretched, losing some 2,000 fighters in the conflict.
Hezbollah and Iran have established weapons factories in Lebanon that can produce powerful missiles and, according to the IDF official, "more than 120,000 rocket launchers and rockets" are positioned in southern Lebanon, "in clear violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701."
Iran and Hezbollah are also constructing permanent military facilities in southern Syria to establish a land bridge stretching from Tehran to Beirut along Israel's northern border.
According to Schanzer, this indicates the next war with Hezbollah "would likely be a two-front battle in Lebanon and Syria," which could also include other Iranian terror proxies in the region.
The IDF official confirmed, "it is definitely possible and plausible" that the Israeli military will be required to fight on more than one front, which the military is prepared for.
Intimate intelligence and advanced technology
Using its "networked intelligence," the IDF is prepared to implement "a massive precision strike.... on a scale which far exceeds the assessed growth in Hezbollah's military [capability]," Orion said.
Since 2006, Hezbollah has occasionally been given a glimpse of the "quality, scope and intimacy" of Israeli intelligence collected against it, the IDF official said, which has created a deterrence and quiet for the past 11 years.
A recent purported Israeli airstrike against a Syrian chemical weapons facility Sept. 7, which occurred during the massive IDF exercise, may have served as one such glimpse into Israel's intelligence capability directed against the terror group and its allies.
Israel is "far better prepared for the next war with Hezbollah" than it was in the 2006, Schanzer said. "We see now the appearance of stealth tank technology, the preparation for ground warfare and the possibility of tunnels into Israel... as well as the preparation for mass volleys of rockets launched by Hezbollah into Israel."
The Israeli Air Force has also acquired several new state-of-the-art F-35 "Adir" stealth fighter jets, and in recent weeks the military unveiled multiple revolutionary defense technologies that will soon be added to its arsenal.
US Military Opens First-Ever Permanent Base in Israel - https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/95179/first-time-us-military-opens-permanent-base-israel/#/#XpXod0tpSDhyZp0a.97
"With Hashem we shall triumph; He will trample our foes." Psalms 108:14 (The Israel Bible�)
The U.S. military has established its first permanent base on Israeli soil located inside an Israeli Air Force base in southern Israel.
"We've established, for the first time in the state of Israel, the IDF, a permanent U.S. military base, flying the American flag," Brig. Gen. Zvika Haimovich, commander of the Israeli Air Force's Aerial Defense Division, said in a statement.
The base is located within the IAF's School of Aerial Defense and will house dozen of U.S. soldiers permanently stationed in Israel as part of a task force.
"This symbolizes the strong bond that exists between the United States and Israel," Maj. Gen. Josh Gronski, deputy commanding general for the U.S. Army National Guard, said during a visit to the base.
According to the IDF, the base will provide space for the Israeli Air Force and American task force to improve detection, interception and deployment in aerial defense, while strengthening cooperation.
"Part of the process of establishing the foundation stems from the process of a culture of cooperation. I appreciate the way the Americans respect the state of Israel," Haimovich said.
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Syrian/Hezbollah troops cross Euphrates to east -
Shortly after the US-led coalition threatened to strike any Syrian Arab Army units if they crossed the Euphrates River, Syrian and Hezbollah troops were marching across imported Russian pontoon bridges to reach the river's eastern bank. By Friday, Sept. 15 they were able to establish a bridgehead there.
The attached photo shows the pontoons being lifted and set in place in a manner which recalls the method by which the IDF was able to cross the Suez Canal for a landing in Egypt towards the end of the 1973 war.
Throughout the three-day operation, the Syrians and Hezbollah worked under the cover of more newly-arrived Russian armaments, the MiG-29SMT (Nato-codenamed "Fulcrum), whose landing in Syria was announced on Wednesday. This twin-engine jet fighter aircraft is a match for the F-18 in service with the US Air Force as well as the Israeli Air force's F-15, F-16 and F-16 fighters.
The day the MiG-29s arrived in Syria, British Maj. Gen. Rupert Jones, Deputy Commander in Chief of the US-led Coalition in Syria, threatened to strike any units of the SAA if they crossed the Euphrates River.
The crossing operation, as well as deepening Russia's military involvement in Syrian and Hezbollah offensives, is a major boost for Iran's objectives, with grave strategic implications for the US and Israel.
