Ali Khamenei shuts door on direct nuclear talks with US
DEBKAfile Special Report February 7, 2013, 3:55 PM (GMT+02:00)
Khamenei rejects talks with Washington
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei turned down the US offer of one-on-one talks on its nuclear program Thursday, Feb. 7, just 24 hours after US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced that due to budgetary constraints, the US could only keep one, not two, US aircraft carrier strike groups in the Persian Gulf, and had cancelled the departure of a second carrier, the USS Harry S. Truman.
The ayatollah in a speech posted on his web site accused the US of proposing talks while "pointing a gun at Iran.”
The ayatollah in a speech posted on his web site accused the US of proposing talks while "pointing a gun at Iran.”
On Saturday, US Vice-President Joe Biden suggested direct talks – separate from the wider international discussions scheduled for Feb. 26 in Kazakhstan between the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany. No previous negotiations in this format over the years have ever produced a breakthrough.
Biden said Washington was prepared for direct talks with Iran "when the Iranian leadership, supreme leader, is serious". "That offer stands,” he said later, “but it must be real and tangible and there has to be an agenda that they are prepared to speak to. We are not just prepared to do it for the exercise," he said.
But the ayatollah said such negotiations "would solve nothing.” He added: "You are holding a gun against Iran saying you want to talk. The Iranian nation will not be frightened by threats."
Wednesday, the US widened sanctions on Iran for tightening the squeeze on Tehran's ability to spend oil cash.
The cancellation of the Harry Truman’s departure for the Gulf leaves a single US aircraft carrier in the vast naval region of the Persian Gulf, Mediterranean and southern part of the Indian Ocean bordering on Africa, DEBKAfile's military sources report, and no US fleet presence opposite Syria.
Khamenei’s rejection of Washington’s latest offer of direct talks followed the new US ban imposed Wednesday on the transfer of revenues from Iranian oil exports to its coffers. The money will henceforth be available only for the purchase of goods in the countries of destination for Iranian oil.
Senior American officials said that this sanction would significantly restrict Iran's freedom to use its oil income at will.
Senior American officials said that this sanction would significantly restrict Iran's freedom to use its oil income at will.
Khamenei did not say so specifically, but his rejection of dialogue with Washington was undoubtedly influenced by President Barack Obama’s forthcoming visit to Israel. By the metaphor of “holding a gun against Iran,” the Iranian leader was not just reacting to the new sanctions; he was also hitting back at the White House announcement’s stress that the president’s talks with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu would focus on Iran and Syria - asDEBKAfile reported Wednesday.The expectation is that Obama and Netanyahu will confer on the military option both governments have reserved for dealing with Iran’s nuclear program.
Khamenei's rejection of face-to-face talks does not cancel the international negotiations scheduled to take place in Kazakhstan. It does, however, render them more pointless than ever.
and....
International " Crisis Actors " - similar to the alleged " Crisis Actors " used at Sandy Hook , being recruited by Western special Forces for a C/W Syrian False Flag event ?
Britamgate: Staging False Flag Attacks in Syria
Britamgate: Staging False Flag Attacks in Syria
by Andrey Fomin
On January 22 a telling leak cropped up in the Internet. British defense contractor’s BRITAM server was hacked and megabytes of classified internal files of the firm were released to the public. Now the case is acquiring aBritamgate scale due to the publication on Prison Planet. What is the story behind the leakage? Why this scandal is likely to turn around the situation in Syria?
Let’s brief the files. The key finding is a mail dated December 24, 2012 sent by Britam Defence’s Business Development Director David Goulding to Dynamic Director of the firm Phillip Doughty, who is a former SAS officer:
Phil
We’ve got a new offer. It’s about Syria again. Qataris propose an attractive deal and swear that the idea is approved by Washington.
We’ll have to deliver a CW to Homs, a Soviet origin g-shell from Libya similar to those that Assad should have. They want us to deploy our Ukrainian personnel that should speak Russian and make a video record.
Frankly, I don’t think it’s a good idea but the sums proposed are enormous. Your opinion?
Kind regards David
To clarify the things, CW is a standard abbreviation for Chemical Weapons; ‘g-shell’ is a bomb consisting of an explosive projectile filled with toxic gas.
