More than 11,000 Palestinians riot, attack soldiers, at Gaza fence ….
06 April 2019
06 April 2019
Despite ongoing truce negotiations, at least 11,000 Palestinians gathered at five points on the Gaza-Israeli border Friday afternoon, hurling firebombs and grenades at Israeli soldiers on guard.
Palestinian sources report 63 people were injured by IDF return fire and crowd dispersal measures.
Beaten in Damascus by Israel’s Raids, Soleimani and his HQ Retreat to Aleppo….
06 April 2019
06 April 2019
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has finally got Al Qods chief Major General Qassem Soleimani on the run in Syria.
An army sitting on a prime site in a foreign capital with extraterritorial status would not normally get up and leave without being kicked out by the host government.
However, in February 2019, after taking Israel’s incessant hammering for nearly three years, Soleimani called it quits.
In a humiliating admission of defeat, he quietly ordered the removal of his entire establishment from Damascus to the northern town of Aleppo, hoping to escape the relentless Israeli air and missile offensive aimed at driving his forces out of Syria.
Sharing in this defeat at the hands of the Zionist enemy, and, most directly, its air force, are 2.500 Iranian Revolutionary Guards officers [pictured below] and men and their allied Iraqi, Afghan and Pakistani Shiite militias.
They were beaten by versatile Israeli air force tactics, using assorted types of surface-to-surface and airborne missiles and heavy aerial bombardments.
They are all gone from Damascus, reliable military and intelligence sources report, having re-established their command centres and stores in Aleppo to escape further Israeli punishment.
The only Iranian faces to be seen in the Syrian capital these days are officers dropping in for business at Syrian General Staff headquarters.
This epic Israeli feat - aided by Russia’s consent to look the other way, which the prime minister obtained from President Vladimir Putin – has gone unnoticed and unheralded at home, because it was chalked up by Netanyahu.
And he is fighting his Likud party’s battle to win the April 9 general election in a furious and divisive campaign, characterised by acrimony rather than accomplishments. [See article below for more on the upcoming election in Israel]
No good marks were therefore awarded for his persistence against the odds in hitting Iran’s military structures again and again until they give up and leave Syria.
Their ouster from Damascus is in the bag: for now, [yet her fate awaits]Aleppo comes next.
Some voices in the friendly Trump administration warned that this course would lead to a full-scale Iranian-Israeli war and oblige the US to step in.
At the same time, two leading US officials, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo [R above] and National Security Adviser John Bolton,[L above]stood by Netanyahu throughout.
They gambled on Israel’s serial bashing of Iranian targets in Syria complementing the administration’s overall policy against Iran.
Pompeo saw in Israel’s offensive an integral element of the US sanctions regime against Tehran, a military accompaniment to Washington’s financial squeeze.
The Secretary was in on Netanyahu’s tactical calculations in choosing Iranian targets for Israel’s air and missile strikes in Syria and the scale of those strikes, while Bolton spoke for US foreign policy in presenting the case to President Putin.
Putin’s assent was, and remains, critical to Israel’s anti-Iran drive.
Syria is effectively under Moscow’s aegis. It was up to the prime minister to convince the Russian president that it was to Moscow’s advantage to go along with Israel’s military campaign to root the Iranian military presence out of Syria.
And it was up to the Israeli air force to devise a complex and unbeatable strategy for grinding down the bold and brilliant Soleimani, star performer of Iran’s revolutionary Guards and, since 1998, commander of Iran’s Middle East fronts of expansion.
Netanyahu and the air force both pulled off their missions. Soleimani’s strategy for the Syrian civil war was left in tatters by the Iranian military establishment’s retreat from its home from home in Damascus.
The three goals he set himself have fallen apart:
1. To clinch the domination of Iranian influence over the Assad regime.
2. To prevent the Russian army from moving in and asserting control of the Syrian capital.
3. To establish a frontline Iranian-Hizballah-Shiite military base for fighting Israel in Damascus and areas to the south.
The three missions Tehran was forced to abandon with its military exit from Damascus, translated into three good reasons for Moscow to go along with Israel’s continuing campaign - especially since nothing more was required from Russia than non-interference.
After all, Putin has no desire to see Iran ruling the roost in Damascus.
For that reason, he never allowed the S-300 air-defence missiles he sent to Syria last October to be used for downing Israeli aircraft or missiles.
Soleimani was left empty-handed in Damascus when he faced not only Israel and the US but Russia too.
To reverse this intolerable situation, the Iranian general tried for six months to win Putin around to using the advanced anti-air weapons for ambushing and shooting down one of Israel’s US-made F-35 stealth fighters over Damascus.
His pitch was that Russian arms would be shown to be superior to an advanced American stealth fighter. [pictured above]
But Putin brushed this argument aside, although some members of his general staff liked the idea.
In the end, the Iranian general decided it was time to cut his losses and run away from the exposed Damascus arena.
The decisive factor was Israel’s wide-reaching attack of February 11 against Iranian targets south of Damascus and further south in the Quneitra region.
Iranian forces were told to pull up stakes and prepare to move north to Aleppo. In the next article, we list the formidable military assets relocated in the move.
