Assad, Hezbollah, and Iran's onslaught towards Israel - Roi Kais - http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4625972,00.html
Map shows attempt by 'axis of resistance' to secure towns and strategic points in order to drive rebels out of Israeli border region.
A major offensive by the Syrian army in its southern front, in cooperation with Hezbollah and Iranian elements, continued on Thursday, not far from Israel's Golan Heights border.
Mere days after the start of the operation, the Syrian Armed Forces declared on Wednesday night that they had made significant achievements in the bloody land battles.
So far, Assad's soldiers, aided by Hassan Nasrallah's Hezbollah fighters, successfully retook three towns in the strategic triangle that lies between the Damascus suburbs, Quneitra suburbs, and Daraa suburbs. These include the villages of Deir al-Adas, Al Dnaj, and Deir Makas, in addition to a number of strategic hills, as seen in the map below.
Media outlets associated with Assad and Nasrallah have been following events on the front very closely, broadcasting videos of land battles accompanied by heavy artillery, as well as the loot purportedly found in conquered areas.
Hezbollah's Al Manar network claimed on Wednesday that they had found Ameriacn and Israeli equipment and weaponry alongside an Emirati aid package.
Meanwhile, the media outlets have attempted to convey a sense of panic on the part of the rebels and local residents. Among other things, they reported attempts by rebels to reach an agreement with Assad's forces in the face of defeat.
The rebels have tried to limit the damage, claiming that the areas taken by Assad's forces with the help of Hezbollah and Iran are insignificant.
A look at the operation's targets reveals the army's hopes to drive the rebels and al-Nusra front further away from Damascus and its suburbs. They also seek to prevent the rebels in Quneitra and Daraa, who have over the last four years nearly become a united force, from linking up.
The army further feels the need to regain control over the area adjacent to the Israeil border and the Quneitra crossing in particular.
Nasrallah spoke of this topic at length in his most recent speech, calling the rebels "the Syrian South Lebanon Army", which cooperates with Israel in order to create a buffer zone like in south Lebanon.
Along the same lines, there is also the goal to remove the rebels from the surroundings of the Jordanian border in Daraa, but there is at the same time a desire to prevent at any cost the possibility of the rebels and al-Nusra front spilling over into south Lebanese territory from the Syrian Hermon area.
In fact, in north Quneitra the Syrian regime has a much stronger hold than in other areas, but the rebels are in locations such as Beit Jinn, not far from the Lebanese border.
And it seems that the Syrian regime is no longer hiding the fact that it receives help from Iran and Hezbollah, while media outlets associated with Hezbollah and the Assad regime speak mainly of the Syrian army.
The Asharq Alawsat newspaper reported on Thursday morning that a field commander quoted on Syrian national television said: "The military operation launched by the Syrian army in the south continues under the leadership of Syrian President Bashar Assad and in cooperation with the axis of resistance - Hezbollah and Iran."
The Al Mayadeen network has begun referring to the "Syrian army and the resistance" as a single force when referring to the onslaught.
Commentators linked to Hezbollah have also been openly admitting that the operation is by the "axis of resistance" and not just the Syrian army. The most senior is Ibrahim al-Amin, editor of the pro-Hezbollah daily Al Akhbar, who related on Wednesday that the so-called axis already decided to begin the operation to retake southern Syria before the airstrike attributed to Israel.
"The decision to prevent southern Syria from falling into the hands of Israel's collaborators is more strategic than any other," he said, "and is equally as important as the decision to prevent Damascus from falling to these same collaborators.
"The decision was made to allocate everything required to make this decision a reality, and everything required in case of escalation of any kind, direct or indirect, that could occur in the region, including the possibility Israel's involvement in further aggressive actions."
Military expect and strategist Amin Hatit, known to be close to Hezbollah, told Asharq Alaswat Thursday morning that "the Golan front currently serves as an example of the first battlefront in which the three components of the axis of resistance (Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah) are operating.
The axis is currently testing its capability for joint military action in the field, and it appears that the initial results surpass all expectations. Within 48 hours, goals were achieved for which ten days were allocated."
Hatit explained that the operation has four strategic goals: "The first is to prevent the Israeli buffer zone protected by al-Nusra Front. The second is to consolidate the defense around Damascus. The third is directly related to the resistance in Lebanon, which is trying to prevent the opening of a southeastern front (near the Lebanese border), which would exhaust it and involve it in a war of attrition. The fourth goal is to block the American plan to open a war against Syria using the Jordanian option."
Meanwhile, in light of the danger posed by the Islamic State group, the Lebanese army - together with Hezbollah - is expected to soon launch a wide-ranging security operation to prevent its advance.
Speaking of Jordan, alongside the open discussion of the fact that the operation is intended to disrupt Israel's purported plans near the border, the Hashemite Kingdom has also been targeted by Hezbollah's commentators and leaders of the Syrian regime.
