Breaking: Syrian drone shot down over Golan Heights
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad apparently doesn't have enough on his mind these days. Or maybe he's just trying to find a distraction.
Hmmm.
Labels: Bashar al-Assad, drone, Golan Heights, Syria, Syrian uprising
Iran's weapons ferrying service about to expand big time
For at least five years, Iran has been using commercial airliners from Mahan Air (an IranAir subsidiary from what I can gather) to ferry terrorists and weapons
from Tehran to Damascus. Now, thanks to the Obama-Kerry sellout and the lifting of sanctions Iran (having been blocked by Congress from purchasing from Boeing) is about to
buy 500 new jets from Airbus, the European consortium. Iran currently has 50(!) commercial jets. Imagine how much more trouble they can make with 500.
A report published by Forbes said Iranian commercial aircraft
routinely violate international aviation rules by transporting arms and
military personnel to Syria, and therefore, “selling aircraft to Iran
will expose manufacturers to the risk of becoming complicit in such
activities.”
Forbes said Iran was trying to ink a deal to buy up to 500 aircraft over the next decade.
The magazine said: “Iran remains the foremost state sponsor of
terrorism in the world and is still number one on the recently-released
Basel Anti-Money Laundering Index Report of 2016, which assesses the
risk of money laundering and terrorist financing in 149 countries.”
The report coincides with the comments of U.S. Secretary of State
John Kerry, who expressed his country’s worries regarding Iran’s
transfer of weapons to Yemen.
Also, the international community is worried from an Iranian activity
towards refueling conflicts in Arab countries, which Tehran says was
protecting its security and national interests.
Last Thursday, Iran announced that a deal with Airbus was in its last
phases,” according to Fars news agency, quoting Iranian Minister of
Transportation Minister Abbas Akhoundi.
Forbes warned the Airbus Company to think twice before inking such a deal.
The report said: “The problem with the Islamic Republic’s aircraft
shopping spree is that Iran’s state-owned airline, Iran Air, will be the
sole company purchasing these aircraft.”
It said Iran’s current fleet
stands at 36 aircraft while its subsidiary, Iran Air Tours, has 14.
Mahan Air is considered the first Iranian company, which conducted flights to Syria for transferring weapons in 2011.
Yet another frightening installment in the Obama legacy. What could go wrong?
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Bashar al-Assad, Iran, Mahan Air, Obama's legacy, Syria, weapons shipment
United Nations has awarded tens of millions in 'aid' contracts to Assad cronies
The United Nations has awarded tens of millions of dollars in aid contracts to people associated with the Assad regime, including the dictator's wife Asma, and close Assad associate Rami Makhlouf. According to Britain's Guardian, many of the persons who received the contracts are
subject to United States and European Union sanctions.
The UN says it can only work with a small number of partners approved
by President Assad and that it does all it can to ensure the money is
spent properly.
“Of paramount importance is reaching as many vulnerable civilians as possible,” a spokesman said. “Our choices in Syria
are limited by a highly insecure context where finding companies and
partners who operate in besieged and hard to reach areas is extremely
challenging.”
However, critics believe the UN mission is in danger of being compromised.
They believe aid is being prioritised in government-held areas and
argue UN money is effectively helping to prop up a regime responsible
for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of its own citizens.
UN insiders admit the relief mission in Syria is the most expensive, challenging and complex it has ever undertaken.
But the contentious decisions it has had to make are now exposed for
the first time by a Guardian analysis of hundreds of contracts it has
awarded since the operation began in 2011.
This shows that:
- The UN has paid more than $13m to the Syrian government to boost
farming and agriculture, yet the EU has banned trade with the
departments in question for fear of how the money will be used.
- The UN has paid at least $4m to the state-owned fuel supplier, which is also on the EU sanctions list.
- The World Health Organisation has spent more than $5m to support
Syria’s national blood bank – but this is being controlled by Assad’s
defence department. Documents seen by the Guardian show funds spent on
blood supplies came directly from donors who have economic sanctions
against the Syrian government, including the UK. They also show the WHO
had “concrete concerns” about whether blood supplies would reach those
in need, or be directed to the military first.
- Two UN agencies have partnered with the Syria Trust charity, an
organisation started and chaired by President Assad’s wife, Asma,
spending a total of $8.5m. The first lady is under both US and EU
sanctions.
- Unicef has paid $267,933 to the Al-Bustan Association, owned and run
by Rami Makhlouf, Syria’s wealthiest man. He is a friend and cousin of
Assad, and his charity has been linked to several pro-regime militia
groups.
- Makhlouf runs the mobile phone network Syriatel, which the UN has
also paid at least $700,000 in recent years. Makhlouf is on the EU
sanctions list and was described in US diplomatic cables as the country’s “poster boy for corruption”.
- Contracts have been awarded across UN departments with companies run by or linked to individuals under sanctions.
