Israel

While the Correct Thing To Do, What Did the Airstrikes Really Accomplish?

Opinion: After the Syrian regime used chemical weapons on its own people once again, the United States, France, and the UK conducted a joint air strike against three different targets in Syria — each of which was related to Syria’s chemical weapons program.

The three targets were destroyed, but were the Syrian chemical weapons research programs actually set back years? With the ability to deliver chemical weapons severely downgraded? No. And a bombing or missile campaign is quite unlikely to achieve that goal.

These are facts. Some of the tin-foil hat wearers out there are screaming that no proof exists that the Assad regime was responsible for this latest atrocity on his country. After the civil war began in Syria in 2011, Assad has regularly used chemical weapons on his own people. No proof?

Some Pentagon experts on WMD (weapons of mass destruction) have put the number of chemical attacks since 2012 conducted by the Assad regime around 200. After the nerve gas attack of last year, the U.S. unilaterally launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the base where the attacks came from. Did the U.S. punitive action have the desired effect?

The Syrian chemical weapons capability was put out of action for only about six-to-eight weeks. Since then, they’ve conducted 20 more chemical attacks. The strikes were far too limited in their scope to have any long, far-reaching effects on the use of these weapons nor on Assad himself.

People ask why? Why would they use these awful weapons against people? Because they are effective, they terrorize the civilian populace and Assad, as well as his cronies in Moscow and Tehran have a very high tolerance for atrocities against the civilian populace so long as the results meet with their aims.

After the Sarin gas attack of last year, the rebel forces in the area that was gassed soon surrendered. Mission accomplished for Assad. The Russians don’t care, they’re quite willing to use nerve agents in foreign countries to kill ex-spies against the Kremlin. See the two assassination attempts in the United Kingdom.

The Iranians? They control the Palestinians thru Hamas which isn’t a Palestinian organization but one in Tehran. Hezbollah, another Iranian proxy in Lebanon similarly takes its orders from Tehran. Which is why the Hamas/Hezbollah rocket launches at Israel always seem to be right between civilian apartment buildings. When the Israelis conduct counter-fire operations against the rocket launchers, there is a ready supply of civilian deaths that they use for their own purposes.

And after the limited strikes of a year ago, the coalition of the U.S., France and the U.K had to act. And again, opposition parties in the U.S. and the U.K are decrying the illegality of without going thru Congress/Parliament. It is a crock of bull. The same thing happened in reverse in 2013 when President Obama did much the same thing.

These opposition “leaders” scream about “no proof” and call for the United Nations to act but had the three countries stood idly by, as much of the world has since 2102, they’d be the first calling for action. The U.N. and the U.N Security Council is completely ineffective and powerless to stop anyone from doing anything. But we digress.

Why did the attacks do little other than to “put Assad on notice” that these chemical attacks won’t be tolerated? First, as we stated above, the targeting of chemical weapons launchers are very hard to eradicate strictly by a bombing campaign. The larger stockpiles can be, but in this case, how badly were the Syrian military units hit?

In truth? Not that bad at all. Secretary Mattis stated, as did General Dunford at the Pentagon, that the planners went to great lengths to limit civilian casualties. So any targets close to civilian areas were not targeted.

And with four days from when the story broke until the missile attacks began, gave the Syrians plenty of time to spread out their stockpiles. The Russians knew what was to come and sent their ships out to sea.

The Syrians moved their aircraft onto Russian bases because they knew the Coalition wouldn’t risk escalating the tensions with the Russians. And destroying any Russian aircraft and the killing of any of their troops would be too dangerous a proposition. Despite the threats the Russians have made about targeting any aircraft or launchers, they did nothing because, in truth, they’ve won.

Both President Trump, Prime Minister May and President Macron made it clear, that a regime change wasn’t the goal of the attack. Assad has stabilized his hold on the country. This attack was even smaller than most civilians in Damascus expected, so they poured into the streets and celebrated the aftermath like a great victory.

