Syrian War: Israel Returns Fire

[Tiassa]

That Syria Thing: Israel's In

This is not encouraging news:

Israel was drawn into the Syrian civil war for the first time on Sunday, firing warning shots into the neighboring country after a stray mortar shell from across the border hit an Israeli military post.

The Israeli military said the mortar fire caused no injuries or damage at the post in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and then annexed. But in recent weeks, incidents of errant fire from Syria to the north have multiplied, leading Israel to warn that it holds Syria responsible for fire on Israeli-held territory.

"A short while ago, a mortar shell targeted an IDF (Israel Defense Forces) post in the Golan Heights," said army spokeswoman Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich. "We answered with a warning shot toward Syrian areas. We understand this was a mistake and was not meant to target Israel and then that is why we fired a warning shot in retaliation."

The Israeli military also said it filed a complaint through United Nations forces operating in the area, stating that "fire emanating from Syria into Israel will not be tolerated and shall be responded to with severity." Israel returned fire with an anti-tank missile.

(Teibel)​

To the one, Israel is well within its rights to protect its borders, and that regardless of how anyone feels about the Golan Heights.

To the other, the last thing the region needs is Israel getting involved in the Syrian war.

This could get even uglier, by orders of magnitude, very quickly.
____________________

Notes:

Teibel, Amy. "Israel fires warning shots into Syria for first time". Associated Press. November 11, 2012. CSMonitor.com. November 11, 2012. http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Late...fires-warning-shots-into-Syria-for-first-time

 

[GeoffP]

Trigger-happy clowns.

 

[StrawDog]

This conflict can easily pull Syria's neighbors into its orbit if the clowns don`t keep their fingers off the triggers. Syria has its hands full with the internal conflict and in no way threatens its neighbors, but I would not be surprised if stray mortars were tools in the arsenal of elements of the Opposition that are trying to draw other players in. Time for cool heads - this could get really ugly.

 

[p-brane]

This appears to be a nonevent and not really worthy of a thread. Oh wait, I forgot that this is the forum where if Israel puts a toe wrong everyone starts screaming bloody murder, which is by the way exactly what`s been going on in syria for the last year. Any of you want to discuss that? Didn`t think so.

 

[CptBork]

Turkey's been the main foreign player on the opposition side and has lost lives and a fighter jet in this conflict already, and even they don't want to get involved. I don't think Israel has any interest in bailing Assad out by letting him turn this into another war between Arabs and Jews, it'll be limited retaliatory fire for anything coming their way. A set of Israeli airstrikes on Syria's airforce bases would deliver Syria to the opposition on a silver platter, but I don't think they'd want to risk the unforeseeable repercussions, and I don't think Assad would be crazy enough to test the Israelis when he can't even defeat his own citizens on the ground with their vastly inferior weaponry.

If Assad does get desperate enough to pull in foreign actors like Israel, expect Hezbollah to drag all of Lebanon into the mess and for Iran to be heavily involved at least indirectly as well. Plus he does have a massive arsenal of chemical weapons and I'm sure many countries are watching them closely for any suspicious or threatening maneuvres but not eager to push him to the point of using them. So it looks like a one-off, the Israelis know it was an accident and they're just trying to deter the Syrians from any further provocations.

 

[ElectricFetus]

Whats more of an event is that the Syrian opposition are trying to get organized, if they can form and organization that can represent the people to Syria then the UN can side with them and and arm them.

 

[CptBork]

Whats more of an event is that the Syrian opposition are trying to get organized, if they can form and organization that can represent the people to Syria then the UN can side with them and and arm them.

If they receive enough weapons (i.e. heavy artillery, air defenses) they'll finally be able to knock out those airbases, and then it's curtains for Assad. I think he's toast anyhow, but this would certainly speed up the process. All we'd need to do is hit his chemical warheads if he tries to move them into firing positions, that's the biggest danger on the international/humanitarian stage.

 

[pjdude1219]

Turkey's been the main foreign player on the opposition side and has lost lives and a fighter jet in this conflict already, and even they don't want to get involved. I don't think Israel has any interest in bailing Assad out by letting him turn this into another war between Arabs and Jews, it'll be limited retaliatory fire for anything coming their way. A set of Israeli airstrikes on Syria's airforce bases would deliver Syria to the opposition on a silver platter, but I don't think they'd want to risk the unforeseeable repercussions, and I don't think Assad would be crazy enough to test the Israelis when he can't even defeat his own citizens on the ground with their vastly inferior weaponry.