Iran Whisks Big Military Complexes out of Dangerous Damascus to “Safer” Northern Syria.......
06 April 2019
06 April 2019
Of the military assets Iran was forced by heavy Israeli assaults to abandon in Damascus, the most painful must have been the “Glasshouse” (Maqar-Eshishei in Farsi), a large edifice of 100 rooms which housed its main military headquarters in convenient proximity to Damascus international airport.
This building was perfectly situated for the intake of troops, cash and equipment flown in from Tehran.
Among the departments based there were counter-intelligence, logistics, propaganda and the foreign allied command.
The Iranian intelligence service controlled the Glasshouse from offices on the two top floors.
The massive building’s anti-blast walls formed a quadrangle whose perimeter was guarded by heavily armed troops.
The 1,000-strong staff worked on highly confidential materials and were subject to frequent security screenings.
The Glasshouse was emptied out in recent weeks and all its facilities removed to ostensibly safer quarters in the northern town of Aleppo.
Iranian intelligence also handed back to the Syrian authorities the keys to another major complex, Damascus Airport’s Al-Mazza Military Airbase[pictured above] and the huge warehouses previously set aside for exclusive Iranian use.
Two further military complexes of unparalleled strategic value, Jamraya and Al-Kiswa, were also moved out of the Damascus region.
Jamaya, several kilometres north-east of Damascus, officially belongs to the Scientific Studies and Research Centre, where the Assad regime develops and produces chemical weapons and different types of missiles.
In the past year, the centre served Iran as a factory for upgrading the precision of Hizballah’s missiles and rockets. The factory is not far from the Damascus-Lebanese Beqaa Valley highway.
Al Kiswa was set aside for the exclusive use of the Al Qods Brigades, the IRGC’s external, special operations arm.
Located in the south near the Syrian M5 highway from Damascus to the Jordanian border, Al Kiswa is just 50km from Israeli Golan. [see above map]
The facility was a cluster of military sites containing white 18 x 27-metre hangars for stockpiling short- and medium-range missiles, able to reach every corner of Israel, and a supply of ammunition for the use of Iranian forces and Hizballah.
Three large buildings there could accommodate up to 500 troops.
Iran has additionally evacuated 10 local command posts scattered between Damascus in the north and Quneitra in the south opposite Israel’s Golan.
However small Hizballah and foreign militia groups are still holding these forts, all disguised in Syrian army uniforms and sporting Syrian military insignia.
Fresh Hurdles for Israel’s anti-Iran Operations in Overcrowded Northern Syria…..
06 April 2019
06 April 2019
The Israeli Air Force had a clear field for hitting Iranian and Hizballah command posts in the Damascus area, its only concern being to ascertain that the Russian air defence weapons systems posted around the Syria capital were not involved.
This was assured by a “de-confliction” agreement reached between Moscow and Jerusalem in mid-2016, around eight months into Russia’s 2015 intervention in the Syrian war.
This understanding promised full coordination between Israeli and Russia’s Syrian-based forces and Russian non-interference in Israel’s air strikes on Iranian military facilities and arms shipments for Syria and to Hizballah.
Israel reciprocated with a pledge not to attack Syrian government facilities so long as the latter did not disturb Israel’s campaign against Iran.
Reliable intelligence sources reveal an additional unspoken Israel promise to Moscow, which was not to attack the Russian air defence missile systems brought to Syria in 2018.
They were to be operated by Russian teams and integrated in Russia’s master air defence system controlled from Moscow.
Even when those batteries opened fire on Israeli jets, they were constrained from striking back without making sure they were not operated by Russian teams.
On Wednesday, April 3, the day before travelling to Moscow for his sixth sit-down with President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said proudly in an interview: “I have gained us freedom of movement in dealing with the Russian army [in Syria] and that was no small feat.”
However, another face-to-face discussion with Putin on Thursday, April 4, had become urgent in light of the new circumstances confronting the Israeli air force by the retreat of the Iranian military establishment from Damascus to the northern city of Aleppo.
Israel’s aerial assaults in northern Syria called for a different set of understandings with the Russians at the highest level.
This was determined after the first Israeli air strike on Iran’s newly-deployed facilities on March 27.
In the first place, Moscow’s stake in the north is widely at variance with its interests in Damascus.
Although it is common wisdom that the Syrian civil war is over, it hasnot yet begun in the north.
It is clear to the Kremlin that so long as tens of thousands of fighters of the radical Al-Qaeda-affiliated Hayat Tahri al-Sham [pictured above] hold sway in the large province of Idlib, more fighting is yet to come in an arena that abuts on Latakia where the Khmeimim Air base is situated.
The air and ground forces deployed at this Russian command centre are reminded that the conflict is still unresolved by rebel drone and artillery attacks on their base.
This situation is made even more volatile by the Turkish military presence on the outskirts of Aleppo, in Afrin province and in a chain of 13 outposts, holding small groups of Turkish special, armoured and artillery troops.
These outposts must be removed, before Russian and Syrian forces can go into Idlib to tackle the Islamist rebels.