After President Trump tweeted to Russia to “Get ready” for the “missiles coming for Syria,” the Assad regime had four days to move any of their research materials or back them up on secure servers elsewhere. The buildings were certainly destroyed as we’ve seen. But the casualties were very low, probably because they had already emptied their buildings, regardless of the 4 a.m. hour.

So Assad’s regime lost a few buildings in the process but their actual chemical weapons capability hasn’t degraded much, if at all. And he knows, that he can and will get away with smaller attacks in the future, despite the proclamation by the United States U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley who said the U.S. was locked and loaded for another strike if Assad uses chemical weapons in the future.

Was the strike the right thing to do? Absolutely, the coalition even got the blessing of Turkish President Erdogan who has blasted the United States for nearly everything the past few years. “With the joint operation by US, UK and France … the Syrian regime received the message that its massacres wouldn’t be left unanswered,” Erdogan said.

“The innocent Syrian people should have been defended long ago. I am calling on the entire world here. Let’s discuss the future of all kinds of weapons of mass destruction, including chemical and conventional weapons in detail, he added.”

“Let’s use all resources for the sake of humanity instead of using them for nuclear and conventional armament projects.”

But will this change anything in Syria? Not much, if at all. The only options are to use the strikes again if need be and use political power to ostracize and sanction both politically and economically the regimes in Moscow and Tehran.

Will Assad use chemical weapons again? Without a doubt, then the U.S., France and the UK will have more decisions to make.

Photos: Wikipedia

The World’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, “Never Again”

On April 12, the world remembers the millions who died in the Holocaust during World War II at the hands of the Nazis and their sympathizers. In the state of Israel, it is known as Yom HaShoah and in English as Holocaust Remembrance Day, where it is observed as Israel’s day of commemoration for the approximately six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. In Israel, it is a national memorial day. It also marks the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

The Holocaust took place in Europe during the period of 1933-1945 when Adolf Hitler ruled Nazi Germany. The Nazis ideology blamed all of Germany’s post-WWI ills at the hands of the Jews. It started a systematic persecution and elimination program to the “Jewish Question” for the territory in Europe that the Nazis controlled. The Nazis also murdered millions more across Europe who were considered racially, politically or socially inferior.

Children of Auschwitz showing their tattooed serial numbers.

What makes this era so noteworthy is that the civilized world looked up to Germany at the time. Her scientists, academics, physicians, and theologians were among the most respected in the world. It was a very civilized country in the very heart of Europe. Not in a backwater third-world country with a people still in the Bronze Age.

And yet, the Nazis turned on their own neighbors and citizens and millions of others who were systematically murdered while the population turned a blind eye to what was happening.

When it was over, the rest of the world was shocked by what they saw their fellow man do to one another. But the words “Never Again” were sadly not to be. The United States Holocaust Museum interviewed a number of Holocaust survivors and their stories ring true today.

Margit Meissner, Holocaust Survivor, “In 1945, at the end of the war, I would have thought that there would never be another Holocaust, that the world was so shocked by what had happened that the world would not permit that. And yet you see what happened in Bosnia, what happened in Rwanda, what happened in Darfur. So there are still millions of people being persecuted because of their ethnicity.”

For the American soldiers who liberated these camps, having fought across Europe and seeing first-hand the horrors of war in no way prepared them for what they witnessed in the camps.

The dead of Buchenwald stacked on carts, the Nazis had to many to dispose of at once.

To a man, they saw the degradation, the lack of humanity and the horror of the suffering of their fellow man and were shocked. My own father liberated one such camp. He spoke very little of his time during the war. Although he saw fierce combat in a tank destroyer unit, the experience of the camp was something that would haunt him the rest of his life. His unit’s story was similar to what American, British and Russian units were finding all across German territory at the end of the war.

His unit came to a place that they didn’t know what it was. What looked from afar like a POW camp or prison was vastly different once they entered. Bodies were stacked in huge piles nearly the length of the compound as the Germans were looking to dispose of the evidence of their crimes against humanity.

