Israeli officials have issued a bizarre statement today regarding their intentions to continue attacking Syria in the near future, warning Syrian President Bashar Assad that he’d better just lie down and accept it.
The statement, made by an unnamed “senior” official, said Israel was determined to continue its strikes, and that if Assad dared to retaliate for any of the attacks “he will risk forfeiting his regime, for Israel will retaliate.”
President Assad has faced much internal criticism for not responded to this month’s previous Israeli attacks, and has fought off those complaints with statements threatening to eventually attack Israel in response, but at a time of his own choosing.
Though Israel often openly talks about attacking its neighbors, and indeed often follows through with those attacks, it is unprecedented for them to preface the attack by threatening more attacks if the target retaliates.
The threatening regime change, however, may be a blunder on Israel’s part, as it will surely be used by the Assad government in the days and weeks to come as evidence that Israel is secretly backing the al-Qaeda-endorsed rebellion, a charge the rebels desperately want to avoid.
This is nothing new.., Israel is on board the ship if EU and USA government that wants to change the Syrian government to worse…, Israel, USA, EU are waiting for these barbarians to take over the country which would give them all the excuses to invade the country.., that will accomplish their created proxy war which will continue toward Iraq and Iran…, later Central Asia and…… Look: Obama by Joe Biden been called A "politician".., such dis honest politicians hand in hand with oil companies such as BP plan for next 10-30 years.., such government primary job is to lie to its people, such government other job is to manipulate the entire matters but follow the path set by George W. Bush who followed the path of Bill Clinton who followed the Paul Wolfowitz plan and Obama is following that path.
I guess the truth comes out eventually. israel and Al-Qaeda joined at the hip from the start. The neocons truly found in Al-Qaeda their army to realize their plan of toppling the seven governments for make benefit glorious nation of greater Israel.
Yes , Yes, I realize the neocons are that stupid and Al-Qaeda is that stupid but can Israel be that stupid? A viscious government like Israel's needs a no-real-threat central government on its border that it can bomb, not a mob where it doesn't know who to attack. Do they really want to deal with another Gaza strip?
If it means killing Arabs, Muslims, Palestinians- absolutely.
Israel is becoming more and more ridiculous as time goes on here…
Considering the fact the NYT was specifically contacted by this mysterious unnamed 'senior Israeli official', this absurd 'warning' was obviously specifically targeting a US audience for whatever reason–..
Israel's possible motivations for issuing such an absurd "warning", in such an absurd way, seem unlimited. They could range from an Israeli hissy fit to a psychotic break from reality and/or delusions of grandeur. It's simply impossible to say/know at this point.
What's clear, however, is the fact that Israel doesn't have the political will to "regime change" Syria…much less the military capability to do so on their own in the first place.
It's important to keep in mind Syria potentially has 'real' WMDs–chemical ('real') WMDs–which, if packaged and delivered in a certain way, would essentially be equivalent to firing nukes into Israel for all intents and purposes.
All that aside, and discounting the potential WMDs entirely: if Israel wants 'war' with Syria, they can certainly 'force Assad's hand'; however, doing so will not be in Israel's interest–especially if this entire charade is ultimately aimed at Iran.
As a side note: although Israel certainly likes to talk up their "capabilities"; the Israeli Air force (IAF), for example, is not stronger than NATO's…and how long did it take NATO to "regime change" Libya with a lucky sortie strike–Libya is 1/4 the population of Syria. Syria's military is exponentially stronger as well–and it's been specifically designed for a war with Israel. Moreover, Libya had essentially non-existent/irrelevant air defense capability. This is not the case with Syria.
How many ground forces would Israel really be willing to commit to Syria? Occupation? Syria isn't the West Bank…let's be serious here…
But if at the end of the day, Israel truly desires "war" with Syria, they can, and will, certainly have it I'm sure… I'm also sure this current "scenario" was foreseen by the "Assad Regime".
Israel can bomb Syria. It can send in raids on the ground. I cannot occupy Syria. Therefore it cannot do a regime change.
Israel is already at full stretch occupying the Palestinians. Syria is five times the Jewish population available to the IDF, leaving out those who live outside the country and those exempt. Syria is nine times the land area of Israel. Syria is twenty times the area Israel occupies that is meant to be the Palestinian State.
The enemies of Assad are even more the enemies of Israel. They would not make an effort to occupy the place any easier. They would be a big part of the insurgency against Israel, as they are against Assad, and with even more support.
The Israelis can't do it. This is not a new issue. This has always been the hard limit that holds them back from total victory.
No, but if the Israelis attack Syria, and Syria retaliates, Israel will call Obama and DEMAND that Obama follow thru on his promise to "have Israel's back" if they are ever attacked. Israel will have maneuvered the US into another war we don't need nor want.
This is normal practice for Israel. It uses chemical weapons against the Palestinians in Gaza, then whine about Palestinians throwing stones, calling them 'terrorist boulder throwers'. This is the outcome of racists entitled by US inactions.
Sure, go ahead and attack Syria, Israel- and when you start hitting FSA/Jihadi forces, don't be surprised when they call a truce with Assad's forces and bond together to fight their new common enemy. Bibi, do you REALLY want a relatively modern army combined with the fanatics of the FSA to bring the war right to you? How far do you think you can string this along before someone- ANYONE- decides enough is enough and really DOES start hitting back? Can Israel handle Egypt from the south, Jordan and Syria to the east, and Lebanon to the north- not to mention Palestine right in your back yard, and Iran standing by ready to give anyone who wants them weapons to fight you? Are you SERIOUS? Might want to look up the definition of 'national suicide' sometime, Bibi.
