Trading blows: Iranian forces reportedly fired 20 rockets on the Golan Heights, to which Israel responded with dozens of strikes on Iranian positions in Syria
Daily Mail: Iran and Israel trade blows: Israelis bomb Iranian positions in Syria, killing 23 fighters, after Revolutionary Guards fire 20 rockets at Golan Heights, stoking fears of war after Trump tore up nuclear deal
* Israel claims that Iranian forces in Syria fired 20 rockets into Israeli-occupied Golan Heights
* Israeli military said defense system intercepted some rockets, and the rest landed in Syrian territory
* Israel responded by shelling what they claim to be Iranian positions in the Syria and Damascus
* The exchange of fire came the day after U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of Iran nuclear deal
* Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has blasted Trump and called his withdrawal 'foul play'
* Reinstating U.S. sanctions on Iran, world's fifth largest oil producer, could lead to increase in oil prices
Iran and Israel traded blows on the Syrian border overnight, marking the first time Tehran has directly attacked Israel.
Last night, Iranian forces fired 20 rockets from Syria at Israeli front-line military positions in the Golan Heights, the Israeli military said.
UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Israeli strikes killed at least 23 military personnel, including Syrians and non-Syrians.
Israel said the Iranian rockets were either shot down by its Iron Dome air defence system or fell short of the Golan targets, claiming the Quds Force, an external arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, carried out the launch.
Read more ....
Israel And Iran Trade Fire On The Israel-Syrian Border (Update)
Israel hits dozens of Iranian targets in Syria after barrage -- AP
Israel says it attacked targets in Syria after Iranian rocket fire -- Reuters
Israel in major raids on 'Iran' targets in Syria after rocket fire -- AFP
Israel strikes Iranian targets in Syria in response to rocket fire -- BBC
Israeli Warplanes Hit Dozens of Iranian Targets in Syria -- New York Times
Israel responds to Golan Heights attack, hitting 'nearly all' Iranian targets in Syria -- DW
Israel has hit nearly all Iranian infrastructure in Syria, military claims -- The Guardian
Israel Attacks Iranian Targets Inside Syria -- VOA
Israel and Iran trade fire in most direct confrontation yet -- CNN
Israeli rockets blast targets inside Syria after Iranian forces 'attack border outpost' -- ABC News Online
Israel strikes 'dozens' of Iranian targets in Syria -- NBC
Israel says it hit Iranian military targets in Syria -- Al Jazeera
28 Israeli jets fired about 60 rockets in overnight strikes on Syria – Russian MoD -- RT
5 comments:
In my view, this exchange represents preliminary "pokes" by Iran against Israel and vice versa.
Iran and Israel have been drifting toward open, direct fighting for some time. Each side has gradually escalated the scale of their respective attacks. Iran likely felt that it "owes" retaliation for Israel's attack on the Iranian base a few weeks ago.
Of course, we cannot know the factors the Iranians used to decide to fire their missiles yesterday, but my instinct is that it had little to do with the United States withdrawal from the nuclear agreement. The Israeli/Iranian confrontation has its own timing and dynamic.
The Iranian attack was actually fairly restrained: "only" 30 or so missiles, fired against the Golan, which is relatively unpopulated by civilians. I think that the Israeli retaliation was also fairly restrained: only Qods bases in Syria. Any time Iran wants to conduct a major attack against Israel, it can command Hezbollah and Hamas to fire thousands of missiles and rockets at Tel Aviv, etc. Israel's retaliation for such an attack would include strikes in Lebanon and likely Iran itself.
The trend is deeply troubling. Iran and Israel are clearly drifting toward war. In fact, the whole Middle East (in addition to Iran/Israel) is drifting toward war. To avoid war, all powers must have a firm hand at the helm of their respective national Governments. The Iranians have an unfortunate characteristic (going all the way back to Xerxes) of overplaying their hand. To quote Han Solo: I have a bad feeling about this.
Publius,
As usual I say yeah.
JH
Iran will gradually calm down what it is doing in Syria against Israel. The economy is in trouble in Iran. Many people in Iran are tired of the religious constraints and want a return to more secular state. It is now clear that Russia, a friend to Iran, is also allowing Israel do hit back hard at Iran in Syria, and thus they have signal that they can not count on support from Russia for a major attack.
May 10 2018 why don't you tell the world war has been declared
They have been fighting for over 100 years I think.
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