Taking into account the memorable Barack Obama’s warning that the ‘use or even transportation of chemical weapons by the Assad regime would represent a “red line” that would precipitate military intervention’, a message he reiterated last month after the election to the second term, the plotted operation, if carried out, would provide an ideal pretext for the foreign intervention into Syria. Israel has voiced the same warnings last week.
Who would perpetrate the video-recorded delivery of CWs to Homs? The text of mail clearly indicates that they would use Britam’s Ukrainian personnel for forging videos. Scrolling down one of the hacked files, (Britam HRM Expat Data Load Sheet August 2012.xlsx) we found out the private data of 58 Ukrainian citizens working for Britam Defence Ltd in Iraq. Several employees might not be enlisted as the folder /Iraq/People/ contained the photocopies of passports of several other Ukrainians. There are also some Serbs/Croatians and Georgians in the list who also might be filmed as ‘Russians’.
Since the end of December 2012 Western, Israeli and Gulf sources have been playing up ‘rumors’ about ‘Russian troops fighting for Assad’ and ‘Russian forces taking Syrian C&B weapons under control’. The Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Seyassah has recently published a couple of ‘Western intelligence reports’ stating that ‘Assad had already transferred chemical weapons to the terrorists’. On January 15 the US Foreign Policy journal made public a ‘secret State Department cable’ concluding that ‘the Syrian military likely used chemical weapons against its own people in a deadly attack last month’.
Most likely the public opinion is being prepared for the ‘breathtaking videos’ depicting Russian-uniformed or Russian-speaking ‘soldiers’ allegedly committing atrocities against civilians in the Syrian cities or applying toxic gases there.
In this context we should not forget the reports circulating since last year that the rebel fighters in Syria had been given gas masks and were willing to stage a chemical weapons attack which would then be blamed on the Assad regime to grease the skids for NATO military intervention.
The information about Western and Middle East special services recruiting militants with Slavic features to play a role of Russian ‘mercenaries’ allegedly captured by Syrian opposition fighters was released by the Russian media in the middle of January. They quoted a well-informed source as saying that ‘actors’ are being selected in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. They all must handle guns and able to operate anti-aircraft systems. According to the script, they should recognize in front of the cameras that they were recruited by the Russian special services with the aim of supporting the army of Bashar Assad. Also, they ought to say that they have allegedly been delivered to Syria by Russian warships.
According to the source, all this will be filmed in Turkey or Jordan, where fake demolished Syrian towns have already been built in the form of large-scale theatrical scenery. The same-type sceneries in Qatar were reportedly used during the information warfare against Libya in 2011.
Summing up these facts we can conclude that a provocation in Syria is the only option left for the war-mongers. Having exhaustive information on the real situation in Syria and being aware of inability of the corrupted rebel group to make any significant change in Damascus, they have nothing to do but hire a second-rate British PSC for another round of dirty job. We have no doubt that numerous tragic ‘revelations’ of atrocities committed by ‘pro-Assad army’ that were repeatedly hitting YouTube for the last two years, were also ‘ordered’ for enormous fee to the former British ‘berets’. The latest leakage deserves thorough investigation and consideration on the top international political level. It is time for a BRITAMGATE to be boxed.
and....
http://news.antiwar.com/2013/02/05/new-iran-nuclear-talks-to-begin-february-26/
New Iran Nuclear Talks to Begin February 26
Iranian, Western Officials Confirm Date Has Been Set
by Jason Ditz, February 05, 2013
After spending a solid month promising a meeting in January and trading blame over why it never actually happened, Iran and the P5+1 have agreed to a meeting in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on February 26.
This will be the first meeting with the P5+1, which includes the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany, since a June meeting in Moscow, which ended with an agreement to meet again.
The date was confirmed by officials from the European Union, who were in charge of negotiating a time and place with Iran. British FM William Hague confirmed the talks and condemned Iran, insisting it was urgent that they’d accept the P5+1 offer.
Exactly what that offer is remains unclear, and every time a new round of talks takes place the US comes along with a new round of demands to add on to the ones that weren’t accepted the previous time.
