Neither Israel nor US has the capacity to counter Iran’s new cruise missile

 

 

The new Hoveizeh cruise missile with a range of 1,350km was tested on Saturday, Feb. 2, as Iran’s answer to the successful Israeli-US Arrow-3 missile test on Jan. 22, DEBKAfile’s military sources report.

As Gaza front cools, Iran and Syria move on their next flashpoint – Quneitra

 

Hours after the Palestinians paused on Wednesday, May 30, in their broadest rocket/mortar assault on Israel in four years, their Iranian backers were already moving on the Golan. Under cover of the deafening Gaza clash, Iran, Syria and Hizballah began marching military units on the road to Quneitra opposite Israel’s Golan border.

The Indirect Iran-Israel War Has Become More Direct

 

‘Iran is now sufficiently emboldened as to directly attack Israel.’

On February 10, an Israeli Army helicopter shot down an Iranian drone that had penetrated Israeli airspace from Syria. With that, a new, dangerous period began in the decades-old war between Israel and Iran. But just how dangerous it was remained largely unclear until the Israeli military allowed the media to report more about it two months later on April 13.

Until February 10, Iran had always attacked Israel via its terrorist proxy entities. But on that day, the world’s foremost state sponsor of terror proved ready and willing to directly send forces against Israel.

New US military moves in the Mid-East & Israel’s Syria air raid were coordinated

 

The US hands-off to Iran’s top general in Iraq, Ali Abdullah Saleh’s changeover of sides in the Yemen war and Trump’s’ thinking on Jerusalem – all signal a new, proactive US strategy for the region.

Central Intelligence Agency chief Mike Pompeo was uncharacteristically frank when he addressed high-ranking US military and security officials on Saturday, Dec. 2, at the Reagan Presidential Foundation. He revealed that he had sent a note to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Al Qods chief, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, and explained: “I sent it because he had indicated that forces under his control might in fact threaten US interests n Iraq.”

Ignoring empty threats, Iran tightens its military noose around Israel

Hamas’ Saleh Arouri in Tehran.

 

Iran pressed ahead with its plans this week, regardless of the loud scorn and threats poured on Tehran from Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Cairo and Washington.

On Friday, Oct. 20, less than two weeks after Saleh Arouri, Deputy Chief of the Hamas political bureau, approved an Egyptian-sponsored reconciliation agreement between his party and the rival Fatah, he was leading a large Hamas delegation to Tehran.

Iran building a separate troop landing terminal in Tartus – report

With Netanyahu due to meet Wednesday with President Vladimir Putin in Sochi, in an effort to block a permanent Iranian presence in Syria, Saudi sources reveal that Iran has started building a separate terminal at the Syrian port of Tartus to accommodate Iranian and Hizballah landings.

Russia posts troops 8km from the Israeli Golan

 

Russia has quietly moved troops to a point in southern Syria that is 8km from Israel’s Golan border, in the face of Israeli objections, DEBKAfile reports exclusively. Moscow used the uproar over the Temple Mount standoff and the diplomatic crisis between Israel and Jordan to cover its creeping troop deployment almost up do Syria’s borders with Israel and Jordan.

Tuesday, July 15, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Avidor Lieberman and Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gady Eisenkott visited Bashan Division headquarters on the Golan for a rundown on the Russian deployment just opposite. (see photo)

First Russian base for SE Syria – near US garrison

 

The Russian engineering corps has started building a new base in southeastern Syria at a small village called Khirbet Ras Al-Wa’r in the Bir al-Qasab district. Until now, Moscow adhered to a policy of restricting its military presence to the western part of the country along the Mediterranean coast; no Russian troops were based further east than Palmyra.

Russian bombers wipe out Syrian city of Nawa, just 15 km from Golan

Will the Russians be the party responsible for fulfilling Isaiah 17:1 in Bible prophecy? Only time will tell.

 

Nawa is a city of 60,000 residents in southern Syria, west of the city of Darra and 15 kilometers east of the Israel-Syria border on the Golan. That is to say, Nawa was a Syrian city, but it does not exist anymore.

DEBKAfile’s military sources report that from Saturday until Monday, November 21-23, Russian bombers wiped the city off the face of the earth. All that remains are ruins. The streets are full of bodies of people and animals that nobody bothers to remove. Almost nobody is left in the abandoned city, as those who were able to flee have done so, and the unknown number of people who remained in Nawa were killled in the Russian bombing.