He had rolls of film, of the camps, the dead bodies, and the German civilians and soldiers. The former were made to walk thru the camp to see what their government had wrought on the people in the camps and both were made to bury the dead, some with the bare hands, carrying the corpses into a huge mass grave that was covered by a bulldozer.

I remember him talking at length, at the absolute lack of humanity inside those walls and that everything changed for them at that point. One of my relatives who was present asked him why in the world would he take so many pictures of what was an absolutely awful place and circumstances.

His answer was quick. “We were ordered to, supposedly down the line from Eisenhower (General Dwight D. Supreme Allied Commander), himself.” Reports were pouring in that Allied troops were all finding these camps across Germany and Czechoslovakia.

“Everyone with a camera was ordered to go in and take as many pictures as possible,” he said. That same relative asked why. “Because we were told that someday, somewhere, someone is going to say, ‘none of this ever happened’, so we did.”

That thought from Eisenhower was prophetic. Today in many places, the students are taught that Holocaust either never happened or was greatly exaggerated.

In my own experiences, after my military service and working as a contractor with over a hundred Iraqis, I was shocked to hear many of them say with absolute certainty, that the Holocaust is a myth. That it never happened and the Jews that run the media along with the CIA perpetrated this lie. The fact that my father was a witness to it, with rolls of pictures for proof, and the fact that he wasn’t in the CIA, (By the way, it didn’t exist in WWII), influenced them not at all. I’ve even met Europeans who say much the same thing.

Having been to the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, the one thing, among many was that the Nazis were meticulous record keepers as well as a murdering bunch. That’s why it is so important that we remember all of the victims, Jews and others on this day.

We can’t whitewash this abomination from our culture and our history because it is uncomfortable as we see so much of in this country with our own history with the institution of slavery and the Civil War.

Many of the victims of the Holocaust left Europe for Israel after the war’s end. There are over 200,000 of them living there today. They’re dying at the rate of 40 a day. Sadly about one in four now live in poverty.

President Trump made a proclamation on Holocaust Remembrance Day and got little if any airplay. The national media was more interested in the tawdry details of a dalliance with a porn star before he was a politician than an event which shaped history. But that isn’t just the media, it is a sign of the times…however,

A Proclamation:

On Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, and during this week of remembrance, we reflect on one of the darkest periods in the history of the world and honor the victims of Nazi persecution. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising when the imprisoned Polish Jews mounted a courageous and extraordinary act of armed resistance against their Nazi guards.

The Holocaust, known in Hebrew as “Shoah,” was the culmination of the Nazi regime’s “Final Solution to the Jewish Question,” an attempt to eradicate the Jewish population in Europe. Although spearheaded by one individual, this undertaking could not have happened without the participation of many others who recruited, persuaded, and coerced in their efforts to incite the worst of human nature and carry out the ugliest of depravity. The abject brutality of the Nazi regime, coupled with the failure of Western leaders to confront the Nazis early on, created an environment that encouraged and inflamed anti-Semitic sentiment and drove people to engage in depraved, dehumanizing conduct.

By the end, the Nazis and their conspirators had murdered 6 million men, women, and children, simply because they were Jews. They also persecuted and murdered millions of other Europeans, including Roma and Sinti Gypsies, persons with mental and physical disabilities, Slavs and other minorities, Christians, Jehovah’s Witnesses, gays, and political dissidents.

Let us continue to come together to remember all the innocent lives lost in the Holocaust, pay tribute to those intrepid individuals who resisted the Nazis in the Warsaw Ghetto, and recall those selfless heroes who risked their lives in order to help or save those of their persecuted neighbors. Their bravery inspires us to embrace all that is good about hope and resilience; their altruism reminds us of the importance of maintaining peace and unity, and of our civic duty never to remain silent or indifferent in the face of evil. We have a responsibility to convey the lessons of the Holocaust to future generations, and together as Americans, we have a moral obligation to combat anti semitism, confront hate, and prevent genocide. We must ensure that the history of the Holocaust remains forever relevant and that no people suffer these tragedies ever again.

