WarSclerotic

Israeli Official Hints Pentagon Plans May Make Lone Strike on Iran Unnecessary – NYTimes.com.

By ISABEL KERSHNER

Published: January 26, 2013

¶ In an interview conducted at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and published by The Daily Beast on Friday, Mr. Barak was asked if there was any way Israel could go to war with Iran over what many in the West believe is a nuclear weapons program without dragging in the United States.

¶ Mr. Barak replied that there were more than just the two options — of full-scale war or allowing Iran to obtain nuclear weapons capability — in the event that sanctions and diplomacy failed.

¶ “What we basically say is that if worse comes to worst, there should be a readiness and an ability to launch a surgical operation that will delay them by a significant time frame and probably convince them that it won’t work because the world is determined to block them,” he said.

¶ Under orders from the White House, “the Pentagon prepared quite sophisticated, fine, extremely fine, scalpels,” Mr. Barak added, referring to the ability to carry out pinpoint strikes.

¶ Herbert Krosney, an American-Israeli analyst and the author of a book about the arming of Iran and Iraq, said Mr. Barak’s statement now “indicates that there is close cooperation” between Israel and the United States following months of tension between the country’s leaders (though military and intelligence services continued to work together closely).

¶ “I think there is a realization in Israel that it would be extremely difficult for Israel to operate alone,” he said.

¶ Last year, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel was pushing hard for the Obama administration to set clear “red lines” on Iran’s nuclear progress that would prompt the United States to undertake a military strike, infuriating the administration. And Mr. Barak repeatedly warned that because of Israel’s more limited military capabilities, its own window of opportunity to carry out an effective strike was closing.

¶ It has appeared that Mr. Barak has drifted away from Mr. Netanyahu in recent months, sounding more conciliatory toward the Obama administration, but even the prime minister has become less antagonistic.

¶ The Pentagon declined to comment on The Daily Beast report, but a senior defense official said, “The U.S. military constantly plans for a range of contingencies we might face around the world, and our planning is often quite detailed.” The official added, “That shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.”

¶ In recent years, Mr. Barak and Mr. Netanyahu had become increasingly alarmed as Iran moved forward with a nuclear program that it says is solely for peaceful purposes, but that Israel, the United States and others believe is geared toward producing a bomb. The two men consistently emphasized Israel’s doctrine of self-reliance for such existential issues.

¶ But faced with tough opposition from Washington and public criticism from a string of former Israeli security chiefs, the prospect of an imminent unilateral Israeli strike receded in recent months.

¶ In the past few weeks Mr. Netanyahu campaigned for re-election in Israel as a strong leader who, among other things, had managed to persuade the world to deal with the Iranian threat.

¶ Mr. Netanyahu and his conservative Likud Party emerged weakened from the elections, with much of the Israeli electorate more focused on domestic issues. In a speech after the voting, he said, “The first challenge was and still is to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.” But he did not again threaten to go it alone.

¶ In the interview last week, Mr. Barak did not specify what the Pentagon’s “scalpels” were. But there has been a broad effort at the White House, the Pentagon and the intelligence agencies to develop a series of options that could set back, though probably not halt, Iran’s nuclear progress.

¶ The first was a covert plan called Olympic Games to undermine Iran’s nuclear enrichment plans with cyberattacks, according to participants in that program. The second layer of plans, American and other officials have said, involves covert means of interrupting the supply of uranium to Iran’s enrichment plants, or crippling the plants themselves. The biggest target is a deep underground plant called Fordo, near Qum. There, under a mountain, Iran is producing most of its medium-enriched uranium, which could be converted to bomb grade in a matter of months.

¶ The site is hardened, and probably beyond Israel’s ability to destroy from the air. The United States recently added a weapon that officials believe could do significant damage: the “Massive Ordnance Penetrator,” a bomb that is designed to attack deep, hardened sites.

¶ But the existence of any plans, officials note, does not indicate an intent to them carry them out.

News from The Associated Press.

