DAMASCUS, April 1 (Reuters) – Suspected Israeli warplanes bombed Iran’s embassy in Syria on Monday in a strike that Iran said killed seven of its military advisers, including three senior commanders, and that marked a major escalation in Israel’s war with its regional adversaries.
Reuters reporters at the site in the Mezzeh district of Damascus saw emergency workers clambering atop rubble of a destroyed building inside the diplomatic compound, adjacent to the main Iranian embassy building. Emergency vehicles were parked outside. An Iranian flag hung from a pole by the debris. “We strongly condemn this atrocious terrorist attack that targeted the Iranian consulate building in Damascus and killed a number of innocents,” said Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad who was seen at the site along with Syria’s interior minister. Iran’s ambassador to Syria said the strike hit a consular building in the embassy compound and that his residence was on the top two floors.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a statement that seven Iranian military advisers died in the strike including Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander in its Quds Force, which is an elite foreign espionage and paramilitary arm.
Comment: Israel deliberately bombed part of the Iranian embassy in Damascus in direct contravention of the Vienna Convention. They took out the Quds Force commander in Syria and Lebanon and several other IRGC officers. What else did they do today? They killed several World Central Kitchen volunteers traveling in a UN vehicle. The WCK volunteers were from Australia, Britain and Poland along with two Palestinians.
Granted the current Israeli government is hell bent on removing the Hamas threat (a correct goal), they clearly find the goal worth the price of becoming a true pariah nation. A lot of Israelis are not thrilled with Netanyahu or his approach to removing this threat and are making their displeasure known.
TTG
The zone of interest is narrowing.Central lebanon east of bayrute is now a target
East of Beyrouth unlikely, I think.
Question: further north than Litani River?
No further north.You can see the desperate attempts at various diversions.Poisoned willow manoeuvre.
If you are talking about ground operations there is zero chance that this IDF can make it as far as the Litani Rive.
They tried in the last Lebanon/Israel war and failed, and today this IDF is way weaker and Hezbollah is much stronger than they were the last time around.
Netanyahu might well order his army to try – I would put nothing past him ‘ but if he did order his army to advance to the Litani then he ain’t getting that army back again.
TTG,
“Israeli government is hell bent on removing the Hamas threat”
No, it is an excuse to kill civillians. If the Israelis wanted to avoid killing innocent Palestinians, they would have only sent the IDF in to fight Hamas. It is a genocide, only people without a conscience can condone it.
TonyL,
Both Hamas and the IDF are fighting with little regard for civilians.
Hamas is fighting to protect their own cities and villages from an invading army, as they have every right to do under international humanitarian law.
I’m not at all sure that your equivalence works under those circumstances, especially when the invading army has deliberately corralled the civilian population into a compressed corner of the “battlefield” and is bombing them relentlessly from the air.
I’m struggling to understand where you see the Israeli civilians that are in the Gaza Strip and being relentlessly bombed by Hamas. I’ve looked at the videos, and the only Israeli civilians in there are being bombed by the IDF.
YR,
Do you fail to see the Israelis murdered by Hamas in Israel? Do you fail to see the rockets/missiles flying, quite indiscriminately, into Israel from Gaza, Lebanon and Yemen?
If Hamas is going to attack into Israel and fire rockets, daily, at Israel and then run and hide behind civilians, then Hamas’ expectations should be that one day Israel will have had enough of it all and will pursue into Gaza and be fighting mad when they do; which, of course, is what has happened.
I am struggling to see how you can be so utterly lopsided in your perceptions of the situation.
Eric, the death toll is 33:1. My professors at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem used to argue about the accepted ratio, taking positions from as low as 3:1 up to 10:1. 33:1 = genocide. The numbers of children and women killed equal genocide. The targeting of hospitals and lengths of siege are designed to kill, not provide security. Bibi’s office published a statement on October 9th or 10th (?) calling for vengeance. This has nothing to do with security and everything to do with revenge. It’s Old Testament stuff. If you can’t read Hebrew, I think they publish Bibi’s statements in English. I’ll try to find a link.
wtofd,
Did your professors ever talk about building command centers under hospitals and schools? Did they give a take on the casualties inflicted by Hamas on October 7th? Was that a, what term should we use, “acceptable”(?) level of killing that means Israel must immediately stop because they killed back enough; or was that a “genocide” level of killing (and rape and kidnapping) by Hamas?
wtofd,
Yes – the IDF tactics are designed to kill; kill Hamas and supporters that is. Hamas should hide out in hospitals if they don’t want them attacked. Who said anything about providing security? What does that even mean? Who cares if it’s Old Testament stuff. These are all meaningless descriptors. You think that Hamas is “Old Testament” level stuff? Killing everyone, raping, seizing hostages? What does Old Testament stuff mean? War? Bombing cities? Genocide? Gaza has not even begun to reach the WW2 level of killing done by all sides. If the Palestinians don’t want to be killed, they shouldn’t go out and kill. It’s pretty simple.
Ironically, the Israelis killed at the festival and in the neighboring Kibbutz were Palestinian huggers, like you.
