The Obama administration is signifying its strong disapproval of Israel and Egypt taking matters in their own hands in the last two weeks, DEBKAfile’s military and Washington sources report: Israel was accused of independent military action against Syria, and the Egyptian army of persecuting the Muslim Brotherhood after deposing President Mohamed Morsi.
Washington is also highly displeased with the campaign the Egyptian army launched after the coup, with Israel’s active support, to root out the Islamist terror blighting the Sinai Peninsula. US warships and marines are now parked off Egypt’s Red sea coast as a deterrent to the generals in Cairo.
For whipping Israeli into line, the administration used another method, i.e., Pentagon leaks naming Israeli air strikes as responsible for the explosions at the Syrian weapons depot outside the port town of Latakia on July 5, which demolished a fresh stock of Russian Yakhont (NATO codenamed SS-N-26) shore-to-ship missiles along with their advanced radar.
Although CNN ran this leak Friday, July 7, sourcing it to three separate unnamed US officials, the New York Times repeated the story Saturday and it was picked up by more US media for the third day running on Sunday.
Israel declined to comment on the report.
This over-exposure of alleged Israeli culpability certainly risked prodding Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Syrian ruler Bashar Assad into retaliating for the Latakia bombardment.
Our sources find a second US motive behind this tactic – this one relating to the standoff between Washington and Moscow over Edward Snowden, who has been holed up for three weeks in a hotel in the transit area of Moscow international airport tin defiance of US demands for his extradition to face trial for espionage.
Putin has steadily refused to hand him over to America.
The idea in Washington was to put the Russian president’s credibility on the line and embarrass him by showing Moscow as having “lost” a large consignment of Russian missiles for Syria.
When Putin appeared inclined to offer the young American political asylum, Washington seems have decided to use the Latakia incident to apply the screws and, at the same time, teach him a lesson: If the Russians want Washington to keep the Israeli military on a leash, they must stop disregarding US views on the Syrian question and start playing ball with Obama.
For teaching the Egyptian generals a lesson, the administration resorted to tangible military steps: two amphibious assault ships carrying 2,600 Marines were moved to the southern Egyptian Red Sea coast.
Gen. James Amos, commandant of the Marine Corps, reported Thursday that the huge USS Kearsarge (1,800 Marines) and the USS San Antonio (with 800 Marines) had “moved up into the Red Sea and parked off Egypt,” a couple of nights ago, “because we don’t know what’s going to happen.”
DEBKAfile’s military sources report that the two vessels also carry a fleet of helicopters for ferrying the Marines to distant ground arenas.
The US has placed additional Marine units at Signonella base in southern Italy and Moron in Spain on the alert with orders to be ready to move at 60 minutes’ notice.
To calm the tension, the US Embassy in Egypt said on its website Saturday: “We deny false claims in the Egyptian press that US naval ships are in the vicinity of the Arabian Peninsula and the Suez Canal to militarily invade Egypt.”
According to our sources, the US flotilla was brought in to warn Egyptian strongman Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and his generals that if they took their persecution of the Muslim Brotherhood too far, American Marines stood ready to step in.
They are also on hand for two additional contingencies:
1. Should shipping through one of the world’s major world arteries, the Suez Canal, be imperiled – as in case of sabotage by the Muslim Brotherhood or the armed Salafists of Sinai, a menace raised repeatedly by DEBKAfile – the US military would be there to take charge of securing international shipping in the waterway.
2. The US maintains 1,000 army personnel in Sinai, most members of the 1st Cavalry Division, as part of the multinational force which monitors the 1979 Egyptian-Israel peace treaty provisions. The Obama administration is keeping a close eye on the mounting Islamist violence in the peninsula and the Egyptian military campaign which was mounted, in close intelligence cooperation with Israel and the IDF, against two terrorist elements –the armed Salafist Bedouin associated with al Qaeda and the Palestinian Hamas of Gaza, whose operations have spilled out into Sinai.
US strategists see the fighting in Sinai escalating and spreading and allow that American military intervention may be called for – especially if US MFO service personnel are in harm’s way.
American marines to be used on behalf of putting the muslim brotherhood back into power! How sick. This president needs to be impeached and the Republicans sit on their asses and do nothing.
@ Eric R.:
F you Eric. You are not amusing.
Yamit – Israel could do that and risk very little retaliation from the Obama Administration. The US doesn’t seem want to offend its enemies and it has no love for its friends.
Where’s the downside to offending a President in the twilight of his presidency? Israel would earn more respect from Washington if it simply said, “no.”
Turkey refused to extradite bin Laden’s son-in-law to US in early 2013. Did Obama threaten Turkey? North Korea, Iran, China and Russia have thumbed their noses at Obama and need I bring up all those S American countries as well.
Seems like the only country who bows to the American diktat is Israel. I wonder why?
With ref. to an earlier posted article : ‘Obama is a true friend, Israelis misunderstood his outreach to Arab world’
Obama isn’t a friend of Israel and neither is America if viewed with any objectivity.
A few thousand marines and a lightly armed MFO in Sinai is symbolic and if there was any conflict against them by either Egypt or Israel they would be wiped out in short order. Egypt has 1.5 man standing Army equipped with mostly American up to date weapons including a formidable air-force. The value of any American show of military force is only deterrent, meaning symbolic. As an attack against them would mean war with America. America has many American forces already in Egypt, Kuwait and Bahrain. Don’t think at least I hope Israel would not directly involve herself to protect American troops in Sinai.
An American military attack against Egypt could Unite most of the Arab and Muslim world against America including the Saudis and I don’t think Obama would risk it so any military threat in this case is totally BS Bluff. The mostly Saudi Freeing up Egypt by injecting heavy cash gets the current Egyptian government out from under the squeeze of America, Eu and the IMF. They have little to no leverage now compared to Morsi.
Even if America squeezed the Egyptian military supply line, the Saudis have so much stockpiled that Egypt is not really worried or threatened.
The Obama admin has been leaking Israeli secrets and sensitive material from the very beginning of their first term when Gates then SD, said on national TV that Israel possessed Nukes.
******* There were reports here 2-3 years ago that Israel was refusing to share sensitive Intel information with America because of so many leaks. Then what really was the whole Pollard affair really about? The refusal as per agreement for America to share Intel with Israel which they didn’t. *******
Israel could offer Snowden Political Asylum. That could set the right tone and send the right message.
It is absurd to believe that Israel needs to consult with the world’s dominant superpower before she takes action to defend herself.
After all, why should we let the China determine the fate of the Jews. 🙂