They claim it is actively cooperating with those plans, and that despite Jordan's talk of a political solution in Syria, it knowingly allows terrorists to enter through its borders and trains them in military camps.
These claims were vociferously denied this week by Mohammed al-Momani, the Jordanian government's spokesman, after the Syrian foreign minister sharply denounced Jordan.
Meanwhile, a photo has circulated in recent days allegedly showing the commander of the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, Qasem Soleimani, in southern Syria with Syrian army soldiers.
The image was not independently confirmed, but some Arab media outlets interpreted it as another sign of Iran's deep involvement in the operation in the south, and in the Syrian war in general.
On Wednesday, Soleimani participated in a ceremony taking place in southeast Syria marking the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution and praised Hezbollah's attack at Mount Dov last month, which, he said, succeeded despite the fact that the IDF was at peak alertness in preparation for an expected response to the strike attributed to Israel in Quinetra.
He added that global Zionism has been suffering more and more defeats by the "resistance", and that one could see the Islamic Revolution's effects in the entire region between Bahrain and North Africa.
Quartet takes stand against Palestinian efforts to impose statehood on Israel - Herb Keinon - http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/Quartet-takes-stand-against-Palestinian-efforts-to-impose-statehood-on-Israel-390382
The Mideast Quartet principals met in Munich for the first time in a year on Sunday and came out against unilateral Palestinian efforts to get the international community to impose a solution on Israel.
Without specifically mentioning the recent Palestinian efforts, including the failed effort at the end of December to pass a UN Security Council resolution that would have called for a full Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 lines within three years, a statement issued at the end of the meeting said that sustainable peace requires negotiations.
The meeting, which included US Secretary of State John Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, and UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson, took place against the backdrop of sharp tensions between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the White House over the premier's scheduled speech to Congress on March 3.
The Quartet meeting took place on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, and was the first Quartet meeting at the level of foreign ministers since the Munich conference last year. Quartet envoys, however, have met since then, most recently in Brussels in late January.
Following the meeting, the Quartet released a statement saying that "a sustainable peace requires the Palestinians' aspirations for statehood and sovereignty and those of Israelis for security to be fulfilled through negotiations based on the two-state solution."
Israeli diplomatic officials expressed satisfaction with the statement.
While the resolution the Palestinians brought to the UN Security Council in December would have contradicted UN Security Council Resolution 242, which never called for a full return to the pre-1967 lines, the Quartet statement reiterated that negotiations toward a "lasting and comprehensive peace" be based on "UN Security Council resolutions 242 and 338, the Madrid Principles, including land for peace, and the agreements previously reached between the parties."
The Quartet mentioned the "vital role" of Arab partners in reaching a comprehensive peace, and said it will "remain actively engaged in preparing for a resumption of the peace process in the coming period, including regular and direct outreach to Arab states."
Pending the resumption of Israeli- Palestinian negotiations, broken off nearly a year ago and not expected to resume until at least after a new government is set up in Israel in the spring, the Quartet called on "both parties to refrain from actions that undermine trust or prejudge final-status issues."
This is widely believed to refer both to Israeli settlement actions and Palestinian steps in the international community.
The quartet also expressed deep concern over the situation in Gaza, and urged the donor countries to disburse the funds that they promised last October.
Prior to the Quartet meeting, Qatari Foreign Minister Khalid bin Mohamed Al-Attiyah asserted that the "major issue" behind all the turbulence in the Middle East is "that we are lagging behind on the peace process. The Israeli-Palestinian peace process, or the conflict, is the main igniter to all the turbulence in the Middle East."
Attiyah, joined on a panel dealing with the Middle East by Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz and Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riad Al-Maliki, further said that one of the reasons for the "Arab Spring" revolutions was the masses pushing their leaders to find a solution to the conflict, and "one of the revolutions' elements" was the Arab leaders' failure to deliver.
The Qatari foreign minister likened Israel's demand to be recognized as a Jewish state to Islamic State. "The world is fighting a group calling itself Islamic State, and you want to come and say [you are] a Jewish state," he said to Steinitz.
The tones between the two men were raised when Steinitz asked why Qatar "is supporting a Jihadist organization like Hamas or Islamic State, instead of putting all its efforts into eliminating such jihadi organizations, whether they are working in Iraq, Gaza, Africa or elsewhere.
"Even if they attack the Jewish state, they're jihadist terrorists just like those who attack Christians or moderate Muslims," he said.
Attiyah snapped back that not only does Qatar not support Hamas, an assertion belied by facts, but also that Hamas is not a terrorist group.
"Hamas has two aspects," he said. "It has a social, political aspect, and another aspect: resistance. If you lift the occupation, Hamas does not have to fight you. It is a movement of liberation." Furthermore, he asserted, not only does Qatar not support Islamic State, but is in the coalition against it.