Fred, my professors were largely the offspring of Shoah survivors with a sprinkling of Sabras and 2nd Aliyah immigrants. In any case, they all understood the deep complexity of settling and then occupying contested land with previous occupants of different religious and ethnic backgrounds. They were all eyes-wide-open intellectuals of considerable insight. They had also served–most of them–in the IDF. Skin in the game, Taleb would call it.
My professor of public policy and media, what we might call public perception, was very clear that Knesset-level discussions included the ratio of killings even during hostage recoveries.
They would also be smart enough to realize that the October Hamas incursion was in no way an existential threat. They had lived through Entebbe and Munich. How has Israel prospered financially over the decades in spite of some of the most asinine fiscal policy of entitlements?
Because most of my professors lived there, they didn’t have the luxury of pretending that the other side isn’t human. Various regimes have tried that, as the current one is again, and learned that it doesn’t work. Displacing millions of people is only a long-term solution if you’re intending eradication. Denial / demolition of hospital and school access is a surefire way to keep your enemy your enemy. It’s a way to preserve a lifestyle of fear, violence, killing and destruction for your children and grandchildren.
If it makes you feel better, I think Hamas are technically psychopaths too.
Eric Newhill,
Killing “Hamas and supporters” means killing all of the Palestinians, and that is called “genocide”.
But hey – it doesn’t take much to get normal everyday people to support genocide.
Eric, sorry for my lack of clarity. I meant, “Bibi’s reaction is not intended to provide security to ha’eretz, it’s designed to provide maximum vengeance.” Your conflation of WWII is facile–a common hasbarim trick. Israel has psychopathically killed 22,000 women and children. With ~8,000 missing, one expects that number to rise. Vengeance as a tactic is not a meaningless descriptor. To be clear, since you seem to be in a rush to spew and not digest, a psychopath inflicts pain without concern for the victim. You and Hamas are flip sides of the same coin.
And I appreciate that the IDF is a one-trick killing dog. But the head of state and cabinet are charged with a broader task.
As for “Palestinian hugger,” enjoy your hatred and the misery it creates. There is another way.
(And I do think the Hamas is very much not New Testament stuff. They are abhorrent.)
wtofd,
Yours is the kind of squishy progressive thinking that is destroying cities in the US. We can’t arrest people for theft or demand bail for more serious crimes because these poor criminals had a rough start in life and prison will only make them worse. So the criminals become bolder, run wild and decent people close their shops and move.
If you were one of the victims or family of victims of Oct 7th, or you have a Hamas rocket land on your roof, then Hamas is absolutely an existential threat. The government has the responsibility to protect its citizens. It can’t have Hamas killing citizens by the hundreds or thousands whenever the mood feels right to Hamas. Same goes for the Houtis and their piracy and missiles and drones, all supported by Iran.
These people have national anthems and flags that state “death to Israel”. You’re not going to change their sick minds by treating them nicely after a terrorist attack – and they indoctrinate their children in their sick ideology. So the next generation isn’t going to become enemies due to Israeli response.
Should the world have just left Nazi Germany alone and hoped that being nice and understanding would result in the Nazis throwing down their weapons and tearfully repenting their evil ways?
We blasted Germany and its civilians. Then they surrendered and they do not hate us today (except maybe B at Moon of Alabama) because they have common sense. Palestinians have no common sense?
wtofd,
Vengeance is your interpretation of what the IDF is doing, and a bad interpretation at that. Are you really an Israeli?
Once again, Hamas and other jihadis are hiding amongst civilians. The IDF has Hamas on the run. The IDF cannot let up now as they restrict Hamas to ever small areas of Gaza. This tactic is not kill civilians. It is a sound military tactic.
Yeah Right says all Palestinians are Hamas supporters. Certainly the majority are. To the extent that they are collateral damage, they had it coming for supporting those who kill Israeli civilians. Aiding and abetting terrorism is an international crime.
Just because Hasbara says something, doesn’t make it false. Does Hasbara even say it, or is that just another of your interpretations (i.e. anything that supports what Israel is doing = Hasbara and Hasbara = bad)? Half the nonsense people around the world believe about the conflict comes from Palestinian lies. Welcome to war. Truth is always a casualty.
wtofd,
A rather long winded explanation for they had no solution to terrorism but the decades long attempts at appeasement.
“How has Israel prospered financially over the decades in spite of some of the most asinine fiscal policy of entitlements?”
Wrong question. Why have all the Arab states failed to prosper financially (other than with massive oil reserves) while Israel has done so? What can be learned by their example? Better not ask those questions or the elites keeping the Muslims impoverished might lose their un-entitlements.
Eric, nonsense. All of it. The prime minister of Australia calls me and everyone who thinks like me a radical, right-wing zealot. I live in a state with pervasive, legal gun ownership, where people own and fire guns legally as a means to feed their families. The Gentleman’s Trifecta of shotgun, handgun, and long rifle for game. I think what’s happening in San Francisco as the logical consequence of stupidity and an utter lack of legislative will / common sense. Aside from women’s reproductive rights and sensible marijuana policy, there’s little progressive about me or nothing about my state. But keep conflating me with Nazi (check) and Portland, OR (check) so you don’t have to deal with the blood on your hands.