1. For the Trump administration, it trampled the principle Presidents Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin established exactly two years ago, i.e., for eastern Syrian across the Euphrates to be assigned to American military control and the west to the Russians.
2. US satellites and reconnaissance planes watched the Russian army trucking the pontoons east and saw them being thrown over the river for the crossing. Nonetheless, no orders came from the White House or the Pentagon to make good on the coalition's threat of a strike and to interfere.
3. Established on the east bank of the Euphrates, Syrian and Hezbollah troops are in position to go forward for the operation to capture the Syrian-Iraqi border town of Abu Kamal from ISIS. They have moreover opened the way to link up with the Iraqi Population Mobilization Units (PMU), a surrogate of Iran's Revolutionary Guards.
4. debkafile's military sources report that PMU units are already heading for this rendezvous on the Iraqi-Syrian border. This step is tantamount to opening up an Iranian-controlled military corridor between Iraq and Syria by cutting deep into the US-ruled region of eastern Syria.
5. As recently as Thursday night, Sept. 14, President Donald Trump declared: "We are not going to stand for what they [Iran] are doing "
6. The US president was not alone in refraining from lifting a finger to stop "what they are doing." Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu likewise chose words over deeds. "Israel would not tolerate an Iranian presence on its northern border with Syria," he reiterated Friday, Sept. 14, on his arrival in New York to address the UN General Assembly and meet Donald Trump.
But already Iran and its pawns were creating an accomplished fact, with massive logistical and military assistance from the Russian army.
It is worth noting in this regard that, in recent weeks, Israel's generals and colonels have suddenly dropped references in their discourse to Iran and Hezbollah as existential threats.
This may be the time to remind them of an unfortunate precedent. In the months leading up to the Yom Kippur War of 1973, Israel's leaders brushed aside the Egyptian and Syrian armies as threats to the state's survival - only to find defeat at their hands staring the IDF in the face in the early days of that war.
No less dangerous would be a war fought by the Syrian army, Hezbollah and Iran, with powerful Russian military support. By establishing a foothold on both banks of the Euphrates River and both sides of the Syrian-Iraqi border, Iran has taken a step towards pursuing its avowed goal of Israel's destruction.
Israeli Spy Chief Warns of New Hamas-Hezbollah Alliance - Jack Moore - http://www.newsweek.com/israels-next-war-spy-chief-warns-hamas-setting-lebanon-help-iran-663273#Jv7CsJFT5zClQsL1.99
Israel's security elite fears a military alliance between Hezbollah and Hamas and backed by Iran could lead to a new conflict in the Middle East.
Nadav Argaman, who is head of Israeli intelligence service Shin Bet, has warned that Hamas-which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007 and fought three wars with Israel in the last decade-is now building influence in Lebanon, where top Hamas operative, Saleh al-Arouri, is in hiding following his expulsion from Qatar in June.
He said that Iran remains "the largest backer financially and militarily" of Hamas's armed wing-known as the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades-and that with the help of Tehran, the group was now preparing to battle for "the liberation of Palestine," Times of Israel reported.
Hamas, like the majority of Palestinians, is a Sunni group and Hezbollah Shiite, but shared opposition to Israel has long unified the two militant groups and won them funding from Iran. When Qatar expelled five members of Hamas' military wing in 2017, Israeli media reported that the militants made their way to Beirut. Later that month, Palestinian media reported that Hamas' security bureau deputy chairman, Musa Abu Marzouk, met with Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Hezbollah last fought a war with Israel in 2006 but has been emboldened by the war in Syria, where it has fought alongside the army of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and Iranian and Russian forces. Israel's few interventions in the Syria conflict have been aimed at disrupting Hezbollah, bombing weapons convoys and factories. Hamas, meanwhile, last fought Israel in 2014 during a bloody 50 day conflict that saw over 2,100 Palestinians and 73 Israelis killed.
Three years on, Argaman said that Hamas was now "ready for a conflict with Israel" after the quietest period between the group in "three decades." Palestinian militants in Gaza have launched sporadic rocket attacks into southern Israel over the past three years, but most have been claimed by more radical jihadists inspired by the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) rather than by Hamas, which has found its authority increasingly challenged in the strip.
