WORLD AT WAR: 5.23.16 - Iranian commander: We can destroy Israel 'in under 8 minutes'

Iranian commander: We can destroy Israel 'in under 8 minutes' - http://www.timesofisrael.com/iranian-commander-we-can-destroy-israel-in-under-8-minutes/

 

If supreme leader gives order, Revolutionary Guards 'will raze the Zionist regime' quickly, says senior adviser of elite al-Quds unit

 

A senior Iranian military commander boasted that the Islamic Republic could "raze the Zionist regime in less than eight minutes."

 

Ahmad Karimpour, a senior adviser to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' elite unit al-Quds Force, said if Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei gave the order to destroy Israel, the Iranian military had the capacity to do so quickly.

 

"If the Supreme Leader's orders [are] to be executed, with the abilities and the equipment at our disposal, we will raze the Zionist regime in less than eight minutes," Karimpour said Thursday, according to the semi-official Fars News Agency.

 

A senior Iranian general on May 9 announced that the country's armed forces successfully tested a precision-guided, medium-range ballistic missile two weeks earlier that could reach Israel, the state-run Tasnim agency reported.

 

"We test-fired a missile with a range of 2,000 kilometers and a margin of error of eight meters," Brigadier General Ali Abdollahi was quoted as saying at a Tehran science conference. The eight-meter margin means the "missile enjoys zero error," he told conference participants.

 

Iran in March tested ballistic missiles, including two with the words "Israel must be wiped off the earth" emblazoned on them, according to the US and other Western powers.

 

Under a nuclear deal signed last year between world powers and Iran, ballistic missile tests are not forbidden outright but are "not consistent" with a United Nations Security Council resolution from July 2015, US officials say.

 

According to the UN decision, "Iran is called upon not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology," until October 2023.

 

Khamenei has repeatedly threatened to annihilate the Jewish state, and in September 2015 suggested Israel would not be around in 25 years. In a quote posted to Twitter by Khamenei's official account on September 9, 2015, Khamenei addressed Israel, saying, "You will not see next 25 years," and added that the Jewish state will be hounded until it is destroyed.

 

"After negotiations, in Zionist regime they said they had no more concern about Iran for next 25 years; I'd say: Firstly, you will not see next 25 years; God willing, there will be nothing as Zionist regime by next 25 years. Secondly, until then, struggling, heroic and jihadi morale will leave no moment of serenity for Zionists," the quote from Iran's top leader reads in broken English.

 

In November 2014, Khamenei stated that the "barbaric" Jewish state "has no cure but to be annihilated." A plan titled "9 key questions about the elimination of Israel" was posted on his Twitter account, using the hashtag #handsoffalaqsa, in reference to the tensions on the Temple Mount. The sometimes grammatically awkward list explained the how and why of Khomeini's vision for replacing Israel with a Palestinian state.

 

The first point stated that "the fake Zionist regime has tried to realize its goals by means of infanticide, homicide, violence & iron fist while boasts about it blatantly." Due to the above, Khomeini argued, "the only means of bringing Israeli crimes to an end is the elimination of this regime."

 

US warplanes intervene in Syrian war - http://www.debka.com/article/25427/Exclusive-US-warplanes-intervene-in-Syrian-war-

 

On Tuesday, May 17, the US expanded its involvement in the war in Syria, and for the first time since the war began in 2011, US F-16 fighter-bombers bombed radical Syrian rebels fighting Iranian, Syrian and Hezbollah forces near Aleppo, debkafile's military and intelligence sources say in an exclusive report.

 

 According to the sources, the targets were mainly troops, positions, and transportation routes of rebel groups such as ISIS and the Nusra Front that also threaten moderate Syrian rebel groups in the area. But there is no doubt that the American airstrikes will help Syrian President Bashar Assad, just like the Russian bombings have done.

 

 The US warplanes took off from Incirlik airbase in southern Turkey and entered Syrian airspace over Idlib province in northern Syria.

 

 Our sources said that the airstrikes were coordinated with the Russian air force command at Hmeymim airbase next to Latakia, and via American and Russian officers operating from the Jordanian capital Amman.

 

 There is no doubt that the intervention was a turnaround by the administration of President Barack Obama that until now had opposed any US air force operation inside Syria due to concern over tipping the balance in favor of one of the warring sides.

 

 There are now no less than ten air forces engaged in the Syrian war: those of the US, Russia, Israel, Britain, France, Belgium, Germany, Syria, Turkey and Jordan.

 

 Last week, ahead of the US air force's entry, the Pentagon reinforced the American special forces troops at Remalan airbase, located in northern Syria next to the Kurdish city of Hassakeh.

 

 Obama previously announced that 250 troops had been deployed to reinforce the 50 already on the ground. But debkafile's military sources report that the actual number of US soldiers at the base is much higher, and that the troops have attack and transport helicopters that can deliver them within a short period of time to any of the fronts in Syria.

 

 The US air force attacks on the Aleppo and Idlib fronts are expected to continue in the coming days.      

 

 Hamas bringing weapons, rocket-making material into Gaza - By Judah Ari Gross -http://www.timesofisrael.com/shin-bet-hamas-bringing-weapons-rocket-making-material-into-gaza/

 

Palestinian arrested by Navy dishes on naval smuggling; Israel says terror group 'taking advantage' of eased blockade

 

The Israeli Navy arrested a Hamas-affiliated smuggler off the coast of Gaza last month who is accused of bringing weapons and illegal building materials into the Strip, the Shin Bet security service revealed Monday.

 

Salim Jamal Hassan Naman, a resident of the al-Shati refugee camp, admitted to interrogators that he'd been involved in a naval smuggling operation for some time and had helped bring in weaponry and "materials used in the production of rockets, like fiberglass resin," the security service said.

 

Israel's internal security agency accused Hamas of "taking advantage" of a recent change in policy concerning the blockade on the coastal Strip.

 

In April, the Defense Ministry extended the permitted distance from the coast for Gazan boats to nine nautical miles, up from the previous six miles from the shore.

 

Naman, 39, was picked up by IDF sailors in April after his boat "deviated from the approved sailing area," the Shin Bet wrote in a statement.

 

After his arrest, Naman was handed over to the Shin Bet for further questioning, where he provided his interrogators with information regarding Hamas's smuggling operations and attack strategies.

 

Though Naman was most closely affiliated with the Hamas terror organization, he told investigators the smuggling ring brought weapons to a variety of terror groups in the beleaguered Gaza Strip, the Shin Bet said.

 

The 39-year-old also gave additional information on the terror group's methods of using dedicated smugglers as well as Gaza fishermen to bring contraband to and from Egypt.

 

Naman also revealed to his interrogators information regarding Hamas's operational plans to use Gazan fishermen as a "camouflage" for their military actions, the Shin Bet said.

 

"The information revealed in this interrogation, along with the interrogations of the other Hamas terror operatives who have been arrested recently, reveal another aspect of the numerous efforts made by Hamas in order to prepare itself for advancing its violent terrorist actions," the Shin Bet said.

 

"This time, it's through taking advantage of the relief provided by Israel for the population of Gazan fisherman," the security service said.