If Assad does get desperate enough to pull in foreign actors like Israel, expect Hezbollah to drag all of Lebanon into the mess and for Iran to be heavily involved at least indirectly as well. Plus he does have a massive arsenal of chemical weapons and I'm sure many countries are watching them closely for any suspicious or threatening maneuvres but not eager to push him to the point of using them. So it looks like a one-off, the Israelis know it was an accident and they're just trying to deter the Syrians from any further provocations.

I think your assuming a level of rational thought on Israel's part that quite frankly is not justified in believing exists. Is Israel going to bail assad out no. but given their love of (badly managed) covert ops I wouldn't put beyond the realm of possibilty that they would get involved covertly or may already be involved covertly. keeping this pot boiling is probably in Israel's interests.

 

[R1D2]

I just seen a article in the paper today about this... :shrug:

If Syria keeps this up Israel will get fed up. And WW3 will occur. And America will be fighting in the middle east again. Could be years but it may be sooner.

I am sad to see this occurring. Or reoccurring.

 

[arauca]

I just seen a article in the paper today about this... :shrug:

If Syria keeps this up Israel will get fed up. And WW3 will occur. And America will be fighting in the middle east again. Could be years but it may be sooner.

I am sad to see this occurring. Or reoccurring.

So you will put your uniform on again , and become an exterminator

 

[GeoffP]

Speaking around the issue of provocation...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDohNq9BORo&feature=player_embedded

Wow.

 

[pjdude1219]

Speaking around the issue of provocation...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDohNq9BORo&feature=player_embedded

Wow.

wonder when someone was going to start bashing the palestinians not surprised its you.



and you'll have to forgive me from taking anything for the IDF for granted. but it doesn't surprise me at all that you'll believe anything they say.



I say people are allowed to do what it takes to protect themselves from conquerors but hey maybe you like wars of aggression.

 

[pjdude1219]

If they receive enough weapons (i.e. heavy artillery, air defenses) they'll finally be able to knock out those airbases, and then it's curtains for Assad. I think he's toast anyhow, but this would certainly speed up the process. All we'd need to do is hit his chemical warheads if he tries to move them into firing positions, that's the biggest danger on the international/humanitarian stage.

only if they get the supply chains for ammo up and running. and protected. look at the palestinian civil war. some of the arab armies had heavy equipment but no ammunition.

 

[Balerion]

wonder when someone was going to start bashing the palestinians not surprised its you.



and you'll have to forgive me from taking anything for the IDF for granted. but it doesn't surprise me at all that you'll believe anything they say.



I say people are allowed to do what it takes to protect themselves from conquerors but hey maybe you like wars of aggression.

So do you believe the video or don't you? In the second sentence you insinuate that the story is bogus; in the third, you defend the alleged act.

Is it that you can't make up your mind, or is it that you feel the need to cover all your bases?

 

[GeoffP]

Probably the second point. For the already-decided mind, a point can play on both sides. How is it "bashing", one wonders?

Anyway, conclusion: Middle East probably heating up again.

 

[R1D2]

So you will put your uniform on again , and become an exterminator

An exterminator? You have issues...

And IF I could join back up I would not mind going where the US government needs me. But you don't know me, or care that I am unable because I am "damaged" now. Due to a incident after I left. I am unable to carry the 50 pound ruck an do things like I used to.

 

[GeoffP]

I hate to say I told you so, but I did. Smells like conflict a-brewing. But you all knew this would happen again anyway.

GAZA (Reuters) - Israel killed the military commander of the Islamist group Hamas in a missile strike on the Gaza Strip on Wednesday and launched air raids across the enclave, pushing the two sides to the brink of a new war.

The attacks marked the biggest escalation between Israel and Gaza militants since a 2008-2009 conflict and came despite signs on Tuesday that neighboring Egypt had managed to broker a truce in the enclave after a five day surge of violence.

Hamas said Ahmed Al-Jaabari, who ran the organization's armed wing, Izz el-Deen Al-Qassam, died along with an unnamed associate when their car was blown apart by an Israeli missile. Palestinians said nine people were killed, including a seven-year-old girl.

Video from Gaza showed the charred and mangled wreckage of a car belching flames, as emergency crews picked up what appeared to be body parts.

