WarSclerotic

The US envoy for Iran said Thursday that Tehran has funded militia groups in Syria and Iraq to the tune of $16 billion.

US State Department Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook, who made the comments in an interview with Saudi broadcaster Al Arabiya, did not specify over what time period the money was sent.

Iran has longstanding ties to a number of armed Shiite groups in Iraq and was a key backer of the Popular Mobilization Forces, a paramilitary group that fought against the Islamic State jihadist organization.

In Syria, Iran supports militias fighting on behalf of its ally Syrian President Bashar Assad in that country’s civil war.

Tehran also backs other armed factions such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group and the Houthis in Yemen.

In this photo from June 23, 2017, supporters of Iraqi Hezbollah brigades march on a representation of an Israeli flag with a portrait of late Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini and Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in Baghdad, Iraq. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban, File)

Israel has accused Iran of seeking to place advanced weaponry in Iraq and Syria that could be used to target the Jewish state. On Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran was trying to launch precision-guided missiles at Israel from Yemen and elsewhere in the region.

On Wednesday, Israeli Air Force chief Amikam Norkin said the military’s multi-tiered network of air defense systems was “on alert” amid a general threat of attack by Iran.

In recent weeks, the military has begun to believe that Tehran intends to eventually retaliate against Israel’s regular airstrikes against its forces and proxies in the region.

Iran appears to have been building up its drone activities and attacks in recent months. In August, Israeli fighter jets carried out airstrikes in Syria to thwart a planned attack on Israel by Iran-backed fighters using armed drones, the Israel Defense Forces said. The Israeli military said its strike targeted operatives from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force as well as Shiite militias who had been planning on sending “kamikaze” attack drones into Israel armed with explosives.

Israel has vowed to prevent Iran’s regional proxy militias from obtaining advanced weapons to use against the Jewish state and has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria that it says were to prevent delivery of weapons and to stop Iranian military entrenchment in that country.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday said Iran was emboldened by the lack of a response to a series of attacks in the Middle East attributed to the Islamic Republic.

Speaking at a ceremony for graduates of the Israel Defense Forces’ officers course, Netanyahu warned of growing threats from Iran and its regional proxies, who he said are working to build up their arsenals.

“The area around us is turbulent and stormy. The threats are popping up in every corner — in Syria, Lebanon, the Gaza Strip and also in Iraq, in Yemen and directly in Iran. Iranian and pro-Iranian forces are working nonstop to arm themselves,” he said.

Netanyahu, who is also defense minister, said Israel would respond harshly to any attempt to harm it, suggesting that other countries’ failure to do likewise was encouraging Iran.

“We’re prepared for the threats and we won’t hesitate to land a tough blow on whoever tries to harm us. Iran’s brazenness in the region is increasing and even getting stronger in light of the absence of a response,” he said.

“But Israel won’t turn the other cheek,” Netanyau added. “Whoever is bent on aggression… will pay a heavy price.”

Netanyahu did not specify whose lack of response was emboldening Iran, but his comments came after a series of attacks in the Persian Gulf on US assets and American allies.

During a trip organized by the Saudi information ministry, workers fix the damage in Aramco’s oil separator at processing facility after the September 14 attack in Abqaiq, near Dammam in the Kingdom’s Eastern Province, September 20, 2019. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

In June, US President Donald Trump called off a retaliatory strike after Iran downed an American drone that Tehran said entered its airspace. The US, which denied the drone entered Iranian skies, was later reported to have launched a cyberattack on Iran.

Last month, around half of Saudi Arabia’s oil production capacity was knocked offline due to an attack claimed by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. There was no response to that attack, which the US, Israel and others also blamed on Iran.

Netanyahu, who has developed close ties with Trump, has not publicly commented on the lack of a US or Saudi response but has emphasized of late that Israel can defend itself.

Visitors look at a Hoveizeh 8 cruise missile at a military show marking the 40th anniversary of Iran’s Islamic Revolution in Tehran, Iran, February 3, 2019. (AP/Vahid Salemi)

Israel is now bracing for a similar assault to the one on Saudi Arabia, which involved armed drones and cruise missiles, with Hebrew media reporting earlier this month that the defense establishment was analyzing the strike on the Saudi oil facilities.

