Iran

Top US, Russian Military Leaders Meet in Finland

The top U.S. military leaders of the United States and Russia are meeting in Finland to exchange views on U.S.-Russia military relations, Syria, and the current international security situation.

Finnish news agency FNB said Friday’s meeting of Gen. Joseph Dunford, current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Russia’s chief of the military’s General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, took place in a Finnish state-owned manor used for meetings, negotiations and receptions north of the capital, Helsinki.
No news conference or statement was planned.
FNB said Finland hosted a similar a meeting in 2008.
In April, NATO’s top military officer, U.S. Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, met with Gerasimov in Baku, Azerbaijan, for the first such encounter since relations between Moscow and the alliance sank to post-Cold War lows over the Ukrainian crisis.

Despite the bluster that we see in the press coming from each country, to include the militaries, the generals are the ones who know the cost of war and a failure in diplomacy could be devastating for both parties. They’ll try to sift thru the tough talk and work out the details of ensuring that a war between the two superpowers doesn’t happen.

To read the entire article from ABC News, click here:

Photo courtesy AP of Russian military leaders arriving at the conference.

Qatar Accuses Saudis of “Reckless Behavior” After Military Threat

Qatar wasn’t pleased after being threatened indirectly by Saudi Arabia after a letter reportedly sent from King Salman to France was published in a French newspaper. In the letter, the Saudis threatened military action if Qatar installs a Russian air defense system.

Qatar’s foreign minister told Al Jazeera he did not think the Saudi threat – reportedly made in a letter to France – was serious. But he accused Riyadh of using the letter to try and create a “disturbance” in a region already rocked by a year-long stand-off between Doha and other powers.

France’s Le Monde newspaper reported on Saturday that Saudi King Salman had sent a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron expressing concern over talks between Doha and Moscow about Russian S-400 missile air defense systems.
The newspaper added that the king had said Saudi Arabia was ready to consider all measures, including military action.
“We are seeking formal confirmation from the French government (about the letter),” Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told the English-language channel of Qatar-based Al Jazeera in an interview aired on Tuesday.
“There is no serious military threat out of this, but the way it is being used to justify or to create a disturbance in the region is just unacceptable,” he said. “There is no legitimate grievance behind this letter and threatening Qatar.”
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates severed diplomatic and economic ties with Qatar a year ago, accusing Doha of supporting terrorism. Qatar denies the accusation and says the boycott is an attempt to impinge on its sovereignty.

In the tricky world of Middle East politics, the United States has close ties with both parties in this dispute. Qatar has a base with 11,000 U.S. and coalition troops and they are considered a vital part of the Sunni Muslim alliance. They are countering the Shiite Muslim faction being backed by Iran.

To read the entire article from Reuters, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Iran Foreign Minister: The World Must Stand Up to US Bullying

Iran’s Foreign Minister said that the world needs to stand up to the bullying and bellicose behavior of the United States as he attempts to save a nuclear deal after Washington’s withdrawal last month.

In a letter from Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to his counterparts, he asked “the remaining signatories and other trade partners” to “make up for Iran’s losses” caused by the US exit, if they sought to save the historic accord.
The nuclear deal was the result of “meticulous, sensitive and balanced multilateral talks”, Zarif was quoted as saying in the letter, parts of which were published by the state news agency IRNA on Sunday.
He added the landmark 2015 agreement could not be renegotiated as the US has demanded.
Zarif said the US’ “illegal withdrawal” from the deal and its “bullying methods to bring other governments in line” with that decision have discredited the rule of law in the international arena.
The remaining signatories – France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China – still see the international accord as the best chance of stopping Iran from developing a nuclear weapon and are trying to salvage it.
Iran’s top leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has set out a series of conditions on for European powers if they want Tehran to stay in the nuclear deal, including steps to safeguard trade with Tehran and guarantee Iranian oil sales.
Trump abandoned the agreement on May 8, arguing he wanted a bigger deal that not only limited Iran’s atomic work but also reined in its support for proxies in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon and that curbed its ballistic missile programme.

The missile program and the proxies which include Hezbollah and Hamas among others will be a sticking point with the Iranians. The U.S. government has frequently said that the money the Iranians got from the deal was used to finance global terrorism.

