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USSOCOM Thomas, “Russia Could Help Expel US From Syria”

General Raymond Thomas, commander of USSOCOM said on Friday that the Russians hold the advantage of possibly expelling US forces from Syria.

He said that because of international law and the fact that the Syrian government under President Assad has not invited the US into his country, the Russians who are Assad’s top ally could eventually force American troops out.

Addressing a security conference at the Aspen Institute, Special Operations Command chief Army General Raymond Thomas said that, while counterterrorism remained a priority for his forces, international law could prevent the U.S. from maintaining a long-term presence in Syria, where its intervention has been declared illegal by the government. Russia is also involved in the fight against the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) and other jihadists in Syria, but entered at the request of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, something that Thomas said could allow Moscow to make a solid case for the U.S.’s departure.

“Here’s the conundrum: We are operating in the sovereign country of Syria. The Russians, their stalwarts, their backstoppers have already uninvited the Turks from Syria. We’re a bad day away from the Russians saying, ‘Why are you still in Syria, U.S.?,'” Thomas said.

“If the Russians play that card, we could want to stay and have no ability to do it,” he added.

The U.S. and Russia are both battling ISIS in Syria, but they back different factions that hold opposing views on Syria’s political future. The U.S. backs the Syrian Democratic Forces, which Thomas said Special Forces helped name in order to distance themselves from the Kurdish nationalist People’s Protection Units (YPG). Thomas also confirmed that the CIA has  cut ties with other Syrian rebel groups that have attempted to overthrow Assad since 2011. Russia and Iran support the Syrian military and its allies, which reject the national aspirations of Kurdish groups, the ultraconservative Sunni Muslim ideology of jihadists and calls for political upheaval by the opposition.

The US and other coalition forces have not been actively targeting Syrian government forces, instead focusing on the fighters of the Islamic State, however, they’ve come under attack from Syrian forces which the US responded.

Syria also conducted a chemical weapons attack on civilians and the US responded by attacking the base where the chemical weapons originated from, something both the Syrians and Russia adamantly deny happened.

The US and Russia, for now, have an uneasy ceasefire in the Southwest part of the country, something Israel says helps no one except Iran, who also has sent troops to ostensibly help Assad but are building bases close to the border with Israel.

Once the battle with ISIS (Islamic State) is complete and they’ve been ousted from the country, there will no doubt be calls from Syria and Russia for the coalition troops to leave.

To read the entire article from Newsweek click here:

Photo courtesy DOD

Israelis Try to Calm Fears at Jerusalem’s Temple Mount

Israeli security forces were trying to allay fears in the old city of Jerusalem and were bracing for clashes with Muslim worshippers as they gathered for Friday afternoon prayers at the Temple Mount.

Israel’s security cabinet met for many hours and have decided to leave the metal detectors in place at Temple Mount, which Muslims refer to as Al Haram/Al-Sharif. This comes after a terrorist incident there last week where three terrorists killed two Israeli policemen before being killed in a shootout at Temple Mount.

Security forces were braced for a standoff with Muslim worshipers in Jerusalem’s Old City on Friday afternoon after the security cabinet decided to leave the metal detectors at the entrances to the Temple Mount.

“Israel is committed to maintaining the status quo on the Temple Mount and to protecting the safety of worshipers and visitors,” the Prime Minister’s Office said. The Tel Aviv meeting began late Thursday night and ended in the early hours of the morning.

The police said in a statement on Friday morning that it was decided to heighten security in and around the old city.

“Police and border police units are mobilized in all areas and neighborhoods and will respond to any incidents or disturbances throughout the day,” the statement reads.

The area of the Old City and the adjacent streets – including Sultan Souliman street – will be closed for traffic.

The statement added that there are intelligence indications that extremists are planning to “disrupt the order violently,” and that the forces on the ground are prepared to secure the Friday prayers.

Thousands of officers have been stationed near Temple Mount and the IDF has allocated five battalions to be used if necessary. On Friday morning, the police prevented buses of Muslim worshipers from entering Jerusalem.