As for emboldening criminals, what do you make of rampant settlement expansion, murders of Palestinians in the West Bank, if not vengeance and racism? Death to Israel? What about chants Death to Palestine? Oh sorry, Death to Arabs?
Your insistence on redactio ad hitlerum is a common tactic of hasbarim and a logical fallacy. I won’t be baited. As to are hasbarim ever accurate–the Good Colonel’s repeated suggestion that we treat the intel separately from the source–of course. Hasbarim can tell the truth. But in your arguments, Israel is forever the victim, never the aggressor. Those of who want plurality in the Holy Land have heard you and your Hamas brothers-from-another-mother for decades. You’re hate mongers.
Did I ever claim to be Israeli?
I suspect you’ve closed your mind to this discussion so I’ll let you have the last word. Best of luck.
Fred, Arab governance is largely a disaster. Agreed. My acknowledgement of Israeli economic success was not to disparage it. I’m impressed with what they’ve created.
Eric: “Do you fail to see the Israelis murdered by Hamas in Israel?”
You are a real piece of work, you know that?
Yeah, lot’s of Israelies were killed on October 7th.
Many were serving IDF personnel killed in combat so while I’m sure their Mothers grieved for them, so sorry, they weren’t civilians and their deaths weren’t “terrorism”.
And many of the civilians who were killed were killed by the IDF. Again, wailing Mothers but, so sorry, their blood wasn’t on Hamas’ hands.
But, yes, a significant number of civilians were killed by Hamas on October 7th, and that is to be condemned.
But that was on October 7th, and since Zionists soooooo love to start history on a particular date of their self-serving choosing I’ll decide to do the same. And I’ll choose… October 8th.
And SINCE October 8th all the mayhem, death and destruction is ENTIRELY the responsibility of Netanyahu and his “war cabinet”
ALL of it top to bottom and beginning to end.
Care to dispute that?
OK wtofd,
You’re a self reliant, tough, conservative gun guy in rural Australia.
So what some Aboriginals got all wild and started obtaining weapons and followers and their motto is “death to wtofd! And his family! they stole our land!” – and all intelligence shows that these people have all the capabilities and seriousness to actually be an existential threat to the wtofd family? Indeed some of your family has been killed by them already on several occasions.
I suppose that you would confess your alleged sins, throw up you hands, give away your land and move somewhere far away, some foreign place where maybe they don’t like you and you don’t feel safe. I wouldn’t. I’d kill the bastards or die trying, but I’m just the drunk uncle talking.
How come the Ukrainians don’t just cave to Russia? Why does anyone fight?
Eric Newhill,
Believe me, you’re not the only drunk uncle on this issue. At least you realize the Ukrainians resist for the same reason the Israelis resist. But the Palestinians resist for the same reason and they’re on the same land as the Israelis. Even without the Hamas jihadis, Palestinians will resist or die trying. They can’t go anywhere and nobody will take them anyways. Israelis are really in the same position. They can’t go anywhere and remain Israelis, but at least they can go elsewhere and remain Jews. Colonel Lang often pointed out this tribalism and nationalism that seems to always trump reasoned humanity.
TTG,
As you know, Muslims slaughtered 1.5 million of my father’s people. It was a real genocide. I grew up with survivors. They were never “ok”. A dark, sad cloud always hung over them. A hundred years later we had ISIS and other jihadi groups trying the same thing, executing Christians and Shia in gruesome ways. The lucky ones were just lined up and shot. The women were raped. Meanwhile in Afghanistan public floggings and stoning of women is back. Homosexuals are killed. This is the 21st century for god’s sake.
The Shia, based in Iran, have been shouting “Death to America” (my country) my entire adult life. For my entire life (childhood + adult) Muslim terrorists have been committing very public hideous, meaningless, acts of violence against innocent people all over the world, from the Olympics to 9/11 to Oct 7th. They would all like to kill me and annihilate my country. They say so. What kind of mob of crazy dangerous psychos have a national flag that reads “Death to Israel. Death to America”? It is remarkable to me that so few in the west can face these facts or, if they kind of do, how they make excuses for the killers and rapists.
Israel does not want to attack me or my country. So yes, I will take their side when push comes to shove. While there is truth in your comment about people fighting over the same land and irrational tribalism, I’m sorry, but I cannot see a moral or societal equivalence between Israel and its Muslims opponents. Nor do I accept that it is “racist” to judge Islam based on its actions. That Islam tends to degenerate into a brutal, backwards, authoritarian and aggressively expansive society, is a fact. That they consider you and me to be enemies – and constantly seek ways to kill us – is also a fact.
If that bothers people, tough. That said, I will back off on expressing my utter disdain for the religion and culture. It’s not my intent to be a troll or a venting drunk uncle.
Eric Newhill,
What you describe as Islam is better termed Islamism, a brand more common to the Middle East and certainly to the al Qaeda and ISIS jihadis. They’re like Christian Nationalists only more so. But remember that Asia is the home to far more of the Islamic faith than the Middle East. I know a few Malaysian Scout Trackers and Filipino SF who are a far cry from those jihadis. They observed Ramadan along with a Tunisian SF officer during our Robin Sage exercise.