These talks are just one of several negotiation tracks ongoing with Iran regarding their civilian nuclear program, and Iran has continued to meet with the IAEA, which has repeatedly confirmed that the nuclear program is purely civilian, while insisting that they can’t prove that there isn’t some sort of secondary program totally separate from this one that they just don’t know about that might conceivably have military elements. The US has also raised the prospect of bilateral talks with Iran, though whether or not this happens remains to be seen, as Iran has conditioned such talks on the US not threatening to attack them.
and.....
http://beforeitsnews.com/iran/2013/02/look-whos-among-40-dead-at-iran-nuke-plant-2436112.html
North Koreans among 40 dead at Iran nuke plant
Meanwhile, Tehran's official news agency calls WND 'mouthpiece of CIA'
WND
byReza KahliliThe explosions at Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility Jan. 21 killed at least 40 people, including two North Koreans, WND learned Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Islamic regime is labeling WND a “mouthpiece of the CIA” for its exclusive reporting of the blasts.
The bodies of 11 of the technicians and scientists are beyond recognition, a member of the security forces at the facility told WND. According to this source, 60 others are in critical condition and have been transferred to the central base of the 27th Division of Mohammad Rassool Allah, which is equipped with a modern medical facility and is between Tehran and Qom.
At the time of the explosions, the source said, 203 Iranian scientists and technicians along with 16 North Koreans had been logged in at the site, though the initial report listed 240 people.
The day before the explosions, the North Koreans had brought in new equipment, described by the source as touch-screen monitors the size of TVs that were installed in the monitoring room and some new parts that were installed in the centrifuges before the start of the enrichment process.
Get the inside story in Reza Kahlili’s “A Time To Betray” and learn how the Islamic regime “bought the bomb” in “Atomic Iran.”
The explosions were reported exclusively by WND Jan. 24, with updates Jan. 27, Jan. 29, Jan. 30 andJan. 31, and that the trapped workers included 16 North Koreans: 14 technicians and two military attaches.
The source said many of the centrifuges have been destroyed and rescuers have still not accessed the reserves of the 20 percent stock of enriched uranium to assess the level of radiation.
MORE HERE
The explosions were reported exclusively by WND Jan. 24, with updates Jan. 27, Jan. 29, Jan. 30 andJan. 31, and that the trapped workers included 16 North Koreans: 14 technicians and two military attaches.
The source said many of the centrifuges have been destroyed and rescuers have still not accessed the reserves of the 20 percent stock of enriched uranium to assess the level of radiation.
MORE HERE
and......
http://www.debka.com/article/22741/Obama-to-discuss-Iran-Syria-during-his-Israel-visit-amid-spiraling-tensions-
Obama to discuss Iran, Syria during his Israel visit amid spiraling tensions
DEBKAfile Special Report February 5, 2013, 10:58 PM (GMT+02:00)
Talking at UN Headquarters last September
The day Israel announced the posting of extra Iron Dome and Patriot anti-missile interceptors in its northern regions, Tuesday, Feb. 5, the White House in Washington disclosed that US President Barack Obama would be visiting Israel in the spring. The visit had been discussed when Obama phoned Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Jan. 28 to congratulate him on his success in Israel’s recent election.
The communique went on to say that the US president was coming to discuss issues of common interest such as furthering the peace process but added, the start of Obama's second term offers an opportunity to reaffirm Israel's close relationship with the US and to discuss major issues like Syria and Iran.”
The communique went on to say that the US president was coming to discuss issues of common interest such as furthering the peace process but added, the start of Obama's second term offers an opportunity to reaffirm Israel's close relationship with the US and to discuss major issues like Syria and Iran.”
DEBKAfile translates this as referring to the chemical weapons in the hands of Syria and most likely Hizballah as well as Iran’s nuclear program. The date of his visit was not released.
DEBKAfile’s sources have divided the White House bulletin into two parts: security and political.
The reference to Syria and Iran as the “major issues” to be discussed in the framework of the “close relationship” points to Washington and Jerusalem being on the same wavelength on the military actions taken by Israel in Syria last week and those still to come.
DEBKAfile’s sources have divided the White House bulletin into two parts: security and political.
The reference to Syria and Iran as the “major issues” to be discussed in the framework of the “close relationship” points to Washington and Jerusalem being on the same wavelength on the military actions taken by Israel in Syria last week and those still to come.
It is also a signal from the White House to Tehran, Damascus and Hizballah that in so far as those three allies are planning reprisals for those actions, they will find the United States standing behind Israel.