The Shin Bet (Israel’s Security Service) had argued against maintaining the metal detectors fearing it would lead to violence in Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan told Channel 2 that “once the red line has been crossed of automatic weapons on the Temple Mount [as seen in last Friday’s terrorist attack], there is a need to change the security arrangements.” He said the metal detectors should remain because the focus should be on preventing future terrorist attacks.

“We object to these metal detectors because they seize the control we have as the Wakf to direct al-Aksa Mosque,” said al-Aksa Mosque director Sheikh Omar Kiswani. “This is a breach for an internal case: Al-Aksa Mosque is for Muslims – only for Muslims – and we will never accept these metal detectors.”

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh called on Palestinians to head to the Temple Mount.

“My clear message to the Zionist enemy is that al-Aksa and Jerusalem are a red line,” said Haniyeh. “I say to the Zionist enemy that the policy of closure and of implementing punishment measures against the Jerusalemites and the holy sites will never pass.

You [Israelis] never learn from history, and do not read geography.

You are blinded by your power. My clear word to you is that you should stop, you are lighting a fire.”

The US has called for the calming of tensions at the Temple Mount and in a statement said that the US, “calls upon the State of Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to make a good faith effort to reduce tensions, to find a solution that assures public safety and the security of the site and maintains the status quo.”

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

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Two Israeli Cops, Three Terrorists Dead in Shootout on Temple Mount

Shortly after 7 a.m. on Friday morning, three terrorists who just finished prayers at the Al Aqsa Mosques on Temple Mount in Jerusalem killed two Israeli police officers. The terrorists then attempted to retreat to the Al Aqsa mosque where they were killed by other Israeli police officers.

The Temple Mount is among the holiest and the most contentious places in the country. Both the Jews and Arabs claim it for religious significance. However, Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said that the latest “terrorist incident” was stopped despite the death of the two policemen and added that all three attackers were killed. At least one had a knife and tried to stab Israelis, he said.

Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the attackers were from the Israeli Arab city of Um El Fahm and were Israeli citizens.

The slain officers were identified as Hail Stawi, 30, of Majar and Kaamil Snaan, 22, of Horfis.

Video from the Temple Mount esplanade showed Israeli security forces taking cover amid a hail of gunfire, and police shooting a man at close range. Police ordered the plaza cleared and closed ahead of noon prayers Friday.

The fighting inside the complex was one of the worst incidents of violence on the Temple Mount in years, and the images of the gun battle and fatalities are liable to raise tensions throughout the region. Violent clashes on the Temple Mount have been the spark for prolonged and deadly waves of Israeli-Palestinian violence in the past.

The video from Israeli news shows one of the attackers fighting with and being shot by Israeli police.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack, but the militant Palestinian group Hamas celebrated it.

“The Hamas movement praises the guerrilla attack in Jerusalem. It is a legitimate right for our people and the best evidence of their unity in resisting the brutal occupation,” Hamas spokesman Abdel Latif al-Qanua said.

The area has been quoted in the Hebrew scriptures as Mount Zion and was where Abraham bound Isaac. In the Muslim religion, it was the site of Mohammed’s journey to Jerusalem and ascent to heaven.

To read the entire article from The Los Angeles Times, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Hezbollah, Backed by Iran Looks to Expand Mid East Conflict to Israel

With the wars against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria driving the terrorist group from each country, the prospect of peace in the region is even less likely as a possible power vacuum in Syria is setting up Iran in a position of strength.

The government of Tehran has been propping up the government of Assad by lending support through their proxy, Hezbollah. Now, the Iranians will look to expand the Syrian civil war past the border and into Israel.

Eleven years ago this month, Israel went to war with Hezbollah, Iran’s Lebanon-based Shi’a proxy militia. The fighting began when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israeli villages and missiles at Israeli armored vehicles patrolling the border. Three Israeli soldiers were killed. Two were kidnapped and taken into Lebanon.

They would be among the more than a thousand people killed during the 34 days that followed. Hundreds of thousands, in both countries, would be displaced.

The passage of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 on August 11 marked a halt to the conflict. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was expanded and granted the authority to use force to ensure that southern Lebanon became free of “any armed personnel, assets and weapons” not under the direct control of the Lebanese government or UNIFIL.