Your willingness to tone down future comments on the subject is appreciated.
Eric, I’m not Australian. Have never been.
The Israelis are not Ukrainian. More conflation from either ignorance or willful confusion. They invaded established Palestinian land–I’m not talking pre-48, I’m talking borders agreed to by Arik (we’ll wait while you google this to catch up….). They are using the music festival attacks as a cover to destroy Gaza, destroy churches, destroy mosques, destroy hospitals, destroy schools, displace millions of people, attack innocents in the West Bank, murder women and children. You are comfortable with infanticide. I am not. Bless.
(And I’m not referencing some 18th century anti-semitism about well-poisoning. I mean 2024. Can you write a single paragraph without conflation?)
They going have that right. Gaza is an occupied territory under Israeli administration. That means it’s not an independent nation, but it also means that Israel has obligations under international law that it’s been ignoring for decades.
The commissary system at the “open air prison” contains two BMW dealerships. Sounds like fairly opulent prison administration to me.
TTG
There is a reason Israel is going on trial for genocide. Which will take years to get to a final verdict.
The PM of Israel has said that ever man, woman, youth, infant, goat, sheep, donkey and camel in Gaza is to be put to death.
The president of Israel has said there is NO innocents in Gaza.
I don’t give the benefit of the doubt to such a people when judging their actions. I give the victims of such a people the benefit of the doubt.
Because if I am wrong and Israel is not engaged in the ultimate crime against humanity aka genocide but only massive war crimes I can live with the consequences. Anyone who stands with Israel chooses to accept that they can end up as supporters of genocide aka like the Nazis and reveal themselves as straight-to-hell-evil. That is a moral choice, TTG.
If Hamas wanted to avoid killing civilians they would do what, besides not build under hospitals, kill civilians, and take human shield hostag?
Fred,
You have seen the videos of IDF soldiers using Palestinian civilians as human shields, haven’t you?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7lJMv4ceyk
James,
I sure hope the Turkish government refers those two to Israeli courts for marching that “Palestinian civilian” across the street at gunpoint. Or as the left and right here put it: “Say his name!” in this case all of them. It’s been two months TRT managed that level of follow up?
Fred,
You are aware that the pre-1948 Jewish terrorists, who fought both the British and Arabs, built safe houses and ammo dumps under residential housing, businesses and the like? They did exactly what Hamas does today. The first car (truck) bomb in the Middle East? Set off by Jewish terrorists. They killed civilians, men, women and children, British and Arabs.
When the Israeli state was formed these same terrorists were then made into leaders of the nation, including PMs. It would seem that the first batch of Israelis was VERY similar to the Hamas we know of today. Same tactics, same using civilians as shield, electing terrorists as their leaders.
Interesting how history comes fill circle.
Siktir NIAC pezevenk
Yeah, this is a serious escalation. Embassies count as Territory of the foreign Nation, so this is equivalent to bombing Iran. I expect a strong UN resolution condemning this will be passed *very* soon, and I doubt that the USA will veto it. UN Resolutions don’t mean much, but losing US protection would be disastrous for Israel.
I sorta-kinda understand why Bibi thinks he has the US by the short hairs: US elections run on Money, and AIPAC has plenty of that. The are presumably betting that Biden won’t risk the end of his attempt to revitalize US infrastructure, so they think he will knuckle under [again], even though it will please nobody.
If Biden gets fed up and cuts off money & weapons to Israel, they can probably get by until next January, expecting a new Trump Admin – and a GOP-dominated Congress – to give them a[nother] blank check. There are two big holes in this plan, though: (1) Trump isn’t an “honest politician” (he won’t stay bought), and (2) the GOP can actually be much more flexible in Foreign Policy because they don’t depend on AIPAC money. The core of the Republican Party isn’t its voters, it’s a set of institutions (Heritage, AEI, the Federalist Society, etc) funded by like-minded Zillionaires; if those Zillionaires and those Institutes decide that Israel is no longer a useful asset for their core priorities, they can switch directions quickly with little political cost (see: Nixon goes to China).
Presumably, Bibi thinks he has some dirt on Trump that would keep him in line (maybe some video from the Epstein Archives?). That trick has worked for decades, but why would a newly installed President Trump put up with that? He could easily claim that any such “video” is just some AI fake, and heck, even I might believe him!
So… assuming that Bibi et al aren’t stupid enough to depend on Trump’s fealty, the next layer of the onion would depend on Trump’s VP choice and the competence of the Secret Service. Sadly, Trump is likely to choose his VP candidate based on loyalty (to Trump) and good looks (goog “VPILF”) rather than anything related to integrity…
All of this is very sad for this unfortunate general. But you have to understand, Izzies are just protecting themselves. Nothing new under the sun, the omelette and the eggs or the woodcutter and the chips.
Now, if Izzies diplomats were assassinated around the world, it would be cowardly anti-Semitic attacks.
I forgot: \s.
I hope the Iranians will be shrewd and wise. Although, to tell the truth, the assassination of its generals has begun to take its toll over the last 4 years.
