WarSclerotic

“We give Israel $4.5 billion a year and they’re doing very well defending themselves, if you take a look,” U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters Wednesday during a previously unannounced trip to Iraq.

Defending his recent decision to pull all U.S. troops out of Syria, a move that sparked broad concern among U.S. allies, including Israel, Trump went on to say that he had informed Israel of the move. Using a nickname for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said, “I don’t see it. I spoke with Bibi. I told Bibi.”

“We’re going to take good care of Israel. Israel is going to be good. But we give Israel $4.5 billion a year. And we give them, frankly, a lot more money than that, if you look at the books – a lot more money than that. And they’ve been doing a very good job for themselves,” Trump added.

In an effort to dispel concerns voiced by Israeli officials, including the fear that Israel will have to combat the encroaching Iranian presence in Syria without U.S. forces, the American president went on to add that “I’m the one that moved the embassy to Jerusalem. I was the one who was willing to do that. So that’s the way it is. We are going to take great care of Israel.”

In a speech to troops, Trump doubled down on his decision to withdraw from Syria, reiterating the argument that America’s military power is being exploited by other nations.

“America shouldn’t be doing the fighting for every nation on earth, not being reimbursed in many cases at all. If they want us to do the fighting, they also have to pay a price,” Trump said. “And sometimes that’s also a monetary price, so we’re not the suckers of the world.”

“We are no longer the suckers, folks. And people aren’t looking at us as suckers,” Trump declared.

The surprise visit to meet with American troops in Iraq on Wednesday was Trump’s first journey to an active combat zone since taking office in Jan. 2017.

The president, who was joined by first lady Melania Trump, spent three hours on the ground with U.S. forces stationed at the al-Asad Airbase, 110 miles northwest of Baghdad, and met with the U.S. ambassador and commanders on the ground.

The base, in Anbar province, became one of the most important bases for U.S. Marines after the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. Since U.S. forces returned to Iraq in 2014, the base has played an important role in the fight against the Islamic State group because of its location.

Trump said the U.S. would remain in Iraq, adding that “In fact, we could use this as the base if we wanted to do something in Syria.”

He assured reporters that many people will start seeing things on Syria the same way he does.

Reuters

Trump made the decision to withdraw forces from Syria abruptly last week, against the advice of top aides and commanders, including Defense Secretary James Mattis, who resigned the next day.

“I think a lot of people are going to come around to my way of thinking. It’s time for us to start using our head,” he said.

Meanwhile Wednesday, a scheduled meeting between Trump and Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi was canceled. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the meeting did not take place because the invitation was made only two hours in advance and the Iraqi prime minister was unable to get to the base in time.

Israelis are standing steadfast on their red lines in Syria and everywhere else, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday.

Speaking at a graduation ceremony for a new class of Israeli Air Force pilots, Netanyahu made no direct reference to specific attacks in Syria or Moscow’s criticism of a strike Tuesday, which Syrian state media said hit unspecified targets near Damascus, wounded three Syrian soldiers.

Netanyahu also repeated his pledge that Israel would not allow Iran to establish a permanent military presence in Syria and that the U.S. withdrawal from Syria would have no effect on Israeli activities in the neighboring country.

During the more than seven-year war in neighboring Syria, Israel has grown deeply alarmed by the expanding clout of arch-enemy Iran, a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad. The IAF has struck dozens of Iranian military targets and convoys transferring arms to Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement.

The prime minister reiterated Israel’s intention to prevent “Iranian military entrenchment, which is directed against us” in Syria.

“We will act against it, vigorously and continuously,” Netanyahu said.

The prime minister praised the capabilities of the IAF, which he called “unmatched.”

The Syrian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday condemned Israel for carrying out a strike on Christmas Day, which it called a public holiday, although only 10% of the country’s population is Christian.

According to the Syrian military, the attacks were designed to “terrorize the Syrian people on such an occasion,” adding that its actions did not differ from that of the al-Qaida-linked groups in Syria.

Lebanon also condemned on Wednesday Israeli strikes on Syria from Lebanese airspace and said Lebanon supported Syria’s right to defend its sovereignty.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil has instructed Lebanon’s envoy to the U.N. to submit a complaint to the Security Council against the “dangerous Israeli violations that threaten stability in the region,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

An Israeli security official on Wednesday confirmed responsibility for overnight airstrikes in Syria, saying the air force had hit a series of targets involved in Iranian arms transfers to the Hezbollah militant group.