BEIRUT (AP) — Issuing Tehran’s strongest warning to date, a top Iranian official said Saturday that any attack on Syria would be deemed an attack on Iran, a sign that it will do all it can to protect embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Ali Akbar Velayati, an aide to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, made his comments as Syrian troops conducted offensive air raids against rebels and discovered a trio of tunnels they were using to smuggle weapons in their fight to topple Assad.

The world has been grappling over how to deal with Syria ever since an uprising against Assad’s regime erupted nearly two years ago. But so far, there has been no international intervention on the ground where more than 60,000 people have been killed, according to the U.N.

Iran is Syria’s strongest ally in the Middle East, and has provided Assad’s government with military and political backing for years. In September, the top commander of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, said the elite unit had high-level advisers in Syria. Iran also is believed to be sending weapons and money to Syria as it endures its worst crisis in decades.

“Syria plays a very key role in supporting or, God forbid, destabilizing the resistance front,” Velayati was quoted by Iran’s semiofficial Mehr news agency as saying. “For this same reason, (an) attack on Syria is considered (an) attack on Iran and Iran’s allies.”

By backing the rebels trying to oust the Syrian leader, the U.S. and Arab states in the Gulf attacked the “golden ring of resistance,” Valayati said, referring to the militant groups, Hamas and Hezbollah, and Iran and Syria, which are all anti-American.

Iran also is at odds with the international community over its nuclear program, although Iran insists it is using the program solely for peaceful purposes, not nuclear weapons.

A former Iranian diplomat who defected to the West in 2010 told Israel’s channel 2 TV in an interview broadcast on Friday that if Tehran acquired nuclear weapons, it would use them against Israel.

Mohammad Reza Heydari, who has political asylum in Norway, claimed that Venezuela was flying uranium and various components for nuclear weapons to Tehran. Venezuela backs Iran in arguing the nuclear program is purely for peaceful purposes.

Since the unrest in Syria began in March 2011, opposition forces have taken control of wide swathes of territory, mostly in the north near Syria’s border with Turkey.

NATO said Saturday that the first of six Patriot missile batteries being deployed to Turkey to shoot down missiles that might come from the Syrian side of the border was now operational. The battery, meant to protect the Turkish city of Adana, was provided by the Netherlands.

The United States, Germany and the Netherlands are providing two batteries each of the latest version of the U.S.-made Patriots. The other five Patriot batteries are expected to be operational in the coming days in Adana, Kahramanmaras and Gaziantep.

NATO says the Patriots would be used for defensive purposes only. Syria has not fired any of its surface-to-surface missiles at Turkey during the civil war, but the Assad regime has described the NATO deployment as a provocation.

The alliance also deployed Patriot batteries to Turkey during the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq 10 years ago. They were never used and were withdrawn a few months later.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, interviewed on Turkish television late Friday, said the Syrian opposition now controls some 70 percent of Syria.

“If you ask me if Bashar is able endure much longer, I say, Bashar is walking, propped up from behind,” said Erdogan, who was a close ally of Assad’s until the crisis began. “He is losing the support of the Syrian people every day.”

“At the moment Damascus is under siege. Aleppo is to a great degree already under the hands of the opposition. In other words, I can say that some 70 percent of the country is under the control of the opposition,” Erdogan said.

In the Turkish capital, Istanbul, members of the Syrian opposition gathered Saturday to kick-off a conference aimed at establishing a transitional justice system in Syria after the fall of Assad’s regime. The two-day meeting was organized by the U.S.-based Syrian Center for Political and Strategic Studies.

In fighting on Saturday, Syrian forces clashing with rebels uncovered tunnels they were using to smuggle weapons and move around Daraya, a strategic suburb of the capital, Damascus, the state-run news agency said.

Syrian troops have been trying to capture Daraya for weeks, but have faced strong resistance from hundreds of rebels who have used Damascus suburbs to stage attacks on nearby government facilities.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and another activist group, the Local Coordination Committees, also reported shelling and air raids in other Damascus suburbs, including Shebaa and Aqraba near the international airport.