The chief of the Israeli Air Force said Wednesday the military’s multi-tiered network of air defense systems was  “on alert” amid a general threat of attack by Iran.

In recent weeks, the military has begun to believe that Tehran intends to eventually retaliate against Israel’s regular airstrikes against its forces and proxies in the region.

Israel has vowed to prevent Iran’s regional proxy militias from obtaining advanced weapons to use against the Jewish state and has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria that it says were to prevent delivery of weapons and to stop Iranian military entrenchment in the country.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a group of ministers recently that they should not expect the US to take serious action against Iran for at least the next year, according to a report Thursday.

Netanyahu on Thursday hinted publicly for the first time at unease with Washington’s hesitancy to take action, echoing statements in recent weeks from officials speaking off the record about Iran’s growing boldness.

“Iran’s brazenness in the region is increasing and even getting stronger in light of the absence of a response,” he said at an IDF officer’s graduation ceremony.

Privately, according to a report from Channel 13 news Thursday, he has been more vocal.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairs the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2019. (Gali Tibbon/Pool Photo via AP)

Several weeks ago, Netanyahu told cabinet members in a closed-door meeting that US President Donald Trump would not act against Iran until US general elections in November 2020 at the earliest, according to the report.

The report, which did not cite a source for the information, said Netanyahu told the ministers that in the interim Israel would have to deal with Iran on its own.

Israeli military officials have expressed fears in recent days that Iran is beginning to respond to Israeli attacks on its positions in Syria, emboldened by a perceived lack of resolve from the US, which has signaled its disengagement from the region.

On Wednesday, Air Force Chief Amikam Norkin said Israel’s complete air defense array had been placed on alert to guard against missile or drone attacks from Iran or proxies across the region.

In this file photo taken on April 30, 2019, Iranian military personnel ride in a patrol boat as they take part in the ‘National Persian Gulf Day’ in the Strait of Hormuz (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)

Tensions surrounding Iran have ramped up in recent months, with the US sending extra troops and a warship to the Persian Gulf, but Washington has mostly shied from responding following a series of attacks on oil assets blamed on Iran.

The Iranian downing of a US drone also elicited no military response, with Trump calling back an air strike after planes were already in the air.

US President Donald Trump speaks at the 9th annual Shale Insight Conference at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, in Pittsburgh, October 23, 2019. (Evan Vucci/AP)

The White House’s decision to pull troops out of northern Syria and abandon Kurdish allies there has also been seen as a sign of Trump’s lack of willingness to engage militarily in the region.

Trump ran on a campaign of “America First” isolationism and has sought to end US military operations abroad to a large degree, announcing troop pullouts from Afghanistan and Syria.

Israeli Air Force chief Amikam Norkin on Wednesday said the military’s multi-tiered network of air defense systems were “on alert” amid a general threat of attack by Iran.

In recent weeks, the military has begun to believe that Tehran intends to eventually retaliate against Israel’s regular airstrikes against its forces and proxies in the region.

The Israel Defense Forces believes this could take the form of a large-scale attack involving cruise missiles and attack drones, similar to the strike on Saudi Arabia’s Aramco petroleum facility that was attributed to Iran.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran intends to attack Israel from Yemen, which may make intercepting such a strike more difficult as the IDF’s intermediate and long-range air defenses are better positioned to shoot down incoming attacks from Israel’s north, rather than from the south.

Israeli Air Force commander Maj. Gen. Amikam Norkin shakes hands with new air defense officers at a graduation ceremony on October 30, 2019. (Israel Defense Forces)

“Even as we speak, Arrow, Patriot, David’s Sling and Iron Dome batteries are on alert,” Norkin said Wednesday night at a graduation ceremony for air defense officers.

The air defense chief was referring to each of the military’s air defense systems, from the Arrow and Patriot systems, which are designed to destroy incoming long-range missiles and aircraft, to the mid-range David’s Sling, and the Iron Dome system, which can shoot down short-range rockets and small drones.

“The challenge of air defense has become more complicated. Joining the threat of missiles and rockets are now attack drones and cruise missiles,” he said.

Unlike ballistic missiles, which usually fly through a high arc on the way to the target, cruise missiles and drones fly at low altitude, making them harder to detect and intercept.

