Russia-Israel Alliance Grows as Russia-Iran Alliance Frays in Syria - John J. Xenakis -
An airstrike on Iraqi Shia militias on Sunday evening killed dozens of fighters supporting the regime of Syria's president Bashar al-Assad. The airstrike targeted a position in Syria's Deir az-Zour province, near the border with Iraq.
Syrian media blamed the U.S.-led coalition for the airstrike. According to the report from Syrian media SANA, the fighters were from the regime army, and they were fighting ISIS:
A military source said in a statement to SANA that the US-led coalition on Sunday targeted one of our military positions in the town of Al-Hiri, southeast of al-Boukamal city, leaving a number of martyrs and wounding other people.
The coalition has been targeting the military positions in a desperate attempt to raise the collapsed morale of the terrorist organizations due to the achievements of the Syrian army.
The field reports confirm that Washington provides Daesh [ISIS] organization with various kinds of support to prevent its collapse and invest it to keep its forces illegally in the Syrian territory and steal the economic resources in the eastern region through its mercenaries of terrorist groups.
By Monday evening, numerous reports have come up describing errors in the SANA report, essentially making it "fake news."
Most important, the U.S.-led coalition had conducted no airstrikes in the region on Sunday evening, and the U.S. military repeatedly denied that the U.S. coalition had anything to do with the airstrike.
Second, there have been reports that the most likely force behind the airstrikes was the Israeli military. Israel is refusing comment, but unnamed Israeli military sources are confirming this off the record.
Israel rarely comments on its airstrikes in Syria, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday that Israel is "already taking action" against Iran in Syria:
Over the weekend I spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin and with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. We discussed regional issues and focused - of course - on Syria.
I reiterated our guiding principles regarding Syria. First of all, Iran needs to withdraw from all of Syria. Second, we will take action - and are already taking action - against efforts to establish a military presence by Iran and its proxies in Syria both close to the border and deep inside Syria. We will act against these efforts anywhere in Syria.
This statement by Netanyahu actually represents a bit of an expansion of previously announced policy. Previous policy indicated that Israeli airstrikes would be focused on southern Syria, along the border with the Israeli-governed Golan Heights. In Sunday's statement, Netanyahu made it clear that Israel will strike pro-Iranian targets anywhere in Syria. That statement clears up some confusion about whether Israel could have been responsible for the Sunday evening airstrike, whose target had been much deeper into Syria than previous Israeli airstrikes.
A final problem with the Sana story is that it was not clear about what forces the Israeli airstrikes were targeting. It has emerged that 40-50 militia fighters were killed, a combination of Syrian army forces, Iraqi Hezbollah forces, and Iran-backed members of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMU) umbrella organization, which takes its orders from Iran's Al Qods chief Gen. Qassem Soleimani. SANA (Damascus) and CNN and Debka (Israel) and Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Russia-Israel alliance grows, while Russia-Iran alliance frays in Syria
Netanyahu's statement, quoted above, confirms something that has been increasingly clear for at least two years: Israel's alliance with Russia is growing, and Russia is doing nothing to stop Israeli airstrikes on Iranian targets in Syria.
That Russia's relationship with Israel is getting closer could not have been demonstrated more clearly than when Russia openly accepted Jerusalem as Israeli's capital and on June 14 attended a celebration of Russia's Independence Day at a reception being held in Jerusalem.
Russia, Iran, and Turkey formed an alliance in 2015 to support al-Assad in Syria's civil war, with each one taking on a different "assignment." But it has always been fairly certain that once these "assignments" were completed, then there would be no one left for them to fight except each other since they all had different objectives.
Russia's objective was to establish Russian military bases in Syria, and it has accomplished that with naval and air bases. Iran's objective was to establish its own bases in Syria, where they could be used to launch attacks on Israel. Russia does not want Iran to have bases in Syria, and more important, Russia does not want a full-scale war between Iran and Israel.
Iran does have thousands of trainers, advisors, technicians, and other support specialists to make the Syrian Army and their Iranian allies. According to one estimate, Iran supervises over 50,000 mercenary forces in Syria, mainly Shias from Afghanistan and Lebanon. As we reported in 2015, al-Assad's army was near collapse and saved only through the intervention of Russian bombers and Iranian mercenaries.
As the role of the Iranian mercenaries winds down, Russia is demanding that "all foreign troops" (except themselves) leave Syria. Of course, this is nominally directed at the Americans and Turks, but it is also directed at the Iranians. One thing most everyone can agree on, including most European and Middle Eastern nations, is that Iran should get out of Syria. Until that happens, the chances of a war between Israel and Iran in Syria will continue to grow.