Maliki, who is in a unity government with Hamas - an organization widely recognized as a terrorist group - said that the PA has offered its "contribution and participation" to fight Islamic State.
"We want to be part of that collective effort, and we are ready to engage," he said. He said that the PA is ready to offer its knowledge to fight radical Islamic groups like Boko Haram, al-Nusra and al-Qaida.
"This is a reflection of how much we are ready, and in which camp we are in," he said.
Houthi Yemen coup moves Iran's Middle East hegemonic ambitions forward - upheld by Washington - http://www.debka.com/article/24389/Houthi-Yemen-coup-moves-Iran's-Middle-East-hegemonic-ambitions-forward---upheld-by-Washington-
The strings of the pro-Iranian Houthi rebels' coup which toppled the Yemeni government in Sanaa were pulled from Tehran and Washington. US intelligence and shared US-Iranian support helped the Houthis reach their goal, which is confined for now to parts of central Yemen and all of the North.
Friday, Feb. 6, the rebels dissolved parliament and seized power in the country of 24 million. They propose to rule by a revolutionary council. President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and his cabinet who were forced to resign last month are under house arrest.
debkafile's Saudi intelligence sources reveal that the dominant figure of the uprising was none other than Ali Abdullah Saleh, president of Yemen from 1990 until he was ousted in 2012.
A member of the Zaydi branch of Shiite Islam like the Houthis, he led them to power with the same enthusiasm with which he fought their insurgency during his years in power. By rallying his supporters in the army, intelligence and security services, he enabled the rebels to take over these departments of government and overpower the Hadi regime with only minimal resistance.
They were also able to commandeer $400 million worth of modern American munitions.
The Houthis secretly call themselves "Ansar Allah" and have adopted the "Death to America, Death to Israel" slogans routinely heard in government-sponsored parades and demonstrations on the streets and squares of revolutionary Tehran.
Amid the political turmoil in Sanaa, the US Sunday resumed drone strikes against AQAP.
The six Arab countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, led by Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, issued a statement Saturday, Feb. 7, calling for the UN Security Council to "put an end to this coup, an escalation that cannot be accepted under any circumstances."
The Iranian-US gambit has resulted in different parts of Yemen falling under the sway of two anti-American radical forces - the pro-Tehran Houthis and Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
The new Saudi King Salman starts his reign with a double-barreled threat facing the kingdom from its southern neighbor, Yemen - posed by an Iranian pawn and a proactive branch of Al Qaeda.
Ten days ago, when US President Barack Obama visited Riyadh, the Saudi monarch voiced his concern about the alarming situation developing Yemen. However, Obama replied noncommittally with general remarks.
In Washington, administration spokesmen Saturday tried pouring oil on the troubled waters roiled by US support for the Iranian maneuver in Sanaa and the return of Abdullah Saleh to the Yemeni scene.
"We're talking with everybody," one US official said, explaining that the United States was ready to talk to any Yemeni factions willing to fight Al Qaeda.
His colleagues tried to downplay Tehran's hand in the Houthi coup. "The Houthis get support from Iran, but they're not controlled by Iran," said another official in Washington.
Our military and intelligence sources report that Yemen is not the only Middle East platform of the joint US-Iranian military, intelligence and strategic performance. The second act is unfolding in Iraq.
Saudi Arabia, the Gulf emirates, Jordan and Israel are therefore watching the evolving US-Iranian cooperation in fighting al Qaeda's various affiliates in the region with deep forebodings, lest it is merely a façade for the Obama administration's espousal of Tehran's regional ambitions.
It is hard for those governments to make up their minds where to look for the most acute menace to their national security - the US-Iranian nuclear deal taking shape, or the give-and-take between Washington and Tehran in Yemen and Iraq.
Some observers of these troubled times say World War III has already begun. I'm not so sure I disagree with the premise. Dynamics for the roots of war are more prolific and far more volatile at present than those that generated both World War I and World War II.
Times preceding World War I constituted basically a tranquil era, relatively speaking, when compared to those leading to World War II. Nonetheless, the seeds of war were there. Political events, spawned by nationalist movements and burgeoning industrialization, finally disrupted the tranquility of the late 1800s. This resulted in growing, bitter rivalries for coveted areas of expansion, both geographic and economic. The assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand is most often given as the cause for the beginning of World War I. But, it was only the sparking point.
Decades leading up to this infamous incident were fraught with extreme nationalism--people within the various nations of Europe being taught the superiority of their own countries. Also, the people were inculcated with paranoia that the competitor nations presented dangers that, if not defended against, would be harmful to the homeland.
Ferdinand's murder was but the lighting of the fuse leading to the economic-based powder keg.
