Squeeze Play
Are there finally signs that Iran and Syria, two of the world's leading supporters of terrorism are getting squeezed? Jules Crittenden has his fingers crossed.
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Is it too much to hope for, that what we’re seeing is the beginnings of a serious effort to put two of the world’s leading supporters of terrorism in a box?
It’s been confirmed by the United States that Israeli jets overflew Syria last week and dropped munitions. Unclear what they hit. As the UK’s Telegraph newspaper noted, it could be arms bound for Hezbollah in Lebanon … could be arms bound for the Palestinian al-Qaeda offshoots, currently experiencing difficulties with the Lebanese Army, for that matter.
Or, the Telegraph notes, it may have been decided that the Russian Pantsyr air defense system recently shipped to Syria with provisions for transfer to Iran, under the military and economic cooperation deals between these two pariah-nation neighbors, was an unacceptable arrangement. The Telegraph speculates this may have been in furtherance of U.S. interests, in the event of a much-rumored attack on Iran.
We have seen recently the leaking of the broad outlines of Pentagon planning, calling for the destruction not only of Iran’s air defenses and nuclear facilities, but the destruction of a wide range of military facilities. To hobble Iran military. To prevent Iran from meddling in Iraq, from menacing shipping in the Persian Gulf, from threatening its Arab neighbors across the gulf, from coming to dominate some of the most valuable and strategically important real estate in the world.
Iran, after the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, was seen to be nervous, flanked by the Great Satan. But as events have played out, we’ve seen how Iran, and its partner in terrorism and regional destabilization, Syria, have managed to flank the United States in Iraq. War is a difficult game that way. Like chess, wrestling, football, choose your game, things can turn quickly.
Which raises the question. Is what we’re seeing now a squeeze play on Iran? A shot across Syria’s bow as well. The Israeli Army is on full alert on the Syrian border, though I doubt Syria cares to revisit the humiliations of a direct military confrontation with Israel. Syria knows who wins that one, and Syria wouldn’t be likely to get any help from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, et all this time. Even Hezbollah and Hamas aren’t in much of a position to be more than a nuisance.
Whether by happy coincidence or design, what we appear to be witnessing may be shaping operations for a long overdue curtailing of the what are now the primary destabilizing forces of the Middle East … now that Saddam’s out of the way. As the Iraq Study Group stated nearly a year ago, both Syria and Iran needed to be spoken to. The Israeli-Palestinian situation needed to be addressed.
Hamas graciously saw to the latter, isolating itself in a spasm of unbelieveably murderous bloodshed that has given Mideast peace an unexpected boost. Iran and its partner Syria, with their intransigent meddling and obtuseness on several fronts, have given the United States an open to talks of a different sort than the disingenuous negotiations in Baghdad. At this late date, even Democratic presidential candidates who want us out of Iraq immediately say they are open to the idea of attacks on Iran.
Is it too much to hope for, that Iran and Syria are themselves being flanked?
Read more from Jules Crittenden at Forward Movement.
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6 Comments
JorgXMcKie:Well, Obama promises to speak to them, and nicely, too. Meanwhile he’ll be pulling all the troops out of Iraw post-haste. That’ll work, yup, yup, yup.
Sep 13, 2007 - 7:15 am memomachine:Hmmmm.
Frankly the single biggest weakness of the Iran regime is it’s total reliance on oil money as the economic prop. Cut that life line and Iran falls into disorder.
Why that’s so hard for the administration to accomplish is beyond me.
Sep 13, 2007 - 8:30 am Kenneth:The Iranians fly their weapons intended for Hezbollah to Damascus where the Syrians then truck them west into Lebanon. The raid was on a location 400 km east of Damascus. Therefore, the reports that the target was a shipment of weapons enroute to Hezbollah makes no sense.
It is also curious that the North Koreans condmened the raid, given they rarley remark on Middle East events. What particular interest do the North Korean’s have in this incident? Were their agents or scientists killed in the raid? Did the visit last week by North Korean officials to Iran have anything to do with this raid?
Sep 13, 2007 - 10:05 am Max:Way to read a map, man. With American forces in Afghanistan and Iraq all the bad actors in the region between Israel and India are surrounded. The state annd non-state bad guys are isolated and squeezed. Pakistan is caught between India and U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Iran is between U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. Syria is caught between Israel and U.S. forces in Iraq.
Those two staples in Afghanistan and Iraq have gone a long way to closing a gaping wound that ran from Israel to India.
Sep 13, 2007 - 10:07 am FC:Don’t worry. Dennis Kucinich has taken care of Syria. Assad won’t cause any more trouble now that this insignificant, walking, talking political cartoon has softened up Assad’s terrorist heart with all the U.S. apologetics.
Sep 13, 2007 - 10:37 am nick:Imagine..
Let’s conduct a political thought experiment. Imagine an astronaut leaving Earth on a mission just before the US invasion of Iraq. Imagine that he was completely cut off from any source of information from Earth. Let’s say he returns to earth today and lands in Iraq. He is then briefed about the current status of Iraq and is not given any information about what happened earlier during his absence from Earth.
What will he see? He will see that US forces are quite firmly in control of Iraq. He will see an Iraqi security forces numbering 400000 built up from scratch and fighting alongside the US forces. He will come to know that Saddam Hussein has been executed and Iraq effectively de-Bathified. He will find out about a relatively liberal Iraqi constitution has been framed and that 2 subsequent free elections had been held resulting in a popularly elected government of Iraq, the first of its kind in Middle Eastern history. He will see a very pro-American, peaceful and thriving Kurdistan. He will see that the Iraqi Shiites are in control of their destiny for the first time in centuries. He will see that most of the Sunni minority is fighting alongside US forces against America’s number one enemy, Al Qaeda. He will also find that the Al Qaeda, Shiite militia and Sunni insurgent violence is still a problem but is diminishing due to the recent surge and that the Iraqi security forces are gaining in strength and are increasingly handling security independent of US forces.
I think he most certainly will conclude that the American invasion of Iraq a glorious victory under the leadership of President Bush!
Sep 13, 2007 - 2:23 pm