These contracts show how the United Nations operation has quietly secured deals with individuals and companies that have been designated off-limits by Europe and the US.
On top of this, analysis of the United Nations own procurement
documents show its agencies have done business with at least another 258
Syrian companies, paying sums as high as $54m and £36m, down to
$30,000. Many are likely to have links to Assad, or those close to him.
There's more too -
read the whole thing.
If the Obama administration and the Europeans had expended even half the effort on Syria that they have expended on the 'poor' 'oppressed' 'Palestinians' over the past five years, it is hard to believe that the situation would be this bad. But they don't. Unfortunately for Syrians, "No Jews = No News" and the news that
Jews have actually been saving Syrians almost isn't being reported anywhere outside of Israel.
Labels: Asma al-Assad, Bashar al-Assad, corruption, Syria, Syrian uprising, United Nations
Iran deploys S-300 to protect Fordo nuke plant, forms Shiite army to eradicate Israel
Here's Barack Obama's legacy. After allowing Iran's nuclear program to survive and thrive and giving the Mullahcracy $1.7 billion in spending money, Iran is using the money exactly how it promised to use it. It has deployed an
S-300 missile system to protect its Fordo nuclear plant, and it has formed a Shiite army
whose goal is to eradicate Israel. This is from the first link.
A video showed an S-300 carrier truck in Fordo, raising its missile launchers toward the sky, next to other counter-strike weaponry.
The images were aired hours after supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gave a speech to air force commanders, including Esmaili, in which he stressed that Iranian military power was for defensive purposes only.
"Continued opposition and hype on the S-300 or the Fordo site are examples of the viciousness of the enemy," Khamenei said.
"The S-300 system is a defence system not an assault one, but the Americans did their best for Iran not to get hold of it."
The Fordo site, built into a mountain near the city of Qom has stopped enriching uranium since the January implementation of a nuclear deal with world powers.
Under the historic accord, Iran dismantled most of its estimated 19,000 centrifuges -- giant spinning machines that enrich uranium, keeping only 5,000 active for research purposes.
Maybe for a few years anyway....
In the meantime, Iran has not given up on
eradicating Israel.
Retired General Mohammad Ali Falaki, who is currently one of the Iranian
forces leaders in Syria, has recently revealed that Iran has formed a
“Shiite Liberation Army” led by Quds Force commander, General Qassem
Soleimani.
The Quds Force also known as Pasdaran in Persian is
a special forces unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and
is responsible for the Islamic Republic’s extraterritorial operation.
“The Shiite Liberation Army is currently fighting on three fronts -
Iraq, Syria and Yemen,” he told Mashregh news agency, which is close to
the IRGC, in an interview published on Thursday.
The retired
general said “This army is not only composed of Iranians but it recruits
locally from the regions witnessing fighting.”
Falaki, who is
leading part of the IRGC fight in Syria to give support to Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, advised that it was “not wise to
directly involve Iranian forces into the Syrian conflict.”
“The
role of our personnel should be limited to training, preparing and
equipping the Syrians to fight in their areas, ” he added.
Falaki said that the main objective behind the formation of the first
nucleus of the ‘Shiite Liberation Army’ is to “eradicate Israel after 23
years, especially that these battalions are now on Israeli borders.”
#ThanksObama
And you were still wondering why he hasn't taken the fight to Assad?
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Bashar al-Assad, Fordow nuclear plant, Iran Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Iran sanctions regime, Obama's legacy, S-300 missile defense system, Syria, uranium enrichment
Breaking: IAF attacked two targets in southern Syria last night - UPDATED
More to follow.
UPDATE 12:26 PM
And here's a little more.
Correction -
Artillery not Air Force.
UPDATE 12:31 PM
And a few more
details.
Israel attacked two military targets in Syria in response to what the army described as "unusual" cross-border spillover from the conflict ravaging the country in recent years.
The army said the original fire hit near the Golan Heights security fence, but did not threaten Israelis living near the Syrian-Israeli border. It said that the Israel Defense Forces do not intervene in the war in Syria but would respond to any incursion.
In April, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted for the first time that Israel had conducted strikes against its northern neighbor. "We act when we need to act, including here across the border, with dozens of strikes meant to prevent Hezbollah [from obtaining] game-changing weaponry," Netanyahu said during a visit to an IDF military exercise in the Golan Heights.
This sounds like it was a warning to the combatants not to let things spill over, and not a strike against Hezbullah receiving advanced weaponry as has been the case in the past. If there's more, I will let you know.
UPDATE 2:10 PM
Syria has now confirmed.