How the European signatories view those points and whether or not they are interested in renegotiating a new deal will be the big question in the coming days.

To read the entire article by Al Jazeera, click here:

Photo: Wikipedia

Assad Vows to Retake Areas of Southern Syria Held by US-Backed Kurds

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has upped the ante and warned Kurdish forces that are trained and equipped by the United States that he wouldn’t hesitate to use force to retake the roughly one-third of the country they currently control.

Assad also tried to sound ominous and said in an interview with Russian television that the U.S should learn the lessons of Iraq and remove their troops from Syria.

“The only problem left in Syria is the SDF,” Assad said, referring to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which spearheaded battles against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS).
“We’re going to deal with it by two options: the first one we started now opening doors for negotiations, because the majority of them [SDF] are Syrians. Supposedly they like their country, they don’t like to be puppets to any foreigners,” Assad said.
“If not, we’re going to resort … to liberating those areas by force. It’s our land, it’s our right, and it’s our duty to liberate it, and the Americans should leave. Somehow they’re going to leave,” he added.
“They came to Iraq with no legal basis and look what happened to them. They have to learn the lesson. Iraq is no exception and Syria is no exception. People will not accept foreigners in this region any more.”
Assad said a confrontation between Russia and US forces over Syria had been narrowly avoided.
“We were close to having direct conflict between the Russian forces and the American forces,” he said. “Fortunately it has been avoided – not by the wisdom of the American leadership, but by the wisdom of the Russian leadership.”

Assad in his comments about foreigners neglected to mention the scores of Iranian troops that have been spoiling to start a fight with Israel and have been being hammered …on Syrian soil nor the attack by Syrian and Russian “contractors” on a US base that resulted in a stinging defeat at the hands of the US-backed Kurds.

To read the entire article from Al Jazeera, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Hamas Launches Mortar Attack on Israel From Gaza

In three separate attacks, Hamas mortars launched about 30 mortar shells at targets in southern Israel. It was the largest attack against Israel from Gaza since 2014.

Most of the mortar shells were intercepted by the Israeli “Iron Dome” air defense system, the rounds that did impact caused only slight damage and one civilian was lightly wounded by shrapnel from the round. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to respond with “great force” this latest attack from Gaza.

The head of the Eshkol region told Channel 10 news that the army told him the attack was carried out by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group, as revenge for the Israel Defense Forces killing three of its members in a cross-border exchange earlier in the week.
The Iran-backed Islamic Jihad did not immediately take responsibility for the mortar attacks, but its spokesperson praised them, saying “the blood of our people is not so cheap that the terrorists (Israel) can do what they want without deterrence.”
There were no immediate reports of a significant Israeli military retaliation to the attacks. Massive reprisal raids were expected, following the repeated, highly irregular mortar shellings on Tuesday morning.
Following the Gaza mortar attacks, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman called for a “special situational assessment” from IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot and other senior figures from Israel’s security services. They were due to meet in the army’s Tel Aviv headquarters, known as the Kirya, Liberman’s office said.
Palestinian media reported that Hamas and other terrorist groups were abandoning their positions in the Gaza Strip ahead of an expected forceful response by the IDF.
The initial, primary bombardment came at 7 a.m., when approximately 25 mortar shells were toward the Sha’ar Hanegev and Eshkol regions, as parents were beginning to send their children to school, the IDF said.

The Israelis were then attacked along the border as Hamas operatives were placing improvised explosive devices along the fence disguised as bolt cutters. The Israelis responded with tank fire which reportedly killed three members of Hamas.

To read the entire article from Times of Israel, click here:

Photo courtesy Israeli police

Putin, Russia Appears Pleased Where the Syrian Conflict Is

The Syrian Civil War is moving towards a stalemate with the government of President Assad regaining control of 60 percent of his territory. The U.S.-led coalition will continue to hold ground in the east and the Turks have made it clear they will not return Syrian territory around Idlib.

And Russian President Vladimir Putin is fine with all of that. He’s already managing similar conflicts like this in Georgia and Ukraine.

