The Sunni radicals that have taken over Syria are demanding that all Israeli forces must leave Syrian territory. On the other side, the IDF is hammering military targets in southern Syria with a blistering wave of airstrikes, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists that any military forces aligned with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham will not be allowed south of Damascus. Do you understand what this means?
It means that Damascus is now right on the front lines of a conflict between Israel and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham that is rapidly heating up. If all-out war erupts, Damascus is likely to be absolutely devastated.
Of course many prominent buildings in Damascus have already been turned into piles of rubble, but now it appears that things could be about to go to the next level.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has confirmed that IDF airstrikes are being conducted in southern Syria, and he is warning that any attempt by forces aligned with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham to enter the security zone in southern Syria “will be met with fire”…
Israel confirmed it is conducting strikes in southern Syria, as the new Syrian government calls for the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Syrian territory.
“We will not allow southern Syria to become southern Lebanon,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said regarding the strikes. “Any attempt by the Syrian regime forces and the country’s terrorist organizations to establish themselves in the security zone in southern Syria will be met with fire.”
Katz said the Israeli Air Force is “now attacking strongly in southern Syria as part of the new policy we have defined of pacifying southern Syria.”
According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, no Syrian military forces will be allowed to “enter the area south of Damascus”…
In a speech to Israeli military cadets on Sunday, Netanyahu said that Israel would not allow the forces of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) – the Islamist group that led the overthrow of Assad – nor the new Syrian army that is being formed to “enter the area south of Damascus”.
“We demand the complete demilitarisation of southern Syria in the provinces of Quneitra, Deraa and Suweida from the forces of the new regime,” he added. “Likewise, we will not tolerate any threat to the Druze community in southern Syria.”
He also said that Israeli forces would remain indefinitely inside the Syrian territory that they have seized since Assad’s fall last December – which would be a shift in Israeli strategy.
To call this “a shift in Israeli strategy” is a major understatement.
The forces of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham will be allowed to control Damascus, but they will not be allowed to come any farther than that.
Needless to say, the leaders of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham are not too keen on that idea.
To me, it appears that a showdown is inevitable.
Of course the truth is that war has already begun. As Zero Hedge has noted, the IDF has been pummeling targets inside Syria for months…
Meanwhile, the Egyptians have been mobilizing forces in the Sinai Peninsula, and one Israeli official is expressing concern that this could potentially become an “eighth front” in the war…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has often spoken about the seven-front war that Israel has been fighting since the Hamas massacre and kidnappings on October 7th, 2023.
Recently, however, Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter expressed concern about a potential eighth front in the war: a military buildup by the Egyptian military in the Sinai Peninsula.
On top of everything else, it appears that the bombing of Iran is likely to happen sooner rather than later.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that “Iran has sharply increased its stockpile of highly enriched uranium in recent weeks”…
Iran has sharply increased its stockpile of highly enriched uranium in recent weeks, according to a confidential United Nations report, as Tehran amasses a critical raw material for atomic weapons.
We have been told over and over again that they will never allow Iran to have nuclear weapons.
And the Iranians have absolutely no intention of backing down.
So either President Trump and the Israeli government will now have to accept a nuclear Iran, or they will have to attack.
I have a feeling that we will see option number two in the not too distant future.
The Iranians apparently think so as well, because they are on alert for a major attack “every night”…
“They [Iranian authorities] are just waiting for the attack and are anticipating it every night and everything has been on high alert – even in sites that no one knows about,” one source told The Telegraph.
“Work to fortify nuclear sites has been ongoing for years but it has intensified over the past year, particularly since Israel launched the first attack,” he added.
“Recent developments, including Donald Trump’s comments and reports about potential plans from his administration to strike Iran, have further intensified activities.”
...most of the facilities where Iran’s nuclear program is being developed are deep underground.
It will take extremely powerful weapons to take those facilities out.
The question is: What event could occur that would push a state to use a weapon that is so powerful-it would make Damascus uninhabitable?
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