Argaman did not elaborate on Hamas' activities in Lebanon, what form a Hezbollah-Hamas military action would take or the specifics of relations between Hamas and Iran. But Hamas' new leader, Yahya Sinwar, confirmed that relations with the Islamic Republic had improved since their fallout in 2012 over the war in Syria. "Relations with Iran are excellent and Iran is the largest supporter of the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades with money and arms," Sinwar said in August.
Israeli Strikes Hit Weapons Depot by Damascus Airport -
Israeli strikes hit a weapons depot by Damascus airport overnight, targeting a warehouse belonging to Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which is allied with the Syrian government, a monitor said Friday.
"Israeli warplanes targeted with rocket fire a weapons depot belonging to Hezbollah near the airport," said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
There was no immediate official confirmation from either Damascus or Israel, but the Jewish state has been accused of carrying out multiple strikes in Syria, including earlier this month.
On September 7, the Syrian army said Israeli warplanes hit one of its positions near the central town of Masyaf.
The site was reportedly used by Hezbollah forces and those of Iran, another Syrian government ally.
In April, the government accused Israel of firing several missiles at a military position near Damascus airport, triggering a huge explosion.
Israel has remained quiet on the accusations, but has repeatedly warned it stands ready to take military action to prevent Hezbollah from obtaining advanced weaponry.
Earlier this month, the Israeli military fired a Patriot missile to bring down what it said was an Iranian-made drone operated by Hezbollah on a reconnaissance mission over the Golan Heights.
Israel and Syria are still technically at war, though the armistice line on the Golan Heights had remained largely quiet for decades until civil war erupted in Syria in 2011.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Tuesday that Israel would fight to prevent an "Iranian curtain" descending on the Middle East.
"We will act to prevent Iran from establishing permanent military bases in Syria for its air, sea and ground forces," he said.
Israel claims UN ignored intel on secret Iran nuke sites - report - https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-claims-un-ignored-intel-on-secret-iran-nuke-sites-report/
Officials said to accuse IAEA of failing to act on information it received detailing forbidden nuclear military R&D being carried out at several facilities
Israeli officials have reportedly accused the UN body tasked with ensuring Tehran's compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal of ignoring information it received detailing forbidden nuclear military research and development being carried out at several sites across Iran.
The officials said that "a Western entity" told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of sites that Iran failed to disclose under the deal - which offered Iran relief from punishing sanctions in exchange for having it roll back its nuclear program - but the body failed to investigate or carry our inspections at the locations, Haaretz reported Sunday.
"There is a whole list of suspicious sites where the Iranians do not allow inspectors to visit and no one enforces the supervision mechanisms established in the nuclear agreement," the report quoted the officials as saying. "There is simply a demonstration of weakness in the IAEA when it comes to Iran. The sense is that Iran allows what it wants, and does not allow what it does not want."
In force since January 16, 2016, the JCPOA provides for international monitoring of Tehran's nuclear program to ensure its purely peaceful, civilian use. In exchange, Tehran was promised the gradual lifting of the international sanctions that have strangled the Iranian economy for years.
But the Israeli officials reportedly said that due to either Iran's refusal to grant entry or reluctance to confront the Islamic Republic, the facilities reported to the IAEA went largely unchecked.
"When it comes to visits to suspicious sites, the agreement is not implemented. There are almost no visits and visitors are not allowed to visit. In this context, the agreement is not being realized in spirit and word," they were reported to have said.
Last week, Donald Trump slammed Iran for violating "the spirit" of the deal, weeks before the US president must decide whether to stick by the agreement.
"The Iran deal is one of the worst deals I've ever seen, certainly at a minimum the spirit of the deal is atrociously kept," Trump said aboard Air Force One.
"The Iran deal is not a fair deal to this country. It's a deal that should not have ever been made," he added, tearing into the Obama-era accord.
The United States on Thursday agreed to continue for now to exempt Iran from nuclear-related sanctions but slapped new measures against targets accused of cyber attacks or fomenting militancy.
"We are not going to stand what they are doing with our country. They've violated so many different elements and they've also violated the spirit of that deal," Trump said.
On October 15, Trump is due to decide whether Iran has breached the 2015 nuclear agreement, and critics fear he may abandon an accord they think prevents Tehran from building a nuclear bomb.
But the president would not be drawn on whether he has already made a decision.
Critics say Trump abandoning the deal would pave the way for Iran to resume nuclear enrichment and would send a signal to North Korea and other proliferators that a diplomatic solution can be scrapped at the president's whim.