Donald Trump, President

Photos: Holocaust Museum

It is Time For Strong Action Against Assad, And It Isn’t Just a US Issue

Opinion: Once again the Syrian forces of the dictator Assad have shown the world their true colors. The chemical attack on the civilians of Douma on April 7 wasn’t the first time that Assad has used chemical weapons on his own people, nor the second.

The videos that have surfaced have clearly shown why the civilized world has banned them and made the use of a war crime. And that is exactly what Assad is, he is a war criminal and guilty of crimes against humanity. The Russians and President Putin are just as guilty as they’ve supported and enabled this murderous regime.

Condemnation from across the world was swift but with the usual trite, weak wording that is ignored by leaders such as Assad. They only understand force and that is exactly what they should get. And it shouldn’t be, which thankfully seems to be the case, of just the United States, stepping up to the plate.

President Trump, never one to miss an opportunity to take to social media, stated in his typical “understated” fashion but correctly so, that the attack was an atrocity. And he called out the Russians, Iranians and even he pal Putin for “backing Animal Assad.”

But the U.S. isn’t alone this time, the French have stepped up to the plate. French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to join the United States in coordinating “ a strong, joint response” to these chemical attacks. It was France a century ago that was the site for so many of the chemical attacks during the First World War. So they know better than anyone the

Macron said the U.S. and France will coordinate their efforts within the United Nations Security Council in the emergency meeting scheduled for tomorrow (Monday, April 9) that was called for by the United States, France, Britain, Sweden, Poland, the Netherlands, Kuwait, Peru, and Ivory Coast.

Trump promised Syria that there would be a big price to pay for yet another chemical attack on his own people. Late Sunday night, a Syrian airbase T-4 was hit with a missile attack. Syria immediately blamed the United States but the Pentagon issued a denial.

A spokesman released a message stating”at this time, the Department of Defense is not conducting airstrikes in Syria.”

“However, we continue to closely watch the situation and support the ongoing diplomatic efforts to hold those who use chemical weapons, in Syria and otherwise, accountable,” the message added.

Not much later, Syrians withdrew their accusation at the U.S. However, the Russians called out Israel for launching missiles at Syria from Lebanon airspace using F-15 fighters. Syria then claimed that its air defenses shot down eight of the missiles. The Israelis are under no illusion that if Assad and his Russian and especially his Iranian support are willing to abet his gassing of his own people, know that they’ll do the same to the Israeli population. They hit the airbase, which not coincidentally houses Iranian troops. Something the Israelis insist that they will not abide, having the Iranians establish bases so close to their border.

Last year around this time, the U.S. launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Shayrat airfield after learning that Syrian government aircraft had departed from the airfield loaded with sarin gas for a chemical attack on the town of Khan Sheikhun. The Syrians and Russian denied that any chemical attack took place on Khan Sheikhun and that the U.S. fabricated it. This is despite the fact that the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) had come to the same conclusion, that Syria had carried out the attacks.

The Russians showed their hand in their duplicity by declaring since early March that the United States was going to try to frame Assad for an impending chemical attack. So they knew a month ago that chemical attacks were planned. But again, the town of Douma is besieged by Russian, Syrian and Iranian forces.

But thus far, the Russians won’t allow independent chemical investigators into the town of Douma to inspect the site of where a reported 100 civilians were killed in a chlorine gas attack. The only issue which could set a new precedent is that chlorine isn’t banned from the Chemical Weapons Convention that Syria signed.

While the European Union declared that an international response is called for against Russia and Syria for these chemical attacks, they’ve done nothing else…yet. But the French are stepping to the forefront. The latest attack is the “red line” that the Assad regime has crossed. France has threatened to carry out military strikes.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said that “the use of chemical weapons is a war crime,” and added that France will “do its duty” once the chemical attack on Douma is verified. So what does the rest of the European Union and other countries have to say about this? This shouldn’t be a unilateral U.S. response. Most of the rest of the countries of the west have gotten a free ride for the past 70 years while Uncle Sam played the bad cop every time a rogue nation steps out of line.

