Israeli DM Urges US War in Syria, Announces New ‘Axis of Evil’

Tiny Lebanon Somehow Included in the Newest Axis

With the ongoing civil war in Syria getting more and more complicated by the minute, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon has issued a public call for US military involvement, saying it was vital for the US to stop Assad from retaining power.

Ya’alon went on to announce a new “axis of evil,” which he described as including Iran, Syria and Lebanon, and insisted it was “forbidden” to allow them to win the civil war, which is being fought against an increasingly al-Qaeda-dominated rebellion.

Ya’alon’s position is in direct conflict with the CIA’s own assessment, which put Syria’s civil war as a “top threat” to US national security on the grounds that Assad losing and al-Qaeda taking over would be a disastrous situation. Yet it’s the one Israel is apparently shooting for.

The comments of the Israeli DM also reflect an obsession with Iran, as he declared “the Iranian regime is involved in every conflict in this region.” It’s a great soundbite for the Iran-obsessed hawks, but it is a bizarre comment as well, because a number of growing conflicts in the region, including the fighting in Egypt and Yemen’s fight with al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), arguably the most high profile fights in the Middle East outside of Syria, don’t even tangentially involve Iran.

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.