Hagel, Israeli DM Talks to Focus on Attacking Syria

Ya'alon to Emphasize Israel and Syria Within '10 Minutes' of War

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel is preparing to meet with his Israeli counterpart Moshe Ya’alon, a multi-day meeting at the Pentagon which is expected to focus almost exclusively on Syria and the prospects of Israel attacking them more.

After repeated Israeli attacks, Ya’alon is expected to emphasize a recent assessment by Israeli Air Force Chief Amir Eshel, who declared that Israeli is within “10 minutes” of a full-scale war with Syria.

Beyond that, Ya’alon is expected to press Hagel to do something to prevent Russia from delivering S-300 air defense systems to Syria, which would make it more difficult for Israel to launch air strikes against them.

Israeli officials have repeatedly told Russia and anyone else that will listen that the delivery of the S-300s will mean war, and Ya’alon even made comments suggesting that Israel was open to attacking the Russian Navy to try to sink the S-300s before their delivery.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.