Iran Instigating Israel-Gaza Conflict - Aaron Klein -
The massive escalation of Gaza terror rocket and mortar attacks aimed at Israeli civilian population zones over the last twenty-four hours combined with the terror kite onslaught indicates that a desperate Hamas continues to do Iran's bidding despite the potentially disastrous consequences.
In a notable development, Hamas issued a joint statement with the Iran-backed Islamic Jihad terrorist organization officially taking responsibility for the salvo of 45 rockets and mortars fired toward southern Israeli towns. The barrage of projectiles followed the IDF's targeting of Hamas infrastructure after some 20 brush fires in southern Israel were sparked by flammable kites, balloons and assorted other objects launched as part of Hamas's continued campaign against Israel.
The deceptive joint statement by Hamas and Islamic Jihad claimed that the two terror groups "targeted seven Israeli military positions near Gaza... in response to continued Israeli aggression against resistance sites in Gaza."
Military installations were not the target. The rockets were launched toward Israeli towns. And the projectiles were not in response to "continued Israeli aggression" but rather followed Israeli self-defense against Hamas-orchestrated incendiary device attacks.
Islamic Jihad answers directly to Iran and cannot make a major move in Gaza without explicit permission from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Hamas is risking an all-out war that can devastate the terrorist organization. Already Gaza's Hamas dictators are teetering on the brink after their border riots failed to achieve much, and there is widespread and growing anger in Gaza over the territory's all but collapsed economy. While Hamas may be attempting to use the violence to pressure Israel into some sort of ceasefire, it must know that it is playing with its own survival in the event of a full-blown conflict.
Already turned away from other state-sponsors, Hamas understands that it needs Iranian patronage and its strategic alliance with Tehran and seems to be allowing Iran to heat up Israel's southern border.
In a previous analysis that is worth reviewing, I document the reasons Iran may want to start a conflict in Gaza:
Iran has been humiliated and strategically devastated by Israel's repeated strikes against Iran-run military bases in Syria and has been feeling the pressure.
The IDF released satellite photos showing the devastation its warplanes wreaked on Iranian bases during the bombing campaign earlier this month that marked the largest IDF action inside Syria since the 1973 Yom Kippur War. This after Iranian forces in Syria fired a volley of around 20 rockets aimed at IDF positions on the Golan Heights - the first time Iran was accused of directly rocketing Israel.
There have since been more airstrikes in Syria attributed to Israel targeting Iran-run bases. The volleys started after Iran brazenly dispatched an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) into Israeli territory in February before it was quickly shot down by the Israeli military. An IDF investigation revealed the Iranian drone, sent from the Iran-run T-4 airbase in Syria, was carrying explosives and seemingly deployed to attack an Israeli target.
Iran doesn't want more Israeli bombardments in Syria, so it must be careful not to provoke another fierce response. Instead, Iran seems to be acting to divert Israel's attention to the Gaza Strip. It is likely heating up the southern border, perhaps even briefly, as both retaliation and a signal to Israel that Iranian proxies can be turned on at will. For now.
The continued Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror campaign serves as further evidence of Iran's designs to spark a major conflict on Israel's southern border.
Gaza Terrorist Kites: Twisted Reenactment of Samson Burning Philistine Fields - By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz -
"Shimshon went and caught three hundred foxes. He took torches and, turning [the foxes] tail to tail, he placed a torch between each pair of tails." Judges 15:4 (The Israel Bible�)
The thousands of incendiary kites and balloons that Hamas operatives have launched into Israel have caused horrific damage in a new low-tech form of terrorism the IDF is finding difficult to combat. Two rabbis weigh in, finding the spiritual roots for the terror-kites which suggest spiritual methods of defeating them.
For almost three months, Israel's southern border has been plagued by massive Hamas-led protests. With limited resources and technology, the terrorist organization has devised a new method of attacking Israel: kites and helium balloons carrying incendiary devices high over the border and into Israel. The IDF has implemented different methods of countering this new form of terrorism, including drones, but all have produced limited success. Thousands of kites and balloons have set more than 250 fires since the March of Return protests began March 30, burning an estimated 6,000 acres of land, or approximately seven square miles.
Rabbi Yekutiel Fish, the author of the Hebrew Torah blog, Sod HaChashmal, recently wrote about the terror-kites. Rabbi Fish discovered a clue in the Bible connecting them to a similar occurrence of agricultural arson but with Israel playing the role of the aggressor. The clue appears in Hebrew in the verse preceding Samson burning the Philistine's fields.