The LCC also said rebels fired several rockets from Daraya toward Assad’s People’s Palace on Qasioun Mountain, overlooking the capital. Syrian officials have previously denied claims by rebels that rockets have targeted the palace – one of three mansions Assad uses in the capital.

The activist groups also reported heavy clashes in the central city of Homs and the nearby town of Qusair, which is close to the border with Lebanon, and near a prison in the northwestern city of Idlib.

In the north, the Observatory reported two air raids – one in Al-Bab. which killed at least four people, and another in Manbij, which killed at least 12 people, including four children and women.

Doctors Without Borders, an international medical team, said a growing number of attacks in the northern province of Aleppo are likely to undermine its ability to provide medical care.

“Besides the war-wounded and the direct victims of violence, the conflict is affecting the most vulnerable, especially people with chronic diseases, women and children,” said Miriam Alía, medical coordinator for the organization.

Iran: Syria’s problems rooted in Zionist meddling – Israel News, Ynetnews.

As Iran’s threats to strike at anyone that will contribute to end of Assad’s regime grow bolder Israel is stepping up fortification of northern border

Yoav Zitun, agencies

Iran reiterated Saturday its threats that any attack on Syria would be perceived as one on the Islamic Republic and will meet “a harsh response.”

Tehran’s IRNA news agency quoted Defense Minister Brigadier-General Ahmad Vahidi as saying that Syrian Army, which is “the vanguard of campaign against Zionist regime should not be weakened.”

Iran has been Syrian President Bashar Assad‘s strongest allay since Syria plunged into civil war.

Tehran has supplied Damascus with funds, weapons and training; and has repeatedly vowed to send its army to Assad’s aid should any attempt be made by the West to topple his regime.

The threats have become more strident following NATO’s decision to send Patriot missile batteries to Turkey, which fears the civil war tearing its neighbor apart may morph into a war between them.

The first of six Patriot missile batteries placed near the Turkish-Syrian border went operational on Saturday.

Vahidi told reporters that “The Syrian crisis should be resolved through peaceful means and national dialogue between the warring parties.”

Syria’s Bashar Assad, Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadenijad (Photo: AFP)

He denounced any attempt to hasten said solution by the West, saying that “Any alien interference has so far brought only harmful consequences for the Syrian people.

“The Syrian problems have roots in covert and overt interference of the Zionists,” he said adding that “Iran has always adopted a rational stand toward Syria.”

Commenting on the Patriot deployment in Turkey, Vahidi said that “The move is not useful. We believe it will create misunderstanding among countries in the region.

“Enemies try to sow discord among Islamic states through masterminding various scenarios,” he said.

Israel wary of developments

Israel has been following the situation in Syria closely: Assad is believed to have the largest arsenal of chemical and biological weapons in the world. and the escalating civil war has sparked concerns that his WMDs may find their way into the hands of various terror groups, such as Hezbollah.

Israel’s defense establishment has been holding periodic security assessments on the matter, as such an occurrence could potentially change the balance of power between the IDF and the Lebanon-based Shiite terror group.

According to various reports, Israeli security officials have been meeting with their European counterparts in order to coordinate positions regarding the situation in Syria.

Various security officials, including IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen Benny Gantz, have alluded that Israel will not abide such a change and that if it becomes a reality, Israel will have no choice but to consider its counter-military options.

The London-based newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported recently that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a visit to Jordan, to discuss the recent developments in Syria, as part of these efforts. No Israeli source corroborated the report.

Meanwhile, the IDF has been fortifying the northern border in what has been described by security sources as “a race against the clock.”

The new border fence built along the border is equipped with advances surveillance systems able to provide the IDF with more intelligence about inland Syria

The IDF has expressed concerns that the growing chaos in Syria will serve as a breeding ground for new terror groups, as well as a safe haven for other nefarious elements that may choose to target Israel.