Iran appears to have been building up its drone activities and attacks in recent months. In August, Israeli fighter jets carried out airstrikes in Syria to thwart a planned attack on Israel by Iran-backed fighters using armed drones, the IDF said at the time.

The Israeli military said its strike targeted operatives from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force as well as Shiite militias, including the Hezbollah terror group, who had been planning on sending “kamikaze” attack drones into Israel armed with explosives.

Israel has vowed to prevent Iran’s regional proxy militias from obtaining advanced weapons to use against the Jewish state and has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria that it says were to prevent delivery of weapons and to stop Iranian military entrenchment in that country.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Blue and White Benny Gantz said Tuesday he would always prefer diplomatic means to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons capability, though he stressed that, if all else fails, “all options are on the table.”

Addressing the Jewish Agency Board of Governors, which this week convened in Jerusalem, the prime ministerial candidate vowed to implement a plan to upgrade a pluralistic prayer platform at the Western Wall that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government had indefinitely frozen. He also promised to embrace Jewish pluralism.

Israel’s security situation is fragile, and the most acute threat remains Tehran’s nuclear ambitions and its regional aggression, Gantz said.

“All options are on the table to prevent a nuclear Iran, though I will always, and we should always, favor diplomacy,” he declared, speaking in English. “But if we have to, then all options [are] on the table. It’s not a slogan. This is real in life. I know what I’m talking about.”

Gantz, a former IDF chief of staff and political novice, has been accused by his political rivals from right-wing parties as having supported the 2015 nuclear deal six world powers struck with the Islamic Republic.

Netanyahu was one of the accord’s foremost critics, saying it enabled Iran to acquire a large nuclear arsenal within a short amount of time.

These issues require less talk — more action. Through diplomatic channels, backchannels and, if needed, operations

In his 15-minute speech, Gantz did not mention Netanyahu by name but hinted that he is talking too much and doing too little about Israel’s security.

“Blue and White is the biggest faction in Israel’s parliament. Our leadership’s 100 years of combined security expertise is unmatched by any other faction in the building,” he said, referring to party leaders and fellow ex-army chiefs Moshe Ya’alon and Gabi Ashkenazi.

“I am very familiar with the needs, risks and responses required,” Gantz continued. “These issues require less talk — more action. Through diplomatic channels, backchannels and, if needed, operations.”

Citing Israel’s many challenges, he called for a “broad liberal unity government” that was stable, responsible, and pragmatic.

In a dig at Netanyahu, who is suspect in three separate corruption cases, Gantz went on to say that Israelis must know that their leadership “is pragmatic and has a steady hand on the tiller for the good of the State of Israel — not for personal legal issues.”

Gantz dedicated a significant part of his speech to Israel-Diaspora relations, vowing that Jerusalem will always back Jewish communities across the globe.

“As a former chief of staff of the IDF, as the political leader tasked with forming the Jewish state’s next government — and above all, as a Jew — I say to our brothers and sisters around the world: Israel stands with, behind you, and where it’s needed, in front of you,” he said.

Over the last decade, the ties between Jews in Israel and elsewhere — which he called the Jews’ “secret weapon” — have begun to deteriorate, Gantz said.

“When I will be the prime minister of Israel I will embrace all streams of Judaism,” he declared to raucous applause from the Jewish Agency delegates. “We are part of an inspiringly colorful mosaic of cultures and traditions. And I will nurture this pluralism.”

He also promised to “promote the implementation” of a currently frozen agreement to make the Western Wall plaza more accommodating to non-Orthodox streams. “The Western Wall is long enough [for] all of us, together,” he said.

The plan, approved by the cabinet in January 2016, would have seen the establishment of a properly prepared pavilion for pluralistic prayer — as opposed to current temporary arrangements — under joint oversight involving all major streams of Judaism.

Many Jewish organizations, including the Jewish Agency and the Jewish Federations of North America, bitterly denounced the government’s backtracking, threatening to protest until it was reversed.

Netanyahu, however, has consistently rebutted calls to unfreeze the 2016 agreement, citing his ultra-Orthodox coalition partners’ staunch opposition to any move that could be seen as legitimizing pluralistic Judaism.