We're going through another phase when the pertinent news is coming in fast and furious and it is hard to keep up. In addition to this volatile situation in the Ukraine, we see the situation below percolating:
[Consider these articles in the context of the coming prophetic wars. We are seeing the staging for the next war, which creates a scenario of imminence. How much longer is anyone's guess, but preparations are most definitely underway now]
Iran has built an active front from Israel's northern Mediterranean border adjacent to Rosh Hanikra, all the way to the Golan Heights. The goal: to undermine and wage war against the "Zionist entity" with conventional, powerful military means from within Lebanon and Syria.
So says Yigal Carmon, Counter-terrorism Adviser to prime ministers Yitzhak Shamir and Yitzhak Rabin, and founder and president of the prestigious Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
"Iran has taken advantage of the chaos in the Middle East to form a united front from Tehran, through Baghdad, Syria and Lebanon," Carmon told Kol Yisrael public radio on Monday. "It has turned Syria into a Hezbollah-state for this purpose, and is making inroads into the PA-controlled areas in Judea, Samaria and Gaza for this purpose."
Carmon and his MEMRI colleague Yael Yehoshua publicized a ten-page treatise on the topic last week, but it has received relatively little publicity.
Iran has several objectives, Carmon explained: "These include deterring Israel from attacking Iran's nuclear capabilities, capturing the Golan from Israel, and the like – but these are sub-objectives. Their main goal is ultimately to destroy Israel."
He said that what must be done now is, at least, to sound the alarm: "During the Yom Kippur War, people saw the threat before them, but many people didn't want to say anything. We must not make that mistake again."
Despite the tensions between Israel and the U.S., Carmon said, "the Americans listen very carefully to what Israel has to say in these areas. We must warn about this from every rooftop. Everyone knows already about the nuclear threat, but this is something new, and more immediate and acute in many respects."
"The Iranian threat to Israel is no longer theoretical, nor does it have anything to do with Israel's deterrent of using its nuclear weapons, which cannot be used considering the international power balance. The threat has become direct, practical and conventional," Al-Hattar argued.
The entire report can be read here.
And below is a quote from the referenced article above, "From The Mediterranean to the Golan, Iran Builds Active Front And Direct Military Presence On Israel's Border To Deter Israel And Further Ideology Of Eliminating The Zionist Regime"
VIII. The Implications Of Iran And Its Proxies Surrounding Israel
Iran's presence in the Golan, as well as in Lebanon and on the Mediterranean, creates a situation where any local conflict can rapidly escalate into a comprehensive regional war with direct Iranian involvement. Though Nasrallah stressed in his speech in late January 2015 that Hizbullah had completed its punitive measures for the killing of its six operatives in Quneitra, and that it is not interested in war, Iran continues to threaten further attacks, and may arrange further eruptions in the region or outside it by employing Hizbullah cells in various parts of the world.[56] In addition, articles in the Lebanese press spoke of the possible outbreak of a regional war.[57]
As long as Hizbullah operates from Lebanon, Israel is able to deter it, since Israel's response to an attack from Lebanon employing the full force of Hizbullah's missile arsenal (comprising over 100,000 missiles) will be the destruction of Lebanon's infrastructures, a scenario that deters Hizbullah. However, if Hizbullah is activated from outside Lebanon, Israel will not be able to respond in the same manner.
As for Iran, it does not regard itself as deterred by Israel, now that it has built a single, comprehensive front against Israel stretching from the Mediterranean to southern Syria. It also has the capability of activating Hizbullah, despite the heavy price this organization will pay.
In fact, the Syrian front in general, and especially in the Golan, has become Iran's favored theatre of operations, since acting there diminishes the chance of a war within its own borders. In this context, Khamenei's advisor Ali Ahmad Velayati said on February 8, 2013 that "Iran has planned its defensive positions outside its own borders, and has linked its fate to the fate of the Islamic countries; this is why it will support those such as [Syrian President] Bashar Al-Assad to the end..."[58] Mehdi Taeb, the head of Khamenei's "Ammar Headquarters" think tank, said in one of his speeches: "The loss of Syria will lead to the loss of Tehran itself."[59]
Moreover, Iran's presence on the Israeli border limits Israel's ability to use military measures against Iran's nuclear program. This, since Iran is building up its response capabilities in the region, to complement its long-range missiles. In the past, it was Hizbullah Lebanon that deterred Israel, to some extent, from acting militarily against Iran's nuclear program. Today this deterrence is significantly strengthened by the advent of Hizbullah Syria and the direct presence of Iranian forces in the Golan.
According to Mehdi Taeb, the centrality of Hizbullah to Iran's deterrence vis-a-vis Israel was already demonstrated in the 2006 Lebanon war. In a 2013 speech, he said that Iran never had to attack Israel's nuclear warheads because "we completely locked up [Israel] with Hizbullah. During the 2006 Lebanon war, the Zionist regime tried to break this lock [i.e. Hizbullah], but after 33 days [of fighting], it gave up, and left [Lebanon]."[60]
Al-Akhbar columnist Nahed Al-Hattar also addressed the implications of Iran's deployment on Israel's border. He said that, while Israel is unable to use its nuclear capabilities due to international considerations, Iran has created a "practical, direct and conventional" threat against it: "Israel faces a fateful crisis.
As much as it feared the Iranian nuclear program, it never imagined that Iran would be standing on its border even before its nuclear agreement with the Americans was complete. The Iranian threat to Israel is no longer theoretical, nor does it have anything to do with Israel's deterrent of using its nuclear weapons, which cannot be used considering the international power balance. The threat has become direct, practical and conventional."[61]
As much as it feared the Iranian nuclear program, it never imagined that Iran would be standing on its border even before its nuclear agreement with the Americans was complete. The Iranian threat to Israel is no longer theoretical, nor does it have anything to do with Israel's deterrent of using its nuclear weapons, which cannot be used considering the international power balance. The threat has become direct, practical and conventional."[61]
Also see:
The article on the capture of 70 Christians by ISIS sends chills down my spine. Joining in intercessory prayer for out Brothers and Sisters and the children.
ReplyDelete