Posted on 07/11/2018 8:56:35 AM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
Sunday night's aerial attack on the T4 airbase in Syria, near the city of Homs, was the third to have been ascribed to Israel at that site this year.
Based on experience, Israeli will opt to attack in two possible contexts. The first is tactical: to hit a new arms shipment, or a weapons system that is about to be deployed. Israel has openly expressed concern about efforts by Iran to introduce such systems to protect its future military entrenchment in Syria, and has vowed to thwart such ambitions.
The second context is to send a strategic signal. The latest attack happened during the very week in which the Assad regime, assisted by Russia and Iran, advanced toward regaining its control over southern Syria, and its return to the country’s southwest corner, its Golan Heights.
The fact that the bombing was carried out three days before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow sends a message. Israel (assuming it is indeed behind Sunday's attack) is determined to protect its interests and is not afraid of Russian reservations or an Iranian reaction.
In contrast to information leaked from Israel and to Russian insinuations in recent months, there is no new political arrangement in southern Syria.
Moscow has hinted that it will act to keep the Iranians 80 kilometers away from the border, but the degree of its commitment to doing so remains unclear, even though both Russian officials and Syrian President Bashar Assad seem less keen on collaborating with Tehran than in the past.
Israel declares that as long as there is any Iranian presence in Syria, even indirect, it feels threatened.
(Excerpt) Read more at haaretz.com ...
Air mail.
Israel is the badger in the middle east. While America is more like the bear. With Trump and Netanyahu running things, the world is relearning not to poke either of them.
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