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Syria Strike Hit Advanced Missile Defense System

April 19, 2018 22:15·
Israel marks the annual Memorial Day in remembrance of soldiers who died in the nation's conflicts beginning

Israel marks the annual Memorial Day in remembrance of soldiers who died in the nation's conflicts beginning

"Iran is transferring to Syria several combat methods under the pretense of delivering humanitarian aid", said an Israeli military official. But it also highlighted the gap between the USA and Israel's "red lines" in Syria, he said.

I'm sure neither side really wants a war.

"From the point of view of Israel, the strike is significant, but not the main issue, which is the entrenchment of Iran in Syria, and the threats to Israel".

They have already gone through two rounds, and Round 3, now pending, could blow Syria sky-high.

Israel informed Washington about its plans to target an advanced Iranian air defense system at the T-4 base in Syria last week, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Initial reports were that the drone was purely on a reconnaissance mission. Israel on Friday, April 13, announced that the drone had been loaded with explosives and was on an attack mission, not a mission for reconnaissance. "This opened a new period". Initial reports attributed the attack to fighter jets.

But what is Iran doing in Syria?

On Monday, according to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)-affiliated Tasnim News, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said that Israel would receive "required responses sooner or later", and that Israel "cannot take (such) an action and be exempt from punishment".

So now the whole neighborhood is holding its breath: Will there be a Round 3?

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Iran has actually become the biggest "occupying power" in the Arab world today.

The IDF had tracked an Iranian plane flying a Tor missile system from Tehran to the T-4 base in Syria, and it chose to act quickly to destroy Iran's defense system before it was made operational, intelligence officials were quoted as saying in the Journal report. Friedman reported his Sunday column from the Golan Heights on the Israeli border with Syria. There is definitely a clash of interests, threat perceptions and a no agreement of how to handle the Iranian presence, designs and operations in Syria. So I think we need to be much more vocal about, we are the party of security and safety and we'll stand up for American values, and I think that will resonate with the American people. "Israel remains alone in the campaign against the consolidation by Iran and its proxies in Syria", the researchers wrote.

The second dilemma facing the Iranians is from where to launch the missiles, the options being Iran, Syria, or Lebanon. One of those bases was targeted by American forces past year following a chemical-weapons attack by Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces in Khan Shaykhun. But Suleimani may be overplaying his hand.

Ever since the beginning of the civil war in Syria Israel strictly followed the policy of non-intervention and mostly remained indifferent to the fate of the Assad regime. That concern is surely one reason Iran, for all its fist-shaking - has not retaliated - yet. That consensus is probably correct, but if it was Israel, it had nothing to do with Assad's chemical weapons attack the day before. Israel thus has leverage over the larger, and more powerful Russian state. "Appearances of power count for a lot in this region". Both Syria and Russian Federation have denied that any such atrocity took place.

Undoubtedly Israel coordinated this attack with the United States military. The Iranian rial has lost one-third of its value just this year, which a wider confrontation with Israel would only exacerbate.

Moreover, Israeli military officials believe Russian President Vladimir Putin and Suleimani are no longer natural allies.

The Iran-Israel war of words about Syria, therefore, is played out as carefully as a game of chess.

But economic restraints have never stopped Suleimani and his Quds Force before and may not now.

We need a little bit stronger more honed message about, We're the party that keeps America safe....

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