WarSclerotic

Iran is tightening the battle lines.

November 12, 9:24 PMDefense Dept. ExaminerBruce Clarke

Recent reports of fighting, in Yemen, political activities in Vienna, Baghdad and Lebanon, weapons smuggling into Lebanon for Hezbollah and Yemen suggest that Iran is reacting to the “go slow” approach of the administration and increasing its regional power reach and thus positioning itself for what may be a major full scale conflict in the future. The clear message from Iran is that the US must cease its support for Israel.
Speaking in Istanbul the Iranian president said that it was up to US President Barack Obama to illustrate his motto of “Change.” “The support of both Israel and Iran can’t go hand in hand,” he was quoted as saying:”No change is made unless great choices are made.”

The Iranian approach seems to be to say that it will possibly stop stirring up trouble in the region and maybe do something about its nuclear weapons program in exchange for a US renunciation of Israel. The last few days have fully illustrated Iran’s reach.

Yemen
In Yemen Al-Huthi rebels allegedly sustained a high number of casualties and at least 200 were captured by Saudi troops before the Saudis scaled back attacks along the border with Yemen. Conversely the Yemeni rebels said they had taken control of more territory on the border with Saudi Arabia, The rebels said that they had taken full control over Qatabar Directorate and control of all supplies and ammunition as well as buildings and other military sites.

The Saudi Navy is now blockading Yemen’s Red Sea Coast to prevent further weapons smuggling.

Iran’s Foreign Minister said Yemen’s troubles center on separatism and it s treatment of the al Huthi tribe, a Shia separatist movement along the Yemen – Saudi border. He called for Yemen to rebuild trust with the population, particularly the Shia, adding that he respects the nation’s territorial integrity. With this declaration Iran has staked its interest in the Yemeni ethnic insurgency, on the side of the al Huthi tribe. That pits Iran as the protector of Shiites against the governments of Yemen and Saudi Arabia in an ethnic squabble.

In response the Saudi message is that Iran must stop its meddling or its proxies will suffer. Saudi Arabia received messages of support from Kuwait and Morocco.

Political Activities
In Vienna the US agreed to a delay by Iran on its response to the nuclear material offer that we reported on some time ago.

Meanwhile in Baghdad the pro – Iranian Sunni faction of the government of Prime Minister Malitk is preparing to consolidate power in the upcoming election.

After five months of political deadlock, the Lebanese political parties agreed on a cabinet to govern the country. with the big winner being Lebanese Hezbollah, the anti-Israel, Iranian proxy that controls southern Lebanon.

Finally, a leader of al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, said Iran and Shiite militants are a greater threat to Islam and its people than are Jews and Christians, He said the Yemeni Shiite al-Huthi militants were against Sunnis. He also said Shiite militants “are being driven by a greed to take over Muslim countries, and they are full of a wish to annihilate Sunnis.” This statement is tantamount a call to internecine warfare within Islam.

Weapons smuggling
Israel released documents and pictures earlier which provided proof that a massive arms shipment seized at sea last week came from Iran and were headed for Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. Israeli commandos intercepted a ship near the coast of Cyprus, which was taking weapons to Syria with their ultimate destination being the Lebanese Hezbollah militia. Israel accused Iran of sending the disguised cargo and presented picture evidence to back up the charges and detail the extent of the huge cache. Many of the crates were mislabeled to conceal their real contents. The photos showed the ship’s manifest, containers bearing the logo of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines and cargo with Iranian armed forces customs labels.

These series of events, most with Iranian fingerprints all over them certainly suggest the possibility of strange bedfellows emerging–the Sunnis and Israel against Iran and Iraq. It will be hard to achieve such a sleeping arrangement given the Muslim man on the street’s dislike of anything Israeli.

Does this Iranian strategy of trying to force the US to renounce Israel have a chance of working? What are your thoughts?

This entry was posted on November 16, 2009 at 9:09 AM and is filed under Iran / Israel War. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.