Labels: Bashar al-Assad, Hezbullah, IAF, Syria
'Palestinians' whine to pollsters over Sunni Arabs preferring their own interests
There's a very detailed
poll of 'Palestinian' public opinion out ('Palestinian' public opinion tends to be more measurable than in other places in the Arab Islamic world - they learned from Israel). While I may come back to this poll eventually, I'd like to focus on this part for a minute. Keep in mind that this is 'Palestinian' public opinion and not Sunni Arab or other Arabs or Muslims.
(7) The Arab World, war in Syria, ISIS, and US elections:
78% say the Arab World is too preoccupied with its own concerns, internal
conflicts, and the conflict with Iran and that Palestine is no longer the
Arab’s principal or primary issue or cause. Only 20% think Palestine remains
the Arab’s principle cause.
They finally are starting to understand that the Arab world is tired of them. It's the anti-Semitic Europeans who have been carrying the ball for the 'Palestinians' for many years now. While the Arab world has not made peace with us, there is a de facto detente, and this a result of shared interests and not love. But the bottom line is that the Arab world has abandoned the 'Palestinians' even more so than it did previously.
59% believe that there is an Arab Sunni alliance with Israel against Iran
despite the continued Israeli occupation of Arab land while 30% believe that
the Arabs would not ally themselves with Israel until it ends its occupation
and allows the creation of a Palestinian state.
I'm with the majority. Just from what we know, there is an alliance, and I'd estimate that it's even stronger behind the scenes. The 30% who think that the Arabs wouldn't ally themselves with Israel to save their own necks is simply unrealistic.
In light of the escalating conflict in Syria and the emergence of three main
parties to the conflict, we asked the public for its view on the party it
views as the more preferable or the one it views as the least harmful. The
largest percentage (40%) chose the Free Syrian army, 18% chose Bashar Asad
and his army, and 5% chose the extreme religious opposition, such as ISIS.
23% said they do not like any of the three parties.
The Syrian Free Army will go down in history as one of the biggest (of many) foreign policy mistakes by the Obama administration. The FSA could have become a 'moderate' (in relative terms) group had Obama and Clinton chosen to aid it in 2011-12. They did not. Now, it's nearly as Islamist as ISIS. Why Trump isn't pounding Clinton on this....
An overwhelming majority of 88% believes that ISIS is a radical group that
does not represent true Islam and 8% believe it does represent true Islam.
4% are not sure or do not know. In the Gaza Strip, 16% (compared to 3% in
the West Bank) say ISIS represents true Islam.
79% support and 18% oppose the war waged by Arab and Western countries
against ISIS.
This is actually a pleasant surprise.
We asked the public about the US elections and which presidential candidate,
Hilary Clinton or Donald Trump, it viewed best for the Palestinians. A large
majority (70%) said there is no difference between the two candidates, while
12% said Clinton is better and 7% said Trump is better.
I'd love to see a survey of what US citizens in Israel think of the US elections.... I don't like either of them, and am tempted to 'stay home.'
Labels: Bashar al-Assad, Free Syrian Army, Gaza, ISIS, Judea and Samaria, Palestinian polls, Palestinian whining, Shiites v. Sunnis, Sunni, Syria, Syrian uprising
In 1961, they knew how to solve the 'Palestinian problem'
Here's an amazing 1961 Atlantic piece (would the Atlantic even publish something like this today @JeffreyGoldberg) written by a woman I am told is Ernest Hemmingway's ex-wife (thanks @soccerdhg) who took a tour of eight 'Palestinian refugee camps' in 1961.
Here's the money quote (in more ways than one) (Hat Tip: @zlando).
On this warlike note, we left. My guide had seemed a sober contented
fellow until our little meeting, whereupon he sounded like a politician
running recklessly for office. He then astonished me again.
"It
can all be solved with money," he said. "Now the people have nothing in
their mouths but words, so they talk. Money fills the mouth too. If
every man got a thousand dollars for each member of his family, for
compensation to have lost his country, and he could be a citizen in any
Arab country he likes, he would not think of Palestine any more. Then he
could start a new life and be rich and happy. And those who really do
own something in Palestine must be paid for what they had there. But
those are not many. Most had nothing, only work."
It could - and probably still can - all be solved with money (although probably more today than 55 years ago). But of course no one - especially UNRWA - has any interest in solving it with money. And so, unlike any other refugees in the world, the 'Palestinians' continue to fester in camps... except for the ones who have escaped to the West.
Read the whole thing (I'm still reading it myself). And keep in mind that it was written six years BEFORE Israel 'occupied' the 'West Bank' and Gaza, so obviously that's not the problem.
Labels: Egypt, Gaza, Lebanon, naqba, Palestinian refugees, Syria, UNRWA
Report: Hezbullah asks journalists not to say Israel behind Badreddine assassination
A very interesting tweet from Le Figaro's Georges Malbrunot:
For those, like me, whose French skills are not up to snuff, here's Tony Badran:
Not saying that Israel did it excuses Hezbullah from seeking revenge for it, i.e. war.
