Receding shadows reveal more of Iran's covert wars - Mitch Ginsburg - http://www.timesofisrael.com/receding-shadows-reveal-more-of-irans-covert-wars/
As the clash between Israel and the Islamic Republic comes to light, a complex network of regional struggles emerges
A string of recent assassinations and strikes, conducted several miles from Israel's borders, often in broad daylight, have driven back some of the shadows that cloak Hezbollah's war against Israel. They've also highlighted Iran's regional role and underscored a lingering question about Hezbollah's allegiances: whether to its coreligionists and religious patron state, Iran, or to its compatriots in the Cedar State.
The revelations are particularly relevant now, as Israel watches from the sidelines while Iran and the six world powers known as the P5+1 enter the homestretch in negotiations that have steadfastly avoided Iran's role in fomenting instability across the region. The talks have also mostly skirted Tehran's championing of the cause of prying the Zionist entity from the Middle East - a role that many Israelis believe will only rise in prominence if it is bulwarked by the bomb.
A review of the facts: On January 18 Israel reportedly faced a situation that either invited or demanded action. A team of senior Hezbollah operatives, accompanied by Iranian officers from the Quds Force, moved in a two-car convoy near Israel's border with Syria. Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon made clear last week, without expressly owning the operation, that Israel knew full well that there was an Iranian general in the convoy. He also said that "an Iranian-Hezbollah co-production" was establishing a network in order to attack Israel from Syrian soil.
An Israeli aircraft reportedly targeted the convoy, killing senior Hezbollah commander Jihad Mugniyeh, the Iranian general, and the rest of the crew, 12 men in all.
The commander of Iran's Quds Force, Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, arguably the most influential covert operative in the Middle East today, dispatched two officers to Hezbollah's front line in Lebanon to facilitate a swift revenge. The counter-strike came on January 28, when Hezbollah fired five guided anti-tank missiles at an Israeli army convoy coming down from Mount Dov. The target - soldiers - and the location, along the western flank of a contested ridgeline, were chosen with sophistication. Luck and poor operational performance from Hezbollah left only two Israeli soldiers dead; direct hits on all five vehicles, or a slower response from the soldiers, who fled the civilian vehicles, might have resulted in the deaths of 12 soldiers - nearly the entire officer corps of the Tsabar Battalion of the Givati Brigade.
Soleimani, at roughly the same time, got to his knees before Mughniyeh's grave - he was close to both Jihad and his father, Imad Mughniyeh, whose 2008 death was detailed over the weekend in a Washington Post exposé - and solemnly read from the Quran. That gesture, amid regional convulsions described Sunday by the IDF chief of staff as "a passage between historic periods," also highlights how the regional ties that bind are increasingly religious and ethnic rather than nationalist.
Hezbollah, it would seem, is the prototypical agent of Iranian influence, based predominantly on shared faith rather than citizenship. In 1990, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in his second year as Iran's supreme leader, said that the mission of the Quds Force is to "establish popular Hezbollah cells all over the world," according to a 2013 article in The New Yorker.
Ya'alon, who has long argued that the focus of the nuclear negotiations with Iran is far too narrow, said last week on Army Radio, several days after the strike in Quneitra, that "We need to look at this through a wide framework."
In his depiction, the Hezbollah-Iran axis, which was temporarily thwarted on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, is part of a larger regional and global initiative, being played out in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, and the Gulf. "Alongside the talks about the number of centrifuges," the defense minister said, "is an Iranian effort to open terror fronts against Israeli and Western interests in the Middle East."
In 2013, when Guatemalan President Otto Fernando Perez Molina came to Israel, he said that Iran's goal "is regional and global hegemony, today through terror and subversiveness" and later, once it is shielded by the bomb, in an even more brazen and accelerated manner.
