Will Israel Go To War? Airstrikes Hit Syrian Army As ISIS Nears Border, Arab Media Reports - By Tom O'Connor - http://www.ibtimes.com/will-israel-go-war-airstrikes-hit-syrian-army-isis-nears-border-arab-media-reports-2495967
Israeli warplanes struck positions held by the Syrian army near Damascus on Wednesday, according to local Arab media, as forces loyal to the jihadist Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, seized territory close to the Israeli-Syrian border.
Using Lebanese airspace, Israeli planes targeted the Syrian army's 3rd Division in the al-Qutayfah district east of Damascus as military forces attempted to transport weapons to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, according to Lebanese media outlet Al Jadeed. No casualties were reported as a result of the strike, according to pan-Arab media outlet Al Mayadeen.
The reported strike comes a week after Hezbollah General Secretary Hassan Nasrallah condemned President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's meeting in Washington, saying the militants did not want another war but would defend themselves if Israel engaged.
Hezbollah, which has enjoyed Iranian support, was formed in the 1980s and played a crucial role in expelling Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon during the country's civil war. The group has routinely clashed with Israel and has supported Syrian President Bashar Assad against various armed opposition groups in the country's six-year civil war that has killed hundreds of thousands of Syrians and displaced millions more. Netanyahu, who officially claims neutrality on the neighboring conflict, acknowledged for the first time in December that Israeli forces were behind previous air strikes on Hezbollah and the Syrian army.
The reported strike came as ISIS-affiliated forces advanced in Syria's southern Golan Heights region. A group known as the Khalid bin Walid Army launched a surprise attack on other opposition forces, taking several villages in the area not far from territory occupied by Israel. Israeli forces took the area after its 1967 war with Syria and other Arab nations, ultimately annexing it in the 1980s without international recognition.
In the first direct clashes between the forces since the conflict began, Israeli soldiers targeted and killed several ISIS militants in the Golan Heights region in November. Israel has also treated wounded Syrian opposition fighters as Tel Aviv has typically viewed powers such as the Syrian government and Hezbollah that are backed by Iran as a greater existential threat.
Assad has accused Israel of colluding with ISIS and other militant groups in Syria, something Tel Aviv has denied.
After Syria, Hezbollah Will Turn Its Eyes To Israel - http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=1042
Israel has struck Hezbollah targets near the Syrian capital overnight on Wednesday, once again raising fears that is only a matter of time before Hezbollah and Israel engage in a full-scale conflict.
Several threats have been thrown back in force in recent weeks including Israel warning Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah directly via a third-party Arab official, that any attack it may launch on it, be it from its bases in Lebanon or those in Syria, will meet a "colossal military retaliation."
Nasrallah was also warned that in the era of the Trump administration, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would be able to more easily garner the support of moderate countries in the region -- most likely in the form of tacit consent -- in the event Israel would have to mount a forceful counterattack against Hezbollah.
Nasrallah on Monday doubled down on his recent saber-rattling against Israel and warned that his terror group would not hold back from attacking sensitive Israeli targets if the Jewish state goes to war with Lebanon.
The terror chief repeated a previous threat to fire rockets at Israels nuclear reactor in Dimona and at a huge ammonia storage tank in Haifa.
Hezbollah will not keep to any "red lines" in a future war with Israel, Nasrallah warned.
The Hezbollah threat is real. What was once a rag-tag terrorist army of bomb makers and violent thugs is now considered a formidable regional military force.
Generous funding by Iran (thanks to the lifting of sanctions by Obama), heavy weapons acquisitions that include both tanks and more than sixty-thousand rockets, massive recruitment drives that have swelled its ranks and a year of heavy combat in Syria have transformed Hezbollah into an altogether new enemy for Israel.
Now, with the conflict in Syria likely entering its final stages, the thousands of full-time and battle-hardened soldiers will need a new target. There is little doubt in which direction they will turn, especially the thousands who saw fighting ISIS as a training exercise for their true enemy: Israel.
Israel's border region with Syria, the Golan Heights, used to be among Israel's safest frontiers but now the heavily fortified zone looks out on increasing activity from the ISIS affiliated Yarmouk Martyrs' Brigade, and to the North of their territory, Hezbollah units supported by both Iran and Syrian regime.