Here are some more interesting tweets from Malbrunot's timeline. This series quotes an unnamed diplomat to which I am adding the Bing translations except where they seem ridiculous:
Anti-Assad Syrian armed groups do not have the capacity to carry out such an operation....
... even if Israel could use the services of one of these groups. We have information on the treatment of al-Nusra rebels [at hospitals] in Israel.
Diplomat has no doubt Badreddine assassination an extension of Israeli operations....
... of liquidations of senior Hezbullah officers.
And in case you missed it, Badreddine was killed half an hour after a visit by Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Qassem Suleimani.
Hmmm.
Labels: Hezbullah, Iran, Mustafa Badreddine, Qassem Suleimani, Syria
Breaking: IAF jets hit weapons convoy on Syria-Lebanon border
Israeli Air Force jets have attacked a weapons convoy traveling along the Syrian-Lebanese border. The intended recipient of the weapons was
Hezbullah.
The attack allegedly occurred on the Syrian-Lebanese border earlier
in the afternoon and struck a number of vital positions important to the
terror organization.
Citing Arab media reports, Channel 2 said
that the Israeli Air Force struck the weapons convoy near a Syrian
"rebel safe-haven" where Hezbollah militants were allegedly stationed.
If the reports are confirmed, it would not be Israel's first
military excursion into enemy territory to stop the transfer of weapons
to its arch nemesis Hezbollah.
Last month,
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged for the first time that
Israel has taken action dozens of times beyond the northern border to
prevent Hezbollah from attaining “game-changing” weaponry.”
Waiting to see if the IAF will try to stop the
transfer of the S-300 anti-missile system to Iran by Russia.
Labels: Hezbullah, Hezbullah weapons, IAF, Lebanon, S-300 missile defense system, Syria, weapons shipment
Bashar al-Assad's strange definition of a cease fire
If there's anyone out there who still wonders why Israel has never been able to reach a 'peace agreement' with the Assad's, please consider
Bashar al-Assad's definition of a cease fire.
"Regarding a ceasefire, a halt to operations, if it happened, it
doesn't mean that each party will stop using weapons," Assad said in
Damascus in televised comments.
"A ceasefire means in the first place halting the terrorists from
strengthening their positions. Movement of weapons, equipment or
terrorists, or fortification of positions, will not be allowed," he
said.
Oh, of course. Why would I think otherwise? Silly me....
Labels: Bashar al-Assad, cease fire, Hafez al-Assad, Syria, Syrian uprising
Obama gives Jordan's Abdullah the Israel treatment
Just last night, I reported on how President Hussein Obama has been giving 'our friends, the Saudis' the
Israel treatment. Now, he's giving it to
Jordan's King Abdullah II.
The White House on Monday said President Barack Obama
would not meet with close ally King Abdullah of Jordan -- who is
currently in Washington -- because of scheduling problems.
"The president regrets that he is unable to meet with
him personally on this visit due to scheduling conflicts, including the
State of the Union address," a White House spokesperson said.
On Tuesday, Obama will deliver his final annual address
to a joint session of Congress, a set piece of the U.S. political
calendar.
The White House and Jordanian officials said Abdullah would instead meet with Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday.
He met with Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday.
Kerry and Abdullah discussed the fight against the
Islamic State and "efforts to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace
negotiations," a diplomat said.
Abdullah also met with Defense Secretary Ash Carter, who
expressed his "deep appreciation... for Jordan's continued
contributions to regional counter-ISIL efforts," Pentagon spokesman
Peter Cook said.
He was referring to the self-proclaimed Islamic State
group, which has seized large chunks of territory in Iraq and Syria and
declared a caliphate ruled in accordance with Islamic law, or sharia.
Obama "looks forward to the opportunity to meet with His Majesty in the near future," the White House official said.
Obama and Abdullah last met in Washington almost a year ago.
On Twitter, The Israel Project's Omri Ceren has assured me that the White House
knows exactly what's going on in 'Southern Syria' (i.e. Jordan).
Obama is remaking the Middle East yet again.
What could go wrong?
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Caliphate, Iran, ISIS, Islamic State, Jordanian King Abdullah, Lee Smith, Mudar Zahran, New Middle East, Omri Ceren, Syria
Priorities: As the world burns, Obama worries about Israeli 'settlement' bloc expansions
As the world burns around him, President Hussein Obama's obsession with Israel is interrupted only for his golf games. On Friday, the Obama-Kerry State Department condemned
Israel's incorporation of an abandoned former tuberculosis treatment center into the Etzion bloc.
Settlement activity is “illegitimate and counterproductive to the cause
of peace. Continued settlement activity and expansion raises honest
questions about Israel’s long-term intentions and will only make
achieving a two-state solution that much more difficult,” Kirby told
reporters in Washington on Friday.