Israel confirmed it had carried out the attack on Jaabari and warned that more strikes would follow. Reuters witnesses reported numerous explosions around Gaza, with Hamas security compounds and police stations among the targets.

"This is an operation against terror targets of different organizations in Gaza," military spokesman Avital Leibovitch told reporters, adding that Jaabari had "a lot of blood on his hands".

Immediate calls for revenge were broadcast over Hamas radio.

"The occupation has opened the doors of hell," Hamas's armed wing said. Smaller groups also vowed to strike back.

"Israel has declared war on Gaza and they will bear the responsibility for the consequences," Islamic Jihad said.

The escalation in Gaza came in a week when Israel pounded Syrian artillery positions it said had fired into the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights amid a civil war in Syria that has brought renewed instability to neighboring Lebanon.

Hamas has been supported by both Syria and Iran, which Israel regards as a rising threat to its own existence due to its nuclear program.

Israel's intelligence agency Shin Bet said Jaabari was responsible for Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip in 2007, when the militant Islamist group ousted fighters of the Fatah movement of its great rival, the Western-backed Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.

It said Jaabari instigated the attack that led to the capture of Israeli corporal Gilad Shalit in a kidnap raid from Gaza in 2006. Jaabari was also the man who handed Shalit over to Israel in a prisoner exchange five years after his capture.

Israel holds a general election on January 22 and conservative Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come under pressure to respond firmly against Hamas, with residents of southern Israel complaining bitterly about repeated missile strikes

Hamas has been emboldened by the rise to power in neighboring Egypt of its spiritual mentors in the Muslim Brotherhood whom it views as a "safety net".

Some 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis died in the 2008-2009 conflict. There was a lull in hostilities after that, but the violence has flared again in recent months and Israel has repeatedly warned of dire consequences unless Hamas and its fellow militants stopped rocket attacks.

In the latest confrontation, which appeared to have ended on Tuesday, more than 115 missiles were fired into southern Israel from Gaza and Israeli planes launched numerous strikes. Seven Palestinians, three of them gunmen, were killed. Eight Israeli civilians were hurt by rocket fire and four soldiers wounded by an anti-tank missile.

Helped by Iran and the flourishing contraband trade through tunnels from Egypt, Gaza militias have smuggled in better weapons since the war of 2008-09, including longer-range Grad rockets and anti-tank missiles of the type they fired last week at an IDF patrol vehicle.

But Gaza's estimated 35,000 Palestinian fighters are still no match for Israel's F-16 fighter-bombers, Apache helicopter gunships, Merkava tanks and other modern weapons systems in the hands of a conscript force of 175,000, with 450,000 in reserve.

Israel's shekel fell nearly one percent to a two-month low against the dollar on Wednesday after news of the Israeli airstrikes broke.

http://news.yahoo.com/top-hamas-commander-killed-israeli-airstrike-143218204.html

 

[Bells]

Nine people were killed in the air strikes and the number is likely to rise, the Palestinian envoy to the United Nations said.

"The number of Palestinians killed in Gaza so far is nine and the number is increasing," the envoy, Riyad Mansour said.

"The situation is very explosive.

"We condemn in the strongest possible terms this latest aggression against our people," he said, adding there was "no justification whatsoever" for the killing of Palestinians by Israeli forces.

[Source]

Among the 9 killed, there is Mr Masharawi's 11 month old son.. Killed when Israel's forces bombed his house in their attack:

Israel will likely create more enemies than they can possibly kill in this conflict.

 

[spidergoat]

Among the 9 killed, there is Mr Masharawi's 11 month old son.. Killed when Israel's forces bombed his house in their attack:

...


Israel will likely create more enemies than they can possibly kill in this conflict.

As if they weren't already enemies. It's a war not a tennis match, this is what happens. And Hamas has no such concerns, to them dead babies are a bonus.

 

[pjdude1219]

As if they weren't already enemies. It's a war not a tennis match, this is what happens. And Hamas has no such concerns, to them dead babies are a bonus.

which is why Israel has killed more babies than Hamas? hamas is far more concerned with the civilian deaths it causes than Israel. to my knowledge Hamas has never fired upon anyone solidly protected by the geneva conventions sadly Israel can not say the same.




and it was Israel choice to be enemies when it as the zionist movement chose to invade and conqueror palestine.