Russia had criticized the airstrike, saying it endangered civilian flights. The comments highlighted the increasingly tense relations between Israel and Russia, which have grown strained since the September downing of a Russian plane by Syrian forces responding to an Israeli raid.

The Israeli official said the air force had attacked several Iranian targets in three main locations late Tuesday and early Wednesday. He said the targets were primarily storage and logistics facilities used by archenemy Iran to ship weapons to Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Lebanese group that fought Israel in a 2006 war.

The Israeli official said it was the Syrian air defenses that endangered the civilian aircraft, by firing 30 missiles in response to the airstrike. He also asserted that Iranian forces were operating less than 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the Israeli border, contrary to Russian assurances to keep the Iranian presence from encroaching on Israel’s borders.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity under standard Israeli security protocols. The military has not commented on the incident.

Earlier Wednesday, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said that six Israeli F-16 jets launched a “provocative” raid while two civilian airliners were preparing to land in Damascus and Beirut, posing a “direct threat” to the aircraft.

Lebanon’s acting Transportation Minister Youssef Fenianos confirmed Konashenkov’s account, saying the two airplanes in Lebanese airspace “narrowly” escaped Israeli warplanes, averting a “human catastrophe.” Fenianos said Lebanon plans to submit a complaint to the U.N. Security Council.

Konashenkov said the Syrian military didn’t fully engage its air defense assets to avoid accidentally hitting the passenger jets. He added that Syrian air traffic controllers redirected the Damascus-bound plane to a Russian air base in Syria’s coastal province of Latakia.

Konashenkov said Syrian air defense forces shot down 14 of the 16 precision-guided bombs dropped by the Israeli jets, while the remaining two hit a Syrian military depot 7 kilometers (4 miles) west of Damascus, wounding three Syrian soldiers.

The Israeli official said the Israeli jets hit all their targets, in some cases causing secondary explosions – an indication that weapons were stored within the target site. He said the strikes also destroyed a Syrian anti-aircraft battery.

In recent years, Israel has acknowledged carrying out scores of airstrikes in neighboring Syria, most believed to have been aimed at suspected Iranian arms shipments to Hezbollah. Iran and Hezbollah have sent forces to Syria to bolster President Bashar Assad, who appears close to victory after a devastating seven-year civil war.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said Israel would not allow Iran to establish a permanent military presence in postwar Syria. But efforts to ensure this goal were complicated by the Sept. 17 downing of the Russian reconnaissance aircraft by Syrian fire.

Russia, which also backs Assad, blamed Israel for the friendly-fire mishap and reportedly scaled back a channel of communications that had previously allowed the two air forces to coordinate and avoid unintended clashes.

Russia also sent Syria sophisticated S-300 anti-aircraft missiles despite Israeli objections, though the Israeli official said an older system was fired at the Israeli planes in Wednesday’s incident.

Israeli officials have also expressed concern about U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent decision to withdraw U.S. forces from Syria. Until now, the U.S. presence in Syria has given Israel an extra element of protection.

Speaking at a military ceremony Wednesday, Netanyahu said the U.S. withdrawal would not change his policy.

Although he did not directly mention the airstrikes, he said Israel’s air force has unmatched capabilities and can reach areas “near and far, very far.”

“We are not prepared to accept the Iranian military entrenchment in Syria, which is directed against us,” Netanyahu told a new class of air force pilots during a graduation ceremony. “We will act against it vigorously and continuously, including during the current period.”

At the same graduation event, Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot praised the army’s “many important accomplishments,” including “thwarting the expansion of Iranian influence.”

The Syrian Foreign Ministry accused Israel of exacerbating the crisis in the country and standing in the way of the government’s war on terrorism.

In messages sent to the U.N. secretary general and the president of the Security Council, the ministry said the Israeli airstrike wouldn’t have been launched if it wasn’t for what it called “unlimited” U.S. support for Israel.

The Britain-based war monitor group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Tuesday’s strike targeted three positions south of Damascus that are arms depots for Hezbollah and Iranian forces.

