The Sunday Times September 03, 2006
Israel plans for war with Iran and SyriaUzi Mahnaimi, Tel Aviv, and Sarah
Baxter, New York
THREATENED by a potentially nuclear-armed Tehran, Israel is
preparing for a possible war with both Iran and Syria, according to Israeli
political and military sources. The conflict with Hezbollah has led to a
strategic rethink in Israel. A key conclusion is that too much attention has
been paid to Palestinian militants in Gaza and the West Bank instead of the two
biggest state sponsors of terrorism in the region, who pose a far greater
danger to Israels existence, defence insiders say.
NI_MPU('middle'); The challenge from Iran and Syria is now top of the Israeli
defence agenda, higher than the Palestinian one, said an Israeli defence
source. Shortly before the war in Lebanon Major-General Eliezer Shkedi, the
commander of the air force, was placed in charge of the Iranian front, a new
position in the Israeli Defence Forces. His job will be to command any future
strikes on Iran and Syria. The Israeli defence establishment believes
that Irans pursuit of a nuclear programme means war is likely to become
unavoidable. In the past we prepared for a possible military strike against
Irans nuclear facilities, said one insider, but Irans growing confidence
after the war in Lebanon means we have to prepare for a full-scale war, in
which Syria will be an important player. A new infantry brigade has been
formed named Kfir (lion cub), which will be the largest in the Israeli army.
It is a partial solution for the challenge of the Syrian commando brigades,
which are considered better than Hezbollahs, a military source said. There
has been grave concern in Israel over a military pact signed in Tehran on June
15 between Iran and Syria, which the Iranian defence minister described as a
mutual front against Israeli threats. Israel has not had to fight against
more than one army since 1973. During the war in Lebanon, Ali Akbar
Mohtashamipour, the Iranian founder of Hezbollah, warned: If the
Americans attack Iran, Iran will attack Tel Aviv with missiles. According
to the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, both Iran and
Syria have ballistic missiles that can cover most of Israel, including Tel
Aviv. An emergency budget has now been assigned to building modern shelters.
The ineptness of the Israeli Defence Forces against Hezbollah has raised the
Iranians confidence, said a leading defence analyst. In Washington, the
military hawks believe that an airstrike against Iranian nuclear bunkers
remains a more straightforward, if risky, operation than chasing Hezbollah
fighters and their mobile rocket launchers in Lebanon. Fixed targets are
hopelessly vulnerable to precision bombing, and with stealth bombers even a
robust air defence system doesnt make much difference, said Richard Perle, a
leading neoconservative. The option of an eventual attack remains on the
table after President George Bush warned on Friday that Iran must not
be allowed to develop nuclear weapons. While the American State Department
favours engaging with President Bashar Assad of Syria in the hope of detaching
him from the Iranian alliance, hawks believe Israel missed a golden opportunity
to strike at Syria during the Hezbollah conflict. If they had acted against
Syria during this last kerfuffle, the war might have ended more quickly and
better, Perle added. Syrian military installations are sitting ducks and the
Syrian air force could have been destroyed on the ground in a couple of days.
Assad set off alarm bells in Israel when he said during the war in Lebanon: If
we do not obtain the occupied Golan Heights by peaceful means, the resistance
option is there.
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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2340486,00.html
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