Once Syrian territory, the Golan Heights came under Israeli control during the 1967 June War, or Six-Day War, that saw Israel repelling an invasion on multiple fronts.
Though held strategically by Israel, Israel didn't fully annex the region until 1981. Today, the Golan Heights acts as a sort of buffer zone to the North East, one in which Israeli tanks faced Syrian army units across a UN patrolled cease fire lines, but with little incident since 1973.
Now the equation has changed. The Assad regime may have shown little interest in sparking a major conflict across the cease fire line, but the Iran-sponsored Hezbollah has different interests.
This is not the first time Israel has struck at Hezbollah weapons shipments in Syria or Lebannon in an attempt to cut off its supply of rockets that could be used on Israeli populations.
The shift of Hezbollah away from fighting ISIS and with access to the Golan Heights, Iran now has essential control of a new strategic corridor.
According to Professor Asher Susser of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Tel Aviv University, "The changes in Syria have brought Iran closer to Israel's border than ever before."
Not only does Israel face the threat of attack across the border with Lebanon but now also with Syria in a situation nearly unprecedented within the past fifty years.
Hezbollah has sacrificed much in the Syrian Civil War, as many as five thousand soldiers according to some estimates, and is demanding control in Syria "commensurate with its sacrifices" according to a report by Kurdi-Iraqi journalist Roshun Kassem.
The result is an Iranian proxy army with the destruction of Israel as its stated goal now gaining access to a strategic corridor at the North of Israel.
As victory of government forces nears in Syria, it is increasingly possible that the ISIS backed militias near the border will be replaced with Iran-backed Hezbollah forces through negotiations with the Syrian government.
Such a movement would further cement the influence of Iran along Israel's border. There is talk that Syrian leader Assad is also getting ready to allow Hezbollah to fire rockets into Israel from Syrian soil as punishment for it's continued attacks in it's territory.
Russian air power, which shows no sign of exiting Syria, further complicates any attempt for Israel to counter these moves.
Though Israel and Russia have a working defense relationship, including dedicated air force liaison officers meant to prevent any interference, the amount of Russian anti-air firepower in the region meant to protect Syrian assets still poses a threat should Hezbollah attack.
Whatever the immediate result, the fact of the matter is that the Golan Heights has grown more volatile and Hezbollah, which has stated that it saw the Syrian Civil War as training for the coming war with Israel, will soon sit poised to threaten Israel across two fronts.
With increased combat experience, Iranian funding and military materiel, the threat now posed by Hezbollah is all too real.
Israel Air Force carried out airstrikes near Damascus on Hezbollah arms convoy and Syrian military target - http://beholdisrael.org/news-israel/news/israel-air-force-carried-out-airstrikes-near-damascus-hezbollah-arms-convoy-and
Airstrikes carried out overnight on Hezbollah arms convoy, Assad regime military compound hit; Reports claim strikes carried out from Lebanese airspace
The Israel Air Force carried out airstrikes near Damascus on Wednesday, targeting a Hezbollah arms convoy as well as a Syrian army arsenal.
Numerous Arab media stations reported the strikes early Wednesday morning, the IDF, as with majority of covert operations in Syria, neither denying nor confirming the strikes.
The strikes were carried out on an attempted arms convoy in route to Hezbollah on the Damascus-Beirut highway in west Syria, as well as near the town of As'saboura.
Reports confirmed that a Syrian Army's Fourth Battalion arsenal was hit, with numerous reports claiming the arms convoy was a Syrian army vehicle. Syrian media reported four explosions in the early hours of Wednesday at a Syrian Army military compound claiming Israeli Air Force jets carried out the strikes from Lebanese air space.
Syrian media reported that Israeli fighter jets fired two missiles, reporting no injuries or casualties.
The strikes come following two previous Israel Air Force strikes on Syria earlier this week. The first was in retaliation for mortar fire and gunfire at IDF soldiers on the border region with Syria Sunday morning. The Israel Air Force (IAF) strike killed four Islamic State affiliated terrorists, the first time the IDF has clashed with Islamic State affiliated terrorists in Syria on Israel's border.
One day later, the IAF carried out a second round of airstrikes destroying an ISIS-linked terror cell in southern Syria. The IDF stated on the strikes "The IDF will continue to spare no effort to defend the Israeli public while maintaining the military's freedom of operation in Israel's sovereign territory, and it will not hesitate to counteract terrorist organizations threatening Israel."