Other significant players in Syria, including Israel, the United States, Turkey, and the remaining Sunni Arab rebels, may likewise discover they’d be satisfied with this new reality. The clearest losers, by contrast, would be the Assad regime and Iran.
What are the indications Syria is moving in the direction of frozen conflict? Consider the recent visit by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to Russia to meet with Putin. At the press conference following the meeting, Putin told reporters that, “Following the Syrian Army’s notable successes in fighting terrorism, and with the activation of the political process, the foreign forces based in Syria will start to withdraw from the country.” This seemed to hint that the Russian president wasn’t interested in assisting the Assad regime’s reconquest of the entirety of Syria. And absent the Russian air support that the Syrian military has relied on in major combat operations (including the siege of Aleppo and the destruction of rebel-controlled Eastern Ghouta), such reconquest would be impossible.
Some have speculated that Putin was referring only to the withdrawal of foreign forces opposed to the regime. In the past, Moscow has sought to differentiate between its own presence in Syria (at the invitation of the “legitimate” Syrian authorities) and the uninvited presence of other foreign elements. On this occasion, however, Russia’s Syria envoy, Alexander Lavrentiev, clarified that the president was referring to “all foreign military forces stationed in Syria, including American, Turkish, Hezbollah, and Iranian [forces].”
The Russian statement was followed by an angry response from Tehran. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi told reporters in Tehran that, “No one can force Iran to do anything. … As long as terrorism exists and the Syrian government wants, Iran will have presence [in Syria].” The dueling statements are just one indication among many of differences between Moscow and some of its allies about the future of Syria.
Iran has been pushing for the regime to attempt an assault on remaining rebel enclaves in southwest Syria. The arrival of Iran-supported units to the border, however, brings with it the possibility of a large-scale Israeli response. Russia has no interest in such an outcome, which could plunge Syria into a new war and threaten the gains the Assad regime has already made.

Putin it seems is content with the consolidation of his main ally in the Assad regime and continuing to work with both Turkey and Israel as well as the continuing undermining of the West’s influence in the area.

To read the entire article from Foreign Policy, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Israeli Strikes Hamas Tunnel, Outpost and Boats in Gaza

After Hamas orchestrated the “peaceful protest” that the world bought into, the Israeli military wasn’t waiting around for the next one. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), struck at a tunnel as well as two boats that the Palestinians were using to block the blockade.

Palestinian media reported that a training compound belonging to Hamas’ military wing and two boats in the Gaza seaport were targeted in the strike. According to Palestinian reports, the targeted boats were due to depart from the port in an attempt to break the naval blockade on the Strip.
Local residents reported hearing three explosions at the port. A fire broke out at the scene, which rescue forces were working to extinguish.
There were no casualties in the incident, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
The strikes were in response to Tuesday’s events when a group of about ten Palestinian approached the border fence near Rafah, according to the Israeli army. Despite the army’s high alert, the group managed to cut through the fence and reach an outpost set up for Israeli snipers due to recent border protests.
The outpost was empty at the time and the Palestinian managed to set it on fire. Afterward they returned to Gaza. The army claims they were aware of the event as it was happening, however, it is unclear why the army would permit them to cross and damage the outpost.
An Israeli army tank fired Tuesday on a Hamas outpost in response to the incident.
This is not the first time Palestinians manage to infiltrate into Israel. In one incident at the end of March, three Palestinians armed with grenades and knives entered Israel and were arrested more than 12 miles inside Israeli territory, near the Tze’elim army base in the south. Days earlier, four Palestinians had illegally crossed the border trying to set fire to military vehicles.

On Tuesday night Israeli security forces arrested four Palestinians suspected of terrorist activities and violent rioting against citizens and security personnel in the West Bank town of Rantis.

They also confiscated funds used to support terrorist operations and seized several weapons.

To read the entire article from Haaretz, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Israeli Launches First Airstrike Using F-35 Against Iranian Troops in Syria

Israeli pilots have carried out the first operational airstrikes using the new U.S.-built F-35 stealth fighter according to Israeli Air Force General Maj. Gen. Amikam Norkin.

The Israelis pounded Iranian bases and positions in Syria after the Iranian troops launched a slew of missiles at Israel from Syrian territory.

