Israel’s Airstrike Campaign on Iranian Targets Carries a Risk of War
- Israel’s Airstrike Campaign on Iranian Targets Carries a Risk of War
by SETH J. FRANTZMAN, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR, https://thehill.com/
In the first four months of this year reports show that Israeli airstrikes on Iranian targets in Syria have increased. These include targets across Syria, from Aleppo in the north to the Iraqi border in the south, a distance of around 310 miles. Although Israel does not take credit for most of the strikes, the Syrian government and U.S. officials have acknowledged them. A high-profile visit by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Israel on May 13 underpins how these strikes have become a “new normal,” considered neither controversial nor provocative. However, the question remains whether Israel’s strategy is working — and how long it can last.
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Israel’s decision to use frequent airstrikes in Syria was born of necessity during the Syrian civil war as threats emerged from the chaos of conflict. In 2015, an airstrike hit Jihad Mughniyeh, a key Hezbollah operative near the Golan Heights. More clandestine operations followed, the full extent of which was only hinted at when former Israel Air Force commander Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel said more than 100 attacks were carried out by 2017. These were directed at preventing a war, Israel said, reducing Iran’s attempts to threaten Israel via Syria. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Jerusalem would not allow Tehran to entrench its forces in Syria.
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Iran nevertheless continued to arm Hezbollah in Lebanon via Syria, which has threatened Israel with precision-guided rockets, and it continued to move drones, missiles and militias to Syria. Israel sought to discuss the concerns with Russia, which is allied with the Syrian regime. Although Russia and Iran are both allies of the Syrian regime, their goals may differ in Syria and Russia appeared to consent to keeping Iran away from Israel’s northern border. But Iran didn’t stay away for long, and by 2019, Israeli officials said more than 1,000 airstrikes had been carried out.
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- Israel Has 80-90 Nukes, SIPRI Report Says, as Tel Aviv Continues to Accuse Iran of Nuclear Obsession
by https://www.rt.com/
Israel, which routinely accuses Iran of trying to obtain nuclear weapons and pledges to use force to stop Tehran, maintains its own undeclared nuclear arsenal estimated at 80 to 90, according to the latest report by SIPRI.
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There are nine nations in the world that currently have nuclear weapons, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) says in its newly released yearbook on the state of armaments and international security. The world nuclear stockpile went from 14,465 at the beginning of last year to about 13,865 this year, the report estimates, as the US and Russia were delivering on their promises under the New START Treaty signed in 2010.
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Israel, which maintains a policy of neither confirming nor denying the possession of nuclear weapons, has between 80 and 90 warheads in its stockpile, the same as the year before, the institute said.
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It comes as tensions between Iran on one side, and the US and regional ally Israel on the other, continue to mount. Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s unsinkable prime minister, has for years waged a campaign accusing the Iranians of having unwavering nuclear ambitions, regardless of the evidence, or lack thereof.
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“Iran doesn’t frighten me and I don’t think it should frighten the American people. They don’t have a bomb. They haven’t made a decision to build one. They don’t have the means to deliver one. And the Israelis have 300 atomic bombs! I mean who presents the existential threat to whom?” – Pat Buchanan (7:58 onwards)
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