Prime Minister Netanyahu warned ISIS and all terrorist organizations against threatening Israel's borders, stating following the attack "We are well prepared on our northern border and will not allow Islamic State elements or any other hostile elements to use the war in Syria to establish themselves close to our borders. We will not let Islamic State operatives, or other operatives under the auspices of the Syrian war, establish themselves along our borders."
Hezbollah warns 'no red lines' in next war with Israel - By Stuart Winer - http://www.timesofisrael.com/hezbollah-warns-no-red-lines-in-next-war-with-israel/
Terror group chief Hassan Nasrallah advises Jewish state to 'count to a million' before starting conflict with Lebanon
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Monday doubled down on his recent saber-rattling against Israel and warned that his terror group would not hold back from attacking sensitive Israeli targets if the Jewish state goes to war with Lebanon.
During a television interview with Iran's state-run Islamic Republic News Agency, the terror chief repeated a previous threat to fire rockets at Israel's nuclear reactor in Dimona and at a huge ammonia storage tank in Haifa.
Hezbollah will not keep to any "red lines" in a future war with Israel, Nasrallah cautioned.
"In the face of Israel's threats to destroy Lebanon's infrastructure, we will not abide by red lines, especially regarding Haifa's ammonia and the nuclear reactor in Dimona. Hezbollah possesses the full courage for this," he said, according to an English translation of his comments reported by the Naharnet website.
He also warned Israel to "count to a million" before going to war in Lebanon.
"We are not advocates of war. We are in the defense position," Nasrallah said.
Israel and Hezbollah fought a punishing war in 2006, but have maintained a tense calm watched over by UN peacekeepers on the border since then, punctuated by several deadly cross-border incidents.
Israeli officials have raised alarms in recent years that Hezbollah may be bolstering its positions in southern Lebanon and in the Syrian Golan Heights, and a court recently ordered an ammonia tank in the city of Haifa to be shut amid fears a missile strike on the facility could cause mass casualties.
Lebanese President Michel Aoun, who draws support from Hezbollah, recently called for the terror group to remain armed to "resist Israel," despite a UN resolution forbidding militias in Lebanon.
In other statements reported by IRNA-affiliated Press TV Monday night, Nasrallah offered reassurance to the Palestinians that they have not been forgotten. On Tuesday, a two-day international conference on the Palestinians was set to kick off in Iran with the participation of some 80 delegations.
"The most important result and message of this action for the Palestinian nation is that you have not been left alone and that an important and powerful country in the region supports you," Nasrallah said.
The Hezbollah leader commented on US President Donald Trump's statements last week during a press conference in Washington with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which he said that Washington would no longer pursue only a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and would look at any plan the sides agreed on.
Nasrallah said that Trump's apparent bucking of decades of previous US policy supporting the two-state scheme was a positive development in that it showed Israel's true intentions regarding the Palestinians.
Last Thursday Nasrallah boasted that his rockets could reach Israel's nuclear reactor in the southern city of Dimona, and said he would turn Israel's reported nuclear arsenal against it.
Nasrallah, who had previously threatened to target an ammonia tank in Haifa, claimed credit for an Israeli court decision to shut down that facility last week and said he would do the same with the nuclear reactor.
An assessment commissioned by the Haifa facility found that a strike on the tank, which holds some 12,000 tons of ammonia, could cause tens of thousands of injuries or deaths in the area.
In response to Nasrallah's warnings, Minister of Intelligence Yisrael Katz threatened in a statement to target "all of Lebanon," including infrastructures there, in retaliation for any attack on Israeli population centers or infrastructures. He also called for "debilitating sanctions" on Iran over its support for its "proxy and stooge" Nasrallah.
On Sunday, an Arabic newspaper reported that Nasrallah's threats last week came after Israel passed a message to Hezbollah warning it of a forceful response to any attack from Lebanon or Syria, where Hezbollah has been helping prop up Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime by fighting against rebel groups seeking to oust him.
The message was passed along to the Lebanon terror group via an unnamed Arab emissary, according to a report in the Arabic-language London-based Al-Hayat newspaper. It was not clear exactly when Israel sent the message or what prompted it.