It soon became apparent that UNIFIL would fail to accomplish that mission. Today, Hezbollah has an estimated 150,000 missiles of varying ranges and accuracy pointing at Israeli villages and cities — about 10 times what it had in 2006. UNIFIL sees nothing, knows nothing and, of course, does nothing.

There has been one restraint on Hezbollah’s rearmament: Israeli intelligence sometimes learns of Iranian shipments of advanced missiles. Airstrikes have destroyed at least some of these shipments en route.

Now, however, Iran has a new plan: Over recent months, its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has been building fortified, underground missile production factories in Lebanon.

For the moment, the Israelis are giving diplomacy a chance, for example by briefing members of the U.N. Security Council, warming that the next war is bound to be more destructive and bloodier than the last.

Among the reasons: Hezbollah’s presence now extends well beyond southern Lebanon. It has taken control of Beirut’s port and airfields. It is the most powerful faction in Lebanon’s government. To fight Hezbollah while sparing Lebanon is no longer possible.

In addition, Hezbollah’s leaders have installed their missiles in (and under) homes, schools, hospitals and mosques. Their use of “human shields” ensures a high civilian death toll and, incidentally, blatantly violates international law. But they are confident that many journalists, U.N. officials and “human rights” groups will reflexively blame Israel, not them and certainly not Iran for the carnage.

Another indication that Hezbollah may be preparing for a new conflict: It has set up observation posts along the Israeli border, claiming these are part of an environmental effort called “Green Without Borders.”

With the Iranians pouring foreign Shia fighters into Syria, the stage is set. Tehran has never made its plan to annihilate Israel a secret. Now they are planning on beginning that plan and to spread its revolution to neighboring Bahrain and Kuwait as well. They have also been sending fighters into Afghanistan, trying to gain influence there as well.

The US and the Trump Administration has some very difficult decisions to make shortly.

To read the entire article from The Washington Times, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

July 4, 1976, Israeli Special Operations Raid on Entebbe Stuns the World

It doesn’t seem that long ago, but on July 4, 1976, the United States was set to celebrate its Bi-Centennial. Massive celebrations were set to take place across the USA but then a small Special Operations unit from a smaller Middle Eastern nation stole the spotlight with a daring raid that was stunningly executed.

Israeli commandos from the Sayeret Matkal known to the soldiers in it as only “The Unit”, stormed the Ugandan airport at Entebbe under the command of LTC Jonathan “Yoni” Netanyahu. There they freed about 100 Jewish hostages and 12 people from the flight crew from a combined force of terrorists and Ugandan troops.

The raid was a brilliantly executed Special Operation. Only one Israeli soldier, Netanyahu was killed along with three hostages. Another Israeli paratrooper was paralyzed by a gunshot wound to his neck and another hostage, Dora Bloch, who was taken to a hospital was murdered by Amin’s soldiers after the raid.

Benjamin ‘Yoni’ Netanyahu

Airplane Hijack Begins Siege: On Sunday, June 27, Air France’s Flight 139 left from Ben Gurion Airport, made a stopover in Athens, and then took off towards its final destination in Paris, with 248 passengers on board. At around 12:35 pm, four terrorists—two German and two Palestinian—hijacked the plane.

The hijackers landed briefly in Libya where they took on more terrorists before flying down to Entebbe, Uganda which was run at the time by the dictator Idi Amin. The hostages were led into the terminal building where they were guarded by terrorists and Ugandan soldiers. There the Jews and Israelis were separated from the other passengers.

On the 29th, the terrorist decided to release all the non-Jewish and Israeli hostages. But the Air France crew refused to leave their Jewish and Israeli passengers. This set-in-motion the operation that would be known as Operation Thunderbolt. This was a critical time because once the hostages were released, they were flown to Paris, and an Israeli officer interviewed a few of them. The hostages described where the Israeli hostages were located, how many terrorists there were, the floor plan of the building, and other important details.

A Mossad agent flew a light aircraft over Entebbe and pretended to have engine trouble. He took photographs of the area and reported that only dozens, not hundreds of Ugandan soldiers were guarding the building. That fact was corroborated by released hostages in Paris. That convinced the Israeli government that the mission had at least a modest chance of success.