The time for action is now and the rest of the United Nations needs to be heard. Chemical weapons are forbidden now and haven’t been used in European battlefields since World War I. The U.S. classifies them as weapons of mass destruction.

This isn’t the first or even the second time the Assad regime has poison gassed the people of Syria. As much as President Trump can be over the top with his social media proclamations, he’s right about this. Anyone who will poison gas their own people is nothing more than an animal.

So what will the U.N. do? Will they finally step up to the plate and do something worthy of its own name? Or will it revert to what it’s done for the last 70 years or so? And word some milquetoast proclamation that says little and does even less? I am not so sure but I’m guessing on the latter rather than the former.

Photo: Wikipedia

It is Time To Think About Withdrawing Troops From Syria

Opinion: The President surely opened up a can of worms when he spoke about withdrawing our military troops from Syria and soon. Just last week, Trump said “We’ll be coming out of Syria like very soon,” before a Pentagon spokesman calmed our allies fears by stating that the United States was committed, at least until the Islamic State had been defeated.

Then on Tuesday, Trump doubled down on his announcement stating that “it’s time” for the United States to get out of Syria. “It is very costly for our country, and it helps other countries more than it helps us,” he said. “I want to get out, I want to bring our troops back home.”

Now most of the President’s own administration and even most viewpoints from the left, consider it catastrophic and would leave a power vacuum that could invite the Islamic State back in.

When the United States entered the fray a few years ago in 2014, the country was in a shambles. The civil war was raging and there WAS a huge power vacuum where ISIS moved in created its own “caliphate.” When the American and coalition troops deployed there, their stated mission, the only one was to work by, with and through the Kurds to defeat ISIS.

The U.S. wasn’t tasked with overthrowing Assad or stopping the civil war. ISIS was the goal and now, they’ve been pretty much kicked to the curb and are doing what they’ll continue to do. Retreat to another state to lick their wounds and return in another form. They’ll never fully be eradicated as long as politicians allow them to leave with their families, as we saw the mass exodus play out months ago.

So Trump’s announcement certainly wasn’t welcome news for the Kurds and the Israelis, the two regional peoples figuring to be most affected by the decision if the U.S. does withdraw.

The Israelis have never been fond of the Syrians and the Assad regime. Now even less so with the Syrians inviting the Iranians in. Iran wants a permanent presence in Syria, preferably on the Israeli border.

Just a few weeks ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thought that he and President Trump were in concert as far as Iran is concerned in Syria. “We don’t have any limits on our action in Syria,” Netanyahu said. “We see eye to eye,” he said of Israeli and U.S. policy.

But the Israelis are getting mixed signals from Washington. On one hand, Trump is saying they’ll be pulling out soon. On the other, Monday, Pentagon officials were stating that they’re sending dozens more troops to the 2000 or so that are already there.

The Israelis rightfully fear that a U.S. pullout will not see a resurgence of ISIS but a power vacuum where the Iranians move in. The Russians have said in private to the Israelis that they may have to get used to a permanent Iranian presence in Syria. I don’t see the Russians putting up with that for long.

The IDF has already bombed an Iranian base and if need be, the Israelis will act unilaterally. With or without U.S. support. Israel will no doubt bomb Iranian positions in Syria if the Iranians establish a supply line to Hezbollah, the “Lebanese” militia that Iran essentially leads. Hezbollah is aiding Syria in the civil war and looks to establish a permanent presence in the country.

The Israel government worries that the Russians will intervene on the behalf of Iran.

The SDF, the Syrian Democratic Forces of the Kurds are stuck in the middle, as they were in Iraq and have little prospect for any kind of self-determination, even with the U.S. remaining.

The Turks, who consider them terrorists, are attacking SDF strongholds from the north. The Assad regime, with heavy Russian backing, are in the south. There is no peace plan and likely will never be one between the Turks and the Kurds.