Israel wants the deal to be amended or canceled altogether, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last Tuesday. Speaking in Argentina, Netanyahu rejected recent reports claiming that Israel and Saudi Arabia are no longer interested in scrapping the landmark deal.
"In the case of Iran, there have been some news stories about Israel's purported position on the nuclear deal with Iran. So let me take this opportunity and clarify: Our position is straightforward. This is a bad deal. Either fix it - or cancel it. This is Israel's position," said Netanyahu.
Mossad chief Yossi Cohen is leading Israel's "hawkish line" on Iran, calling for immediate action to ensure that Tehran cannot attain the bomb, an Israeli TV report said Sunday.
The report comes as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to address the United Nations General Assembly with his focus to again be on confronting Iran.
Channel 2 on Sunday paraphrased Cohen as asserting that "Today's Iran is the North Korea of yesterday, and so we need to act now so that we don't wake up to [an Iranian] bomb."
Other Israeli security officials, the report said, however, are warning that Israel should not be pushing the US into another Middle Eastern adventure, given what happened when the US tackled Iraq and Saddam's ostensible weapons of mass destruction over a decade ago.
Hezbollah has 10,000 fighters in Syria ready to confront Israel, commander says - By Judah Ari Gross -
Iranian-backed Lebanese terror group is an army with 'infantry, rockets, tanks, elite forces,' building tunnels, military bases for future war
Hezbollah has more than 10,000 fighters in southern Syria ready to confront Israel, a commander for the Iranian-backed Lebanese terror group has said.
"Hezbollah has over 10,000 fighters deployed in southern Syria. Hezbollah is an army of infantry, rockets, tanks, elite forces," the Hezbollah official told the Middle East Eye website this week, amid tensions surrounding the shooting down by the Israeli Air Force on Tuesday of an Iranian-built drone launched by the group as it attempted to cross into airspace.
The commander said the fighters were based in areas surrounding the Golan Heights and that tunnels and military bases were being built for a possible confrontation with Israel
"We are operating as we do in south Lebanon, but of course in a veiled manner," he said.
Speaking of the truce in southern Syria, under the auspices of Russia and the United Nations, the commander said that the "de-escalation plan is better for us. We are working with more freedom, there are no more bombings."
The commander said that the next war with Israel may start from Syria but "what really matters is where will it end, will it be in Netanya, Haifa or Kiryat Shmona?"
On Tuesday, Israel used a Patriot missile to shoot down the drone launched by Hezbollah and scrambled fighter jets to the area where the device was set to cross into Israeli airspace, but ultimately did not need to use them as the interceptor missile was able to destroy the target.
The Patriot interceptor missile was launched from a military installation in northern Israel, near the city of Safed.
After the drone breached the "Bravo line" that marks the Syrian border and entered the demilitarized zone - but not Israeli airspace - the IDF "decided to intercept it," army spokesperson Lt. Col. Yonatan Conricus said Tuesday.
In a statement, the IDF said it "will not allow any infiltration or approach toward the Golan Heights area by terrorist figures from Iranian forces, Hezbollah, Shiite militias or Islamic Jihad."
According to Conricus, the air force monitored the unmanned aerial vehicle from its take-off at Damascus airport to the demilitarized zone that separates the Israeli and Syrian Golan Heights.
"We monitor everything that flies toward the State of Israel and follow it closely for any potential threat," he said.
Conricus said Military Intelligence was able to identify the drone as Iranian-built and Hezbollah-launched based on the army's arrays of sensors in the area and its years of experience monitoring the group.
The spokesperson said the drone appeared to be performing reconnaissance mission in the area. It was not immediately clear if the drone was armed.
Shortly after the incident, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman warned that any country or terrorist group that threatens Israel will "pay a dear price, very dear."
The debris from the drone landed near the Syrian city of Quneitra so the IDF was not able to recover it, he said.
The Patriot missile system was designed by the United States to intercept incoming missiles and aircraft. It has been deployed in Israel since the 1990s, but first saw anti-aircraft combat during the 2014 Gaza war, when a battery shot down an unmanned Hamas aircraft over the port of Ashdod.
Israel has long been concerned by its nemesis Iran's ongoing efforts to establish itself in southern Syria, near the Golan Heights.
