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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Killing three birds with one stone |
| 2015-01-22 |
| [Ynet] Analysis: Even those who planned the Quneitra strike never imagined the entire axis of evil – Iran, Syria and Hezbollah – would be hit at once, suffering a painful public humiliation. An operation aimed at foiling tactical events has turned into a strategic crisis. It was Israeli writer Ephraim Kishon who coined the immortal patriotic sentence, "So sorry we won." Today, in Kishon's land of Partachia, there are likely some people who are mumbling amongst themselves, "Oops, sorry we were too successful." An operation aimed at foiling tactical events has turned into a strategic crisis, and Iron Dome batteries have already been deployed in northern Israel. Without exposing the anonymous body behind the assassination in Syria, we may assume that even the masterminds did not dream of such success. With the stroke of two missiles, three birds were killed with one stone: The Syrian sovereignty was violated, a Hezbollah symbol was hit and an Iranian general was killed. The entire axis of evil – Iran, Syria and Hezbollah – was struck at once, suffering a painful public humiliation. There is no wonder that there is a reasonable suspicion that those who carried out the assassination were not exactly aware of the identity of all those sitting in the attacked convoy. They were likely planning to hit Hezbollah's regional commander, Jihad Mughniyeh, and his assistants, but it's uncertain that they knew about the presence of a senior Iranian officer from the Revolutionary Guards as part of the gang. Actually, we should hope that they didn't know. Otherwise, we would be witnessing a problem in the strategic thinking. The plan was probably to carry out a tactical operation on the border in order to thwart a terror attack, but the result is embarrassment. And Israel is not the only one keeping quiet. All foreign ministries in the world are keeping quiet. In the meantime, everyone is bending down and burying their heads in the sand, hoping that this incident will somehow pass. And if it does create some kind of storm – from Iran, Syria, Hezbollah, or the three of them together – they are hoping that it will be a short one. It's perfectly clear that when Iran publicly announces its dead, and Jihad Mughniyeh is buried in a mass funeral, we are witnessing preparations and a message to the public opinion at home and around the world: We plan to retaliate. So all the players are gathering their forces and entering a state of alert, including the Lebanese army, the United Nations forces in southern Lebanon and the IDF, which is boosting its forces in the north. While the population in the north has been told to continue its routine life and stay away from the border, the security squads have been ordered to stay in the communities and maintain a heightened state of alert. This order corresponds very well with the latest reports – including Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah's interview last week – about Hezbollah's plans to occupy communities in the Galilee. And as for the Jewish communities and Israeli institutions abroad, they have already shrunk as it is since the Paris terror attack. Now they are shrinking even more. The targeted assassination carried out in Quneitra on Sunday exposed up a problematic abscess which has been developing in six villages at the foot of the Syrian Mount Hermon. The area is still controlled by the Syrian regime, but in fact serves as a Hezbollah outpost on the Israeli border. The dish, likely prepared by Jihad Mughniyeh, also included firing rockets from that area into Israel. And by the way, three of the six villages are Druze villages in which another Hezbollah commander is active – Samir Kuntar, the terrorist of Druze descent who was released from an Israeli prison in 2008. Kuntar is busy recruiting Druze people for terror attacks against Israel along the border fence. This corner, at the foot of Mount Hermon, has become a strategic area as far as Hezbollah is concerned. In October 2014, the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) published an article from a newspaper affiliated with Hezbollah, in which the organization detailed its list of interests. Hezbollah believes that Israel is being pressured by its Druze residents, who are urging it to move towards the Druze towns in the Syrian Golan Heights with the pretext of defending the Druze against an expected massacre by the Islamist organizations. The organization is relying on a comment made by IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz while visiting the leader of the Druze community in Israel, Moafaq Tarif, in October, when he promised to defend the villages in the Syrian Golan. Hezbollah is concerned that an Israeli takeover of the Druze villages at the foot of the Syrian Golan is part of Israel's comprehensive plan to gain control of all of the Hermon summits. An Israeli takeover of this area will not only remove the Assad regime from its last outpost in the Golan, but will also encircle Hezbollah and outflank it in a future conflict. In addition, Hezbollah is afraid that if Israel takes over the foot of Mount Hermon, claiming to be helping the Druze, it may allow organizations in Syria which are hostile towards Hezbollah to cross into Lebanon through Mount Dov. Sunday's strike is perceived by Hezbollah as another stage in the Israeli plan to remove its people from that area. As far as Hezbollah is concerned, this is a cause for an armed conflict. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #2 On an alternate tack: shouldn't UN (at least the GA) censure Israel for using too many stones? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2015-01-22 08:46 |
| #1 Now to spread the rumors that Hizbulons were shopped to Israel by Syrian government---who deliberately withheld the info about the Iranian general. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2015-01-22 05:08 |