With Russia’s Dep. Army Chief due in Israel, Moscow posts 64 S-300 ship-to-air missiles off Syria, N. Israel

Russia’s deputy chief of staff, Gen. Nikolay Bogdanovsky, accompanied by a large military delegation, arrives in Israel for a two-day visit on Tuesday, Oct. 6, to discuss increased coordination between the two militaries. However, Moscow seems to be sending Jerusalem an altogether different message: Friday, Oct. 2, the Russian Defense Ministry announced the surprise deployment of Navy cruiser, the Moskva, armed with 64 advanced anti-aircraft missiles S-300 ship-to-air missiles opposite the Syrian coastal town of Latakia.

debkafile’s military sources point out that Russia, without saying so publicly, has thus created an effective no-fly zone over most of Syria, most of northern Israel, including the Golan, as well as southern Turkey, for US aircraft based there for air strikes in Syria; Cyprus, the site of British air force bases; and Jordan.

​Ya’alon: Israel is not coordinating its Syria operations with Russia

Israel, a nation roughly as large as New Jersey (the 5th-smallest U.S. state), is the only one at the moment truly not afraid of the Russian bear.

 

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said Tuesday that Israel is not coordinating its operations in Syria with Russia, as Moscow ramps up its buildup in that country. He spoke after DEBKAfile reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin had warned Israel against attacking Iranian targets in Syria, after a Syrian shell landed on the Golan. “

Putin warns Israel off targeting Iranian targets in Syria

Know thy enemy behind thy enemies: Russia.

 

Sunday night, the IDF hit Syrian military targets with powerful Tamuz artillery rockets after two errant Syrian rockets landed on the Golan.

debkafile’s military sources report that they hit the artillery command post of the Syrian army’s 90^th Brigade, which is stationed outside Quneitra. Syrian and Lebanese sources say the Syrian deputy commander was injured.

The message the Russian president issued, straight after his meeting with Obama, was that Moscow would not put up with Israeli strikes in Syria, even in response to an attack.

Russian marines join Hizballah in first Syrian battle – a danger signal for US, Israel

 

Before dawn on Thursday, Sept. 24, Russian marines went into battle for the first time since their deployment to Syria, debkafile’s military and intelligence sources reveal. Russian Marine Brigade 810 fought with Syrian army and Hizballah special forces in an attack on ISIS forces at the Kweiris airbase, east of Aleppo.

This operation runs contrary to the assurances of President Vladimir Putin to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sept. 21 – just three days ago – that Russian forces in Syria were only there to defend Russian interests and would not engaged in combat with the Syrian army, Hizballah or Iranian troops.

Netanyahu: If Iran nuclear deal is good, why hide it from Israel?

Iran who now controls four Middle Eastern capitals is important to note and was also mentioned in a previous post. Their aim is not only to rule over the entire Middle East, but to become a world power, if not the sole world power. This is why it’s working overtime in acquiring nuclear weapons.

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched thinly veiled criticism at the Obama administration Monday for reportedly withholding information from Israel regarding the ongoing US-led nuclear talks with Iran. He also left no doubt whatsoever that he will go ahead with his controversial speech to congress on March 3, saying that no responsible Israeli prime minister could “refuse an invitation to speak on a matter that could affect our very existence” before the world’s most important parliament.“Just as Iran knows what deal is being outlined in the negotiations, it’s only natural that Israel also know the agreement being drafted,” Netanyahu said in Hebrew at the start of an address to a visiting group from the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. “But if there is anyone who thinks that this is a good agreement, why should it be hidden?”

US arms Syrian rebels with first heavy weapons, anti-tank BGM-71 TOW missiles – raising war stakes

Two Syrian rebel militias judged moderate in Washington have in the last few days taken delivery and begun using – mostly in the Idlib region – the first advanced US weapon to be deployed in more than three years of civil war, debkafile’s military sources reveal. It is the heavy anti-tank, optically-tracked, wire-guided BGM-71 TOW, which is capable of piercing 50mm thickness of Syrian tank armor and Syrian fortifications at a range of 4 kilometers. Armed with this weapon now are Brig-Gen. Abdul-Hila al Bashir, the new commander of the rebel Free Syrian Army, which is headquartered at the Golan town of Quneitra, and Jamal Maarouf, head of the rebel Syrian Revolutionary Front fighting in the north.

The appearance of this advanced missile radically alters the balance of strength on the Syrian battlefield. It also denotes a striking change in Obama administration policy, which hitherto flatly resisted every demand to provide Syrian rebel groups with the heavy arms essential for them to have any chance of standing up to Bashar Assad’s superior military strength.