The Israeli plan was to land 4 C-130 Hercules aircraft with 33 members of Sayeret Matkal on the tarmac of the Entebbe airport. There they would have a limo disguised as Idi Amin’s with soldiers dressed as Ugandan soldiers along with jeeps filled with commandos. Once they got close enough they would storm the terminal, kill the terrorists guarding the hostages with just six members of the unit. The rest would eliminate any remaining terrorists and soldiers.

IDF commandos dressed in Ugandan camouflage with a car designed to resemble Idi Amin’s limo

Netanyahu had to meet with and convince the Israeli Defense Minister Shimon Peres that the mission was doable. His confidence was unwavering and he assured Peres the casualties among the hostages would be small.

The unit would then gather the soldiers and hostages and board the Hercules and fly back to Israel.

The Operation begins: The four C-130s took off from Israel and had to fly low under the radar to avoid detection. There were no seats and the commandos had to sit on the vehicles. The lurching of the planes in the heat made almost every commando sick.

They flew across Egypt, the Sudan, South Sudan and into Ugandan airspace. The first C-130 was to touchdown on the airfield while the others were to circle over Lake Victoria. Once the first aircraft landed the vehicles with Netanyahu leading from the first one disguised as Amin’s limo, would race to the terminal.

Israeli commando map of the Entebbe terminal area

Seven minutes later the next two Hercules were to touch down with Armored cars to eliminate any Ugandan resistance. As the vehicles carrying the commandos were racing to the terminal, they passed a guard post with barbed wire. The guard snapped to attention and raised his weapon in a salute. The ruse of Amin’s car was working.

Netanyahu leaned out the window with a silenced .22 and tried to shoot the guard but missed with the vehicle racing so fast. But a soldier in the Land Rover behind the limo blasted the soldier with a burst of automatic weapons fire.

The Mercedes limo stopped 40 meters short of the terminal building and with the crowded confines, it was slow work, getting out. Netanyahu yelled to his troops, “Come on, charge! Come on, charge!”

At the terminal building, a German terrorist came outside and the leader of the commandos charged with clearing the terminal emptied his magazine at him but missed. He stopped to change his magazine but didn’t announce it as was the unit SOP. The rescue team stalled waiting for their leader.

Tamir Pardo, the future director of the Mossad, was Netanyahu’s radio operator during the mission. “As we were running, I stayed close to Yoni. We came under fire from the tower, and if memory serves me right a Ugandan soldier who was by the terminal also opened fire (at us). Yoni was hit… he was so close I could reach out and touch him. His body did half a turn and then he fell… I remember myself saying on the comms ‘Yoni was hit.’ David (Hassin) the doctor came up to him and I joined Zussman’s team,” Pardo told the Ynetnews.

Israeli commando Afir Ofer was the first commando inside the terminal. A terrorist on the floor fired nearly an entire magazine at Ofer but missed. Ofer but a four-round burst with two tracers impacting the terrorist, killing him instantly.

In an interview done by my friend Lela Gilbert with Iddo Netanyahu, Yoni’s brother, he described what his brother told the commandos about things going wrong. Iddo was also a member of “the Unit” as was younger brother Benjamin.

“At that point, they remembered what Yoni had told them before they left for Entebbe. ‘Things will go wrong,’ he said. ‘Thing will not go exactly according to plan. All you have to remember this: you have to reach the hostages as quickly as possible and kill the terrorists. Just do whatever is necessary to achieve that goal.’

“And that’s what they did, even as Yoni was hit by gunfire in those very seconds, while they moved forward.

“They entered the hall and succeeded in killing the terrorists before the terrorists could kill the hostages. Only three hostages died in the process. The Entebbe raid was a success.”

As Ofer moved inside the building two German terrorists, a man and a woman aimed their AK-47s at him intending to shoot him. But a captain, right behind Ofer, put two rounds in each and kicked their weapons away.

Ofer began to yell into a megaphone in Hebrew and English, “Everyone on the ground; we’re here to take you home.” Another German terrorist, hiding among the hostages leaped to his feet and was also aiming at Ofer, when another commando fired two rounds at him before he could pull the trigger. The first hit his Kalashnikov, knocking from his hands, the second hit the terrorist in his chest. He was dead before he hit the ground. He was the last terrorist in the terminal with the hostages. The room was clear.