He spoke days after Defense
Minister Moshe Ya’alon agreed to expand the Gush Etzion bloc to include a
4-hectare site with eight stone buildings that is located off of Route
60 between the Gush Etzion junction and the Kiryat Arba settlement.
Settlers
want to operate a tourist center on the property geared to helping
visitors take advantage of Jewish tourist sites in the area, including
the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron.
The property was owned by
the US Presbyterian Church until 2008 where it ran a tuberculosis
hospital and then a hostel on the site. Inclusion of the site within the
Gush Etzion boundaries would make it easier for settlers to further
develop the property.
When queried about the compound by a
reporter at the daily briefing, Kirby said the US was “deeply concerned”
about the move, “which effectively creates a new settlement on 10 acres
in the West Bank.”
He then spoke in general about Area C of the West Bank, which is under Israeli military and civil rule.
“It’s
important to note that some 70 percent of the West Bank’s Area C has
already been unilaterally designated as Israeli state land, or within
the boundaries of these regional settlement councils,” Kirby explained.
“The
new decision only expands this significant majority of the West Bank
that has already been claimed for exclusive Israeli use. “Along with the
regular retroactive legalization of unauthorized outposts and
construction of infrastructure in remote settlements, actions such as
this decision clearly undermine the possibility of a two-state
solution,” Kirby said.
He added that “continued settlement
activity and expansion raise honest questions about Israel’s long-term
intentions and will only make achieving a two-state solution that much
more difficult.”
The US has asked both the Israelis and Palestinians to demonstrate their commitment to a two-state solution, Kirby said.
“Actions such as [the Gush Etzion] decision, we believe, does just the opposite,” he stressed.
I'm sure the
starving Syrians in Madaya and the
molested German women in Cologne found Obama's priorities heartwarming.
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Germany, Gush Etzion, Obama's obsession with Palestinians, Religion of Peace, religion of rape, settlement blocs, settlements are legal, Syria, Syrian uprising
Report: As Obama administration knowingly armed Islamic State in Syria, Joint Chiefs passed US intel to Assad
It's come to this: The Obama administration - and in particular the CIA -
knowingly armed Islamic State terrorists in Syria. Okay, take it with a grain of salt. It came from Seymour Hersh.
Barack Obama’s
repeated insistence that Bashar al-Assad must leave office – and that
there are ‘moderate’ rebel groups in Syria capable of defeating him –
has in recent years provoked quiet dissent, and even overt opposition,
among some of the most senior officers on the Pentagon’s Joint Staff.
Their criticism has focused on what they see as the administration’s
fixation on Assad’s primary ally, Vladimir Putin. In their view, Obama
is captive to Cold War thinking about Russia and China, and hasn’t
adjusted his stance on Syria to the fact both countries share
Washington’s anxiety about the spread of terrorism in and beyond Syria;
like Washington, they believe that Islamic State must be stopped.
The military’s resistance dates back to the summer of 2013, when a
highly classified assessment, put together by the Defense Intelligence
Agency (DIA) and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, then led by General Martin
Dempsey, forecast that the fall of the Assad regime would lead to chaos
and, potentially, to Syria’s takeover by jihadi extremists, much as was
then happening in Libya. A former senior adviser to the Joint Chiefs
told me that the document was an ‘all-source’ appraisal, drawing on
information from signals, satellite and human intelligence, and took a
dim view of the Obama administration’s insistence on continuing to
finance and arm the so-called moderate rebel groups. By then, the CIA
had been conspiring for more than a year with allies in the UK, Saudi
Arabia and Qatar to ship guns and goods – to be used for the overthrow
of Assad – from Libya, via Turkey, into Syria. The new intelligence
estimate singled out Turkey as a major impediment to Obama’s Syria
policy. The document showed, the adviser said, ‘that what was started as
a covert US programme to arm and support the moderate rebels fighting
Assad had been co-opted by Turkey, and had morphed into an
across-the-board technical, arms and logistical programme for all of the
opposition, including Jabhat al-Nusra and Islamic State. The so-called
moderates had evaporated and the Free Syrian Army was a rump group
stationed at an airbase in Turkey.’ The assessment was bleak: there was
no viable ‘moderate’ opposition to Assad, and the US was arming
extremists.
Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, director of the DIA
between 2012 and 2014, confirmed that his agency had sent a constant
stream of classified warnings to the civilian leadership about the dire
consequences of toppling Assad. The jihadists, he said, were in control
of the opposition. Turkey wasn’t doing enough to stop the smuggling of
foreign fighters and weapons across the border. ‘If the American public
saw the intelligence we were producing daily, at the most sensitive
level, they would go ballistic,’ Flynn told me. ‘We understood Isis’s
long-term strategy and its campaign plans, and we also discussed the
fact that Turkey was looking the other way when it came to the growth of
the Islamic State inside Syria.’ The DIA’s reporting, he said, ‘got
enormous pushback’ from the Obama administration. ‘I felt that they did
not want to hear the truth.’