As they were in Iraq, they’re getting screwed and will be forced to leave their homes or be eradicated themselves. There will be no mass caravan of Kurds leaving with their families being protected to do so. It sucks but what are the alternatives?

But by pulling out of Syria, what truly changes for the U.S.? The last thing we want is to get into a shooting fight with the Turks. The U.S. has a major airbase there and prior to this mess with Erdogan, the Turks had been one of the United States’ closest allies.

The U.S. isn’t going to try to overthrow Assad now, with just 2000 troops in the country. For what end? With the help of Putin and the Russians, Assad has weathered the storm and is stabilizing his hold on the country.

But the Iranian presence in Syria? It probably isn’t sustainable. The Russians don’t want them there, and even for Assad, they were an ally of convenience. He trusts the Russians much more than he’ll ever trust the mullahs in Tehran.

Our troops have what’s left of ISIS, the Turks are attacking the Kurds, who we trained, funded and led, the Russians, Syrian Army and the Iranians all facing them. Now what? After 17 years of fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, we don’t need our troops getting into another open-ended war in Syria.

The Russians already have tested our resolve when they foolishly and recklessly used “mercenaries” to attack a US base before the US and Allied air support blew them all to hell. It wasn’t a mistake or an error in judgement. They won’t make that mistake twice.

Our government sent the troops there to stem ISIS. That part has been accomplished and is nearly done. And once it has, the government doesn’t need to dawdle any further. There is no quick, easy answer for the quagmire of Syria. Get our troops out of there.

Use any and all political means to ease the suffering of the Kurds. Reinforce our support for the Israelis and if necessary, front load some troops there for their defense.Then get the troops the hell out of Syria.

Photo: Wikipedia

Saudi Crown Prince: Israel Has a Right to its Own Land

In a stunning turn of events, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince said Israelis are entitled to live peacefully on their own land in an interview posted on Monday.

While outwardly the ties between Riyadh and Tel Aviv are appearing to grow closer, there remain obstacles in their paths. But to hear a Saudi crown prince echo those words were unfathomable not long ago.

Asked if he believes the Jewish people have a right to a nation-state in at least part of their ancestral homeland, Mohammed bin Salman was quoted as saying: “I believe the Palestinians and the Israelis have the right to have their own land. But we have to have a peace agreement to assure the stability for everyone and to have normal relations.”
Saudi Arabia — birthplace of Islam and home to its holiest shrines — does not recognize Israel. It has maintained for years that normalizing relations hinges on Israeli withdrawal from Arab lands captured in the 1967 Middle East war, territory Palestinians seek for a future state.
“We have religious concerns about the fate of the holy mosque in Jerusalem and about the rights of the Palestinian people. This is what we have. We don’t have any objection against any other people,” said Prince Mohammed who is touring the United States to drum up investments and support for his efforts to contain Iranian influence.
Increased tension between Tehran and Riyadh has fueled speculation that shared interests may push Saudi Arabia and Israel to work together against what they see as a common Iranian threat.
“There are a lot of interests we share with Israel and if there is peace, there would be a lot of interest between Israel and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries,” Prince Mohammed added.
Saudi Arabia opened its airspace for the first time to a commercial flight to Israel last month, which an Israeli official hailed as historic following two years of efforts.
In November, an Israeli cabinet member disclosed covert contacts with Saudi Arabia, a rare acknowledgment of long-rumored secret dealings which Riyadh still denies.

Saudi Arabia and the Crown Prince are definitely walking a different path than ever before. While they were for normalizing relations, they condemned the U.S. plan to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. How their Arab neighbors react to this will be interesting to see.

To read the entire article from Voice of America, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Israel Prepares For Weeks of Tension After Gaza Incident

The Israeli government is rejecting the charges that it acted with disproportionate violence to the events that took place in Gaza over the weekend.