The Ugandans on the second floor and the customs building attempted to flee. About 60 ran and escaped. Eleven more tried to race down the stairs to escape and were cut down.

Another group of commandos took down the smaller hall in the terminal. Two terrorists, one with a grenade tried to rush past but one of the men fired a burst that killed both and the grenade exploded beneath the two bodies. One commando got a tiny sliver of shrapnel in his jaw from the explosion.

The entire operation in the terminal was over in a minute and the hostages were freed and moving to the aircraft.

Follow-on C-130s Arrive: Right on time, exactly seven minutes after the initial C-130 touched down, the next three landed. Two with armored vehicles. They were receiving fire from the control tower. One MAG-58 gunner unleashed two belts of ammo at the tower while another fired an RPG from point-blank range silencing the fire.

Israeli commandos with one of the Land Rovers used in the operation

Years later when flying thru Africa, our plane landed at Entebbe. The old terminal and control tower were still pocked-marked by hundreds of bullet holes.

Another armored vehicle raced to where the Ugandan Air Force had its MiGs parked. In one row was five MiG-21s and the other had three MiG-17s. He cut loose with his MAG-58. One was loaded with fuel and exploded. Soon the conflagration ignited the others in a huge fireball.

With the threat neutralized, it was time to leave. The commandos and the hostages boarded the C-130s for the flight to Kenya to refuel and then to Israel. But the elation of freeing the hostages was crushed by the news that their commander Netanyahu was killed.

There were few tense moments when flying over the Red Sea but Israeli Phantom jets appeared to escort the C-130s home. The country of Israel was in a state of jubilation over the rescue.

And in the US, amid all the Bi-Centennial celebration, then US President Gerald Ford released a statement on the raid. “Our own Bicentennial Independence Day was enhanced by an event at Entebbe Airport in Uganda. That action of liberation freed our own hearts to a fuller understanding of the universal meaning of independence – and the courageous action sometimes required to preserve it.”

Happy Independence Day.

Photos Courtesy IDF

With ISIS Defeat Looming in Syria, Iraq, US Strategy Has to Define Next Step

American-backed ground forces are poised to recapture Mosul in Iraq and Raqqah in Syria, the Islamic State’s de facto capitals. But while U.S. commanders are confident they soon will vanquish the militant group from its self-declared caliphate after three years of fighting, Washington has not defined a strategy in the next step for stabilizing the region.

The Trump administration faces key decisions about safe zones, reconstruction, governmental control in the area, easing sectarian tensions and commitment of U.S. troops among other considerations.

Nor has the Trump administration set policy for how it will confront forces from Iran and Russia, the two outside powers that arguably gained the most in the bitter conflict — and that now are hoping to collect the spoils and expand their influence.

Iran, in particular, is pushing to secure a land corridor from its western border across Iraq and Syria and up to Lebanon, where it supports Hezbollah militants, giving it a far larger foothold in the turbulent region.

“Right now everyone is positioned” for routing Islamic State “without having the rules of the road,” said Michael Yaffe, a former State Department envoy for the Middle East who is now vice president of the Middle East and Africa center at the U.S. Institute of Peace. “That’s a dangerous situation.”

The risk of a broader confrontation was clear in recent weeks when a U.S. F/A-18 shot down a Syrian fighter jet for the first time in the multi-sided six-year war, provoking an angry response from Russia, which supports Syrian President Bashar Assad.

U.S. warplanes also destroyed two Iranian-made drone aircraft, although it’s not clear who was flying them. The Pentagon said all the attacks were in self-defense as the aircraft approached or fired on American forces or U.S.-backed Syrian fighters.

“What I worry about is the muddled mess scenario,” said Ilan Goldenberg, a former senior State Department official who now heads the Middle East program at the nonpartisan Center for a New American Security. “When you start shooting down planes and running into each other, it quickly goes up the escalation ladder.”

U.S. commanders say thousands of American troops should stay in Iraq to bolster the Iraqi army, which collapsed and fled when the militants first arrived on pickup trucks in 2014, three years after President Obama withdrew most U.S. troops from the country.