I suspect the plan is to provoke a wider war and expel the Palestinians from the West Bank as well as Gaza and maybe seize Lebanon up to Litani river to secure northern settlements against Hezbollah. Israel seems to be working up the escalation ladder to provoke a war in Lebanon, while increasing pressure in the West Bank with additional land seizures.
While Netanyahu is personally unpopular the war has a wide support (almost 90%) in Israel. This war has already done massive damage to Israel’s international standing and its economy, but has also hardened the attitudes within Israel itself, creating a consensus on the military solution for the Palestinian question.
It’s just a question of time before there is an attack out of West Bank that would then be used as justification for a military campaign to try to push as many Palestinians as possible into Jordan.
Yes. Seemingly one of the drawbacks of a parliamentary government is Bibi has to appease the pyschopathic (technical term, not intended as a slur) HaTzionut HaDatit. This is about inflicting pain on innocents and grabbing land / expulsion of Palestinians.
“They took out the Quds Force commander in Syria and Lebanon and several other IRGC officers.”
Those Quds Force commanders were in Syria at the invitation of the Syrian government.
I fail to see how Israel can claim them to be a legitimate military target, seeing as how Israel and Iran are not at war with each other.
Don’t get me wrong: I get that Israel didn’t LIKE them being in Syria. Sure, I do.
But to my mind “I don’t like them being there” isn’t a legitimate reason for bombing them from the air.
I mean, Putin doesn’t like the Poles, and he certainly doesn’t like that the Poles are serving as a conduit for arms going to Ukraine and seem to be supplying an inordinate number of “mercenaries”.
But Russia and Poland aren’t at war with each other, and so the Polish embassy in (say) Berlin wouldn’t be a legitimate target for a Kinzhal missile.
YR,
Russia and Poland + Germany + the rest of NATO are most definitely at war with Russia. Polish brass meeting with German brass to work up plans to damage Russia is definitely a legitimate target, even in a consulate. The only reason such strikes haven’t occurred [yet] is because of the risk of nuclear war and article 5.
Iranian brass meeting with Syrian brass in a consulate to work up plans to attack Israel is definitely a legit target and that target will be hit because there are no nuclear repercussions and no article 5; in fact, no repercussions at all beyond what those countries want to do anyhow because Iran and Syria are at war with Israel in the same way NATO is at war with Russia.
Everyone is just hiding their wars behind translucent fig leaves. No one except the excessively foolish, lawyers and the obsessively literal are rendered unseeing by the fig leaves.
Eric: “Russia and Poland + Germany + the rest of NATO are most definitely at war with Russia”
They most definitely are not.
Histrionics are not facts, Eric.
@Eric Newhill
I have no dog in the tragic Middle east war, but I still fail to understand your logic. As far as I understand, your position is:
1) Israel can bomb Syria whenever and whoever they want to (which they did long before the Hamas attack), who cares?
2) Israel can target and kill whenever, whoever and as much people (call them terrorists, collateral damages, whatever) they want because ,,Hamas started it”?
3) dropping of fig leaves means – ,,they started it”, we can do whatever we want to – bomb hospitals, embassies, kill aid workers, snipe whoever we want to, destroy every building we want to?
What logic? It is unalloyed hatred of Islam and of Muslims.
TTG
Eric Newhill has some valuable opinions but the wall of hate on every post related to Islam(ism) and/or the ME adds nothing to the discussion and is devaluing the blog.
Barbara Ann,
Opinions are obviously extreme and heated on this, far more than on Ukraine-Russia or most any other issue addressed here. Anyone here declaring unmitigated support for either Hamas or IDF actions is talking out their ass. This brings out the drunk uncle in many, but even a drunk uncle may say something worth considering. FIDO
100% Barbara. I spent years touting this blog in dozens of meetings with members of Congress, their staff, members of the US State Department, the US delegation to the UN and foreign diplomats. All of this when I was lobbying against the Saudi war on Yemen. I dont do this anymore. When the most vile and racist commentary is regularly allowed, with little or no comment or seemong attempts by those who run the blog, I can’t in good faith suggest it as a place to get educate, intelligent commentary on the Middle East.
Barbara,
Amen to that. I have been ignoring whatever Eric Newhill say about Islam or the ME. Life is short, I won’t be curious enough to read his ignorant racist rant.
Stefan,
So long, and thanks for all the insights.
TTG
There’s no need to ban any uncles, just once in a while maybe suggest they sober up before attending a civilized discussion club. An alternative of course is to admit drunk anti-Semite uncles too – in the interests of fairness you understand. I’ll maybe play that role myself from time to time to help illustrate the need for sobriety all round.
Jovan, Israel is at war with Iran and all the countries that Iran supports in fighting Israel. Oct 7th is but one event in an existential war that started a hundred years ago. So yes, if Israeli intelligence detects it enemies gathering, it can attack them.
Eric: “Jovan, Israel is at war with Iran and all the countries that Iran supports in fighting Israel.”
More histrionics.Iran and Israel are not”at war”.
