Israeli F-15 fighter jets escorted a US B-52 bomber that was headed to the Persian Gulf through Israeli airspace on Monday, The Times of Israel reported. The B-52 flew made a roundtrip to the Middle East from the UK in an apparent show of force aimed at Iran.
“The flight was held as part of close cooperation with the US military, which represents a significant element in ensuring the security of the State of Israel’s airspace and the Middle East,” the Israeli Defense Forces said in a statement.
The US military said the flight was meant to demonstrate the “US Air Force’s ability to seamlessly operate across combatant commands.” The nuclear-capable B-52H Stratofortress was accompanied by two US F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets.
The provocation comes as the US and Iran appear to be nearing an agreement to revive the nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, although it’s still not clear if Washington is willing to lift the necessary sanctions on Iran.
Israel is strongly opposed to the JCPOA and has been threatening to attack Iran if the deal is revived. In a recent phone call, President Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett that the US supports Israel’s “freedom of action” against Iran.
Really would like to see Russia sell Iran some S-400. That would put an end to that crap.
As for the talks, there are conflicting reports – in other words, nothing has changed except that Iran has submitted its “final” proposals.
Having S-400 and facing the consequences of using it are two very different matters.Considering that the current Iranian leader killed 30,000 dissidents,your concern for Iran is somewhat perplexing.
when did the current leader of iran kill 30,000 dissidents ?
1988-according to Wiki and Iran primer
One has nothing to do with the other whether true or not. It’s like saying Israel using the Iron dome is wrong because they practice apartheid.
Israel’s got a long history of electing generals responsible for war crimes as well. It’s a shame counties do that, but it’s not a reason for collective punishment.
Iran killed more of their own people than all the Arabs killed in the Arab Israeli wars
Civil wars are bad. America had one too. Doesn’t excuse Israeli apartheid and ethnic cleansing.
The S-400 has been deployed in Syria for seven years now. What crap has it put an end to?
I think you need to add a bit of context here, Thomas. Aren’t those S-400s deployed around the Russian bases in Syria, for the protection of those bases, and under the complete control of the Russians?
Meanwhile, the Russians are being very careful about how they deal with Israel. They could easily dump a whole load of whoop-ass on the Israelis, could easily interdict the daily stand-off attacks by Israeli aircraft, but they do not.
Since the Russians are not stupid, are very strategic, and in particular are very calculated about what is ***in the Russian interest***, I have to conclude that they permit the Israeli ‘pinpricks’ on the basis of some larger strategic calculation.
Perhaps there is some non-Neocon, non-Pentagon, non-Deep State analyst out there who has theorized about the reasoning behind why the Russians are doing and not doing what they’re doing and not doing. Anyone other than Hasbara Jake got a link?
I think they are getting pretty close to having had enough of those “pinpricks”.
“Israel’s continuing strikes against targets inside Syria cause deep concern,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. “They are a crude violation of Syria’s sovereignty…”
https://news.antiwar.com/2022/02/11/russia-says-israeli-airstrikes-are-a-crude-violation-of-syrias-sovereignty/
WRU:
“Crude” is a good word to describe Israel’s actions…
Yes, they’re deployed around the Russian bases in Syria. Including Tartus. Israeli F-16 and F-35s flew directly over the S-400 emplacements to bomb Latakia. Crickets.
The Brits flew SEAD drills directly over S-400 batteries in Crimea in 2020 as well.
Why aren’t they using their S-400s?
One reason could be to disguise their capabilities and only use them when there’s a really big deal that requires them.
Another reason could be to conceal the fact that they’re expensive white elephants.
And that’s the thing:
Day after day, I see the “ooh boy, if [insert Russian or Chinese system here] comes into play, [insert enemy here] is toast! Woo hoo!”
If the S-400 (or S-500) has ever shot down anything but a test drone, it hasn’t been publicized. I don’t know what its capabilities are. Neither do the people whooping it up. Even the Russian military may not yet know for sure how well or badly the thing will perform in real combat.
Hopefully we won’t find OUT how well or badly they perform. And even if we do, the chances of getting the whole truth are minimal. Every country brags up the performance of its weapons systems, and usually the truth isn’t quite as shiny as the publicity would have us believe.
” Israeli F-16 and F-35s flew directly over the S-400 emplacements to bomb Latakia. Crickets.
The Brits flew SEAD drills directly over S-400 batteries in Crimea in 2020 as well.”
Not shooting down planes that have no intention of attacking you is probably a judicious decision. If the planes had had hostile or undetermined and possibly hostile intent, a careful response in stages would have been the result. Likely stage one would have been “lighting them up” with the S-400’s targeting radar as a warning. I don’t know if that happened, but I suspect not. In the Israeli case, the Israelis would have notified the Russians in advance of the attack, and in the case of the Brits, they were engaged in announced “drills”, so the Russians weren’t going to provide even a minimal demonstration of their operational characteristics/capabilities.
In “peacetime” these anti-aircraft/anti-missile systems serve as deterrence. Their actual “kinetic” use reserved, logically, for actual hostilities.
“Their actual ‘kinetic’ use reserved, logically, for actual hostilities.”
Exactly. And since they’ve not, so far as we know, ever been used in that way, we have no idea whatsoever how they will perform if they ever ARE used in that way.
Yet some commenters seem to think they’re a magical all-purpose trump card.
They flew all 50 miles across Israel? I hope they sent us the bill for the fuel.
Thank you for the early morning chuckle…!
I suppose this is a result of moving them under the control of central command. The gift of the Abraham Accords keeps on giving.
So What…?! Everyone knows the master and slave relationship…!
Wow, Biden supports Israel’s ‘freedom of action’ against Iran… Not much gray area there. Would Biden allow for a nuclear strike?…Just saying…
I am not prepared to go to war for Israel’s stupidity and arrogance (to save their bacon), pre-approved by the US.