A tougher challenge lies in Syria, where the U.S. military has not been invited by the government and has no large fixed bases. The Pentagon has deployed hundreds of special operations forces and conventional troops to support the Syrian Democratic Forces, a coalition of Kurdish and Arab rebel groups that oppose Assad.

If the U.S. military pulls out, it could give a green light to Assad and Iran’s forces to turn their firepower on the U.S.-backed militias, potentially a nightmare scenario.

Pressure is growing on Capitol Hill for the White House to articulate a longer-term strategy for when the Islamic State threat has been neutralized.

Routing the Islamic State out of those countries is the first step but there are other concerns once that is accomplished. Hezbollah which has sided with Assad’s forces in the civil war is emboldened now and is pushing to escalate the war by attacking Israel. There will be no easy answers for Washington as peace and stability in the region will be very hard to come by.

To read the entire article from The Los Angeles Times click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Israel Defense Minister To Syria… “Don’t Test Us”

Avigdor Liberman, the Israeli Defense Minister had some sharp words for the Syrian military of President Assad after Syrian artillery projectiles landed in Israeli territory for the fifth time in the last week.

Saying that the Israeli’s patience for Assad’s tactics was wearing thin, Liberman told the press in Tel Aviv that Israel was warning Syria to back off. “We have no intention of entering any conflict, but I advise our neighbors not to test us,” he said.

A number of projectiles have landed in Israeli territory due to intensified fighting on the Syrian side of Quneitra as Bashar Assad’s regime fights the al-Qaida-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and other rebels groups. The offensive was launched by rebels in a bid to take control of the city of al-Baath (new Quneitra), which is one of the few towns in the province that has remained under control of Syrian-government forces.

“We will not tolerate any spillover into our territory,” Liberman said, stressing that the message sent by the IDF in the retaliatory strikes as been “clearly understood” by those across the border.

On Friday, a senior IDF official stated that “the IDF is acting proportionally to prevent any deterioration” and has retaliated against Assad-regime positions after the projectiles struck the Ramat Hagolan area.

Liberman stressed that the rebels “are not our friends,” but said Israel is ready to accept any cease-fire in Syria that does not involve Iran, Hezbollah or Assad.

“We cannot allow a man like Assad, who kills his own citizens and who uses chemical weapons against them to remain in power,” he said. “Keeping Assad in power is not in our security interests. As long as he is in power, Iran and Hezbollah will be in Syria.”

When asked by The Jerusalem Post whether it would be better for Israel if Assad or Syrian rebels to control the border with Israel, he said neither was great option: “The rebels are not our friends, they are all versions of al-Qaida.”

According to Liberman, Israel is in contact with villagers along the Syrian border who understand that Israel, which provides them with medical and humanitarian care, is not their enemy.

“People there have nothing to eat. More than 3,000 Syrians have received medical treatment in Israel, and all of them are local villagers,” he said. “They understand that the best neighbor for them is Israel. I am not hiding it; we have helped in the past and are continuing to help.”

Israel has continuously spoken about how they would not tolerate an Iranian presence on their borders and that Tehran was setting up Hezbollah with factories producing anti-tank rockets, surface-to-air and surface-to-ground missiles with ranges of 500 kilometers, easily capable of hitting any targets in Israel

To read the entire article from Jerusalem Post click here:

Photo Courtesy IDF

Israel Hits Syrian Targets After Assad Troops Hit Israel With Artillery Fire

The Israeli’s wasted little time striking the military troops of embattled Syrian President Assad after the spillover from the civil war had the Syrians shelling Israeli territory. Israeli forces destroyed two tanks after the shelling hit on the Israel side of the Golan Heights.

“With the IDF action today, we are making our policy clear again,” Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu said. “We are not willing to accept any ‘drizzle’ [of fire] or ‘spillover’ on any front. We will react with force to any firing on our territory.”

“We react with force, determination, and discretion to every such incident, as the IDF did [today] on the Golan Heights. As far as we are concerned, the Assad regime is responsible for what is happening in its territory, and it will continue to bear the consequences if such events repeat themselves,” he said.