‘Our policy of arming the opposition
to Assad was unsuccessful and actually having a negative impact,’ the
former JCS adviser said. ‘The Joint Chiefs believed that Assad should
not be replaced by fundamentalists. The administration’s policy was
contradictory. They wanted Assad to go but the opposition was dominated
by extremists. So who was going to replace him? To say Assad’s got to go
is fine, but if you follow that through – therefore anyone is better.
It’s the “anybody else is better” issue that the JCS had with Obama’s
policy.’
But what's more shocking is what the Joint Chiefs decided to do about it.
The Joint Chiefs felt that a direct challenge to Obama’s policy would
have ‘had a zero chance of success’. So in the autumn of 2013 they
decided to take steps against the extremists without going through
political channels, by providing US intelligence to the militaries of
other nations, on the understanding that it would be passed on to the
Syrian army and used against the common enemy, Jabhat al-Nusra and
Islamic State.
Germany, Israel and Russia were in contact with the
Syrian army, and able to exercise some influence over Assad’s decisions
– it was through them that US intelligence would be shared. Each had
its reasons for co-operating with Assad: Germany feared what might
happen among its own population of six million Muslims if Islamic State
expanded; Israel was concerned with border security; Russia had an
alliance of very long standing with Syria, and was worried by the threat
to its only naval base on the Mediterranean, at Tartus. ‘We weren’t
intent on deviating from Obama’s stated policies,’ the adviser said.
‘But sharing our assessments via the military-to-military relationships
with other countries could prove productive. It was clear that Assad
needed better tactical intelligence and operational advice. The JCS
concluded that if those needs were met, the overall fight against
Islamist terrorism would be enhanced. Obama didn’t know, but Obama
doesn’t know what the JCS does in every circumstance and that’s true of
all presidents.’
Once the flow of US intelligence began, Germany,
Israel and Russia started passing on information about the whereabouts
and intent of radical jihadist groups to the Syrian army; in return,
Syria provided information about its own capabilities and intentions.
There was no direct contact between the US and the Syrian military;
instead, the adviser said, ‘we provided the information – including
long-range analyses on Syria’s future put together by contractors or one
of our war colleges – and these countries could do with it what they
chose, including sharing it with Assad. We were saying to the Germans
and the others: “Here’s some information that’s pretty interesting and
our interest is mutual.” End of conversation. The JCS could conclude
that something beneficial would arise from it – but it was a military to
military thing, and not some sort of a sinister Joint Chiefs’ plot to
go around Obama and support Assad. It was a lot cleverer than that. If
Assad remains in power, it will not be because we did it. It’s because
he was smart enough to use the intelligence and sound tactical advice we
provided to others.’
Read the whole thing.
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Bashar al-Assad, CIA, Germany, ISIS, Islamic State, Israel, Russia, Syria, Syrian uprising, Turkey, United States
Syria claims Israel hit 7 Hezbullah targets, Hezbullah denies it, Israel has no comment
It may have been another explosive night in
Damascus.
Syrian media claimed that the Israeli Air Force targeted at least than
seven Hezbollah targets in the country's Qalamoun region late on
Saturday night.
Hezbollah denied that there were any explosions at its bases, according to a report by Israel's Channel 2 news.
The
IDF has not commented on the situation, but earlier in the evening,
released a statement saying that "in the next few hours, explosions will
be heard in the Upper Galilee. The explosions are routine, were planned
ahead of time and are not connected to a security incident."
Hezbullah has threatened to avenge terrorist Samir al-Kuntar's death. No way to determine what's truth here.
Labels: Hezbullah, Syria, weapons smuggling
R. Moshe Shternbuch: If Russia conquers Istanbul put on your Sabbath finery for the Messiah
Some of you might recall this post which quoted the
Vilna Gaon as saying that a war between Russia and Turkey would be a
precursor to the Messiah's arrival. Someone questioned whether the Gaon actually said that. Thanks to
Yonatan H who put me onto this audio of Rabbi Moshe Shternbuch, the head of the Badatz Eida Haredith in Jerusalem who says in the name of the Gaon (known as the Gra) that if Russia conquers Istanbul, get ready for the Messiah's arrival.
For the Hebrew readers, there's more
here (including the audio).
Labels: Istanbul, Rav Moshe Shternbuch, Russia, Russian weapons, Syria, Turkey, Turkish army, Vilna Gaon
Turkish general says government has to own shooting down of Russia plane
Back in November, the Turkish air force downed a Russian jet. Afterward, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed that had they known that the plane was Russian, they might have acted differently during what was about 17 seconds(!) over disputed Turkish-Syrian territory. Now, a Turkish Air Force General says - surprise -
that's a lie.
