The war in Syria is in danger of spilling into new areas after Israel overreacted to a solitary drone flight, and launched an airstrike hundreds of miles into Syrian territory, losing at least one jet in the process.
The strike came after an Iranian drone flew over the Golan Heights, a part of Syria that has been occupied by Israel since the 1970s. The drone was shot down, but instead of just leaving it there, Israel implemented its "zero tolerance" air defence policy and sent a squadron of jets deep into Syrian territory to bomb the fuck out of the base that had dared to cock a snoot at its air defence umbrella.
The base that was attacked was the T-4 base near Palmyra, which is around 150 miles from the Israeli border with Syria. During the attack, however, Syrian and Iranian air defences managed to damage at least one Israeli jet that made it back to the Golan Heights where the two pilots ejected as the plane crashed in a ball of flame.
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| The crash site |
Then, because of this setback, Israel felt justified in sending yet more airstrikes into Syria to bomb a variety of targets.
While this exchange seems to have been started by the Iranians, it should be remembered that Israel constantly violates the airspace of its neighbours. But when one of them so much as sends a mere reconnaissance drone over a grey area like the Golan Heights, which is still considered part of Syria, they react with massive force.
An interesting double standard to say the least.
One reason that Israel can behave in this "hair trigger" way is because they have full confidence that the military might of America will back them up, along with the reassurance that America spends more on armaments than the next eight biggest military powers combined. Obviously Israel couldn't afford to be this cocky without a largely subservient United States prepared to underwrite its military adventurism.
But despite this, things have not been going well for Israel. In Syria ISIS has been largely defeated, allowing the Assad government to re-unify most of the country with Russian and Iranian help. This has greatly strengthened the "Shiite Corridor" running all the way from Iran to the Hezbollah camps in the Lebanon. Meanwhile the Kurds in Iraq and Syria, on whom the US and Israel were counting to disrupt the corridor, have been defeated in Iraq, while the ones in Syria have increasingly alienated America's former ally Turkey.
Within the last 2 or 3 years, Israel's strategic position has thus significantly deteriorated. But despite this, the Israeli government remains as hawkish as ever. Another reason may be because the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is embroiled in a corruption scandal and any conflict with its neighbours would serve as a welcome distraction, especially when you can count on the US to come in and clean up any mess that results.
With Syria, Iran, and Hezbollah becoming stronger and more assertive, there is every chance that Israel's hair trigger stance could lead to a widening conflict.
It's a tinder box, to borrow a term from WWI.
ReplyDeleteI suspect the "Iranian Drone" was a post hoc fabrication they rolled out after their plane was shot down; the Jews are in massive spin mode.
A key you did not include in your article is the New Silk Road that will run from Beijing to Damascus then all the way up through Turkey to Russia. It allows China to avoid a US naval blockade of oil, and it also allows them to pour millions of ground forces into the Middle East where they actually will be greeted as liberators.
It's potentially a check mate move. If we had nations and governments of our own, we could counter with an "Aryan Express" running from England across the Chunnel, or the new bridge proposed by Boris Johnson, through Northern Europe, Eastern Europe, Russia, the Bering Strait, Alaska, Canada and then the US. We could curry favor with Iran and cut all other trans-Asiatic land routes, such as the New Silk Road.
Also, we could build a New Space Road, such as with diaspora white Elon Musk's SpaceX. Unfortunately, we are a conquered, humiliated people. But not for long.
Hail the ethnostate!
ReplyDeleteIsrael is totally pissed that ISIS was defeated in Syria. So what if ISIS was slaughtering Christians. So what if they were creating millions of Muslim refugees flooding into Europe. That's not Israel's problem.
ReplyDelete