Only change in Iran’s bid to form land bridge from Iran to Israeli border is switch to Syrian uniforms by Hezbollah terrorists.
Iran’s attempts to build a permanent military infrastructure in Syria continue, while Israel extended its operations against the Iranian axis in Syria all the way to the Iraqi border this week.
At the same time, the Iranian-backed pro-Assad coalition finally launched the long anticipated offensive against rebel groups along the Jordanian and Israeli border, despite Israeli and American warnings that this could lead to a confrontation with the two staunch allies.
On Monday, the Israeli air force carried out a devastating attack on the Iraqi Kata’ib Hezbollah militia which has set up a base across the Iraqi border in Syria.
Israeli warplanes reportedly struck Kata’ib Hezbollah in the Al-Hari military base near the town of Qaim in the vicinity of the Albu Kamal border crossing, killing 52 members of the Iraqi militia which is an important member of the Iranian-backed Hashd al-Shaabi umbrella organization of predominantly Shiite militias in Iraq.
Kata’ib Hezbollah is now part of a 80,000 members-strong Shiite fighting force in Syria which takes its orders from Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the shrewd commander of the elite Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps.
The Iraqi militia has been more than instrumental in the Iranian effort to establish a ‘Shiite Crescent’ – territorial contiguity from the Iranian border in Iraq to the Israeli border on the Golan Heights. It was responsible for many lethal attacks against U.S. forces and the Sunni population in Iraq.
At the end of last year, Kata’ib Hezbollah threatened the U.S. led coalition in Iraq and said it would “fight the American occupiers” this after it cooperated with the coalition in the fight against the common enemy, Islamic State.
The ruthless Shiite terror group was together with its offshoot Harakat al Nujaba, or Movement of the Noble, responsible for the establishment of the ‘Golan Liberation Brigade’ which was founded in March 2017 with the explicit goal of ‘liberating Palestine’.
The IDF refused to comment on the attack on Kata’ib Hezbollah, but a US official confirmed Israel was responsible for the attack on the Iranian proxy in Syria.
On Tuesday night, the Iranian-backed pro-Assad coalition also made good on its promise, ‘liberating’ every inch of Syrian soil and starting a long anticipated offensive against Western-backed rebels in the Daraa province in southern Syria.
Syrian Special Forces attacked towns near the Jordanian border with more than 130 artillery shells and missiles, while Hezbollah drove a wedge in the rebel’ defenses in the so-called ‘Triangle of Death’, the region stretching from the border between Daraa and Kuneitra and the west Damascus countryside.
The Lebanese terror group reportedly used napalm to drive the rebels out of the Triangle of Death, while the now united rebel groups operating under the name “Southern Front” reacted by attacking a large convoy of the pro-Assad coalition in western Daraa.
The Iranian-backed pro-Assad coalition exploited the disagreement over Iran’s encroachment on the Jordanian and Israeli border between Russia on one hand and the United States, Great Britain and Israel on the other hand, to start the assault on the mostly Sunni Islamist rebels along the border.
The Syrian Observer reported on Thursday that the Russians are the ones in charge of the military operations in Daraa.
This doesn’t mean Israel will remain passive..
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has used his leverage in the relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump to prevent the approaching Iranian axis from taking over the region along the Syrian border on the Golan Heights, but it remains to be seen if his efforts will bear fruit.
The Russians have called upon ‘foreign troops’ – including the Iranians – to leave Syrian soil now the war against ISIS is almost over.
The Iranians, however, have made it clear they have no intention of heeding that call and have vowed to stay in Syria as long as their Syrian lackey Bashar al-Assad wants them to stay.
The only thing that has changed in the Iranian advance toward the realization of the final stretch of the land bridge from the Iranian border in Iraq to the Israeli border on the Golan Heights is the change of uniforms.
About 500 Hezbollah terrorists and members of Iranian-backed Shiite militias in Syria are now wearing uniforms of the Syrian Army’s Tiger Forces, a special unit which specializes in urban warfare and counter-terrorism operations.
They are now charged with the ‘liberation’ of the Kuneitra region along the Israeli border.
