Stop me before I kill again?
These were back-to-back tweets on today's Syria Live Map.
Israel had bombed Syria around 100 times since the Syrian Civil War started. Yesterday Syria finally got lucky and shot down an Israeli jet.
Israel then responded en mass.
Israeli, Syrian and Iranian military forces clashed on Saturday in a series of audacious strikes that could mark a new and dangerous phase in both a long-simmering cross-border conflict and Syria’s long civil war.
The confrontations began before dawn when Israel intercepted what it said was an Iranian drone that had penetrated its airspace from Syria, and the Israeli military said it then attacked what it said was the command-and-control center from which Iran had launched the drone, at a Syrian air base near Palmyra.
One of Israel’s F-16 fighter jets crashed in northern Israel on its way back from the mission after coming under heavy Syrian antiaircraft fire, believed to be the first Israeli plane to be lost under enemy fire in decades.
That prompted a broad wave of Israeli strikes against a dozen Syrian and Iranian targets in Syrian territory. The Israeli military said it hit eight Syrian targets, including three aerial defense batteries, and four Iranian positions that it described as “part of Iran’s military entrenchment in Syria.”
It's Israel's largest bombardment of Syria since 1982.
There's a couple things to keep in mind.
Firstly, Israel's "airspace" is a more vague term than you might think.
Israel is expanding its influence and control deeper into opposition-held southern Syria, according to multiple sources in the area. After failed attempts to ensure its interests were safeguarded by the major players in the war next door, Israel is pushing to implement the second phase of its “safe-zone” project — an attempt to expand a buffer ranging out from the occupied Golan Heights deeper into the southern Syrian provinces of Quneitra and Daraa. The safe zone expansion marks a move toward deeper Israeli involvement in Syria’s civil war.
Secondly, this conflict has international consequences specific to Iran.
A military clash between Israel and Iranian forces in Syria could play into Trump’s hands and those of the congressmen/women who would use such a conflict as proof that new sanctions need to be imposed on Tehran.
Iran is part of a troika, including Russia and Turkey, that has unsuccessfully sought a diplomatic solution to the war. Iran doesn’t want to open another military front with Israel, which could lead Israel to start a war against Hezbollah. This strategy requires Iran to keep a low military profile not only with regard to Israel, but also toward Turkish forces that invaded northern Syria last month to stop Kurdish militias from taking over the border areas.
When it comes to military action in Syria, Iran is far more restricted by diplomatic considerations than Israel is. Israel enjoys almost unlimited U.S. backing and even limited Russian “permission” to operate in Syrian territory, as long as the target isn’t the regime itself but activities and facilities that can be linked to Hezbollah. But Iran, being a full partner both during the war and afterward, is obligated to maintain balance and coordination with the other partners.
However, this balance does not give Israel free rein to test the limits of Russian patience. That is to say, to what extent Russia will allow Israel to carry out targeted actions when it is becoming clear that by turning a blind eye, it could expand and deepen Israeli military involvement – to the extent of fully opening up a military front.
Then there is the fact that Syria isn't happy about being bombed.
With ISIS all but defeat, al-Qaeda losing in the north, and the Kurds increasingly occupied with an offensive by Turkey, Syria finally feels confident enough to issue threats.
If Israel continues its assaults on Syria, we will target Israeli airports & other vital targets inside occupied Palestine as well. https://t.co/yXZ0n0SQVc
— Fares Shehabi (@ShehabiFares) February 10, 2018
Lastly, there is the item of where those Iranian forces that Israel is bombing got their weapons from.
The Pentagon says Iranian-backed militias fighting Islamic State (IS) extremists in Syria used Abrams tanks that the U.S. military had originally provided to the Iraqi Army.
Supplying weapons to both sides of a war is profitable.
Comments
Totally OT
Paris backlash
Don't you mean
one of our F-16 jets?
dfarrah
Here's the "threat" that resulted in Israel attacking Syria:
Israel releases pictures of what is says are remains of the Iranian drone that penetrated Israeli airspace from Syria
Pentagon:
Kerry's Plan B now in effect. This is basically the old Yinon Plan.
Just to mention, that first link doesn't work.
Pouts at first link
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Oh look. Another country that after attacking another one
calls self defense when they get hurt. Whaaa, call an ambulance if you can't take the heat. More arrogant hypocrisy from the pentagon. Apparently Israel is the only country that has the right to defend itself. All others are considered to be in the wrong. Typical imperialism bullshit.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
Putin, the only rational voice in the region
Isreal's actions remind me of when ISIS or FSA would lob mortars over the border into an empty Golan desert and Netanyahu would respond by firing missiles at the Syrian army and Damascus airport.
liveuamap.com is a heavily politicized and propagandized web site. According to their descriptors, most SAA and Russian planes only bomb women and children that the
Black HatsWhite Helmets have to rush in and save.That's true
Although I've found their coverage of Syria to be mostly fair.
It's their coverage of Ukraine that's so biased I can't look anymore.
How much longer will he be patient
with everything that is happening. It almost seems that someone is trying to escalate this little shindig in the sandbox. We are pushing from one direction and Israel is pushing from another. All in the last couple days.
Putin has been very accepting when it's his military and troops being in the cross hairs.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
As long as it takes
Putin is not going to let the situation in Syria hurt Russia. He is not wedded to the country.
Meanwhile, the US and Israel expose themselves for the war mongers they are. Europe is starting to push back on sanctions, especially Iran. They sunk a lot of money into that country.
With Trump now in charge, the anti-war people may start to awaken. The more the US spends on
offensedefense the worse off the infrastructure and social benefit becomes. The country has now sunk to 30% world favorability ratings. I look at China, Russia and Iran and watch them rise year after year as the US sinks. It's no longer a uni-polar world. US hegemony is fading at an ever increasingh rate.The media rarely covers the wars
if at all. And when they do they leave out pertinent facts about them. They finally covered the genocide in Yemen, but they didn't bother to mention our role in it. Of course when Trump lobbed bombs after the supposed sarin gas attack they were all in favor of that. But I haven't heard them mention that Mattis has said that there is no evidence of Assad using sarin. This article also casts doubt on the 2013 Ghouta event that was reported by the White Helmets, the fake group that the US and U.K. founded and are funded.
Now Mattis Admits There Was No Evidence Assad Used Poison Gas on His People
Even though he said that, he makes sure to keep the hysteria going.
It's clear? Then where's the proof?
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
I finally found the Saker article that answers your question
Briefing by Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova
You can find weekly briefings in English here:
http://www.mid.ru/en/press_service/spokesman/briefings
They are a refreshing breath of fresh air.
Whenever peace is about to break out in Syria, the US and the 800 pound gorilla in the region have to try and squash it. Here's part of the latest:
Going to be interesting months ahead. ISIS is moving into Afghanistan. Syria got too hot for them. The US may have to send in a another 10,000/20,000 troops or more to prevent another Caliphate from forming. KARMA's a fucking bitch when it comes back to bite you.
I saw today
That in response to North Korea using the Olympics to peacefully reach out to South Korea that we will impose new sanctions
Foreign Policy Magazine
Why the author of your link was skeptical of FP's impartiality:
http://www.thefullwiki.org/Foreign_Policy_(magazine)
Wiki has a claim of a "more dynamic" makeover:
"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn
Netanyaboob is also under another corruption investigation.
He's already been caught and booted out of power once before for the same thing. If the legal heat is getting to him, he'll ramp up the war games. Typical and sickening. Rec'd!!
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.