YR,
Try not to be such a tool. Here is a statement issued by Iran itself. Iran is unequivocal that it planned the Oct 7th attack, that the attacks were glorious, there are more to come, death to Israel, etc., etc.
https://www.mizanonline.ir/fa/news/4766444/%D8%AA%D8%AC%D9%84%DB%8C%D9%84-%D8%B4%D9%88%D8%B1%D8%A7%DB%8C-%D8%A7%D8%A6%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%81-%D8%A7%D8%B2-%D9%86%D9%82%D8%B4-%D8%B4%D9%87%DB%8C%D8%AF-%D8%B2%D8%A7%D9%87%D8%AF%DB%8C-%D8%AF%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D8%AC%D8%B1%D8%A7%DB%8C-%D8%B9%D9%85%D9%84%DB%8C%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%B7%D9%88%D9%81%D8%A7%D9%86%E2%80%8C%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%82%D8%B5%DB%8C
Fred,
I am not going any place. I suggest you re-read my comment. I just pointed out whereas I used to suggest this blog to all and sundry in the past, I havent been doing that due to openly racist and sectarian hatred that is spewed here in the comments. I am all about freedom of speech, but done with decorum. Openly racist and sectarian comments, using racist and sectarian terminology, just shows a person either lacks class or the IQ to get their opinion across without referring to people without using racist and sectarian terms. Some commenters feel free to call for mass murder and genocide based on racial/religious background. You might not mind that, others here clearly do. If people want the racist and sectarian name calling and calls for mass murder and genocide they can go to Stormfront for that.
Or they could go to Iran, Yemen, etc. for racist and sectarian name calling and calls for mass murder and genocide
Stefan,
continue to appeal to amenable authority to police the speech that offends you. racist only comes up 5 times in this comment; a few more ought to affect the algorithms that will degoogle this now ISW centric blog.
“I fail to see..”
You seem proud of the fact.
Then explain it to me, Barbara.
It’s just that I don’t see much interest in your comments in ‘seeing’ things from the POV of the Other (in this case the POV of the Israeli government). Even the most elementary attempt to do so would make it clear that the Israelis have near zero interest in considerations of the legitimacy of their actions from an outsider’s POV. They consider their actions self-justifying.
If one’s interests are limited to what the Israelis should do, then that is fine. But if one is also interested in what the Israelis likely will do, then one needs to also see with their eyes.
A quite bizarre response, Barbara.
I definitely DO attempt to “see” things from the PoV of Netanyahu, Gvir and the restoration Israel’s “war cabinet”, and what I “see” is two-fold
1) an irrational, homicidal and very definitely illegal blood-lust
2) an unseemly (and very tranparent) desire to use the events of October 7 to finally go full-steam ahead with the expunging of the existing inhabitants of the Gaza Strip so that it can be annexed by Israel
OK, I also “see” a third PoV for Netanyahu: keeping his sorry ass out of jail, though I doubt that motivates anyone else in his war cabinet.
As for the rest of your post, we’ll, even.more bizarre: it reads as if I should feel empathy for a bunch of murders even as they continue they murderous rampage.
Sorry, no.
Also, so sorry for the typos: I was using my phone, and the damn auto-erect… DAMN IT.. autocorrect function keep kicking in
Netanyahu does not care. He has been doing this his entire life. He went to HS in the US, returned to Israel, did a bunch of cross border raids, returned to the US for more schooling then went back to Israel for more cross border raids. Nothing has changed except the US schooling is now US weapons and cash and he no longer personally does the cross border raids himself.
Bibi is playing with fire and not only what is directed at Hamas. The nation would not survive for long without outside help and support, especially from the US and that is getting harder and harder to provide politically. Biden has a hammer and Bibi is doing all he can to look like a nail. Bibi is also getting a lot of blow back internally and finds himself now between a rock and a hard place. I doubt that he knows how to solve this and he seems to just keep digging.
I see the US instantly distancing itself from this strike, putting hands in the air and telling Iran that it knew nothing. I would expect nothing less from the Biden administration. I haven’t seen the US condemn the attack, yet, at least not publicly; maybe the US will, maybe it won’t. That is truly walking the political razor’s edge for Biden.
Iran is obviously up to something that has to do with attacking Israel. Israel obviously knows it and is showing its existential enemies that it is not only aware of its enemies’ activities and locations, it can and will effectively target and kill those enemies whoever they are, where ever they are and when ever it chooses. An extremely powerful message. Iran should take it as an extreme warning to back off. Will they? Iran tends to take its beatings like a dog. So maybe. Besides, what are they going to do about it that they weren’t going to do anyhow?
Lots of people whining that consulates are sacred ground that can’t be bombed. Whatever, whine away. Same whiners were already condemning Israel over Gaza. So Israel really had nothing to lose. The only question is the US’ reaction. I say that the US will remain a supporter of Israel if push comes to shove. I think Israel sees it the same way.
My opinion is Iran should retaliate in kind.
Morongobill,
Precisely what Israel wants to provoke. Maybe they could just knock off a few Israeli billionaires to send a message rather than kill run of the mill folks like their proxies have been doing for years?
@Fred
”Precisely what Israel wants to provoke”
and drag in the USA.
If the USA can avoid the impulse to nation build, we will make short work of these people, just as we did to the Iraqis, twice. We only lose when we stick around trying to turn uncivilized mutts into a decent society.