Jerusalem fears that the Iranian presence in that area would serve as a springboard for terrorist groups to attack Israel in the future.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly been negotiating with his counterparts in the United States and Russia to establish an Iran-free area around surrounding the border, but to no avail yet.
Earlier this month, tens of thousands of Israeli soldiers participated in the largest military drill since 1998, simulating war with Hezbollah for 10 days.
The exercise was named "Or HaDagan" after Meir Dagan, a former Mossad chief and IDF general who died last year.
Israel last fought a full-scare war with Hezbollah in 2006's Second Lebanon War, and tensions have remained high even as the northern border has remained relatively quiet since.
This exercise was touted as a chance to practice failures or military shortcomings exposed during the war.
Led by Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah is believed to have an arsenal of between 100,000 and 150,000 short-, medium- and long-range missiles and a fighting force of some 50,000 soldiers, including reservists.
While Israeli military officers often discuss a future conflict with the terrorist group as a matter of "when, not if," the assessment of the IDF is that Hezbollah is not currently interested in renewed warfare with Israel at present, due to its active involvement in the Syrian civil war, which have caused it significant strategic problems.
Moscow: US-backed SDF faces "destruction." Pro-Iranian Iraqi force crosses into Syria -
Israel's strategic situation took several steps back in the first week of the New Year, chiefly: The US pulled back from E. Syria under Russian threat, allowing Iran to move in.
In just one week, the dire perils, which many military and political experts warned against for years, are suddenly looming on Israel's northern border.
From Sept.15-17, Syrian and Hezbollah forces crossed the Euphrates to the eastern bank on pontoon bridges provided by Russia.
Last Saturday, Sept. 16, Russian jets bombed the US-backed Syrian Defense Forces (SDF) in the Deir ez-Zour region, as a warning against their obstructing the eastward impetus of those Syrian and Hezbollah units.
On Monday, Sept. 18, US Marines began blowing up buildings at the Zaqaf military base in eastern Syria and then retreating to the Jordanian border. The US set up Zaqaf early this year in the Syrian Desert as a barrier against this very Syrian/Hezbollah crossing to impede their advance to the Syrian-Iraqi border.
The following day, on the heels of the US withdrawal, Hezbollah troops took charge of the Zaqaf base.
On Wednesday, Sept. 19, the Iraqi Hashd Al-Sha'abi (Popular Mobilization Units - PMU) crossed into Syria and linked up with the Syrian-Hezbollah force. The PMU is under the direct command of Gen. Qassam Soleimani, head of Iranian military operations in Syria and Iraq.
Iran, through its Iraqi, Lebanese and other foreign Shiite pawns, is now in control of 230km of the Syrian border, from Abu Kamal (still held by ISIS) in the north, to Al Tanf in the Syrian-Iraqi-Jordanian border triangle in the south - where, too, US and coalition special forces have begun packing up ready to exit.
Iran in recent years imported some 20,000 Afghan and Pakistani Shiite fighters to reinforce the Syrian army and Hezbollah in their battles for Bashar Assad. The new Iraq arrivals boost that figure by tens of thousands and more are coming in all the time.
On Thursday, Sept. 21, the growing disconnect between Moscow and Washington over Syria suddenly erupted into an open breach with a crude threat from the Kremlin: "Russia has officially informed the United States via a special communications channel that Russian forces will strike immediately US-backed forces if they attack or shell Syrian or Russian task forces operating near the Deir Ez-Zour city. Any attempts at shelling from the areas where the militants of the Syrian Democratic Forces are based will be immediately curbed. Russian forces will suppress firing points in these areas using all means of destruction."
A threat of this degree of ruthlessness has not been encountered in the Middle East for decades, it may recall Moscow's threat to Israel in 1956 to end its invasion of the Sinai without delay or else...
Where do these menacing steps leave Israel?
The US has washed its hands of central and southeastern Syria.
Russia is wholly, unreservedly and openly in lockstep with the Syrian army, Iran and Hezbollah in all their objectives in the war-torn country, and moreover, willing to threaten any pro-American entity with total military punishment. Is this an indirect message to Israel too?
Iraqi Shiite forces are surging into Syria; they have given Tehran the gift of control of a 230km segment of the border.