Bassem Eid, an East Jerusalem-based human rights worker and Mideast analyst, said that while Iranian influence was surely "growing" in the region, his primary concern, agitated by the recent revelations, was the partially renewed ties between Hezbollah and the Palestinian terror organizations. The recent Iranian push to try and link Hamas back up to Hezbollah, despite the titanic struggle between Shiite and Sunni populations - a move predicated on the notion that help even "from the devil" is legitimate in the war against Israel - "puts us, Israelis and Palestinians, in ever more danger," said Eid.
In recent weeks two Hamas delegations from Lebanon have met with Hezbollah leaders and traveled to Tehran. Mahmoud a-Zahar, a Hamas leader barred by Egypt from leaving Gaza, has called on Tehran to provide Hamas with funds and weapons. Additionally, Eid said, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas held large-scale mock-funerals in support of the Hezbollah men killed in Quneitra. "I've never heard of this in the past," he said.
Still, Professor Shlomo Shpiro, a veteran Hezbollah scholar, asserted that despite the melting of shadows, revealing Iranian involvement in the region, Hezbollah remains first and foremost Lebanese. The organization, he said, maintains "its own interests, its own identity, and its own policies," and is not merely a forward arm of the Iranian revolution in the Levant.
"Not to compare, but I vividly remember a US president coming to Israel for the funeral of a prime minister [Yitzhak Rabin]," he said. "That doesn't mean Israel is a US puppet in the region."
Iran boasts of rocket aid to Palestinians, Hezbollah - Stuart Winer - http://www.timesofisrael.com/iran-boasts-of-rocket-aid-to-palestinians-hezbollah/
Commander of aerospace force says technology to mass-produce missiles exported to Tehran's anti-Israel allies
The commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp's missile division boasted on Monday that his country has provided short- and mid-range ballistic rocket technologies to its allies, including the Palestinians and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
IRGC aerospace force commander Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said that information and skills to locally produce military rockets were also given to the governments of Syria and Iraq.
"The IRGC's Aerospace Force has developed to a stage in the field of missile industries that it can mass-produce different types of short- and mid-range missiles," Hajizadeh said, according to a report by the semi-official FARS news agency.
Israeli defense officials have often voiced concerns over the spread of mid-range missiles to Hezbollah and the Palestinians that put all of Israel within striking distance.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran has helped Iraq, Syria, Palestine and the Lebanese Hezbollah by exporting the technology that it has for the production of missiles and other equipment, and they can now stand against the Zionist regime, the ISIL [Islamic State group] and other Takfiri [apostate] groups and cripple them," Hajizadeh said.
He also claimed that Iran was developing its own radar and drone technologies that were being exported to other countries.
In 2013 Hajizadeh made various claims as to the improved accuracy of Iranian ballistic missiles, including a supersonic anti-ship missile, the so-called Persian Gulf missile, which has a range of over 250 kilometers.
Israel has vowed to prevent what it terms "game-changing" technologies from falling into the hands of Hezbollah. Several airstrikes over the past three years, attributed to Israel and carried out amid the continuing civil war in Syria, were said to have targeted advanced weapons shipments heading to the Lebanese terror organization.
Last month a helicopter attack on a convoy near the Syrian town of Quneitra on the Golan Heights, apparently carried out by the IDF, killed six Hezbollah members and and at least one Iranian, Mohammed Ali Allahdadi, a decorated Iranian general who was reportedly advising the Syrians on their war effort.
Hezbollah, Syria and Iran have all vowed to strike at Israel in the wake of the attack, and last week a Hezbollah attack along Israel's northern border killed two IDF soldiers. There have been conflicting reports as to whether Israel knew that Allahdadi was in the convoy hit during the airstrike.
Along Israel's southern border, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have steadily increased the range of their rocket attacks on Israeli towns and cities. During 2014's Operation Protective Edge, in which the IDF battled Hamas, terrorists fired over 4,000 rockets at Israel including several that reached Tel Aviv and the outskirts of Haifa in the north, and threatened air traffic at Ben Gurion international airport.