The U.S. State Department, meanwhile, reactedto the worrisome situation near Israel’s border by issuing a statement which said it was “deeply troubled by reports of increasing Syrian regime operations in southwest Syria”.
The State Department also warned the Russians and the Assad regime again of “serious repercussions” of the violations of the so-called de-escalation agreement between the U.S., Jordan and Russia which was meant to retain the status quo along the Syrian border with Jordan and Israel.
An attempt by the Iranian axis to take over the region along the Israeli border on the Golan Heights will almost certainly draw a military response by the IDF and could risk a spillover of the Syrian conflict into Israel.
Yochanan Visser is an independent journalist/analyst who worked for many years as Middle East correspondent for Western Journalism.com in Arizona and was a frequent publicist for the main Dutch paper De Volkskrant. He authored a book in the Dutch language about the cognitive war against Israel and now lives in Gush Etzion. He writes a twice weekly analysis of current issues for Arutz Sheva.
@ Ezekiel:
If the Jews wanted to destroy all their enemies, modern technology wouldn’t help much. They might start, by destroying all the world outside of Israel. Then they could mop up all the goiim in Israel; then they could start killing one another. I don’t know who would be the last man standing.
If I wanted to destroy ISRAEL, on the other hand, my plan would be:
1. Get rid of President Trump, and replace him with some Soros or Koch Bros. useful idiot
2. Pass a UNSC resolution to militarily take over Israel, on any pretext.
3. Armageddon.
Iran and, increasingly, Turkey’s Erdogan, are likely to attack Israel in the next few years. I doubt they will be allowed to be successful, because they do not represent the agendas of the real powers that be in the world: The DAVOS people, the Bildeburgers, etc.
According to this overall plan, the current main thrust is squishy, easily deluded American minds. No modern technology will work against them; just clever lies in coordinated barrages. It’s been happening, day and night.
Getting tired… Good night 🙂
@ Bear Klein:
No disrespect is ever meant by anyone on this board, least of all you, so forget it. I quite understand the tenor of your comment, but I didn’t consider the points you brought up, because if we all ignore the reports that come through the media, we wouldn’t have much to talk about., Your points are always in my mind when reading what is fed to us.
We speculate on the validity or not of the reports whether they’re comprehensive or only fringe crumbs. These reports keep us going. Eventually it will all come out in a book, or a better report on the major issues which will only incidentally mention these few actions, which, as I said, mainly demonstrated the “reach” of Israel’s power.
Isn’t it only 2-3 weeks ago that Israel was announcing that it had effectively destroyed most of Iran’s military installations and facilities in all Syria. Perhaps they didn’t then include the Iraqi border areas. What Israel will do against the terrorist forces crowding in on our northern border is the main point for us to be thinking about. And not only us, but the whole country. I’m sure that Israel has more than adequate preparations to carry out punitive actions which will get rid of this threat in the very near future. The main point being to to keep Israel safe by showing Iran that it has stayed far out of it’s territory, and deal it’s henchmen a blow they’ll frighten their children with for 100 years.
@ Edgar G.:
No disrespect meant by the following comment. Basing tactical and strategic analysis based on media articles is probably not more than a guessing game at best.
Especially since Israel has media censorship on military matters and almost a complete blackout on intelligence.
I guess if one batched enough various information together sometimes one might get a picture.
Materiel damage may have been devastating, but 52 terrorists out of more than 80,000 is not even a fleabite. It’s main achievement was that it shows the length of Israel’s reach…Israeli re-action seems to have been dragging. Whilst in the long run, attacking the rear of the enemy at the Iraqi border are sound tactics, but it is designed to draw away troops from the front, to bolster up the rear. The attack was not serious enough for that. At any rate it didn’t interfere with the forward push of the Syrian Iranian attack on the no-go area at the Israel border. Straightforward, steps will have to be taken in the actual area under attack, Dependence on Russia’s influence seems to not be working as the Iranians and Syrians have pushed it aside.
Israel technology which is unreported has the ability to wipe out hundreds of thousands of Muslim troops within seconds. The technology is kept under wraps and is being improved upon as we speak. The spilling over of any group or army of terrorists and Muslim soldiers is a thing of the past. Sorry, but the technology will not be known until it is used to save this small countries democracy.