[Ynet] During the First Gulf War, Israeli political and military leaders found themselves on a steep learning curve as the country was pounded by Saddam Hussein's Scuds; the lessons from that experience ‐ and the demands of the Americans ‐still resonate, in particular regarding a devious Iranian plan to strike the Jewish state from Iraq.
The picture painted by the intelligence gathered by Israel and by the United States Central Command is very worrying. The Iranians, it transpired, have started sending surface-to-surface missiles to Shiite militias in Iraq. The missiles are meant to be aimed, among other things, at Israel, to deter it from further attacks on Iranian facilities in Syria.
It is a cunning Iranian move: missile fire from Iraq would not give Israel just cause to attack Syria or Leb, and it would put the Jewish state in a dilemma. Furthermore, an attack on Iraq requires coordination with the US, who has already informed Israel that any military action it takes in Iraq would endanger the lives of Americans protecting the Baghdad regime. It would also require coordination with neighboring countries such as Jordan and Soddy Arabia |