WarSclerotic

An Israeli satellite company published images Wednesday it said showed the damage at a military site in Syria from an airstrike a day before that was attributed to Israel.

The rare daytime strike reportedly targeted Iranian assets between the town of Masyaf and Wadi al-Uyun.

Photos taken from space showed two large hangars, 60 and 35 meters in length, destroyed in the attack, said ImageSat International (ISI).

The raids also revealed entrances to underground tunnels, one leading from each hangar, which were previously covered by tarpaulins, ISI said.

“Due to its location close to other surface-to-surface missile Iranian-Syrian facilities within the Russian S-400 [air-defense system] deployment range, and following recent media reports about past airstrikes, ISI assesses that this site might be related as well to the other mentioned sites,” the company said.

Map provided by ImageSat International (ISI) showing the location of recent airstrikes in Syria. (ImageSat International)

The Syrian military claimed air defenses successfully intercepted several missiles launched by Israeli warplanes, though Damascus often inflates the number of missiles it intercepts.

Israel does not regularly comment on alleged strikes in Syria, though the reported attack came hours after the IDF confirmed it had carried out over 200 strikes in the country over the past 18 months.

The IDF on Tuesday acknowledged that it had conducted airstrikes against over 200 Iranian and Hezbollah targets in Syria since 2017, shedding light on its largely quiet activities across the border to prevent Tehran from establishing a permanent military presence in the war-torn country.

For years, Israel has been concerned that Iran was using opportunities presented by the Syrian civil war to entrench itself militarily in the country in order to further threaten the Jewish state — alongside the threat already posed by Iran’s proxy, Hezbollah, in Lebanon.

Israel has vowed to prevent such a military presence, but officially remains mum on most of the military’s efforts to do so.

Also Wednesday,  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is working to thwart the production of precision missiles that can be used against the country “both near and far.”

“Israel is determined to prevent Iran and its proxies from establishing a military presence in Syria,” Netanyahu told ministers at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting.

“We are taking strong action against these attempts and against the attempts to produce precision weaponry in all sectors, near and far. We will continue to take such action on behalf of the security of Israel,” he said.

The 202 targets hit in the Israeli airstrikes since 2017 were mostly shipments of advanced weaponry, as well as military bases and infrastructure, which the IDF officials said drove Iranian forces to abandon some posts.

In addition, Jerusalem has tried to get the Islamic Republic out of Syrian through diplomatic means by appealing to the two main power-brokers in the region: Russia and the United States.

While Russia does not seem to have accepted Israel’s demand for Iran to be completely removed from Syria, it has agreed to force the Islamic Republic’s forces and proxies to leave the areas closest to the border with Israel.

According to some reports, pro-Iranian forces would be required to stay 40 kilometers (25 miles) away from the border; others indicate that range would be set at 80 kilometers (50 miles).

Iran will begin uranium enrichment beyond previous levels if the remaining parties fail to uphold the 2015 nuclear deal, its Atomic Energy Organization told local media on Wednesday.

“We will not return to previous levels if our counterparts leave the JCPOA (nuclear deal), but will instead reach even more advanced levels,” the organization’s spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said, quoted by state broadcaster IRIB.

“We are at a considerably more advanced status than when we signed the deal. The country is moving ahead in nuclear activities at a favorable pace,” he added.

Iran has repeatedly said it will resume high-level uranium enrichment if the 2015 agreement — which limits its nuclear program in return for sanctions relief — falls apart.

Following the withdrawal of the United States in May, the other parties — Britain, France, Germany, China, Russia and the EU — have vowed to provide Iran with enough economic benefits to keep the agreement alive.

But Tehran is increasingly skeptical that those countries can counter the effects of renewed US sanctions, which have already battered Iran’s economy.

Last week, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran should be ready to “set aside” the agreement if it is no longer in the country’s national interests.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly stated that Iran is sticking to its commitments.

The administration of US President Donald Trump says the deal did not prevent Iran from eventually working towards a nuclear weapon — which Tehran has denied it is seeking.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

US President Donald Trump left the door open Wednesday to meeting with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, while saying the Islamic Republic is worried about its very survival.