World War II began building from the moment hostilities stopped in World War I. The harsh reparations imposed--particularly upon the defeated, humiliated Germans--and the depression that forced Europe and the entire world into an economic abyss brought to the world earth's most infamous despot to this point in history--at least in my opinion.
Adolf Hitler eventually defied most every war requirement slapped on Germany, building the world's most powerful military by the late 1930s. He came to full power promising to rebirth respect for the Fatherland, restore monetary stability, and create prosperity.
The point is, both of the world wars had at their genesis severe economic conditions.
Some observers of such things, as I say, therefore proclaim that World War III has already begun. They see as the genesis of this conflict such things as the building economic bubble of world debt that must be constantly manipulated and massaged. To ignore the problems would bring catastrophe in short order, say most economists who will admit truth about the conditions faced by the world at this critical hour.
The fuse for igniting man's final conflict, so the thinking goes, could be something like what is happening with Russia versus the money powers that be at this moment.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is faced with personal loss of power if Russia's economic woes continue to spiral downward. Sanctions against Russia for their hostile actions in Ukraine and in other areas under their self-perceived sphere of influence might present reason for the bear to act like...well...a bear.
Adolf Hitler, remember, used military buildup and action to get on the road to starting World War II. This is most often the way of tyrants when faced with backing down, thus losing, their dictatorial position. Remember, also, Saddam Hussein, when his regime was squeezed by the Middle East petroleum powers? He thrust his supposedly elite Republican Guard military force into Kuwait, and when forced to withdraw, began setting the oil wells on fire.
Mr. Putin faces similar such squeezing by Saudi and the Western powers. He could be set to do something quite extraordinary, many observers conjecture.
The thing I hear over and over--particularly from economists in the know (and these are secular economists)--is that it will be one incident or the other that will likely be the catalyst for World War III. The incident in question will pop this building bubble that is unsustainable by all measures of economic sensibility. The cascade of collateral things involved will spark seen and unforeseen calamities, including the next world war, is their dire prediction.
One who understands Bible prophecy to any extent--from the dispensational, premillennial, pretribulation perspective--cannot help but agree with the basic tenets of these economists' postulations in this instance. Although the secular experts who make the predictions apparently have no biblically prophetic discernment in the matter of predictions for end-times conditions and outcomes, they assuredly have it right in general terms.
There is indeed coming one, specific, incident that can--and I'm still convinced will--bring on catastrophe, as enumerated in Holy Scripture. When Christ shouts "Come up hither!" (Revelation 4:1), the cascade of calamity will begin. It is clearly delineated in the following apocalyptic passage:
And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer. And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword. And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine. And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth. (Revelation 6: 2-8)
Netanyahu says Iran is facing off against Israel on 6 fronts - http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/PM-says-Iran-is-facing-off-against-Israel-on-6-fronts-390924
Iran has opened up six fronts against Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday at a send-off ceremony for outgoing Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz.
These fronts are Lebanon, Syria, Gaza and Sinai, as well as Iran's efforts to carry out terrorist attacks abroad, and its march toward nuclear weapons.
A delegation that met with Netanyahu in recent days following visits with a number of Arab leaders said that those leaders shared many of Israel's concerns, and noted that Iran and its proxies have taken over four historic centers of the Arab world: Beirut, Damascus, Baghdad and now Sanaa.
Netanyahu thanked Gantz for his long years of service, especially the last four years as IDF chief of staff during a time of unprecedented turbulence in the region. This was a time "when states have collapsed and terrorist organizations, many backed by Iran, moved into the cracks, and Iran is trying to threaten us with a stranglehold from several directions," the prime minister said.
Gantz is leaving an army prepared for the new challenges, including one taking place in real time: "Thousands of Hezbollah fighters are in Syria, and - directed by Iran - are entering southern Syria, on our border," Netanyahu said.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman offered his input on US President Barack Obama's recent comment that the terrorist attack at the kosher supermarket in Paris last month was the work of a "bunch of violent, vicious zealots" who "randomly shot a bunch of folks in a deli in Paris." These comments were widely criticized for failing to acknowledge that Jews as Jews were the target of that attack.
Without mentioning Obama by name, Liberman - writing in the French Jewish newspaper Actualité Juive marking 30 days since the terrorist attack that killed four people, wrote, "It was not random that a Jewish grocery store was attacked and four Jews were the ones killed, that was the plan, and the goal: to bring terror to the French nation and death to its Jewish citizens."
Liberman said that after a series of terrorist acts against Jewish targets in Europe, as well as the silence of European leaders in the face of rising anti-Semitism, the situation is increasingly reminiscent of Europe in the 1930s.
"This anti-Semitism, coupled with the high rate of assimilation, leaves those who want their children and grandchildren to remain as Jews with only one choice: to move to Israel as soon as possible," he wrote.
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