Jovan P,
Yes. A lot of others, especially in Europe, would like to see us dragged into another foreign war.
LOL
Not 2014 this time.
Hamas are holding Israeli hostages as collateral,and israel is holding Gaza as collateral.
Best for everyone to back off and let the 2 tribes work it out.
Israel has already killed dozens of hostages with their bombing. I have seen numbers suggesting the Israelis have killed the majority of the hostages still held. This is why relatives and others of the hostages have been protesting, daily, against Netanyahu.
Stefan.
The numbers
Unit 8104
Res 554
Stefan,
Do they also protest against Hamas for taking hostages to begin with – along with all the killing they did on October 7th?
I don’t see that happening. Because Israel is lead by nuclear-armed genocidal maniacs with the full support of the USA, EU & Britain.
Do you think that if Israel nukes Teheran that the USA & Co will not protect them? I don’t, so what I see is the death of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
Everyone can see that the US is scared of North Korea because of their nukes. Any nation with a risk of getting into a fight with the US will look at nukes as the only self-defence means available to keep the US & henchmen at bay.
The term ” Iranian backed ” is used to describe any entity that is resisting US hegemony or is being supplied weaponry from Iran to protect themselves. You never hear the term US backed when Israel or any other country is bombing the crap out of some country or populace like Gazans with US weapons. The Iranians would not be arming Hezbollah or Hamas if the Israelis hadn’t invaded and occupied Lebanon and they and they hadn’t been killing and abusing the Palestinians since their creation.
“A lot of Israelis are not thrilled with Netanyahu or his approach to removing this threat and are making their displeasure known.”
I’d contest part of that statement. Voislav above is right, the vast majority of Israeli’s remain fully on board with the IDF’s conduct of the war, even if many don’t like Bibi personally. Team Biden sees Bibi’s leadership as the problem, it is not. Since October 7 Israeli public opinion has fundamentally shifted hard to the right. As for Bibi, he sees the problem from exactly the opposite direction – Biden and his squeamish lefty supporters are a problem for Israel now. As Alastair Crooke infers, Bibi seems to be betting everything on red.
Consulate or no consulate, the IRGC were very dumb putting several of their senior commanders in one place within range of Israeli missiles. Israel’s blood is up and it is well past giving a damn what the rest of the world thinks of it. Iran should have know that.
Murderous maniacs hiding in a consulate just like they hide among civilians – and they cry foul when Israel takes up their dare.
Eric,
Americans will scream real loud when another government/NGO/etc decides that to “take out” a few “murderous maniacs” who had planned/authorized/conducted drone strikes that killed civilians blowing up a consulate would be just great.
Fred,
The US blew up the Chinese embassy in Belgrade (the CIA did the targeting and said it was an accident). Islamic maniacs burned down the US consulate in Benghazi, killing US citizens. Bin Laden’s boys blew up US embassies in Africa. ………..so nothing would surprise me. The diplomatic headsheds are apparently fair game. People like to scream about stuff. I don’t pay attention to their screaming. Sometimes I laugh at it.
Eric,
The communist government accepted the apology of the Clinton administration and understood that was not specifically targeted. The 100,000 fentynol deaths a year they inflict upon us, that’s another story.
You know Eric I was talking to someone about this.Damascus is protected by missiles and russian stuff
Yet by f 35 it is probably 3 minutes away..I mean was it arrogance or stupidity to gather there thinking they were safe.Or were they plastic faces and a ripe cherry.you know the red chocolate cherry ripe.What a name cherry ripe.
My old boss used to say you wouldn’t know if your asshole had been popped or riveted when I was an apprentice
(electrician construction)
As Barbara said Israelis are not happy.Nor for that matter are the Russians
We are not in time and space at the beginning of history as,in Persia.It is now at the tail end.
The Rocks the Rocks they are coming.
mcohen,
Yeah. I was thinking these might be some flunkies that fell from the Grand Ayatollah’s favor. Give the followers something to scream about.
I would say more than that.The so called axis of russia-iran-china (ric) could be coming under a bit of strain.From what i deduced in my imagination is that russia is selling israel the iranian drones on the quiet in exchange for some good quality cherry ripe bars.The new variety that have iranian putschachio nuts in them ( the best kind )
The Logic of Arguments against Israel Responding Back against The Hamas.. After Hamas Started This War …Brutally. and demanding They Stop…Is Like Demanding
That WW2…Fighting Against The NAZIs..Germany…MUST End…Because England Finally Fire Bombed ….DRESDEN, Germany and Burned up 200,000 Civilians..
We Fought That War to End..Defeated The Italians
…and Germans…Surrender.. And The Occupation Of Germany…To this Very Day
I Have Read vThat Speaker Mike Johnson Has Just Decided to Fast Track The 34 $ BILLION Dollar Aid Package to Ukraine …Rapidly…This Month…..
While France is Sending Its APCs..and Upgrading thier New Ones…More Missles…
Ukraine Reached Deep…Russia…Energy..Plus Blowing up One Third Russian Tank Assault..
Of Interest…Chinese National Infiltrating Guam..USA and other areas.
