Posted on 04/02/2008 12:15:25 AM PDT by maquiladora
Damascus is preparing for a large-scale Israeli attack on Syria and Hizbullah, London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported Wednesday.
According to the report, the Syrian army has been maneuvering its forces and drafting some of its reserve forces in preparation for such a contingency.
Damascus has also raised the alert level along its borders, and has placed three armored divisions, nine infantry brigades and special forces near its border with Lebanon's Bekaa valley, fearing an Israeli infiltration there. The report claimed that this would be a strategic spot for Israeli ground forces to strike, as it is both a Hizbullah stronghold and positions troops in close range of the Syrian capital.
Syria viewed recent comments by IDF officials as preparation of the groundwork to justify an Israeli assault, the paper stated. It was not stated which remarks were being referred to.
Meanwhile, sources in Syria said the nation's interior ministry would this weekend announce the results of its investigation into the death of Hizbullah terror-chief Imad Mughniyeh. The report was likely to lay the blame for the assassination on Mossad as well as certain Arab sources.
(Excerpt) Read more at jpost.com ...
We can only hope. And if they do go after Syria and the Hezzies, please let them finish the job without pulling their punched.
Sounds like Syria is screaming VICTIM before anything happens.
Olmert, this time let the generals run the IDF/IAF in dealing the final blow to the Islamic enemy!
To think I used to like Klingon face Kondi at one time.....makes me sick to my stomach.
You will get over it just as I did. Learn from history.
Geez...will SOMEONE just bomb Natanz and Bushehr before it’s too late? Israel? US? The Gulf?? I don’t even care who does it, those reactors just need to be taken out. And if Iran falls, Syria’s on its own and Hezbollah loses their main arms dealer.
Wow I'm surprised it took 17 posts for this to come up. It was the FIRST thing I thought of when I saw it in my sidebar. The Biblical countdown that began when the State of Israel was created on May 16 1948 in literally a single day is still underway and obviously progressing on a measured time line.
Gulf Arabs have no war capabilities. The only thing they can do is afford fancy weapons that are useless if you can’t actually fight. They are notoriously bad fighters. If I had to assemble an army made up of Arabs, I’d take Egyptians & Maghrebians first. Khalijis would be the last people I’d want.
Israel won’t be distributing gas masks to its citizens until 2009, which means they’re not planning on attacking anyone. Even if they did bomb the reactors, what is needed in Iran is regime change. Israel has no capability for that. Iran would get crazy after the bombing & start acting wildly. Probably attacking Gulf States. The West would end up being forced to invade.
There is currently no political will to bomb Iran in the West, including America.
On thinking about it, in the long run, regime change may be better for Iran than a bombing. If someone bombed them they’d play victim and say they’re justified to strike back, and as you said attack the Gulf states....all those towers and resorts in Dubai make good targets to Iranian eyes. And then things go downhill from there.
But if the mullahs are overthrown Iran is in completely different hands. The problem is hoping that happens before Iran gets the bomb.
What about the Saudis? Are they any good at fighting?
Saudis are only good for suicide bombing. The Saudi army is a joke. Best army in the Middle East is Turkey’s. It would be Israel, except Israel forgot how to fight a long time ago. I’ve even seen regular Turks in the street knock out 5 guys at once. They can fight like nobody’s business.
Iran needs regime change, yes, but who is going to do it? There will be a massive Shi’a mujahideen problem. Not from the Persians, but from the Arab Shi’a who will be pouring in to try to save the only Shi’a country they’ve ever had. It’s a matter of life & death to them (Shi’a are very abused under Sunnah regimes), so they will fight to the death. I don’t think anyone currently has the stomach to put them down.
Maybe Shi’a insurrections in small states like Bahrayn or Lebanon should be supported, in order to distract them from what happens to Iran & make them not feel like they’re doomed.
The good news is that the Persians are more civilized than Arabs & once they get on their feet, they won’t need as much hand-holding & government-building as Iraq does. They will also not bother anyone anymore except Arabs. They won’t fight the mujahideen, but they won’t fight the invasion either. The trick is to topple & execute the thin crust of fanatics ruling Iran immediately to minimize the trouble they can cause & leave the mujahideen looking like an Arab invasion.
bttt
Sure, but nominally. The Shah attempted an Attaturk-style modernization of Iran & failed horribly. No devout Shi’i would accept Pahlavi Iran as a Shi’a Iran.
I assume you mean the Crown Prince, Reza Pahlavi. I heard that only his mother has the gravitas (?) needed for Persians to rally in her support, but that she will stay out of it & leave it up to her son.
I know the Persians are unhappy with the regime, but I really don’t hear of anyone who has any leadership or popular support to rule in the regime’s absence. If not Reza Pahlavi, who? Only other person that I can think of as a possible replacement is Ayatollah Khomeini’s grandson. (Not kidding lol!)
Well, I grew up with Shi’a. My first boyfriend was a Shi’i. I know that Iran’s downfall will have deadly consequences for all of them. The mullocracy has got to go, but someone needs to do something about the Shi’a situation.
I’ve been saying for a long time that Israel needs to take control of the Middle East & set up client states for persecuted minorities like Shi’a. But Israel’s rulers are too busy wishing we were European to pay attention to Arabs.
I noticed that Khomeini’s grandson was supporting marginalized opposition parties during these Iranian election farces & I heard that he has made contact with anti-regime ex-pats. The fanatic Iranian rulers were attacking him in the press, & notably, some mullahs & ayatollahs came out in his support just because he’s Khomeini’s grandson. That makes me think that he has potential support & credibility by sole virtue of being who he is.
I didn’t finish my post last night because my boyfriend called me away. I was going to say that if somehow Iran’s borders are sealed, preventing mujahideen from entering Iran during regime change, I am going to predict that the Shi’a will try to take Iraq again.
They had high hopes that the liberation of Iraq would create an Arab Shi’a state that would end Persian domination of Shi’a. They were especially eager to restore Najaf to its place as a center of Shi’i studies, replacing Qom. Fadl-Allah was so excited, he was planning to move to Najaf. When they realized that America planned to install a secular government not oriented toward Shi’i culture, they freaked out. Word on the street was that America screwed them over.
Arab Shi’a aren’t in love with Iran, but they need it for money, support, arms, etc. Sistani doesn’t even support Khomeini’s wiyalat al-faqih (velayat-e faqih) doctrine, i.e. theocracy. He’s from the Tambih al-umma wa-tanzih al-milla school, which thinks that politicians should govern countries, with clerics as people outside the government who keep the government in check & protect Islam.
Beka Valley is the spot that Syria always uses to invade. It is not a defensive move, but an offensive move.
Baloon may be getting ready to go up, look for Ashkelon burning...
I would find it far more likely that Iran is hoping for a chance to fire its new shiny nuclear missiles at our troops massing to invade them.
Russia is praying for that, it is why they gave them the factorys to make them in the first place.
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