A United Nations observation post at the Quneitra crossing on the Israel-Syria border, July 18, 2019.Gil Eliahu

• With missiles more accurate than Hezbollah’s, Iran entrenchment in Iraq threatens Israel

• Syria: Israeli missiles strike Quneitra, near the border

• In a major shift, Israel twice struck Iranian targets in Iraq ‘using F-35’

Compared to Gaza, the Iranian front – which to Israeli eyes stretches from the Persian Gulf through Iraq and into Syria and Lebanon – is bustling with action. Throughout July, reports attributed two attacks in Iraq to Israel and at least three other attacks in southern Syria, which were directed against the military apparatus Hezbollah is building on the Syrian side of the border on the Golan Heights – and in one case included the killing of a local activist.

The “campaign between the wars” is continuing with relative momentum, even if most of it is being conducted under the radar and has not received almost any detailed coverage in real-time. What is going on in Iraq reached the headlines in Israel with a delay of almost two weeks, and only after Arab media outlets reported on two attacks by the Israel Air Force in western Iraq. One of the reports even claimed that the attack was carried out by Israel’s new F-35s.

Even if the information is correct in general, as usual, it is recommended to take the details with a grain of salt. Not every attack needs to be carried out using the most advanced technological means. The IDF’s military intelligence directorate highlighted Iraq as the next arena for the military campaign back in 2018.

The Iranians are trying to translate their regional arc of influence into a real land corridor – along with the arms smuggling network they are operating, alongside their air and sea efforts, on the Tehran-Baghdad-Damascus-Beirut line on the ground.

In addition, it seems Tehran is making an effort to deploy some of its longer-range missiles in western Iraq with the help of the Shi’ite militias there, with the goal of distancing them from Israeli capabilities to attack them, which have been demonstrated in the past in northern and eastern Syria.

At the same time, Israel has continued to fight its holding action near the border on the Golan Heights. A series of attacks attributed to the IDF there illustrates again how ridiculous it was to rely on Russia’s promise, about a year ago, to keep an Iranian presence away from the border in return for Israel not interfering in the operation by the Assad regime to retake control of southern Syria.

At the time, the Russians spoke about demilitarization of 70 or 80 kilometers between Iranian forces and the border with Israel – and Netanyahu supporters boasted about his “unprecedented diplomatic achievement.” In reality, it was revealed very quickly that Hezbollah was actually more active in the region and the organization was reestablishing its terror networks in southern Syria.

The head of the IDF’s Operations Directorate, Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliwa, was in Moscow in the middle of last month for a work meeting that the IDF described as excellent. Nonetheless, when Israel came to complain to the Russians about the Hezbollah presence on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, they were told that the promises concerned only the Iranians themselves, and not their agents. Given these circumstances, it seems Moscow has made peace with Israel’s limited military actions against the Iranians and Hezbollah in Syria, as long as it does not endanger the stability of the regime in Damascus.

As Haaretz reported in February, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards have distanced themselves for now, under the pressure of the Israeli attacks, from the Damascus Airport to the T-4 airbase near Homs. But Hezbollah operations in the villages on the Golan have intensified. The Israeli actions may be only touching the tip of the iceberg, while Hezbollah worked very hard to turn these villages into fortified military compounds, as it has done since 2006 in the Shi’ite villages in southern Lebanon.

The post Analysis Hezbollah Turning Syria Villages on Israel Border Into Fortresses first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Two new Syrian military divisions, trained and led by officers of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard special forces, the Al-Quds Forces, have been mobilized on Syria’s borders, i24NEWS could reveal on Monday night.

Each division numbers more than 10,000 men, said i24NEWS French service’s defense correspondent Mattias Inbar. One has been sent to the border with Iraq, the second is currently at the border between Syria and Israel.

According to i24NEWS, these troop movements, which represent “a real danger on the northern border”, is understood to be one of the reasons Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced calls for early elections last week as “irresponsible”.

i24NEWS Français@i24NEWS_FR

EXCLUSIVITÉ #i24NEWS | Une nouvelle division de soldats syriens formés par l’Iran se tient prête à la frontière israélo-syrienne @MatthiasInbar

Former Defense minister Avigdor Liberman resigned last week following stern disagreements with the Prime Minister over his handling of the latest confrontation in Gaza.

Liberman, who criticized the ceasefire as a victory for Gaza-based Hamas, withdrew the support of his nationalist party Yisrael Beiteinu for the ruling coalition, effectively bringing the Israeli parliament to a standstill.

Netanyahu then faced a challenge from allied party Jewish Home, whose leader Naftali Bennett demanded the defense portfolio in exchange for his party remaining in the coalition. In a dramatic power play, Netanyahu took over the defense ministry himself, forcing Bennett to back down.

Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett, left, and Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked gesture as they speak during a press conference, in which it was widely assumed they would resign, at the Knesset, Israel’s parliament in Jerusalem, Monday, Nov.    AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner

The Prime Minister argued it would be “irresponsible to topple the government” in the midst of a “sensitive security situation”. 58 percent of Israelis believe his motives were purely political, according to a Galatz radio survey released on Tuesday, November 20th.

The latest i24NEWS revelations could explain in part why the renegade ministers eventually came back into the fold. While it is clear that the Gaza situation remains of most concern to Israel’s security establishment, there are increased fears that the Jewish state could face a war on two or more fronts in the near future.

The IDF is currently in the middle of a 10-day training exercise simulating a confrontation with Hamas in the south and Hezbollah in the north. It comes amid an ongoing spat within the IDF over the army’s readiness for war.

In October, IDF Ombudsman, Maj. Gen. (res.) Yitzhak Brick described the situation in the IDF as “worse than it was at the time of the Yom Kippur War,” where Israel was caught off guard by Syria and Egypt. The declaration attracted confident rebuttals from the government and the IDF General Staff.

---

Source: https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/middle-east/189690-181127-exclusive-10-000-iran-trained-syrian-soldiers-posted-on-israel-border

[Disclaimer]

The post EXCLUSIVE: 10,000 Iran-trained Syrian soldiers posted on Israel border first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.