Israel on edge as Hezbollah, Iran move on Golan Heights

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

BEIRUT — A recent surprise offensive against Syrian rebels in southern Syria, apparently directed by Iran, may have more to do with preparing a new front against Israel along the Golan Heights and deterring Jordan than with crushing armed opposition to the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

Launched on Feb. 9, the offensive is intended to push rebel forces in the Quneitra and Deraa provinces back toward the Jordanian border. If it succeeds, the effort would enable Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Shia group, to extend its front line with Israel from the Mediterranean coast to the Yarmouk River on the Syria-Jordan border, a distance of 114 miles. But Israel has warned that it will not tolerate Iran and Hezbollah building a military front in the Golan, its quietest border since the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, despite the ongoing Israeli occupation of the Syrian territory. In an apparent signal of that resolve, Israel last month staged a rare missile strike against a Hezbollah convoy in the Golan.

“It seems the old equation is changing,” said Andrew Tabler, a Syria expert with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy in Washington, D.C. “Since 1973, Syria kept the Golan quiet while activating south Lebanon with Iranian help. Now the Iranians and Hezbollah have quieted south Lebanon and are activating the Golan front under the cover of the Syrian war.”

But the anti-rebel offensive may also be directed at Jordan, which has begun to play a more assertive role in Syria since Feb. 3, when the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) tortured to death a captured Jordanian fighter pilot. Since then, Jordanian aircraft have bombed ISIL targets in Syria, and Amman has reportedly been mulling a ground operation on Syrian territory — a prospect Damascus has vowed to oppose. A Jordanian-based CIA training program for pro-Western Syrian rebels is set to expand in the coming months.

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/2/20/israel-on-edge-as-hezbollah-iran-move-on-golan-heights.html

Damn! This is four-way shooting war is about to get real. Let us get our boys out of the region before the fireworks start.

[luckytxn 2,263]

I say we should air drop lots of ammo to all sides as we leave.

Damn! This is four-way shooting war is about to get real. Let us get our boys out of the region before the fireworks start.

[JohnR! 5,495]

Bibi is dying to start a war. Any war will do to detract attention from himself and his wife..

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/02/19/netanyahu-overspending-expenses-israel-election/23665871/

JERUSALEM — Israeli media and political opponents are having a field day bashing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife for free-wheeling spending of public funds at their official and private residences. Still, the furor has yet to show much impact on next month's election outcome.

That's because security and the skyrocketing cost of living here apparently trump the Netanyahus' alleged extravagance as issues Israelis care most about when they cast ballots in the March 17 election.

"The shame is great, and so is the disgust. But these are not the types of things a prime minister in Israel is ousted for," Nahum Barnea, a popular columnist for the newspaper Yediot Aharont, wrote following a report released this week on the prime minister's expenses.

While an Israeli prime minister "doesn't have to be an exemplary figure, he should be expected to know how to lead," Barnea wrote. "That's what Netanyahu should be given a failing report card for, not for the way his household is being run."

[Pooky 3,343]

Bibi is dying to start a war. Any war will do to detract attention from himself and his wife..

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/02/19/netanyahu-overspending-expenses-israel-election/23665871/

JERUSALEM Israeli media and political opponents are having a field day bashing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife for free-wheeling spending of public funds at their official and private residences. Still, the furor has yet to show much impact on next month's election outcome.

That's because security and the skyrocketing cost of living here apparently trump the Netanyahus' alleged extravagance as issues Israelis care most about when they cast ballots in the March 17 election.

"The shame is great, and so is the disgust. But these are not the types of things a prime minister in Israel is ousted for," Nahum Barnea, a popular columnist for the newspaper Yediot Aharont, wrote following a report released this week on the prime minister's expenses.

While an Israeli prime minister "doesn't have to be an exemplary figure, he should be expected to know how to lead," Barnea wrote. "That's what Netanyahu should be given a failing report card for, not for the way his household is being run."

So, Al Jazeera, never a friend of Israel, reports that Hezbollah may be "preparing a new front against Israel along the Golan Heights" and you instantly accuse the Israeli PM of wanting to start a war.

I pity the hamsters running round in your head.

[JohnR! 5,495]

Wrong; but you're entitled to your opinion.