Israel is bracing for several weeks of military and diplomatic confrontation that began with Friday’s march in the Gaza Strip. The march left 17 Palestinians dead and hundreds more injured, and its protests are expected to continue until May 15, which the Palestinians mark as Nakba Day, the “Day of Catastrophe,” marking Israel’s founding as a modern nation.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday night congratulated the IDF for defending the borders and making it possible for the country’s citizens to celebrate the Passover Seder quietly.
“Israel acts with firmness and determination to defend its sovereignty and the security of its citizens,” he said in a statement.
An estimated 30,000 Palestinians took part in the Hamas-organized protests, with the IDF saying that those who were shot were either attempting to cross over, plant bombs at or physically harm the fence.
Israeli sources said that except for one “problematic” incident, there are photos and videos to back up the IDF’s claims. This material, the sources said, will be shown to those in the international community who condemned Israel for Friday’s incidents, and accused it of using disproportionate force.
The Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that the fence between Israel and the Gaza Strip “separates a sovereign state from a terrorist organization.”
This fence, the statement said, “separates a state that protects its citizens from murderers who send their people into danger. The fence separates an army that uses force in self-defense and in a focused and proportionate manner, from Hamas, which has for years – including yesterday – been trying to harm millions of Israelis, and which sanctifies murder and death.

While the international community is roundly condemning the Israelis for the actions of its troops, the U.S. has stood behind them. In a statement, the U.S. stated that “Hamas should focus on desperately needed improvements to the lives of Palestinians in Gaza instead of inciting violence against Israel that only increases hardship & undermines chances for peace.”

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

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Satellite Images Show Iran Building Military Base in Syria

The Iranian army is constructing another base in Syria. Recently released satellite images show the base, being constructed by Quds forces, part of the Revolutionary Guards from Iran. The base is located at Jabal Ash Sharqi outside of Damascus.

Two large hangars are visible which the Israelis claim are being used to store missiles that can hit anywhere within Israel. A similar hangar was built in another Iranian base that stored missiles which the Israelis attacked earlier.

Last week, the New York Times reported the locations of dozens of bases in Syria operated by Iranian forces, including a map showing the location of a T4 airbase near Tadmor. Also in the map was the airport of Damascus, which Israel has reportedly attacked on multiple occasions.
Iranian officials openly claim that they are working to build an axis of resistance to Israel and the U.S. in the region. Iranian strategy is based on building ties with local forces who share the same goals.
At the Munich Security Conference last week, Netanyahu warned that Israel would act against Iran if needed. “We will act if necessary not just against Iran’s proxies but against Iran itself,” he said, holding up a piece of an Iranian drone Israel shot down after it infiltrated its territory.
“Iran continues to try to cross those red lines,” said the prime minister. “Last week its brazenness reached new heights, literally new heights. Israel will not allow the Iranian regime to put a noose of terror around our neck.” Netanyahu asked Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who was sitting in the crowd: “Do you recognize it? You should, it’s yours. Don’t test us.”

Two weeks ago, the Iranians launched a drone into Israeli airspace that was shot down. It was followed by an Israeli airstrike on the Syrian base where the attack originated from. One Israeli F-16 was shot down as they hit the base with at least six missiles.

To read the entire article from Haaretz, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

US Must Counter Russia, China in Middle East After Defeat of ISIS

With the defeat of Islamic State, both Russia and China are attempting to grow their influence across the Middle East, adding to the growing concerns for the United States, the commanding general of Central Command said on Tuesday.

Gen. Joseph Votel, head of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), described an array of steps those “great power” nations have taken to expand their military and political clout in a way that challenges American interests from Syria to Afghanistan.
Describing the chief issues facing the U.S. military in the region, Votel took aim at what he characterized as Moscow’s attempts to monopolize events in Syria, where the course of a grinding civil conflict was redirected by Russia’s military intervention in 2015.
Although President Vladimir Putin announced a drawdown of Russian forces from Syria in December, Moscow’s continued military support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has allowed his government to claw back areas under opposition control.
In Syria, “Moscow is playing the role of arsonist and firefighter . . . fueling tensions and then trying to resolve them in their favor, and then manipulating all the parties they can in order to achieve their objectives,” he said during testimony before the House Armed Services Committee.
The general blamed Russia for failing to enforce a U.N.-backed cease fire approved over the weekend. “Either Russia has to admit that it’s not capable, or it doesn’t want to play a role in ending the Syrian conflict here,” he said. “I think their role is incredibly destabilizing.”
Votel, meanwhile, said that Russia had “exaggerated” the threat posed by an Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan and had mischaracterized that group’s rise as an indication of a failed U.S. strategy.