וַיֵּלֶךְ שִׁמְשׁוֹן וַיִּלְכֹּד שְׁלֹשׁ־מֵאוֹת שׁוּעָלִים וַיִּקַּח לַפִּדִים וַיֶּפֶן זָנָב אֶל־זָנָב וַיָּשֶׂם לַפִּיד אֶחָד בֵּין־שְׁנֵי הַזְּנָבוֹת בַּתָּוֶךְ׃ Judges 15:3
The rabbi showed that beginning with the letter 'ו' (vav) in the word 'Shimshon' (Samson), a skip of every fourth letter produces the letters that spell 'עפיפון' (kite).
"This clearly links Samson's burning of the Philistines' fields with the kites the Palestinians are using to burn Israel," Rabbi Fish said to Breaking Israel News. "Samson tied the torches to the tails of foxes and the Palestinians tie them to the tails of kites. The kites are the revenge of the Philistines on what Samson did to them by burning their fields in Timna."
Rabbi Fish explained that the Palestinians, "the spiritual descendants of the Philistines," resorted to kite arson in a final desperate measure after they sensed Samson's ultimate revenge approaching. As an explanation, Rabbi Fish cited a section of the Jerusalem Talmud based on the verse concerning the Philistines gouging out Samson's eyes.
Then Shimshon called to Hashem, "O Hashem! Please remember me, and give me strength just this once, O Hashem, to take revenge of the Philistines, if only for one of my two eyes." Judges 16:28
Rabbi Fish said that by toppling the pillars of the Temple, Samson killed many Philistines, which was immediate and sufficient revenge for one eye. But, according to the Jerusalem Talmud, the revenge for Samson's second eye will come before the Messiah.
"The Palestinians in Gaza can sense the revenge for Samson's second eye is about to come and their fear is causing them to strike out in a Samson-like manner, by burning the fields of Israel," Rabbi Fish explained.
"But this is all for the benefit of Israel," Rabbi Fish assured, bringing Samson's riddle that stumped the Philistines.
"Out of the eater came something to eat, Out of the strong came something sweet." Judges 14:14
"The word 'Az' (strong) hints at the word Aza (Gaza)," Rabbi Fish explained. "In the end-of-days, a sweetening of the judgements of Israel will come out of Gaza. Because of the evil they do to us, Israel will be forgiven."
Rabbi Levi Sudri, an award-winning Bible expert, agreed that the Philistines in the the guise of the Palestinians, are striking out at Israel.
"The basis of the conflict with the Palestinians is over their identity," Rabbi Sudri told Breaking Israel News. "The Palestinians are a nation that is not a nation. They are a reincarnation of the Philistines, which is why they are so entrenched in Gaza, the former stronghold of the Philistine and why they call themselves 'Palestinians', which has nothing to do with the land they occupy. They are trying to fool the entire world into believing that they are the true owners of this land."
Sudri agreed that the Palestinians' attack has its source in Samson burning the fields of the Philistines but noted that it contained another element that was a nefarious twisting f the Bible.
"They are burning fields in Israel as revenge for Samson burning their fields, the fields of the Philistines," Rabbi Sudri said. "The problem is that Israel is trying to put out individual fires, literally and figuratively, rather than relate to the root source of the problem which is identifying who is who, what is the truth and what is a lie."
"This whole confrontation is a reenactment of the confrontation between David and Goliath. But what they have done is flipped the story around," Sudri said. "The Palestinians are trying to portray themselves as David. That is why they show the young Palestinian boys wielding slings against heavily armed IDF troops. They are portraying Israel as the Philistines. Goliath represented war fought with technology, which the Palestinians are claiming is Israel."
"In the world today, appearances and pretty stories are more important than the truth. This requires that the weak and small side has a just cause. The Palestinians are portraying themselves as David facing off against Goliath in an attempt to sway world opinion and to change their fate. But the truth, if you look at history and current events, is that Israel is the 'David', outnumbered by the 'Goliath' of all the Arab nations."
Sudri noted that the narrative of the Palestinian 'David' versus the Israeli 'Goliath' is the narrative that appears most prominently in the media.
"But that type of judgement is not what God asks from people," Rabbi Sudri said. "We are required to look at the truth and do justice. If the strong have justice on their side and the weak are evil, God requires us to recognize who is good and who is evil."
"We are about to enter ben ha'metsarim", Rabbi Sudri said, referring to a three-week period of mourning between the 17th of Tammuz and Tisha b'Av, the Ninth day of the Month of Av; commemorating the destruction of the Jewish Temples. This corresponds to June 30-July 21 according to the Gregorian calendar. "These are spiritually difficult times for Israel when our enemies can do serious damage to us if they succeed in pulling us into war. The only way to overcome the Palestinians at this time is to remember that we are Jews, we are David, and they are the Philistines, they are Goliath. The best way to do this is to learn this story in the Bible, over and over."
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