The IDF said spillover from the Syrian civil war is treated with the utmost severity and noted that it “will not tolerate any attempt to harm the sovereignty of the State of Israel and the security of its residents.”

It noted as much in a protest letter sent swiftly to UN Disengagement Observer Force following the incident.

Spillover fire from Syria on Saturday was reported by Israeli authorities less than an hour before Israel responded, the IDF confirmed.

Although no casualties or damage to property were reported in the incident, the IDF issued instructions to farmers and civilians near the Quneitra border crossing into Syria to avoid open fields.

Backpackers and hikers – who flock to the Golan at this time of year – were also evacuated from the area.

Besides the two tanks destroyed, the Israelis also hit the area where the shelling came from. In April, the Israelis shot down a Syrian drone that had also crossed the border.

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

Photos/Video Courtesy IDF

Iran Wants Military Base in Syria Near Israeli Border

The civil war in Syria has been a bloody affair and if the Iranian government gets its wish, the bloodshed will spread beyond the Syrian borders. With the defeat of the Islamic State in Syria, Iran wants a military base in southern Syria along the border with Israel and Jordan.

The move would be to weaken US influence in the region, eventually forcing the United States out and then opening up another avenue which to attack Israel and the Jordanians, one of the US’ closest allies in the region.

“A permanent Iranian military base in Syria, potentially near the border with Israel or Jordan, would increase Iran’s operational capacity to inflict serious damage against two of our closest allies in the region,” Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill., and Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla., wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

That warning points to the strategic significance of the Syrian civil war, beyond the importance of defeating the Islamic State. Trump’s team has authorized an intense barrage of airstrikes on ISIS, while opening the door to cooperation with Russia; a senior State Department official recently attended a peace talks summit between Syrian President Bashar Assad and opposition forces that was led by the Russians. But Russia is propping up Assad in partnership with Iran, which means the defeat of ISIS could inaugurate a new phase of regional rivalry.

Roskam and Deutch have a similar concern. “Iran is actively working to establish a permanent military presence in Syria,” they wrote Tillerson. “The Islamic Republic seeks to solidify its access to the Mediterranean Sea by building a permanent seaport and constructing numerous military installations throughout the country. A permanent Iranian military presence in Syria would greatly harm U.S. interests in the region and decrease the likelihood of reaching a political agreement to end the Syrian civil war.”

Nothing good can come from the Iranians having a permanent military presence in Syria. Attacks against Israel and Jordan would soon follow and the region can ill-afford that bloodshed to escalate.

To read the entire article from the Washington Examiner click here:

Photo courtesy Getty Images

Israel Supposedly the Source of Trump/Russia Intel Flap

The decision by President Trump to share sensitive intelligence with the Russians that was provided by Israel has created another flap for the administration. Trump reportedly told the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak about an ISIS plot to attack airplanes using laptops.

That intelligence was provided to Washington via the Israelis and according to one former senior Israeli intelligence official and recruiter of assets for Israel’s Shin Bet security service has put the relationship between the US and Israeli intelligence services “in crisis”.

The revelation that Israel was the ally who provided the intelligence that Trump passed on to now threatens a diplomatic crisis with a longtime ally.

“Trump has made a crisis between Israeli intelligence and American intelligence,” the former official and recruiter tells Newsweek by phone. (He asked to remain anonymous for security reasons.)

The Israeli government tells Newsweek Trump’s visit to the country, in which he plans to revive the moribund peace process, will go ahead as planned. “We have a schedule, we have a plan and everything is going ahead, absolutely,” says Emmanuel Nahshon, spokesperson for the foreign ministry, speaking over the phone from Israel.

But that trip could now become much more awkward. Some Israeli officials speaking to Newsweek were cautious about how the leak would affect relations, emphasizing its severity but unable to predict how the situation would play out between the allies.

Trump and Netanyahu spoke on the phone but according to Israeli sources, the conversation had to do with just Trump’s upcoming trip to Israel, which is still on. Israeli officials say the upcoming meeting between to the leaders could be awkward. And although Trump claims that no sources or methods were discussed, the Israelis differ.

To read the entire article from Newsweek, click here:

Photo courtesy Haaretz