The IDF command’s announcement expanding the areas of northern Israeli under the anti-missile interceptor shield was released shortly before the White House communiqué and during Israel’s chief of staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz talks at US military chiefs in Washington.
The IDF command’s announcement expanding the areas of northern Israeli under the anti-missile interceptor shield was released shortly before the White House communiqué and during Israel’s chief of staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz talks at US military chiefs in Washington.
According to the IDF bulletin, an extra Patriot missile interceptor and a third Iron Dome battery was deployed in Lower Galilee, a region which covers key towns north of Tel Aviv: Afula, Nazareth, Yoqn’am and Hadera. Batteries were posted earlier outside Haifa and areas of Upper Galilee closer to the Syrian and Lebanese borders.
The Israeli military command is therefore taking into account that some two million Israelis are potentially in danger of missile attack.
The Obama administration cannot be sure if the president’s visit, his first since 2008, will take place before or after a possible confrontation between Israel and Iran, Syria and Hizballah.
As for the political message, the White House announced the coming presidential visit on the day that the newly-elected Israeli Knesset held its first sitting in Jerusalem. It belied the propaganda pumped out by Netanyahu’s political foes throughout the election campaign, accusing him of souring ties with the Obama administration.
The Obama administration cannot be sure if the president’s visit, his first since 2008, will take place before or after a possible confrontation between Israel and Iran, Syria and Hizballah.
As for the political message, the White House announced the coming presidential visit on the day that the newly-elected Israeli Knesset held its first sitting in Jerusalem. It belied the propaganda pumped out by Netanyahu’s political foes throughout the election campaign, accusing him of souring ties with the Obama administration.
By announcing the coming visit at this time, President Obama showed the party leaders who are hanging tough in talks for a coalition government that Netanyahu has his confidence and support and the two leaders are in close rapport on major issues.
Last year, DEBKAfile, alone of any other publication, disclosed that Obama and Netanyahu had reached an understanding to embark on regional initiatives in a spirit of partnership straight after the Israeli election.
President Obama’s trip will also include the West Bank and Jordan.
Last year, DEBKAfile, alone of any other publication, disclosed that Obama and Netanyahu had reached an understanding to embark on regional initiatives in a spirit of partnership straight after the Israeli election.
President Obama’s trip will also include the West Bank and Jordan.
http://www.debka.com/article/22739/Ahmadinejad-lands-in-Cairo-4-6-months-before-Iran-reaches-nuclear-capacity-
Ahmadinejad lands in Cairo 4-6 months before Iran reaches nuclear capacity.
DEBKAfile Special Report February 5, 2013, 1:04 PM (GMT+02:00)
The Iranian nuclear challenge is coming closer
As Israel’s old and new parties face off in the haggling for places in Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s third government coalition, they are missing hectic events in the background which spell big trouble on their country’s back, front and side doors. This was heralded not least by the arrival in Cairo Tuesday, Feb. 5, of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his offer of a pact with Egypt to “solve the Palestinian problem,” which in his terms means “wiping Israel off the map.”
Iran’s main ally, the Syrian President Bashar Assad is already assured of his coalition with Moscow and Tehran for keeping his regime firmly in power for the foreseeable future. After nearly two years of bloody conflict for his overthrow, the Syrian opposition is knocking on Assad’s door cap in hand to plead with the tyrant for a negotiated end to the agony.
Opposition leader Mouaz al-Khatib has been bustling between US Vice President Joe Biden, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi at the Munich security conference, looking for a concerted multi-national effort to open Assad’s door.
Iran’s National Security Director Saeed Jalili’s trip to Damascus Saturday, Feb. 2, was avowedly to plan retribution for Israel’s reported air strike on the Jamraya military complex and arms trucks near Damascus last Wednesday. But he also put in a word on behalf of negotiations and a request for Bashar Assad to state his terms for opening dialogue with the opposition.
The Syrian ruler is playing hard ball. His strongest card is his regime’s proven survivability in defiance of every Western forecast, including Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s confident prediction since early last year that he would be gone “in weeks.”
Opposition leader Mouaz al-Khatib has been bustling between US Vice President Joe Biden, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi at the Munich security conference, looking for a concerted multi-national effort to open Assad’s door.