And what does the IDF chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Gady Eisenkott have to say about all this? In an interview to Israeli media as recently as Wednesday, Sept. 19, when it was all happening, he said: "If Iran does entrench itself in Syria, that will be bad news for the entire region, including the moderate Sunni camp, and even more for the countries of Europe."
He went on to explain: "That is why we have given the Iranian threat and halting its expanding influence very high priority as an issue to be dealt with."
Gen. Eisenkott underlined the IDF's focus as being to prevent [Israel's foes] from obtaining weaponry, i.e. missiles - of high targeting precision.
The trouble is that, while the IDF focuses on this objective, commendable in itself, Russia and Iran are focusing and in full flight on a far wider-ranging goal, the precise and systematic deepening of Iran's military presence in Syria. Iran and Hezbollah have already established military commands at Arnaba just 6 km from Israel's Golan border.
Yet the IDF chief is still talking about this as an untoward event that may - or may not - come sometime in the future.
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The Iraqi militia helping Iran carve a road to Damascus - http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/The-Iraqi-militia-helping-Iran-carve-a-road-to-Damascus-505705
Ties between the Shi'ite-led governments in Tehran and Baghdad have become stronger, and Iran has acquired growing influence in Iraq.
In late May, an Iraqi cleric called Akram Kaabi visited militia fighters in a desolate Iraqi town near the Syrian border. Kaabi, who heads a Shi'ite Muslim militia named Harakat Hezbollah al Nujaba, was decked out in a camouflage uniform and led the fighters in prayer on mats laid on the dusty ground. A video of the session showed heavily armed militiamen standing guard.
The event took place in Qayrawan, a town the Nujaba militia had seized back from Islamic State, the radical Sunni Muslim group. Nujaba, whose name means 'the Virtuous,' have also fought across the border in Syria, where they have lent support to President Bashar al-Assad in the fight against Islamic State and others.
The Nujaba group, which has about 10,000 fighters, is now one of the most important militias in Iraq. Though made up of Iraqis, it is loyal to Iran and is helping Tehran create a supply route through Iraq to Damascus, according to Iraqi lawmaker Shakhwan Abdullah, retired Lebanese general Elias Farhat, and other current and former officials in Iraq. The route will run through a string of small cities including Qayrawan. To open it up, Iranian-backed militias are pushing into southeast Syria near the border with Iraq, where US forces are based.
The Nujaba militia is one example of the way Iran is seeking to expand its Shi'ite influence in Iraq and across the wider region. In the 1980s, Shi'ite-dominated Iran was at war with Iraq, where Sunni Muslims held power despite being a minority of the population. But after the fall of Saddam Hussein, the Shi'ite majority in Iraq took control of the government.
Since then, ties between the Shi'ite-led governments in Tehran and Baghdad have become stronger, and Iran has acquired growing influence in Iraq. Iranian money and religious backing are now key to the Iraqi government's power.
Kaabi has repeatedly said that Nujaba is allied with Iran. Last autumn, he said his group follows "Velayat-e Faqih," or Guardianship of the Jurist, the ideological cornerstone of Iran's theocratic system of government, according to the Iranian Tasnim news agency.
Current and former Iraqi officials told Reuters they worry Nujaba will help Iran make a decisive strategic breakthrough.
"If Iran can open this road they will have access through Iraq and Syria all the way to Hezbollah in Lebanon," said Farhat, the retired Lebanese army general.
Iran, which backs Syria's Assad, has stated that it wants to see its influence extend through Iraq to its allies in Damascus and beyond to Hezbollah, a Shi'ite militant group in Lebanon it has long supported.
A security adviser who works with a number of governments in the Middle East said Iran needs road access to Damascus to supply the conflict in Syria. "There is a very high cost for air transport for the militias. Troops and small supplies are easy to transport but it's hard to load heavy weapons on airplanes," said the adviser, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the subject.
"The goal is to open a road on both sides for logistics ... They want to bring in artillery, rockets and heavy equipment like bulldozers," the adviser said.
In Iraq, the Nujaba fights under the umbrella of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), which encompass tens of thousands of Shi'ite militiamen. Last year Iraq's parliament passed a law that put these fighters under the control of the Iraqi government. But current and former officials in Iraq and militia members say many of the militias have been armed and trained by Iran's Revolutionary Guards.