Pilots of the Turkish Air Forces (THK) followed the rules of engagement as outlined by the government during the downing of a Russian
jet near the Syrian border on Nov. 24 and would have been accused of
neglecting their duty if they hadn't done so, a general who remained
anonymous told a daily on Wednesday.
Speaking with the Sözcü daily, the general from the THK underlined
that the government must accept any political responsibility as it is
the government that outlines the rules of engagement for border
violations, which are considered orders to the army.
THK head Gen. Abidin Ünal has been targeted by pro-government Twitter
users saying that he had placed President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the
Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government in a difficult
situation after bilateral relations with Russia broke down as a result
of the downing of the jet.
According to Sözcü, some Twitter users tweeted after the incident
that Ünal must resign as he shot down the Russian jet without orders
from the president. “Resign! Otherwise, Reis [Erdoğan] will take care of
you,” another user tweeted.
The anonymous general also underlined that it is a border violation
when any jet belonging to a foreign nation violates another nation's air
space, even for a second. “The rules of engagement are outlined by the
government according to a specific time, region and purpose to protect
its borders. The armed forces will automatically follow them,” general
said.
“Had we known it was a Russian plane we might have acted
differently,” Erdoğan said in an exclusive interview with France 24 news
channel on Nov. 26. “But our pilots know the rules of engagement and
have to do their duty to protect Turkish airspace,” he added.
During a parliamentary group speech of his party on Nov. 25, Prime
Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said the THK had carried out orders given by
him personally. “Despite all the warnings, we had to destroy the
aircraft,” he said.
According to the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), the Russian jet violated
Turkish airspace for 17 seconds and there were no warning shots.
The Turkish General Staff said on Nov. 24 that it shot down the
Russian Su-24 jet after warning it 10 times in five minutes by radio.
However the Russian Defense Ministry claims it was shot down in Syrian
airspace.
Something tells me that the Turks are going to be really sorry about this. On Sunday, I posted this on my Twitter feed:
I have since spoken to a neighbor who is an expert on the writings of the
Vilna Gaon who has confirmed to me that the passage does exist, but he has not yet shown/told me where it is.
Hmmm.
Labels: Russia, Russian weapons, Syria, Turkey, Turkish army
US-Israel relations have never been better?
President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry keep telling us how
relations between the United States and Israel have never been better. Really? David Remnick in the New Yorker.
Most of the ministers in Netanyahu’s cabinet are on the record opposing a
two-state solution. American officials speak of Netanyahu as myopic,
entitled, untrustworthy, routinely disrespectful toward the President,
and focussed solely on short-term political tactics to keep his
right-wing constituency in line. Netanyahu seems not to care if he
insults the Administration. Ron Dermer, his ambassador to the U.S.,
secretly arranged with John Boehner for Netanyahu to speak before
Congress without alerting the White House; Danny Danon, his envoy to the
U.N., blamed Obama’s “lack of leadership” for Turkish and Iranian
aggression; and Ran Baratz, whom Netanyahu appointed last month as his
media chief, wrote on his Facebook page that the President was
anti-Semitic and that Kerry had the mental abilities of a
twelve-year-old.
Well, at least Danon and Baratz are honest.... But really, is this any way to treat a friend?
Our 'friend' also tried really hard to give the Golan Heights to Syria. Thank God Netanyahu didn't listen.
Assad told Kerry that, in order to make
peace with Israel, he had to get back the Golan Heights, territory lost
in the 1967 war. For that to be considered, Kerry replied, Syria would
have to cease the transit of arms through Syria to Hezbollah, in
Lebanon, and to Hamas, in Gaza.
“We
basically delivered him a pretty strong message of, ‘You better stop
this or else,’ ” Kerry told me. “But I also engaged with him, because he
wanted to talk about another subject—a relationship with Israel in the
future. I don’t think I’ve ever talked about this publicly, but he was
ready to make a deal with Israel. And the proof of that is a letter I
still have that he wrote and signed proposing a structure by which he
was willing to recognize Israel, have an embassy there, make peace, deal
with the Golan, et cetera.” (A representative of the Syrian government
denied that Assad ever wrote such a letter; he also denied that Assad
took any oppressive measures in 2011.) Syria asked Kerry for economic
assistance, including a pipeline to Iraq and aid for technology and
health care. When Netanyahu was told of the discussions, he was
reluctant. “Bibi came to Washington, and one of the first things out of
his mouth in the Oval Office was ‘I can’t do this. I’m not going to—I
just can’t.’ ”
...
The issue was rendered moot in March,
2011, when the revolution began in Syria. As the Syrian regime increased
its level of cruelty from month to month—beginning with the police
torturing young protesters and moving on to the indiscriminate killing
of many thousands, using barrel bombs—all talk of the “soft-spoken
British-educated ophthalmologist,” of Assad as the reformist hope of
Syria, was eclipsed.