“It’s possible, anything is possible,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked about the possibility of a face-to-face with Rouhani during the gathering later this month.

“We’ll see what happens with Iran. Whether they want to talk or not, that’s up to them, not up to me,” said the US leader, who decided in May to pull out of the 2015 nuclear deal between world powers and Iran.

“Iran is a much different place than when I took over the presidency,” Trump added, describing the country as “in turmoil.”

“When I took office it was just a question of how long until they took over the entire Middle East. Now they are just worrying about their own survival as a country.”

Trump is due to lead September 26 meeting of heads of state of the UN Security Council, with the goal of ramping up pressure on Tehran over its alleged violations of council resolutions.

The US is seeking to renegotiate a stricter nuclear deal with Iran after Washington in May withdrew from a 2015 international agreement saying it failed to do enough to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons and stop its ballistic missile program.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani speaks at the Iranian Parliament in the capital Tehran on August 28, 2018. (AFP Photo/Atta Kenare)

With the United States now holding the presidency of the Security Council, UN Ambassador Nikki Haley on Tuesday said the aim was to put further pressure on Tehran.

But Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, on Wednesday hit out at the US plan.

“There’s only one UNSC resolution on Iran…@realDonaldTrump is violating it & bullying others to do same,” Zarif wrote on Twitter.

Washington has sought to build up international pressure on Iran after reimposing tough, unilateral sanctions on August 7 and setting a November 5 deadline for halting Iran’s oil exports.

Iran’s economy has been battered as countries wrap up trade ties in fear of violating the US sanctions which Washington said would be strictly imposed.

In the wake of the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal with Iran, a document from Israel’s Foreign Ministry reportedly says efforts for 2019 should focus “on pressuring for an improved agreement that will address the flaws in the old deal.”

According to Haaretz, which reported on the document, this wording in the ministry’s 2019 objectives document marks a change from the 2018 ministry plan, which focused instead on “establishing red lines” and “preventing Iran from making effective progress in its nuclear program, first and foremost with regard to the nuclear agreement.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who long railed against the 2015 nuclear deal, gave a dramatic presentation a little over a week before US President Donald Trump’s May 8 decision to withdraw from the pact, in which he unveiled documents Israel spirited out of Tehran that he said proved Iran had lied about its nuclear program.

As in previous years, one of the goals of the Foreign Ministry is to work to end the presence of Iran and its proxies in Syria, the report said. However, this year a further aim of “diversifying those we rely on, including establishing and strengthening ties with Russia” has been added to the list of objectives.

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as they prepare to deliver joint statements after a meeting and a lunch in the Israeli leader’s Jerusalem residence, Monday, June 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Jim Hollander, Pool)

For years, Israel has been concerned that Iran is using opportunities presented by the Syrian civil war to entrench itself militarily in the country in order to further threaten the Jewish state — alongside the threat already posed by Iran’s proxy, Hezbollah, in Lebanon.

Israel has vowed to prevent such a military presence, but officially remains mum on most of the military’s efforts to do so. Israel reportedly carried out airstrikes against Iranian military targets in the Syrian provinces of Hama and Tartus on Tuesday, killing three people and wounding 23.

According to Haaretz, the ministry also seeks to “use the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital to campaign for other countries to do the same.”

Jerusalem’s status is perhaps the thorniest issue in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel considers the entire city its capital, while the Palestinians see its eastern neighborhoods as the capital of their future state. So far only Guatemala and Paraguay have joined the US in moving their embassies to Jerusalem from the coastal city of Tel Aviv.

The document also spells out a specific need to improve ties with the US’s Democratic Party ahead of the November 2018 mid-term elections.

The party has had an increasingly strained relationship with Netanyahu and his government, as Israel has been seen to align itself with US President Donald Trump and the Republican Party, and against the Iran deal. Netanyahu serves as foreign minister as well as prime minister.

The document also seems to demonstrate a policy shift from working only with the Americans to try to bring about a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, to now engaging with other partners in the Middle East and international community. On top of that, the ministry aims to continue building partnerships with “the Visegrad Group [Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Poland], the ‘Hellenic triangle’ and the Baltic states,” the report said.