Israel can handle such an onslaught. They have the technology, the weapons and firepower to handle multiple war fronts. As of now, Israel has a unique opportunity where its arab neighbors are in disarray where if it plays its victim card right it could turn the 'Arab Spring' into a 'dead of the winter'. Oh – and Israel has enough non-conventional ammunition (chemical/biological/nukes) etc
How well did Israel handle Hezbollah, a militia with no air force or sophisticated missles. Yes, Israel can damage Syria but Syria would also inflict massive damange and carnage on Israel.
Please, don't ask for it, because Bibi Netanyahu IS a certified mad man itching for the "Mother Of All Battles".
Remember the "Samson-Option"? Israel has enough nukes to cover the whole Middle East with a five-inch-thick layer of green glass, if Bibi choses to do so – Israel's version of their Terminal Solution for all Arabs, if you will.
The only person able to stop mad man Bibi in his rails is Vladimir Putin. He should tell Netanyahu in no uncertain terms, that Russia would nuke Israel until the "Holy Land" turns into green Obsidian, if Bibi should ever choose to launch a nuke on their neighbors.
Anytthing less won't stop Bibi from fulfilling his own, fiery dreams of superiority.
If IS RA HELL HIT EVER my country i would RETALIATE WITH MY FULL MILITARY AND CIVILIAN ARSENAL…Just who the hell do these EVIL WORMS THINK(?) THEY ARE?
BRING IT ON IS RA HELL–BRING IT ON–IT'S TIME YOU GOT YOUR STINKING CLOCK CLEANED..
I wonder if that was also the subject of the recent talks behind closed doors between Netanyahu and Putin in Moscow??
Sort of. Netanyahu asked Putin to not sell S-300 missiles to Syria – missiles that can shoot down Israeli (US-supplied) warplanes bombing Syria. Putin told him to bugger off. Apart from that there was some inconsequential diplomatic babble.
Whether or not the S-300 can shoot down the aircraft in question is as yet unknown, since the missile has never actually been used in combat.
While it's true that NATO evaluates the S-300 as likely being an effective anti-aircraft missile, I can't help but remember NATO's public building up of the T-72 tank, which when finally put up against US/NATO equipment, turned out to be complete crap.
The T-72 tanks used by the Iraqis in the Gulf War (1991) were manned by poorly trained, and demoralized crews, and the Iraqi strategy was basically to sit in the open desert with no air cover. Of course they were easily beaten. You can't seriously cite that as proof that the T-72 tank is "crap". The Yugoslav Army was also equipped with T-72's and even older tanks (T-62's, T-55's) in 1999 and Clinton was in no hurry to fight a ground war in Kosovo. In fact after the NATO bombing was over we found out that most of the Yugoslav forces were able to avoid destruction by using decoys and hiding their equipment in the forests of Kosovo… which was a major embarassment to NATO.
In the 1973 Arab-Israeli War the Israeli air force suffered heavy losses when Egypt and Syria used much older, and much less sophisticated anti-aircraft missiles than the S-300 to defend their airspace. Most Israeli warplanes today are F15's and F16's, that would have been modern and high tech in the 1980's and early 90's but now in the year 2013 these planes are almost obsolete.
No wonder Israel now wants stealth aircraft such as the F22. Google it. Yes, the S-300 missiles would be very effective against the Israeli jets if the Syrians decided to actually fight back.
While it's true that the Iraqi army had crew training and morale issues, and that their armor wasn't deployed with great skill, the fact remains that the T-72s tended to literally fly to pieces when hit by US anti-tank rounds.
Most of the older Iraqi tanks I came across in the Saudi/Kuwait battle area were pretty hammered but intact. The T-72s were almost invariably in two large pieces — the chassis in one place, the turret several meters away.
The T-72 is crap.
That's not especially relevant to anything except the T-72 was built up to the troops in pre-deployment indoctrination as hot stuff, reasonably equivalent to and possibly superior to the M60 Patton. Did the US government make a mistake in inflating its quality and capability, or did they intentionally do so? And why should we trust their assessment of the S-300? I'll believe that that missile works against modern aircraft when I see it shoot down some modern aircraft.
The Zionist squatting entity have already shoot itself in the foot by bombing Damascus which led to occupied Golan opened up for popular resistance. Hezbollah, Palestinian fractions and former Zionist bandit gangs in Syria have already signed up. Add the battle hardened Syrian army and Russian air defences to that. Sure, a lot of hot air from the racist supremacists as usual but that is not going to be like shooting Palestinian kids for fun in Gaza.
The Syrians couldn´t care less:
President Bashar al-Assad driving in Damascus without escort or security to visit a martyr. Name one US or European €USSR president, let alone an "embattled" one, that could do the same. From this month:
It is amazing that Israel will attack Syria and claim they have a right to attack to prevent arms going to people Israel does not like in Lebanon. One would have to wonder if the people of Lebanon would hate Israel less if iIsrael had not invaded Lebanon so many times. Israel wantes most of Lebnon in 1948 but the French troops were still there when Israel decided not to split the land but to take it all. No arab military has ever attacked Israel other than 1973 whik was the direct result of the 1967 war which Israel strarted when it bombed Egypt.
Arabs didn't attack Israel in 1973. They attacked the Israeli-occupied Sinai (a part of Egypt) and the Golan Heights (a part of Syria). The only time when Arab armies attacked Israel itself was in 1948, since then Israel has always been the aggressor.
Isn't Israel a classic bully? Bully would approach chosen victim and tell him/her he is going to beat a crap out of him/have sex with her whether he/she likes it or not. And he usually also warns its intended victim not to snitch because punishment for that is death. This is as abhorrent in international relations as it is in personal ones.