“The F-35 squadron has become an operational squadron. We are flying the F-35 all over the Middle East,” he said.
Norkin presented images of the F-35 over Beirut, Lebanon, and said that the stealth fighter did not participate in the most recent strike in Syria but did in two previous ones. He was speaking at a three-day conference organized by the IAF in Herzliya, to which senior officers from armies all over the world were invited.
The IAF commander also said that Iran fired 32 rockets at Israel during the flare-up across the Syrian border earlier this month. According to him, four rockets were intercepted by Israel and the rest landed outside of Israeli territory, and more than 100 surface-to-air missiles were fired at Israeli jets over Syria.
“After that [the Iranian attack] we attacked over 20 Iranian targets in Syria. Unfortunately, Syrian air defense systems fired over 100 antiaircraft missiles at our planes and in response we destroyed their antiaircraft batteries,” Norkin said.
IAF chief Norkin outlined the reasons behind Israel’s growing anxiety over Iranian activities in Syria. “The Quds Force established itself at T-4 base, 250 kilometers from Israel. From this base they tried to attack using a drone that entered into Israel, a few months ago. After this incident we realized that they were continuing to store weapons on this base, including air defense capabilities, which we attacked last month,” he explained at the conference.
“Over the past few weeks we learned that Iran had sent long-range missiles and rockets to Syria, including the Uragan launchers that we attacked north of Damascus,” added Norkin.
After months of tensions, Israel and Iran locked horns directly in Syria on May 11. At the time, Israel reported that Iranian forces had fired 20 rockets at IDF positions in the Golan Heights. Four of the rockets aimed at Israel were intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system while the remaining rockets exploded on Syrian territory, the military said.

The Israelis are also looking to upgrade their refueling and helicopter fleets but as far as the F-35, the early usage looks to the outside as being a successful investment.

To read the entire article from Haaretz, click here:

Photo courtesy Screen shot of video

Israel, Backed Into a Corner, Had No Other Choice

Opinion: No one liked what they saw unfold on television earlier this week. Dozens of people dead, hundreds more wounded in violent clashes along the border between Israel and Gaza. And while the left-wing press continued the lie and called it a “protest”, it was anything but. What could Israel have done differently, everyone asked? Nothing.

This wasn’t a protest but in an invasion of thousands of people. When thousands of people try to cross the border of another country intent on doing the other harm, it isn’t a peaceful protest but an armed invasion, regardless of whether everyone was armed or not.

And the prevailing message that this was a protest about the United States moving its embassy to Jerusalem is the second biggest lie about this entirely orchestrated episode. The biggest lie will post below. Palestinian leaders have turned down several formal U.S. and Israeli offers (the last in 2008) for a permanent statehood in exchange for peace that would have given them a state with its capital in that portion of Jerusalem. But to do so would require that they acknowledge Israel has a right to exist.

Hamas isn’t interested in peace or coexistence but in the destruction of Israel. And they’ll use anything at their disposal to achieve that goal. If there is any doubt as to what the ultimate goal of Hamas was in the border crossing, don’t listen to what Israel or the United States says. Listen to what the leaders of Hamas had to say.

Perhaps cutting the hearts out of the people of Israel is considered “peaceful protest” in some circles. The Israelis know better. And they have every right to defend their border against people sworn to their destruction. If there is blame to be laid, lay it where it belongs, squarely on the head of Hamas.

Hamas doesn’t care about the plight of the Palestinian people. They are completely onboard with inflaming their passion and using women and children as human shields and have done so for a very long time.

When Hamas launches a rocket attack, (which they do frequently), this is why they do so between apartment buildings. They know, Israeli radar will immediately pick it up and their counter-battery artillery fire is on the way before the rockets ever touch the ground.

The Hamas “fighters” are long gone, left are the civilians. Useful pawns in the game for the ultimate goal. They then ensure there are plenty of video cameras to record the results of Israeli aggression. Are those the actions of an organization worried about the people?

