World at War, Official 2012 Thread for Israel, Iran, Syria, Hezbollah, PA, Turkey, Egypt, Pakistan, India, North Korea, Russia, China, U.S.

MM...is it possible that the Israeli's are just doing overflights to scare Hezbollah? Or in your opinion are they going to hit some targets tonight?

More interesting is this:
Pentagon source: We are careful about what we said to Israelis One major dispute between the United States and Israel revolves around assassinations in Iran, says Newsweek Magazine. While "Israel has no qualms about assassinating Iranians involved in nuclear research, for instance; US law forbids it," the article claims.

“We were always careful about what we said to the Israelis in meetings, and they knew why,” says the Pentagon source. “They knew that if we gave them certain kinds of information we’d run the risk of breaking the law. We often held things back from them—satellite imagery and other kinds of intelligence that could have helped them with their activities.” (Yitzhak Benhorin, Washington)
[link to www.ynetnews.com]

Either Israel will simply do its own terror attack quitely, or we will see things heat up soon. How soon? Israel must be prepared for step B, a response from enemies so she is likely to be very certain and ready for any strike.

Turstworthiness in question but I would not doubt it.

Covert ops have Israel placing ships in position [link to g2bulletin.wnd.com]

MM what about the reports of the Saudi ultimatum on Assad and reports of their tank columns heading towards the border with Syria?

Imminent Attack?

Will Israel attack someone? The answer to this is always yes. They never let an attack go unpunished. The critical question is when?

Israel has named the attackers of today’s terror attack as Iran and its agent the Hezbollah. So the players are named. We all know Israel is seriously getting prepared to attack Iran (the Obamah administration keeps leaking things including today news story said that an anonymous White House employee stated that the Israeli Mossad came to DC a couple weeks ago in order to see what the US would say to an Israeli attack on Iran). Would Israel actually move up its timetable for attack on Iran because of Iran’s fingerprints of today’s attack? The simple answer is no, not for such a minor attack. If multiple Israeli civilian casualties were involved that could change. At the same time, Israel has milked this by publicly accusing Iran as doing so betters Israel’s ultimate case of labeling Iran as evil before attacking her.

Next, what about the Hezbollah? Israel is somewhat quiet on the Hezbollah front today verses calling out Iran though Israel did the normal threat of flying above Hezbollah positions in Lebanon. I would wait for perhaps greater pin-pointing of Hezbollah involvement, but Israel already has fingerprints on other failed attacks. SO in analyzing the information available, I would expect some type of attack very quickly, but sometimes Israel surprises as to how she acts.
(I am not clear on how many hours until attack or days (noone in the know is talking jsut yet), but Israel will get even)

I thought the attack ultimatum was debunked already?

this happens frequently, though.

Syrian defector: Assad using chemical weapons

[link to www.ynetnews.com]
Assad's forces used nerve gas in Homs under Iranian, Russian supervision, Syrian army defector says

Non-conventional war in Syria? Security forces loyal to President Bashar Assad have been using chemical weapons against Syrian rebels, under the supervision of Iranian and Russian experts, a defecting Syrian officer charged Monday.

The officer, Captain Abd al-Salam Ahmed Abdul Razek, who served in Syrian's chemical warfare administration, told al-Arabiya that the Syrian military used nerve gas – banned by various international conventions – in order to assist forces in their raid on the restive city of Homs.

The defecting officer added that the Syrian army's Fourth Division and Republican Guard are expected to use chemical weapons elsewhere. Assad's forces have access to toxins produced by Russia and a small quantity of them may cause numerous casualties, he said.

holy shit

All things must be taken with a little salt as disinformation is rampant right now.

As someone with a little inside knowledge, I'm praying hard that this is not true. You and I both know the ramifications and what will come next if it is. Chemical weapons are much more feared than nukes. And they WILL draw a preemptive strike. God help us all if this is true.

Not so much as of late, they had decided to fly over Lebanon less due to anti-aircrft missiles and international chastisement. Now it is for special events when they wish to show displeasure with the Hezbollah.

MM, It looks like we lost Syria. A little Russian backing and Clinton says "we need to be invited:

[link to thecable.foreignpolicy.com]

Guess what - Iran is not going to be hit. Syria was the test and the Russians were willing to go all the way. They will do the same for Iran.

I don't believe Israel will take out the Iranian Nuke sites. Too late, Too far, too hard......

DBL

DoubleTap:

Thanks for your input. Remember Libya did not invite the West. Clinton is simply making rules to play by even though the O administration does not play by them.

I begged Israel to take out Iranian sites for a long long time to no avail. However, I still hold out hope but each morning when I download the news, I am morelikely to expect a well-lit fireball to be detonated over Israel verses attacks on iranian sites.

Syria has not been tested yet. the fear is Assad is willing to test everyone else.

Good analysis as to why a leftist believes that Israel will not attack right now.





The bombings sparked the usual tough rhetoric from Israeli officials: Lieberman said Israel "would not overlook" the attacks, while Netanyahu vowed to "continue to act forcefully, systematically and patiently" against Iranian terror. Nevertheless, a harsh Israeli response is seen as unlikely.