Last November Revolutionary Guard Brigadier General Sayed Majid Moussavi said that the Palestinians and Hezbollah had received Fateh-class missiles from Tehran. The Fateh-110 missile has a range of about 200 kilometers (120 miles) and can carry warheads of around 500 kilograms. Fired from southern Lebanon, the missiles could hit as far south as the Israeli city of Beersheba.
Hamas Renews Alliance with Iran, Hezbollah to "Destroy Zionist Enemy" - By Raphael Poch - http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/28967/hamas-pleas-with-big-brothers-iran-hezbollah-to-save-terror-group-middle-east/#jebJfzsm6LuedYK6.97
The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." (Genesis 6:5)
In a recent plea to help further their goal of destroying Israel, Hamas reached out to their two "big brothers", Iran and Hezbollah. The Gaza-based terror group asked for more military supplies and an increase in financial aid to carry out more terror attacks against the "Zionist enemy."
Senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar formally asked the two radical Islamic powers to help them in their fight against the only democracy in the Middle East.
According to the Iranian Fars News Agency, al-Zahar told Al-Manar TV over the weekend, "We stretch our hand of cooperation for materializing the Palestinian cause, because Palestine is an essential issue and more efforts should be put into it."
He noted that Hamas needs Iran's further financial and arms aid to continue its "resistance" against the Jewish state and "destroy the Israeli occupation."
Using a somewhat different tactic than direct confrontation against Israel, al-Zahar called on Hezbollah to ready "Palestinian refugees" to take up positions outside of Israel's borders in order to be prepared for an armed struggle with Israel.
The request came just weeks after deputy chairman of Hamas' political bureau Mousa Abu Marzouk hailed Iran for its long-term and permanent support for the terrorist group.
Last week, Hamas met with political leaders of Hezbollah in Beirut to discuss cooperation between the two groups. Doha-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal is expected to visit Tehran in the next few weeks to further cement the alliance.
Hamas ready to cooperate with Iran 'to destroy Israeli occupation' - Khaled Abu Toameh - http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Hamas-ready-to-cooperate-with-Iran-to-destroy-Israeli-occupation-389655
Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar on Sunday called on Iran to provide his movement with additional funds and weapons to enable it to "destroy the Israeli occupation."
Zahar told the Hezbollah TV station Al-Manar that Hamas is prepared to cooperate with Iran "for the sake of Palestine."
Zahar's remarks came amid reports that Hamas and Iran have agreed to restore relations, which were strained following the Islamist movement's refusal to support the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Sources close to Hamas said that the movement's Doha-based leader, Khaled Mashaal, is expected to visit Tehran in the coming weeks as part of the rapprochement between the two sides.
The sources confirmed that Iran has agreed to resume financial aid to Hamas in the aftermath of last summer's Operation Protective Edge.
In recent weeks, two Hamas delegations visited Tehran and held talks with senior Iranian government officials for the first time since the beginning of the civil war in Syria.
Hamas has also been working to mend fences with Hezbollah.
Last weekend, representatives of Hamas and Hezbollah met in Beirut to discuss cooperation between the two parties.
The Hamas delegation was headed by Ahmed Abdel Hadi, while the Hezbollah team was led by Hassan Huballah, according to reports in the Lebanese media.
The reports said the two sides "affirmed the need for consolidating cooperation and preventing tensions."
Hamas leaders recently sent letters of condolence to Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah over the killing of several senior Hezbollah operatives in the Syrian part of the Golan Heights. In their letters, the Hamas leaders stressed the importance of cooperation with Hezbollah in the fight against Israel.
Zahar in the interview called on Nasrallah to coordinate with Hamas with regard to attacks against Israel across the Lebanese border.