Votel pointed out that the Middle East was being used as a testing ground for new weapons of the Russian military and that they have scant consideration for the effect that those have on the civilian populace. The Chinese, he said, have opened a base in Djibouti and are trying to sell arms to US allies while openly courting Iran.

Iran is another nation trying to greatly increase its influence. They’re pushing their agenda thru proxies in the region and the recent airstrikes by Israel in Lebanon of their bases there are in addition to other moves in Syria and Yemen.

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

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Israelis Fire on Palestinian Fishing Boat That Breaches Maritime Limit

The Israeli Navy fired on a boat that violated the maritime limit and ignored several warnings off the coast of the northern Gaza Strip towards Israel a military spokesman said on Sunday.

A Palestinian from the Gaza Strip, who was traveling in the boat with two others, was killed in the incident.
The Gaza fisherman’s union said the boat was targeted as it made its way back to Gaza, and Nizar Ayyash, the secretary of the Gaza fisherman’s syndicate, said in a statement to Reuters that the men did not violate the maritime limit.
Israel has maintained a blockade of the Gaza Strip, which is dominated by Hamas Islamists, for more than a decade. It patrols the waters to prevent arms smuggling and protects citizens from any terrorist or militant attack from the sea.
“Israeli forces targeted a Palestinian fishing boat which was on the way back to Gaza shore, which led to the death of one fisherman and wounding two others,” the fishermen’s union said, reports Reuters.
But the military spokeswoman said a Palestinian vessel with three suspects aboard was shot at after it had deviated from the designated fishing zone in the northern Gaza Strip.
“Naval forces called on the suspects to stop and when they did not comply, warning shots were fired into the air. Upon their continued advancement, shots were fired toward the vessel. Subsequently, one of the suspects was severely injured and he later succumbed to his wounds. The other two suspects were handed to security forces for interrogation,” she said.

The Israelis have detained dozens of Gaza fishermen for violating the maritime limit around Israel in the past few years and maintains a seasonally adjusted 6-9 nautical mile limit around their shores.

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Palestinian Killed After Attacking IDF Soldiers in Jericho

Israeli Security forces killed a Palestinian man on Thursday in the West Bank after he attacked them, an IDF spokeswoman said. The dead man was identified as Yassin al-Saradih, 33, who attacked Jewish soldiers with an iron bar during a demonstration in Jericho, officials stated.

Saradih was shot and arrested as surveillance video shows IDF soldiers kicking him as he was being led away.

Saradih also tried to seize a soldier’s weapon, according to the army spokeswoman.
The security camera footage does not clearly show an attempt to snatch a weapon.
The soldiers also later found a knife in Saradih’s possession, the spokeswoman added.
The soldiers entered Jericho on Thursday morning to arrest Palestinians wanted by the security services, according to the IDF’s Twitter account.
Ismail al-Masri, Saradih’s brother-in-law, told the official Palestinian Authority news site Wafa that “the soldiers beat Yassin in every part of his body, especially his stomach and back.”
PLO Prisoners Commission chairman Essa Qaraqaa slammed the security forces for killing Saradih.
“This is a crime, an execution and a premeditated murder,” he said in comments published on Wafa. “What happened reflects the brutality and terrorism of those soldiers.”

The Israeli military’s statement said that their troops acted responsibly. “In response to the immediate threat, the troops fired toward the assailant and confronted him from close range and were able to stop him,” the military said.

“A knife was also found in his possession. Troops evacuated him to a hospital to receive medical treatment. His death was later announced. The incident is being reviewed.”

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