Israel Matzav

Report: Israel Air Force drops equipment at Saudi base, US forces on Iran-Azerbaijan border

A report on Wednesday from the FARS News Agency in Iran, claims that the Israel Air Force landed at a Saudi Arabian air base to drop off supplies recently, and that US troops are amassing on the border between Iran and Azerbaijan, which is Iran's northwest border. Before you dismiss this report out of hand (as I was tempted to do - especially since I have not seen it anyplace else other than online), please keep in mind that the report of a fleet of US and Israeli war ships crossing the Suez Canal last Friday has been confirmed (apparently by the Pentagon), so something is definitely going on. This is from the first link.

Iran’s Fars News Agency said the Israeli military aircraft landed 10 days ago at the Saudi base near the city of Tabuk, located in northwest Saudi Arabia, one of the closest areas in the oil kingdom to Iran.

Fars said that the Tabuk base will be the central station for an Israeli attack on Iran. It quoted an Islamic news site that a commercial airline passenger said the airport in Tabuk was closed to all other traffic during the alleged Israeli landings. The passenger said that "no reasonable explanation” was given for shutting down the airport and those passengers were compensated financially and booked in four-star hotels.

“The relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel have become the talk of the town,” the passenger added. The chief authority in Tabuk, Prince Fahd ben Sultan, was reported be coordinating the cooperation with Israel.

...

Iran’s government-funded Press TV reported that the Revolutionary Guards began closely patrolling the Islamic Republic’s northwestern border after noticing the American forces, which Iran claimed also included Israeli troops. Azerbaijan’s independent Trend news site also reported on Wednesday that American armed forces are in the country, which is in an armed conflict with rebels.

Revolutionary Guards Brigadier General Mehdi Moini said Tuesday that his forces are mobilized “due to the presence of American and Israeli forces on the western border.” The Guards reportedly have called in tanks and anti-aircraft units to the area in what amounts to a war alert.

Earlier on Wednesday, it was reported that Iran has enriched another 17 kilos of uranium (about 37 pounds) to the 20% level.

When the Pentagon confirmed the passage of the war ships through the Suez Canal, they tried to downplay it as a routine exercise. I don't buy that. Clearly, something is going on. Whether it's a threat to try to bring Iran into line or the start of something big remains to be seen.

For the record, I could not find the FARS report on their English site, but that doesn't mean much because the English site lags behind the Persian site.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:15 PM