US Blames Iran and Syria for Israeli Aggression
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org – Home – Stephen Lendman)
Washington and Israel coordinate their military activities, partnering in regional aggression.
Both countries bear full responsibility for preemptive Israeli attacks against Syrian targets on Saturday.
Do they signal more to come or will Israel back off after Syria downed one of its warplanes, one or more others reportedly struck and damaged?
Does Syria have upgraded air defense capability able to give Israel pause about further aerial attacks on the country – even from Lebanese or its own airspace?
Saturday’s pre-dawn incident marked the first time an Israeli warplane was shot down since its aggression on Lebanon in 1982 – so-called Operation Peace for Galilee.
At the time, Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Shamir said its war on Lebanon was launched because of a “terrible danger…not so much a military one as a political one.”
No threat or justification existed. Around 18,000 Palestinians and Lebanese were massacred before it ended, including thousands in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps, then-defense minister Ariel Sharon using Phalangist gunmen to do Israeli dirty work in the camps.
Hezbollah was born out of Israel’s 1982 Lebanon aggression. Today it’s a formidable resistance force against its imperial aims, along with being part of the Lebanese government.
On Saturday, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert defended Israeli aggression on Syria, saying:
“The United States is deeply concerned about today’s escalation of violence over Israel’s border and strongly supports Israel’s sovereign right to defend itself,” adding:
“Iran’s calculated escalation of threat and its ambition to project its power and dominance, places all the people of the region – from Yemen to Lebanon – at risk”.
“The US continues to push back on the totality of Iran’s malign activities in the region and calls for an end to Iranian behavior that threatens peace and stability.”
The White House and Pentagon issued similar statements. In comments aired on Israeli television, Netanyahu blamed Iran and Syria for Israeli aggression, saying:
“(W)e will continue to defend ourselves with determination against any attack on us and against any attempt by Iran to entrench itself militarily in Syria or anywhere else,” adding:
“Iran made such an attempt today. It brazenly violated our sovereignty. It infiltrated its aircraft into Israeli territory from Syrian territory” – a bald-faced lie supported by Washington.
Israel’s intelligence minister Yisrael Katz turned truth on its head, claiming “(t)he Iranians are crossing red lines. They are playing with fire. Iranian military presence and activity in Syria presents a threat not only to Israel but to regional stability as a whole.”
Israel, Washington and their rogue allies constitute the region’s only threat – not Iran, Syria or Russia, peace champions, not warrior states.
They strongly support regional peace and stability. Syria is defending its nation against foreign aggression. The Russian Federation never attacked or threatened another country.
Iran hasn’t attacked another nation in centuries, threatening none now. It has military advisors in Syria, aiding Assad combat US-supported ISIS, al-Nusra and other terrorist groups.
Washington and Israel are serial aggressors, both countries threatening world peace, stability and security. Their rage for dominance by brute force is humanity’s greatest threat.
Syria is Obama’s war. Trump escalated it. Since 2007, Israel launched cross-border attacks on Syria numerous times – paying a price yesterday for the first time, likely not the last if its aggression continues.
On Sunday, millions of Iranians commemorated the 1979 Islamic Revolution’s 39th anniversary, ending a generation of US-installed Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi’s repressive rule.
Showing support for the Islamic Republic, prominent Russian political and cultural figures commemorated the anniversary with Iran’s government in Tehran, including Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov.
Conflict resolution in Syria remains unattainable as long as US rage for transforming all sovereign independent countries into pro-Western subservient ones remains unchanged.
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