A representative at an Iranian Revolutionary Guards office in Tehran declined to comment on the Nujaba militia.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and other senior Iraqi officials have not spoken out in public about Nujaba or the new road. But some players within Iraq's governing coalition want to distance Iraq from Iran.
Ayad Allawi, a vice president, is Shi'ite, but he has a nationalist outlook and wants to prevent the conflict in Syria from spilling over further into Iraq. He said in an interview: "The government of Iraq should prevent them (Shi'ite militias) from going to Syria. We are not supposed to supply fighting people to support a dictatorship in Syria."
Asked to comment on Iran-backed militias moving into southeast Syria near where American forces are based, US Army Colonel Ryan Dillon, a spokesman for the US-led coalition fighting Islamic State, said: "The Coalition reserves the right to protect itself and its vetted Syrian partners against any threat."
A US State Department official said: "The United States remains deeply concerned about the Iranian regime's malign activities across the Middle East which undermine regional stability, security and prosperity."
The current route that Iran is pushing to open through Iraq was not its first choice. Soon after Iran became involved in the Syria conflict in 2011, the Iranians attempted to open a logistical supply line through the Kurdish region of northern Iraq to Syria, lawmaker Abdullah, who is a member of the Iraqi parliament's security and defense committee, told Reuters. But Massoud Barzani, the president of the Kurdistan region of Iraq, resisted the move, said Abdullah, who is a member of Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).
The new route bypasses the Kurdish region but could still destabilize the country, according to Abdullah.
"All the groups in Iraq other than Shi'ites will be under threat if Iran can make this road," Abdullah said. "Sunnis will be displaced. The Kurdistan region will be under threat and Christians will be under threat."
Russia Rejects Israeli Plea to Keep Iranians From Golan Frontier - http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=1618
Russia has reportedly rebuffed an Israeli demand to ensure that Iranian forces and Iran-backed Shiite militants not be allowed to operate within 60-80 kilometers of the Syrian frontier with Israel in the Golan Heights.
The demand was initially raised by Israel in July, when negotiations were under way for a ceasefire deal in southern Syria between President Bashar Assad and Syrian rebels, under the auspices of the Washington and Moscow.
Russian has rejected the plea, according to reports Thursday on Israel's Channel 2 TV and in the Haaretz newspaper. Instead, it has committed only to keeping Iranian forces five kilometers from the Golan Heights frontier.
Israel had wanted a buffer zone of between 60 and 80 kilometers from the border on the Golan Heights, and has been repeatedly warning against Iran's military ambitions in the area, Tehran's bid to establish a territorial "corridor" all the way to the Mediterranean, and an increased Iranian presence on Israel's northern border.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposed the ceasefire deal, putting him publicly at odds with US President Donald Trump, since it did not sufficiently address Israel's security needs.
Israeli intelligence expects the Iranians to try to establish a military and intelligence presence closer to the border to allow for the opening of a second front against Israel in the event of another conflagration between the Jewish state and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah organization in Lebanon, Haaretz said.
It said Iran plows around $800 million per year into Hezbollah and additional hundreds of millions into the Assad regime in Syria, Shi'ite militias fighting in Syria and Iraq, and Shi'ite Houthi insurgents in Yemen. (It also supports the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror organizations in the Gaza Strip to the tune of $70 million annually.)
Israel sees attempts by Iran, Syria and Hezbollah to improve the latter's missile accuracy as a major threat.
A week ago, Israeli warplanes allegedly struck the Syrian military's Scientific Studies and Research Center (CERS) facility near Masyaf, in the northwestern Hama province, damaging several buildings and killing two Syrian soldiers.
Western officials have long associated the CERS facility with the production of precision missiles, as well as chemical weapons.
Over the past five years, Israel has carried out dozens of airstrikes within Syria, hitting conveys of weapons bound for Hezbollah, as well as weapons storage facilities.
It rarely acknowledges specific attacks. Last Thursday's operation was reported by foreign media.
On his current trip to Latin America, Netanyahu has stressed the dangers posed by Iran, through its quest for nuclear weapons, its involvement in conflicts across the region, and via terrorism.
The Iranians "have a terror machine that encompasses the entire world, operating terror cells in many continents," he said in Argentina on Tuesday. "In the case of Iran, it's not only merely terror but the quest for nuclear weapons that concerns us and should concern the entire international community. We understand the danger of a rogue nation having atomic bombs."
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