A reported Israeli strike in Syria on ‎Wednesday ‎was, according to foreign media reports, a clear ‎signal that despite the strategic changes in the ‎region, Israel will continue to adhere to its declared policy of ‎preventing Iran from entrenching itself militarily ‎in the war-torn country, and preventing Tehran ‎from arming Hezbollah, its regional proxy, with ‎advanced weapons. ‎

Wednesday’s strike, which reportedly targeted several ‎Hezbollah ‎leaders as well as Iranian ‎ammunition ‎depots near ‎Damascus, was the largest raid since the ‎Sept. 17 incident in which a Russian reconnaissance ‎plane was downed by Syria aid defenses responding to an Israeli airstrike.‎

Russia was furious over Wednesday’s operation, ‎saying the strike placed civilian aircraft in harm’s ‎way, but foreign media reports have quoted unnamed ‎officials as saying that the Russians were informed in advance ‎of the raid through the operational hotline Israeli ‎and Russian forces in Syria maintain.

If this was indeed the Israeli Air Force’s ‎handiwork, Russia’s castigation is likely intended ‎for several ears: first, for the Syrians, who must ‎be wondering why Moscow allows Israel to continue ‎operating freely in their airspace; second, for ‎leaders near and far, with the aim of reaffirming ‎Russia’s status as the dominant superpower in the ‎Middle East; and third – and most important – for ‎Israel, which again learned that the Kremlin is no ‎longer willing to turn a blind eye to such ‎operations and may, in the future, translate its ‎disapproval into various measures on the ground.‎

The Russian claim that Syrian air defenses ‎intercepted most of the IAF’s missiles should, as ‎usual, be taken with a big grain of salt. Syrian air ‎defenses did launch dozens of missiles at their ‎targets, so it is reasonable to assume they were at least somewhat successful, but Moscow’s sweeping claim is likely motivated by an effort to prove that Russia’s S-‎‎300 missile defense systems provided to Syria are ‎superior to American defense systems. ‎

This is a struggle between the superpowers in which ‎Israel is merely a pawn and one where no punches – ‎even half-truths – are pulled.‎ This has created a delicate equation that requires ‎Israel to tiptoe between the lines, especially given ‎U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision last week to ‎withdraw of all American troops from Syria. ‎

Israel will undoubtedly have to counter Iranian and ‎Hezbollah moves in the future – perhaps even in the ‎very near future. Moscow will no longer be as ‎sympathetic to such action and it falls to Israel to ‎spare no effort to foster the necessary ‎understandings so as to avoid mistakes, and ‎especially to avert a situation where an offensive ‎move devolves into a strategic problem.‎

This is not impossible, and it seems that Israel can ‎still maintain the necessary operational leeway, as ‎long as it maintains prudence and engages in selective action, ‎as it has been doing in recent months.‎

Meanwhile, the mounting tensions with Syria are ‎offset by a relative calm on the Israel-Lebanon ‎border, as Israel’s countertunnel operation seems ‎to be nearing its end. ‎

Operation Northern Shield, launched on Dec. 4 with ‎aim of detecting and destroying a network of ‎Hezbollah terror tunnels snaking under the border, ‎has so far unearthed five underground passageways ‎breaching Israeli territory.‎

Defense officials believe the operation will be ‎completed within two weeks, at which point the IDF ‎will refocus its attention on completing the new ‎border fence and Hezbollah will undoubtedly try to ‎compensate for its loses by devising new ways to ‎‎”conquer the Galilee” in the next war.‎

The IDF is convinced that Hezbollah will not waste ‎any more resources on digging tunnels, but rather ‎look for new ways to challenge the Israeli military ‎in the northern sector. ‎

One of the things to look out for is whether the ‎Shiite terrorist group will accelerate its ‎precision-missile development program in Lebanon, ‎something that would cause tensions in the sector to ‎spike and may even trigger another war. ‎

Israel must meet this possibility fully prepared ‎both militarily and diplomatically, meaning it must ‎also ensure it has international legitimacy to act. ‎This is another key reason to resolve, or at least ‎downplay, the ongoing disagreements with Russia. ‎

An intelligence report issued by the satellite imaging company ImageSat International (ISI) on Thursday revealed the aftermath of the recent airstrikes in Syria, largely attributed to Israel.

According to reports, the target of the airstrikes was an Iranian weapons depot near Damascus. The satellite images unveiled Thursday showed extensive damage to the targeted site. A caption on the satellite imagery indicates that the site was “completely destroyed.”

ImageSat International

London-based war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Wednesday that three weapons facilities, belonging to Iran and Hezbollah, had been targeted outside Damascus overnight between Tuesday and Wednesday.

The ISI report included a survey of the targeted area, focusing on a reported Iranian weapons facility inside the Division 4 camp. The report further concluded that there was no evidence of attacks on the airport in Damascus or in Al-Kiswah.