US Gen. Martin Dempsey’s assertion Thursday, Aug. 30 that the US would not be “complicit” in an Israel strike against Iran, together with the drastic reduction in the scale of next month’s joint US-Israeli war game disclosed by TIME, add up to a blunt message from US President Barack Obama to Israel: You are on your own! See how you manage without special US weapons and US military backup, including a shield against missile counter-attack, if you decide to defy us and go through with a military operation against Iran.The Obama administration has put Israel on harsh notice that an attack on Iran to disrupt or delay its nuclear armament will be refused US missile backup - both in the course of the operation and to cover Israel’s back in the event of a counter-strike widening into a general Middle East conflict.The Netanyahu government will bear full and exclusive responsibility for the consequences of attacking Iran.Despite the massive pressure Obama threw at the Israeli government, both through the highest ranking US political and military channels and by mobilizing the government’s most vocal opponents and anti-war circles at home, Netanyahu and Barak did not budge.They understood, despite Obama’s concealment, that the secret US-Russian deal would in fact preserve Iran’s nuclear program at a point at which Iran’s leaders could have a weapon assembled and unsheathed at any moment.It has been four weeks since the former Mossad director Ephraim Halevi said that if he was an Iranian, he would be worried in the next twelve weeks.
That was on Aug. 2.
Thursday, Aug. 30, Halevi said: “It is important for Israel’s military threat to be credible.”He was throwing down the gauntlet for Netanyahu and Barak to show they were serious about striking Iran – or else back down completely.
His timeline gives them another eight weeks to show their mettle. During that time, they will be under heavy bombardment from Washington.
The combination of Iran’s progress toward the bomb, the failure of the US to “set red lines” for Iran, and the increasingly critical comments by the top US soldier about a possible Israeli strike on Iran, have left Israel with “a sharpened sense that it has no one to rely upon but itself,” a senior Israeli official said.Israel had already responded bitterly on Friday to comments by the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, who said on Thursday that he did not want “to be complicit” if Israel were to strike at Iran’s nuclear facilities.
“It is strange that next to the oaths and blood libels of [Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei, the production in Iran [a reference to this week's Non-Aligned Movement summit], and the [latest] IAEA report — which states that Iran is speeding up uranium enrichment under its nose — the American chief of staff decides to talk about [an Israeli strike] rather than giving a determined message to the Iranians,” the source said.Given the US’s publicly stressed disinclination to act, “Israel is being pushed into a corner, in a way that is really dangerous,” said Shavit. “If all these moderate players, in the US and Europe, are so concerned about a dangerous Israeli action [against Iran], why haven’t they taken any meaningful action?” he asked.On Channel 2, diplomatic reporter Udi Segal said comments like Dempsey’s might be bolstering the sense in the Israeli leadership that “maybe there’s no-one else who’s going to help us.”
Netanyahu, speaking at the beginning of the weekly cabinet meeting, articulated publicly what he has been saying for weeks behind closed doors: that it is not enough for there to be open-ended diplomacy, but clear red lines need to set so the Iranians see that there will be direct consequences for their actions.Referring to last week's Non-Aligned Movement conferencein Tehran, Netanyahu said that the representatives of 120 countries listened to the anti-Semitic rants of the Iranian leadership and "no one stood up, no one left the hall."
Israeli security officials on Saturday tried to downplay the Pentagon's decision to significantly scale back its participation in a joint military exercise with Israel next month, but some government officials said the decision came as a response to the growing tensions between Prime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu's office and the Obama administration."This is the Obama administration's response to the dinner party Netanyahu held in (Mitt) Romney's honor," a senior member of the political-security cabinet told Ynet, while another official said the Pentagon's decision "isn’t boosting deterrence and is not making the Iranians sweat."The US elections are in two months, and there is no doubt that President Barack Obama, if he is reelected, will make Netanyahu pay for his behavior," said the security cabinet member. "It will not pass quietly.""This is why the Iranians are issuing threatening statements against the US," one official argued. "Washington's hesitant policy is making the Iranians feel freer to move ahead with the nuclear program. This is not how you create deterrence to avoid a military operation."
Iran would take action if the United States were to carry out an act of "stupidity" and attack Syria, an Iranian military official was quoted as saying on Saturday, but the comments later disappeared from the state-linked agency website.
Iran has steadfastly supported Syrian President Bashar Assad in his bid to suppress an uprising which both Tehran and Damascussee as a proxy war by Israel and Western states to extend their influence in the Middle East.
"If America were to attack Syria, Iran along with Syria's allies will take action, which would amount to a fiasco for America," Mohammad Ali Assoudi, the deputy for culture and propaganda of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), was quoted as saying."In the case of American stupidity and a military attack by this country on Syria, the joint military pact of Syria's allies would be implemented," Assoudi said.Iran and Syria signed a mutual defense pact in 2006, but little is known of its details
A quiet Sunday morning in southern Israel was disrupted once again with the blare of the Color Red rocket alert siren, warning of an impending attack by Palestinian Authority Arab terrorists in Gaza.
The warning, which came at about 10:00 a.m., gave residents of western Negev towns a window of safety of some 15 seconds to race for cover before the Qassam rocket made impact.
It's impossible to know, prior to landing, just where the rocket will hit, due to the nature of the missile, which is randomly aimed.
Earlier Sunday morning, Gaza Arab terrorists shelled southern Israel, near the border area.
The attack came at about 8:00 a.m., just as children were walking to school, and parents were leaving their homes for work. Instead, the Color Red air raid siren activated, providing a bare few seconds of time for residents to take cover, and make it to safety.
Syria killed Aleppo residents with a new Russian-made “barrel bomb,” large old drums stuffed with explosives, oil and pieces steel that maim, kill and terrorize, the London Telegraph reported Sunday morning.The homemade bomb spread devastation across a wide swath of the commercial hub, as seen in a video published by the London newspaper.
"The sound was like nothing else I've ever heard. It was an almighty whoosh," rebel fighter Mohammed Ibrahim told the Telegraph. The blast perforated his eardrums, but others, including his cousin, were killed by the bomb, which was dropped by low-flying helicopters.
Rebels are desperately trying to hold on to their strongholds as Syrian President Bashar Assad’s tanks ring the city and helicopters and warplanes bomb from above
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