Kerry shook his
head at the memory of it. At dinner in Damascus, Assad had told Kerry
and Heinz about how his mother could no longer go to a local mosque
dressed in a skirt. He talked about how female college classmates,
professional women, were now in hijab. “We want to be a secular
country,” Assad said, according to Kerry. “We don’t want to be inundated
by this.”
Kerry went on, “I had an
impression that this guy had serious business plans, growth plans,
development plans, wanted to change.” When I pressed him to describe
Assad in terms of his crimes, he backed off. “You know what? I want to
try to talk common sense to him through this process, and I do not want
to get into any—it’s just the inappropriate moment for me to . . .”
Kerry doesn't get Assad, he doesn't get Israel and he doesn't get the Middle East. But he's trying diplomatically to manipulate all of them and with Obama a lame duck they have nothing to lose. What could go wrong?
Labels: Bashar al-Assad, Binyamin Netanyahu, Golan Heights, ISIS, John Kerry, Syria, Syrian uprising
What we hit last night
Last night, I reported that Israel
hit Hezbullah operations in Syria. That story now appears to be confirmed.
That would explain why the IAF attacked. The government has said in the past that it will attack shipments of game changing weapons. They did.
Labels: Hezbullah, IAF, Lebanon, Russia, Syria
Report: IAF striking multiple Hezbullah targets in Syria, casualties reported
I have not seen this elsewhere, but thought I'd post it so that you all can keep an eye out for updates during the night. It's time for me to go to sleep (still a bit jet lagged - normally I try to return to Israel on Thursday night or Friday and then sleep it off over the Sabbath).
There are two tweets out there that claim that the IAF struck multiple Hezbullah targets in Syria about two hours ago and that casualties have been reported. Here they are:
Recall that Israel is coordinating its activities in the skies over Syria with the Russians.
If you see something, report it!
Labels: Hezbullah, IAF, Lebanon, Russia, Syria
Russia sanctions Turkey over downed jet, will buy from Israel instead
Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced
sanctions against Turkey over the Russian jet that was downed by Turkish forces this past week.
The decree published
on the Kremlin's website Saturday came hours after Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan had voiced regret over the incident, saying his
country was "truly saddened" by the event and wished it hadn't occurred.
It
includes a ban on some goods and forbids extensions of labor contracts
for Turks working in Russia as of Jan. 1. It doesn't specify what goods
are to be banned or give other details, but it also calls for ending
chartered flights from Russia to Turkey and for Russian tourism
companies to stop selling vacation packages that would include a stay in
Turkey.
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev earlier in the week had ordered his cabinet to develop a list of goods to be sanctioned.
Putin's
decree also calls for ending visa-free travel between Russia and Turkey
and orders the tightening of control over Turkish air carriers in
Russia "for security reasons." The decree was issued "to protect Russian
citizens from crimes," a Kremlin statement said.
Earlier this week, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev announced that
Russia will buy goods from Israel instead of Turkey.
In terms of filling the void, Israeli tourism providers have already
begun selling the Jewish state as an alternative attraction for Russians
seeking a break in the sun, and say deals are in the works.
Israel's tourism ministry has stepped up its game as well, investing $2.6 million in efforts to woo the Russian market.
As for food imports, Russia's Minister of Agriculture Alexander
Tkachev said his country would be replacing Turkish produce with goods
from Iran, Israel and Morocco.
The minister officially sites healthy and safety concerns, but the
timing of the announcement indicates it is politically-motivated.
...
Over the past 10 months Turkey imported agricultural produce and food
worth just over $1 billion (one billion euros) to Russia, down 21.2
percent compared to the same period last year.
"Turkish vegetables account for 20 percent of the total Russian
imports of vegetables. Import of vegetables, tomatoes in the first
place, will be substituted with those from Iran, Morocco, Israel,
Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan," he told Russian media.
Turkey also accounts for a quarter of Russian citrus fruit imports,
he said, adding that the country would similarly be switching to
alternative providers.
"Turkey imports about 250,000 tons of citrus fruits, a quarter of the
total citrus imported into Russia. We can replace citrus imports by
supplies from South Africa, Morocco, China, Argentina, Israel, Abkhazia,
Georgia," Tkachev stated.
Russia also said it could redirect its Turkish exports including wheat and oil to countries in the Middle East and Africa.
Over the past 10 months, Russian exports to Turkey amounted to $1.3 billion.
As long as that doesn't mean a price rise in Israel, that's fine with me, except that there are Jewish law issues with exporting the citrus crop this winter because it is considered produce of the Shmittah (Sabbatical) year.
In the meantime, the 'Palestinians' can cry me a river!
Labels: Dmitry Medvedev, exports, Iran, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russia, Syria, Turkey, Vladimir Putin