However, Moscow is anxious to avoid a clash with Turkish troops around Idlib or any upsets to its burgeoning ties with Ankara, especially before the sale of Russian S400 surface-to-air missiles to Turkey is finally in the bag.
The transaction could still go either way. For now, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan appears to be willing to go through with the deal in the teeth of Trump administration objections.
On Thursday, April 4, Vice President Mike Pence again warned Turkey: “We’ve made it clear that we will not stand idly by while NATO allies purchase weapons from our adversaries that threaten the cohesion of our alliance.”
But for Putin, driving a wedge between the United States and a NATO ally, would count as an important success for Kremlin foreign and defence policy.
He will therefore make sure that the strategically important agreement he reached with Ankara three weeks ago for joint patrols in Idlib works smoothly.
It provides for Russian and Turkish patrols to alternate first before operating in concert to secure disengagement lines. The Turkish side has already begun.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin [pictured above] referred to the joint Russian-Turkish project when he said: “…many thousands of militants and jihadists including foreign terrorists have gathered in Idlib. These patrolling missions are very delicate and serious and naturally we cannot afford to put Russian servicemen fulfilling this task at risk.”
Northern Syria’s overcrowded skies and criss-crossing interests must be taken into account in Israeli Air Force plans for the next stage of its anti-Iran campaign, military and intelligence sources point out.
New issues and uncertainties were at the centre of the Israeli prime minister’s talks with the Russian president on Thursday.
Their complexity was such that Netanyahu took with him to the Kremlin his three security chiefs, Mossad Director Yossie Cohen, National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabat and Military Intelligence (AMAN) chief Brigadier General Tamir Hayman.
Strikes against Iran’s command posts, bases and ammo stores newly deployed into Aleppo call for greater manoeuvrability and electronic expertise than assaults in the Damascus region.
They must avoid clashing with Russian air strikes against rebels in next-door Idlib; contend with concurrent rebel drone attacks on Russian targets; and dodge around the joint Turkish-Russian patrols circling rebel strongholds in Idlib, which are important to Putin.
And what if the Turks decide to use their newly-acquired Russian S400 air defence batteries against Israeli warplanes flying over Syria?
Erdogan may be tempted to take advantage of his first opportunity to hit the Israeli military at close quarters.
We shall soon see in the days ahead.
Israel’s Nastiest Election Campaign Ever Brings Likud and Blue-White into Tight Race…..
06 April 2019
06 April 2019
Israel has undergone 21 parliamentary election campaigns in its 72-year life as a democracy, but the current contest culminating in the April 9 election is the weirdest ever.
None of the candidates addresses the usual issues of concern to the individual voter, whether security, the economy, medical care, the social gap, crime, education, or even taxes.
Somehow, cannabis has become the talk of the campaign.
Adopting this issue as his centrepiece has hoisted Moshe Feiglin’s [pictured below] Zehut right-wing fringe party Zehut to the attention of the big boys.
On Wednesday, April 3, the Likud leader, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, pledged in a well-publicised statement to initiate legislation in the next Knesset for decriminalising the sale and use of cannabis.
Feiglin was thrown out of Likud for his way-out views, such as rebuilding the Jewish Temple on the site of the Moslem Al Aqsa Mosque.
His party, one of 42 running for election, was also laughed at as an outlandish fringe joke which would never pass the threshold.
Nevertheless, since he adopted the cannabis cause, passing round joints at party gatherings, the societies dedicated to this campaign are flocking around him, swelling Zehut’s support to a projected 5-7 Knesset seats (out of 120).
Feiglin is now inviting bids to join the post-election government and, like other small fry, will join whichever of the five main political blocs offers the most cabinet portfolios, whether right-wing, left-wing, centrist, religious or ultra-orthodox, the traditional breakdown of Israel’s political groupings.
(The Israeli Arab parties permanently opt for the opposition benches in parliament.)
Independent canvassing of Israeli opinion by academic statisticians show that while 50% of Israelis don’t believe the polls, Likud and Blue-White are in a tight race although Likud began on Thursday to edge past the 30-seat mark and opened a three-mandate gap with its chief rival.
If this trend solidifies in the next four days, Likud’s leader will form the next Israeli government.
If it is reversed, the two big adversaries may have to join to form a national unity government, or Blue-White will split and either Blue or White will join.
Under Israel’s basic laws, the party leader with enough parliamentary support to form a coalition government is chosen by the president as prime minister-designate.
Developing…….
Russian Military Elite honours Zachary Baumel in a grand memorial ceremony......
April 4, 2019
April 4, 2019
A special memorial ceremony for the missing Israeli soldier Zachary Baumel took place at the Russian Defence Ministry on Thursday, April 4, led by Russian Chief of Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov in the presence of visiting Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
This was the first known instance of the Russian High Command conducting a military ceremony with full trappings in honour of a foreign serviceman.
Baumel had been missing for 37 years since the First Lebanon War until his remains were recovered and returned to Israel by the Russian army on Wednesday.
Our military sources note that the exceptional honour awarded by the Russian high command to Israel and its defence forces marks the strengthening of ties between Moscow and Jerusalem and their armed forces.
It also ends their disagreement over the downing of the Russian IL20 spy plane over Syria last September.
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