Is Iran Preparing for a Two-Front War Against Israel? - Jonathan S. Tobin - https://www.commentarymagazine.com/2015/01/30/is-iran-preparing-for-a-two-front-war-against-israel-hamas-hezbollah-tunnels-terrorism/
The outbreak of violence along Israel's northern border appeared to have died down by the end of the week. Hezbollah claimed a victory with a cross border shelling that left two Israeli soldiers dead. For the moment that appears to be enough for them and their Iranian paymasters as they contemplate their next move in a struggle that is as much about defending the Islamist regime's gains in Syria and its nuclear program as anything else. But for residents of northern Israel, the attack was a reminder that at any moment, their lives could be turned upside down by a decision taken in Tehran to either turn up the heat on the Jewish state or perhaps even launch a war. The same is true of those living within range of Gaza, where terrorists also rule. Though those who claim to be Israel's friends speak of its security concerns as if they were fictions created by Prime Minister Netanyahu to justify his policies, this week's events once more made it clear that a two-front war in which both missiles and terror tunnels will play a major role are threats that cannot be dismissed.
The aftermath of the dustup along the Lebanese border has been characterized mostly by renewed Israeli efforts to search for evidence of tunnels being dug across the border to facilitate more terror attacks. The construction equipment that has been reported in the vicinity of this week's assault was widely assumed to be a sign that Hezbollah is preparing for more attacks perhaps this time aimed at killing and kidnapping civilians as well as soldiers.
The context was not just the usual tensions with the terror group but signs that Iran was upping the ante with Israel as it continued to refuse to budge in nuclear talks with the United States and its Western allies. Far from being separate issues, the ability of Iran to deploy its Hezbollah auxiliaries to pressure Israel must be understood as integral to its overall goal of seeking regional hegemony via the chaos in Iraq and the survival of its ally Bashar Assad in Syria.
Tensions with Hamas along Israel's southern border should be seen in the same light.
Hamas has recently begun moving to renew its alliance with Iran after their split because they backed rival sides in the Syrian civil war. Assad's victory was achieved with Iranian and Hezbollah help and Hamas has now conceded it made a mistake when it threw in with Saudi Arabia and Turkey to back the rebels.
But it too, has been using the respite since last summer's war to rebuild. But the rebuilding has not been of the homes of Palestinians who were used as human shields by Hamas. Rather it has been rebuilding its military infrastructure of tunnels and shelters designed to protect its leaders, fighters and arsenal. Talk about international donors being slow to pay their pledges for the costs of rebuilding Gaza should be understood in the context of Hamas using as much of the aid as it can for its own purposes rather than to help those who languish under their despotic rule.
As for the residents of Gaza, Hamas isn't completely neglecting them. As the Times of Israel reports, the ruling Islamist group has been operating camps for children in recent months. But the kids aren't learning sports, fitness or arts and crafts. Some 15,000 teenagers have been undergoing terrorist training by the Izaddin al-Qassam, Hamas's "military wing." Many of them graduated the course yesterday.
Drills included weapons training and exercises simulating kidnapping IDF soldiers and infiltration into Israel through tunnels. Portraits of Israeli leaders were used in target practice for sniper training.
In case, the International Criminal Court is interested in investigating a real war crime as opposed to compiling charges against Israel for having the temerity to defend itself against terrorist assault, using children in this manner is an atrocity.
But the point of these two stories is that Israel must brace itself for a two-front war if Iran thinks it is in its interest to start one. That should cause President Obama to rethink his reckless pursuit of détente with Iran in which he has already sacrificed his former goal of dismantling their nuclear program. Further appeasement of Tehran will not bring peace to the region. To the contrary, Iran seems bent on expanding its reach and terrorism is the way to do it. With more daylight opening up between Washington and Jerusalem these days, the temptation for Iran to use the leverage it has acquired on Israel's northern and southern borders may prove irresistible. If the U.S. wants to prevent such an outcome, it needs to be more realistic about the nature of its negotiating partner and more supportive of an ally that remains under siege from Islamist terrorists on two fronts.
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