Iran’s National Security Director Saeed Jalili’s trip to Damascus Saturday, Feb. 2, was avowedly to plan retribution for Israel’s reported air strike on the Jamraya military complex and arms trucks near Damascus last Wednesday. But he also put in a word on behalf of negotiations and a request for Bashar Assad to state his terms for opening dialogue with the opposition.
The Syrian ruler is playing hard ball. His strongest card is his regime’s proven survivability in defiance of every Western forecast, including Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s confident prediction since early last year that he would be gone “in weeks.”
Even the Syrian rebels fighting him are beginning to see that they can’t defeat the Assad regime and his army – as DEBKAfile has been reporting for the past year – so long as their archenemy is sustained by Moscow and Tehran with supplies of arms, oil, money and diplomatic support on call.
The Iranian nuclear front never pauses. Tehran can easily afford the optimism voiced by the Iranian foreign minister in Munich Monday, Feb. 4, about the “bilateral dialogue” offered by Vice President Biden, which he welcomed.This is because Iran is no more than four to six months away from its goal.
Former Israeli Military Intelligence Chief Asher Yadlin, long perceived as the Israeli prime minister’s unofficial spokesman on the Iranian nuclear issue, spoke Monday in his capacity as the head of an Israel research tank, when he said in a lecture that Iran can “achieve breakout in four to six months.”
This would cross the last “red line” set by Netanyahu in his address to the UN last September.
This would cross the last “red line” set by Netanyahu in his address to the UN last September.
The twin timelines of Syria and Iran look like converging round about May when Iran may have achieved its nuclear weapon capacity at the same time as Assad launches negotiations with his opponents for their capitulation.
Left in ruins would be the grand strategy the Obama administration sold Israel in the past four years, which many Israelis embraced, that it was necessary to break up the Tehran-Damascus-Hizballah axis before tackling the Iranian nuclear threat.
The approaching spring of 2013 will find Israel facing a hostile axis stronger than ever before and, moreover, armed with a nuclear weapon capability.
Netanyahu’s high-flown words about the first priority for his new government being to keep Iran from procuring a nuclear weapon are fast losing their meaning. Iran has already provided itself with all the necessary components for a nuclear device and needs no more than four to six months to assemble them.
It is therefore hardly surprising to find Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, in search of help to save his country from disintegration, bankruptcy and chaos, turning to the rising force, Iran.
Last December, DEBKAfile and other Middle East media reported that Morsi had invited the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Al Qods Brigades commander Gen. Qassem Soleimani for a consulation on the establishment of a militia for bolstering his and the Muslim Brotherhood’s hold on power.
This report though widely reported in Egyptian media was generally overlooked by news publications in Israel and the West.
Left in ruins would be the grand strategy the Obama administration sold Israel in the past four years, which many Israelis embraced, that it was necessary to break up the Tehran-Damascus-Hizballah axis before tackling the Iranian nuclear threat.
The approaching spring of 2013 will find Israel facing a hostile axis stronger than ever before and, moreover, armed with a nuclear weapon capability.
Netanyahu’s high-flown words about the first priority for his new government being to keep Iran from procuring a nuclear weapon are fast losing their meaning. Iran has already provided itself with all the necessary components for a nuclear device and needs no more than four to six months to assemble them.
It is therefore hardly surprising to find Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, in search of help to save his country from disintegration, bankruptcy and chaos, turning to the rising force, Iran.
Last December, DEBKAfile and other Middle East media reported that Morsi had invited the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Al Qods Brigades commander Gen. Qassem Soleimani for a consulation on the establishment of a militia for bolstering his and the Muslim Brotherhood’s hold on power.
This report though widely reported in Egyptian media was generally overlooked by news publications in Israel and the West.
Ahmadinejad lost no time in taking up the invitation to visit Cairo, arriving Tuesday at the head of the Iranian delegation to the 12th summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation which begins Feb. 6.
The first Iranian leader to visit Egypt in three decades, Ahmadinejad was already talking about a joint Egyptian-Iranian effort for solving the “Palestinian problem” and allowing him to pray on Temple Mount, Jerusalem. Solving the Palestinian problem in Iranian terms means wiping the state of Israel off the map.As seen in his mind’s eye, this should be attainable by a powerful world bloc composed of a nuclear-armed Iran, Egypt, Syria and Hizballah which would triumph over Israel and seize Jerusalem from “the Zionist regime.”