.Its All,,What
IT IS, ,Progressive……I Think of Them..As The Retrograde Party..With a Low Energy Bunny…
Oh…It was a Mix of American and British Heavy Bombers..500 plus
American and 700 plus British… Many Tons of Bombs to the CENTER of Dresden.. All The Major Railroad Strategic Lines Avoided..
. Meant for Allied Use later…
The 200,000 Dead is NAZI Propaganda they Say..More like 25,000 Civilians Blown Up…It was Meant to Be a Hiroshima Moment.
.Like Hamas..Germany was Almost Kaput..So..Iran & Proxys..Will Drag that War Out…They Have Supporters…In America…
Haven’t commented here since the Col. passed.
I’m not emotionally invested in the Jewish state (or its detractors) either way, but the idea it’s becoming a “pariah nation” belongs the realm of ideological wish fulfilment, not reality.
Europe is busy with Ukraine, and America’s increasingly fixated on the Chinese dragon it spent the 20th century creating. The Zionist lobby retains most of it’s institutional control in the states, with erosions in academia compensated by ‘flanking fire’ from wall street, k street, and congress, and states like DeSantian Florida.
Guess what – they will West Bank-ize Gaza (including settlements), just as they will get that IMEC economic corridor once the dust of collapsing hospitals settles. The Arab states will sit there and take it. Egypt can’t feed itself. The Gulf State elite have got a taste of swing state geopolitics; the old dreams of pan-Arabism and/or Islamic revival are the preserve of their passive populations. Their militaries are totally reliant on the US anyway.
That leaves Iran. Uncle Sam is far more interested in deputizing Israel to handle that problem while it pivots to the Indo-Pacific than tut-tutting about the “war crimes by the numbers” of urban combat.
Prediction: Israel will emerge as the decisive victor across the spectrum of state of power. The population will consolidate a new national ethos around the thumping in Gaza. It’s increasingly right-leaning, Mizrahi. The old guard of Ashkenazi hand-wringers are on the demographic decline. The biggest threat to Israel is the proliferation of free loading ultra orthodox.
The biggest threat to israels enemies is the profileration of the ultra orthodox.
Big families,zealots and absolute belief in israel.They only need to arm and train 100000.One tenth of the population
There is no going back after 7/10.
Well here is something interesting that our crowd of antisemites won’t want to know;
Coalition Council of Islamic Revolution Forces (SHANA) released a statement concerning one those killed in the Israeli bombing of the Iranian consulate in Syria.
“Major General Mohammad Reza Zahedi with a group of others His warriors received the reward of years of sincere struggle…
Martyr Zahedi’s strategic role in forming and strengthening the resistance front, as well as designing and implementing the Al-Aqsa storm, are great honors that will make the silent efforts of this great commander immortal in the history of the anti-occupation regime.
The deadly blows that are inflicted on the occupiers of Jerusalem these days have pushed the Zionist crime leaders to the border of helplessness and desperation, and the cowardly attack on the consulate of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Damascus is a clear proof of this claim.
Supporters of Tel Aviv should know that the harsh and regretful response of the Islamic Republic of Iran to this bloody crime is on the way.”
And according to a Reuters story;
“Zahedi had arrived in Syria a day or so before the attack and was staying at the embassy compound with two other senior commanders, according to an Iranian source who, like others in this story, asked not be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The three men were in Syria to discuss operational logistics and coordination, the source said, without elaborating. Zahedi was a top figure in the Guards’ Quds Force, which funnels Iranian support to allies around the region, including to Lebanon’s Hezbollah.”
So basically, the murderous psychos that are the Iranian government were architects of the Oct 7th attack on Israeli civilians and were hiding, like the cowardly scum that they are, in the embassy compound in Syria as they planned and directed the attack.
Good on Israel for not letting rules around embassies get in the way of doing what they need to do.
Interesting.Whats more israel has broken the chain of command and the communication link between gaza and syria.That means that iranian forces in gaza are under direct threat.
They are trying every diversion in the book to save them.The tail end of a wounded crocodile is the most dangerous.I would say that the next few weeks total focus is called for by israeli leadership.
16 may.
Eric Newhill,
Both Hamas and Iran have separately and on multiple occasions said the Oct 7 operation was done unilaterally. The US confirmed this in 2023. Using an odd statement released by the media arm of an obscure right wing ultranationalist Iranian political party as proof against that is reaching, to put it very mildly.
“A lot of Israelis are not thrilled with Netanyahu or his approach to removing this threat and are making their displeasure known”
I continue to believe that this is a dangerous meme being pushed from above through the media, not only now but also in the initial days of the conflict. It is very clear that there is no concerted voice from the Israeli criticizing the extremity of the Israeli response to 07-OCT/hostage situation. It is the direct opposite, If there is any dissent from the Israeli public, it is that bibi is NOT INFLICTING ENOUGH PUNISHMENT against the palestinians to avenge 07-OCT. This meme is pushed in order to inculcate the westerns crowds with the idea that the Israeli public/Nation is not to be blamed for the fallout of the war, but instead it all lies at the feet of the tyrant Bibi. This is the same dangerous thinking that makes the American public believe that Putin is directly responsible for the Ukraine war, not the Russian people.