One reason for this is that if, as is widely believed, Israel is behind a recent series of assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists in Tehran, government officials presumably knew that Iranian revenge attacks were likely and took that possibility into account. Though an innocent diplomat's wife cannot be compared to a scientist directly involved in Iran's nuclear program, Monday's attacks were still limited enough that they didn't violate the "rules of the game." Indeed, the modus operandi of the New Delhi bombing exactly mimicked that used to kill several of the Iranian scientists. Hence a direct Israeli military strike on either Hezbollah or Iran seems unlikely.

Moreover, while Iran and Hezbollah have been trying to take revenge for Mughniyeh's assassination ever since it occurred on February 12, 2008, Yehoshua Koren is the first casualty in a long line of failed attacks. The previous attacks, which according to foreign news sources, have been thwarted by close cooperation between Israeli intelligence and local security services, included attempts to bomb the Israeli embassy in Azerbaijan, to assassinate an Israeli consul in Turkey, and, most recently, to bomb popular tourist sites frequented by Israelis in Thailand.

Monday's targets - two embassy cars, neither of which was on embassy grounds at the time - were both at relatively low-level targets, located at the outer perimeter of the security envelope Israel provides its overseas embassies and consulates. This may indicate that Hezbollah and Iran are having trouble reaching more "prestigious" targets.

Moreover, while both attacks attest to careful observation and planning and precise execution, the results were meager enough that neither Tehran nor Beirut is likely to be rejoicing.

Attacks may be first in series

Nevertheless, two caveats are in order. First, these attacks may not be the last, but rather the first in a series. Second, it could be that the planners were capable of wreaking greater harm, but deliberately chose to cause only modest damage. Israel has repeatedly warned that a mass-casualty Hezbollah attack on Israeli targets overseas would spark a massive Israeli assault on Lebanon, and that is something Iran doesn't seem to want right now.

The attacks also shed new light on the surprising comments made last week by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a speech in Beirut: that Hezbollah doesn't take orders from Iran. It could be that Nasrallah already knew of the plans for Monday's attacks and was trying to portray them as independent Hezbollah initiatives.

Hezbollah's interest in distancing itself from Iran - at least verbally - stems in part from the organization's difficult domestic situation: Tuesday is the seventh anniversary of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's assassination, and despite Nasrallah's repeated denials, many Lebanese, along with much of the international community, think Hezbollah was behind that killing. Just on Monday, Prime Minister Najib Mikati - who owes his appointment to Hezbollah - personally announced that the international tribunal investigating Hariri's murder plans to indict new suspects, alongside the four Hezbollah operatives already charged; he said the tribunal's chief prosecutor, Daniel Bellemare, had informed him of this during a recent visit to Beirut.

Adding to Hezbollah's domestic woes is the fact that one of its key allies, the Assad regime in Syria, may not survive. The Syrian opposition no longer bothers to hide its loathing for Hezbollah and Iran, so a new Syrian government would likely be bad news for the Lebanese organization.

[link to www.haaretz.com]

So you think Israel is going to accept that it's too late,and live with the fact that Iran is becoming a nuclear power?

No, they will not accept it but they may merely pay lip service to the Iranian nuclear weapons sites by hitting them, but not expecting to take out the program, but then place all hope into the US that she will go to war, and instead annihilate the Hezbollah.

Bangkok: Iranian hurt by own bomb [link to www.ynetnews.com]

'Iran targeting us worldwide'
[link to www.ynetnews.com]

Barak: Iran, Hezbollah determined to act against usSpeaking in response to Monday's terror attacks on Israel's embassies in India and Georgia, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said "the Iranians and Hezbollah are determined to sabotage the Israeli way of life and act against Israelis everywhere. We will have to act against the terrorist front and continue to prepare for the challenges ahead."
[link to www.ynetnews.com]

What is important here is that Barak is indicating that Israel will continue its plans to take on Iran.

Barak blames Iran for botched Thailand terror attack
Defense Minister responds to Tuesday's Bangkok explosions which wounded five; says attack prove that Iran, Hezbollah continue to operate in ways of terror.
[link to www.haaretz.com]

'Thai blast likely part of larger terror attack' [link to www.jpost.com]

Israeli attack on Iran would be complex operation [link to www.usatoday.com]

Point of view is of interest as this point of view does not use imagination as to how an attack would transpire, but he does note Israel is creative.

Israel won't blink first
Op-ed: Global assumption that Israel will blink first in nuclear showdown with Iran is false
[link to www.ynetnews.com]

There is now two people in custody and they are after a third. The one was trying to fell the country at an airport. The expectation is that it will be revealed very soon about the intent of these terrorists. (Why would one try to bomb a taxi for not stopping to give hime a ride??? Then try to bomb the polcie as he tried to flee and instead blow his leg off???)

Israel says they will settle the score . . .

Military man...settling the score would that mean strikes possibly on Hezbollah? This sounds more like a Hezbollah operation...what's your take?