International agencies believe Israel has over 100 nuclear weapons. Israel has neither confirmed or denied the existence of its nuclear arsenal, maintaining a policy of "nuclear ambiguity."
Iran's supreme leader backs 'holy intifada' to destroy 'cancer' Israel - by Raphael Ahren - http://www.timesofisrael.com/iran-leader-hails-holy-intifada-against-cancer-israel/
At conference backing violent uprising, Khamenei says no people in history ever suffered as badly as Palestinians
Calling Israel a "cancerous tumor," Iran's supreme leader on Tuesday expressed support for a "holy intifada" to eradicate the Jewish state, arguing that the international community is headed toward confrontation with the "Zionist regime."
In the opening address of the regime's sixth international conference in support of the Palestinian violent uprising against Israel, Ayatollah Khamenei hailed the "resistance" against the "cruel occupation," which he described as the worst case of oppression against one particular people recorded in history. He also accused Israel's founders of being responsible for the current upheaval in the wider Middle East.
"The people of Palestine have no option other than keeping the flames of fighting alight by relying on Allah the Exalted and by relying on their innate capabilities, as they have genuinely done so until today," said Khamenei, according to a translation of his speech posted on his website.
A wave of terrorism some called a third intifada, which began last year and manifested itself mainly in stabbings and vehicular attacks against Israelis troops and civilians, is "moving forward in a bright and hopeful manner," the ayatollah declared. "And by Allah's permission, we will see that this intifada will begin a very important chapter in the history of fighting and that it will inflict another defeat on that usurping regime."
"From the beginning, this cancerous tumor has been developing in several phases until it turned into the current disaster," he went on. "The cure for this tumor should be developed in phases as well."
While the "resistance" so far failed to achieved its ultimate objective - "the complete freedom of Palestine" - it has made important inroads, he said. "The Palestinian intifada continues to gallop forward in a thunderous manner so that it can achieve its other goals until the complete liberation of Palestine."
Addressing some 700 delegates in a Tehran conference center, the supreme leader denounced what he called "compromise strategies" - referring to the Palestinian Authority's endorsement of a two-state solution based on the 1967 lines - and called instead for "all-out resistance."
Protecting Palestinian identity "is a necessity and a holy jihad," he said in the presence of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani. "The paradigm of heroic and continuous resistance and holy intifada stands against the compromise paradigm."
"The problem with 'compromise' is not only that it legitimizes a usurping regime by violating the rights of a nation," he said. "Rather the problem is that it is completely at odds with the current condition of Palestine and that it does not take into account the expansionist, oppressive and greedy characteristics of the Zionists."
The supreme leader declared the Palestinian plight as "the most important issue in the world of Islam and as the pivot of unity for all Muslims and all liberated individuals in the world."
No other people has ever suffered as much as the Palestinians, he said. "An intelligent quest in history shows that no people in any era of history have ever been subject to such pain, suffering and cruelty. ... It has never been witnessed that a real entity is ignored and that a fake entity takes its place."
The "Zionist regime" was created to harm the stability and progress of the Middle East by imposing a long-term conflict, Khamenei posited. These same forces are now responsible for the "seditions that exist in the present time as well," he said.
Hinting at the clandestine yet solid cooperation between Israel and some Sunni Arab states, the Iranian leader called on all Islamic and Arab countries to support the Palestinian cause. "Supporting the resistance is the responsibility of all of us," he said.
The Muslim world and the rest of the international community have different viewpoints but should rally around the liberation of Palestine, Khamenei said.
"With the emergence of signs of the collapse in the Zionist regime and the weakness that has dominated its main allies - in particular the United States of America - it is witnessed that the global environment is gradually moving towards confronting the hostile, illegal and inhuman activities of the Zionist regime," he declared.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday evening, during a visit in Singapore, highlighted his recent trips to two Muslim countries - Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan - citing their religious tolerance and friendship to Israel as a model to be emulated by other states.
"I think there's an opportunity to do this today because I sense a great change in the Arab world in many Arab countries, and I hope ... to be able to use that newfound attitude towards Israel to help to solve the Palestinian Israeli conflict as well," he said.
The two-day conference is attended by delegates from 80 countries, including some allied with Israel, such as Kazakhstan and Uganda. The Jewish anti-Zionist group Neturei Karta also sent a senior representative to Tehran for the event.