The first Iranian leader to visit Egypt in three decades, Ahmadinejad was already talking about a joint Egyptian-Iranian effort for solving the “Palestinian problem” and allowing him to pray on Temple Mount, Jerusalem. Solving the Palestinian problem in Iranian terms means wiping the state of Israel off the map.As seen in his mind’s eye, this should be attainable by a powerful world bloc composed of a nuclear-armed Iran, Egypt, Syria and Hizballah which would triumph over Israel and seize Jerusalem from “the Zionist regime.”
Netanyahu and partners had better hurry up and cobble together their coalition before Israel’s enemies pull ahead.
and what might Iran do or not do to assist Syria ..... bombing Israel appears to what they won't do.....
http://antiwar.com/blog/2013/02/04/apocolyptic-iranians-refuse-assads-request-to-bomb-israel/
‘Apocolyptic’ Iranians Refuse Assad’s Request to Bomb Israel
John Glaser, February 04, 2013
In the US and Israel, there is an obsession with Iran as this grave threat and their secret nuclear weapons program (which doesn’t exist) as Israel’s death knell. In order to believe this incredible tale, one must accept the claim that Iran’s leaders are suicidal maniacs who don’t respond to the deterrent factor that has informed every nuclear and non-nuclear state since the end of WWII.
As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said to Congress last year, Iran’s leaders are “apocalyptic” and would drop nuclear bombs on Israel as soon as they have the chance because they’re not scared of the inevitable retaliation.Deterrence worked with the Soviets, because every time the Soviets faced a choice between their ideology and their survival, they chose their survival.
But deterrence may not work with the Iranians once they get nuclear weapons.
There’s a great scholar of the Middle East, Prof. Bernard Lewis, who put it best. He said that for the Ayatollahs of Iran, mutually assured destruction is not a deterrent, it’s an inducement.
This ignores so much history that it’s hard to know where to start. But here’s one possible starting point:
The Times of Israel: Iran reportedly refuses Assad request to hit back at Israel
Israel preemptively bombed Syria in a dangerous strike that could easily be considered an unprovoked act of war. Iran is Syria’s main ally, but Assad’s request that Iran help retaliate was faced with stiff refusal. Not only does Iran appear deterred by Israel’s (and the US’s) exponentially more capable military, but they are even restrained in cases of Israeli aggression. Never mind an unprovoked Iranian attack at their earliest opportunity to obliterate Israel – Iran won’t even retaliate when they have the opportunity.
meanwhile , expect more Israel sorties against Syria.....
With US Approval, Israel Plans Syria Escalation
New Plan Calls for Ground Invasion, Occupation of 'Buffer Zone'
by Jason Ditz, February 03, 2013
Few things seem to get Israeli officials planning as quickly as a US imprimatur to launch an attack. Having been given the green light not just for Wednesday’s attacks but for other, future attacks Israel is now said to be planning a dramatic escalation.
The new Israeli plan, under consideration by its leadership, calls not only for additional strikes inside Syria but a full-scale ground invasion across the Purple Line, seizing a 10 mile “buffer zone” on the other side of the line in which to install large numbers of Israeli troops and tanks.
Israel’s previous strikes targeted a military research facility as well as a military convoy parked at a base. The convoy reportedly had anti-aircraft missiles on board, which Israel feared would make its regular attacks on Lebanon much less convenient should they fall into Hezbollah’s hands.
The new strikes would center around a putative Iranian listening post, which Iran is apparently using to keep an eye on Israel, which has regularly threatened to attack them.
The “buffer zone” plan is likely to be far more controversial and potentially explosive, since Israel already has a de facto 10 mile buffer zone it seized in 1967, the Golan Heights. In the past half a century Israel has filled this zone with 20,000 settlers, and the new zone would inevitably look like another land grab.
An Israeli invasion might provoke action from Turkey as well, which condemned Israel’s last strikes and has talked about setting up its own “buffer zone” in the far north, hoping to house Syrian refugees inside of that region instead of inside Turkey itself.
US comments on Israel’s attack amounted to unequivocal endorsement of the strikes and any future strikes, but didn’t specify just how far they’re comfortable with Israel going. Since this plan is under consideration at all, it seems safe to say that the Obama Administration is comfortable with leaving the scope of the war up to Israel, which given its current government’s bellicosity will inevitably mean as broad a scope as possible.
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