It also noted that, in contrast to the 2018 goals, the ministry will work to avert a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip with the aim of creating long-term stability in the region.

A Palestinian checks a truck loaded with humanitarian aid from the US as it arrives in the Palestinian town of Rafah through the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and the southern Gaza Strip on August 6, 2014.

The document also reportedly uses the phrase “delegitimization” in a section of the report dedicated to the fight against anti-Semitism. According to the report, this represents a shift, as the phrase is most commonly used by the Strategic Affairs Ministry, which is responsible for the fight against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

According to the newspaper, the document also addresses increasing tensions between Israel and the Diaspora community, in particular with liberal Jewish individuals and groups.

“Strengthen the ties with the various streams and establish a dialogue with key liberal elements inside and outside the Jewish world” is repeated as a goal from last year.

Israel is working to thwart the production of precision missiles that can be used against the country “both near and far,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday, the latest signal from an Israeli leader that Jerusalem may act against Iranian targets far from the border with Syria.

“Israel is determined to prevent Iran and its proxies from establishing a military presence in Syria,” Netanyahu told ministers at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting.

“We are taking strong action against these attempts and against the attempts to produce precision weaponry in all sectors, near and far. We will continue to take such action on behalf of the security of Israel,” he said.

The Israeli military on Tuesday acknowledged that it has conducted airstrikes against over 200 Iranian targets in Syria since 2017, shedding light on its largely unacknowledged activities across the border to prevent Tehran from establishing a permanent military presence in the war-torn country.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (c) leads the weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem on September 5, 2018. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

The revelation came as Israeli planes reportedly carried out strikes against Iranian and Assad regime targets in Hama and Tartus, deep inside Syria, according to a war monitor.

A day earlier, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman hinted that Israel was not ruling out action against Iranian weapons transfers in Iraq.

According to Haaretz, a military official said Tuesday that the army was aware of Iran transferring weapons into Iraq and from there into Syria.

In Syria, Israel has for years been concerned that Iran was using opportunities presented by the Syrian civil war to entrench itself militarily in the country in order to further threaten the Jewish state — alongside the threat already posed by Iran’s proxy, Hezbollah, in Lebanon.

Israel has vowed to prevent such a military presence, but officially remains mum on most of the military’s efforts to do so.

The 202 targets hit in the Israeli airstrikes since 2017 were mostly shipments of advanced weaponry, as well as military bases and infrastructure, which the IDF officials said drove Iranian forces to abandon some posts.

In addition, Jerusalem has tried to get the Islamic Republic out of Syrian through diplomatic means by appealing to the two main power-brokers in the region: Russia and the United States.

While Russia does not seem to have accepted Israel’s demand for Iran to be completely removed from Syria, it has agreed to force the Islamic Republic’s forces and proxies to leave the areas closest to the border with Israel.

According to some reports, pro-Iranian forces would be required to stay 40 kilometers (25 miles) away from the border; others indicate that range would be set at 80 kilometers (50 miles).

Judah Ari Gross contributed to this report.

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s foreign minister on Wednesday accused US President Donald Trump of trying to hijack the United Nations Security Council for the purposes of “bullying others” to turn against Tehran.

Trump plans to lead a meeting of the heads of state of the Security Council on Iran in late September, his envoy to the UN Nikki Haley, announced Tuesday.

With the United States now holding the presidency of the Security Council, Haley said the aim was to put further pressure on Tehran over its alleged violations of council resolutions.

But Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, hit out at the US plan.

“There’s only one UNSC resolution on Iran…@realDonaldTrump is violating it & bullying others to do same,” Zarif wrote on Twitter.

Washington has sought to build up international pressure on Iran after reimposing tough, unilateral sanctions on August 7 and setting a November 5 deadline for halting Iran’s oil exports.

Those moves came after the United States decided in May to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal, saying it failed to do enough to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons and stop its ballistic missile program.

In reaction to the reimposition of sanctions, Iran demanded in The Hague that the top UN court suspend the unilateral US sanctions.

Europe has resisted joining the US sanctions move, but this week Japanese media said Tokyo had agreed to suspend crude imports from Iran.