A year and half after six world powers signed a landmark nuclear agreement with Iran, the regime has in recent weeks stepped up its provocative activities, including launching ballistic missile tests in violation of UN Security resolutions and threatening an attack on Tel Aviv.
Netanyahu discussed the nuclear deal and Tehran's increasingly belligerent rhetoric with US President Donald Trump last week in Washington. The new US administration has indicated that it would take a more aggressive position on Iranian provocations than its predecessor, having already imposed additional sanctions on the regime mere days after coming into office.
Is Iran Preparing for War in The Middle East? Russia To Send $1B In Weapons to Tehran - by Bruce Wright - http://www.ibtimes.com/iran-preparing-war-middle-east-russia-send-1b-weapons-tehran-2494993
Russia was set to send Iran about $1 billion worth of missile defense systems, Russian news agency Tass reported Monday. The deal was the result of a contract Iran signed with Russian defense manufacturer Rostec Corporation in 2007, but it was put on hold by Russia in 2010. Russian President Vladimir Putin recently ended the delay and paved the way for the contractual obligation for the S-300 air defense systems to be met in full starting this past November.
"The S-300 cost about one billion dollars," Rostec Corporation CEO Sergey Chemezov said. "We were through with the supplies of S-300. No plans for anything are on the agenda."
The timing of the resumption of the contract perhaps could not come at a better time for Iran, which Yemen has accused of trying to incite war with itself and countries in the region, Arab News reported.
Iran has indeed been posturing militarily in the region recently. Tehran's Revolutionary Guard launched a series of rockets Monday, though their capabilities and intended destinations were not announced. The apparent test firing, which was touted as a major accomplishment by military officials, came amid a three-day military exercise in the country, according to Sputnik News.
"Today, various classes of smart rockets with pinpoint accuracy were successfully test-fired, which showed the power of the Islamic Republic of Iran," Brig. Gen. Mohammad Pakpour said after the launches took place.
Iran also conducted a different test-launching of missiles earlier this month, which prompted the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump to hit the country with a set of new sanctions.
That came just weeks after Iran was one of the seven Muslim-majority countries named on Trump's executive immigration order banning travel from those countries to the U.S. While that executive order was eventually struck down by the courts, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis announced Monday that a new, revamped version of the executive order would be revealed Tuesday.
A warning to Nasrallah: 'Israel will respond harshly to Hezbollah' - by Yasser Okbi, Maariv Hashavua - http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/A-warning-to-Nasrallah-Israel-will-respond-harshly-to-Hezbollah-481990
Arab officials caution Hezbollah against provoking Israel.
Arab States have reportedly warned Hezbollah that Israel will "respond harshly," to any attacks against it, a senior Arab official told the London-based Lebanese newspaper Al Hayat on Sunday. This warning comes closely after Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah spoke out against Israel on Thursday, threatening a missile strike on the Dimona nuclear reactor, an unprecedented threat in the struggle between Israel and the terror organization.
According to the source, Israel would issue a harsh military response against the Lebanese organization if Hezbollah makes any military moves, even into Syria from Lebanon. They mentioned that Israel is closely following Hezbollah's armament and movements in Syria and Lebanon, including its presence in various areas of Syria that could be seen as a threat to Israel.
The source explained that this warning was issued from Israel to Nasrallah via an Arab official because it is "serious and indicates the Netanyahu government's readiness to strike targets within the organization and within Lebanese territory, since Hezbollah has received the backing of the Lebanese government, which is what prompted Nasrallah to increase his threats."
With the warning, Netanyahu has established his ability to react against Hezbollah. This ability is strengthened by Israel's regional backing and the support of US President Donald trump, which is greater than that of his predecessor, Barack Obama. The source also speculated that Netanyahu's intention is apparently to receive the full support of the Gulf States and other countries in the region who have defined Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, and who are concerned about its presence in Syria.
The source also said that Israel considers the Lebanese government responsible for Hezbollah's actions, including Lebanese President Michel Aoun, as he provided arms to Hezbollah, which makes the Lebanese army a legitimate target of the IDF should a war break out.
Sources said that Israel is waiting for the right time to attack Hezbollah, based on the statements of Israeli officials and the Israeli media's focus on the Shi'ite organization. According to the same sources, Israel wants Hezbollah to exhaust itself in Syria so that it would in turn become vulnerable to attack.
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