Hamas doesn’t represent the best interest of the Palestinians. They represent the ayatollahs in Tehran. That is where the organization gets all of their rhetoric (and most of their money) from. Iran has stated that the state of Israel doesn’t have a right to exist. Iran is moving into Syria to get closer to the border of Israel and the IDF knows what their intent is. They are taking a beating there as the Russians, allies with the Assad regime, have not lifted a finger to protect them from Israeli air strikes. This is just a continuation of their policy.

The Israelis who have arguably the best intelligence services in the world have stated that Iran is funding these “protests” along the border with Gaza. Shin Bet, the intelligence service said they’ve intercepted documents and interrogated detainees stating that Hamas has warned its own members to stay away from the security fence during Gaza’s mass protests, lest they get shot, while actively encouraging Palestinian civilians — particularly children and teens to actively do so. Once the wall is breached, Hamas gunmen will enter Israel to carry out operations.

From the Times of Israel: Yahya Ijlah, a 19-year-old Hamas member who entered Israel on April 29, told Shin Bet interrogators that he had been sent to the border in order to steal a security camera along the fence.

According to the Shin Bet, Ijlah said Hamas “is working to make its activities look like a popular uprising in the media and not a violent operation by its members.”

Are the Israelis always right? Of course not. No one is, certainly not the United States or anyone else. It is imperative that the U.S. keep an open and honest dialogue with the Israeli government and offer constructive criticism. But the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) are as strict, if not even more so about limiting civilian casualties than the US is.

Of the 62 dead, that are being reported, Hamas has said that 50 are their operatives. Against a massive influx of people intent on destroying Israeli property and killing its population, it is small wonder how that number isn’t far more than that.

The world, and Hamas must come to the realization that Jerusalem is not “occupied territory” but the capital of Israel and the rightful capital of the country. Can the Palestinians also claim this as their own capital in a sharing scenario? Of course. Will they? Not until they rid themselves of Hamas and recognize that Hamas doesn’t have their welfare at heart.

Which brings us to the biggest lie in this unfortunate series of events is the oft-repeated one, “this will interfere with the peace process.” How in the world can there be peace when one side of the equation wants the other side dead? The only way that Jerusalem will not be the Israeli capital is if the country of Israel ceases to exist and the people wiped from the map. But that is the true goal of Hamas in the first place right? Rewatch the video above and ask who is really to blame here?

Photo: Wikipedia

Israeli Airstrikes Hit All Major Iranian Infrastructure in Syria

Responding to an Iranian missile attack on their troops in the Golan Heights, Israel launched a major airstrike targeting Iranian bases in Syria. Of the 20 rockets fired at Israel, four were shot down by the Israeli Iron Dome air defense system and the rest landed in Syrian territory.

In a statement, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said that the Israelis hit all of the major Iranian infrastructure in Syria.

The IDF responded with airstrikes against around 50 Iranian military training sites, Iranian Revolution Guard Corps intelligence collection and logistics, rocket firing positions, airfield positions and weapons storage facilities.
Liberman said that not a single Israeli civilian or piece of Israeli property was harmed. “Last night, Iran tried to attack Israeli sovereign territory and failed,” he said.
The defense minister also threatened Iran going forward, stating that “if Iran hits us with rain [a small number of rockets] – we will hit them with a deluge [of airstrikes].”
He said that Israel “will not let Iran turn Syria into a base for attacking Israel. There are many radical Islamists, but Iran is the only one which is really” implementing its ideology “all over the Middle East and Africa.”
“Iran has wasted $13 billion in the Syrian civil war and continues to spend $2 billion a year there. Iran is wasting its next generation with its efforts to expand,” he stated.
Liberman explained that Israel has no interest in conquering any part of Syria and cautioned against celebrations on the Israeli side or anything that might push for further escalation.
The defense minister seemed to signal to Iran that Israel would prefer to return to quiet following the exchange of attacks. It is only Iran, he said that wants to build a new base for attacking Israel – a goal he thinks even most Iranians oppose.

The Russian claimed that they shot down the majority of the Israeli missiles during their retaliatory strike. But the tensions remain high. Lieberman made it clear that there will be no peaceful coexistence with Iran or their proxies in Hamas, as they want to destroy Israel.

To read the entire article from the Jerusalem Post, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia