A Member of the New Axis Takes a Big Hit

 

The Israeli Air Force conducted an airstrike against an Iranian Revolutionary Guard missile factory and storage facility in Syria. There are estimates that 1,000 surface-to-surface missiles were destroyed in the strike, which took place August 25.

(TPS) An Israeli airstrike on Iranian targets in Masyaf in Syria on Thursday night resulted in the destruction of a large number of surface-to-surface missiles that were being produced with Iranian guidance, the Syrian Observatory for Hunan Rights (SOHR) reported.

The SOHR quoted its sources in the country who said that explosions that rocked the attacked sites hours after the strike were due to the explosion of medium-range surface-to-surface missiles manufactured at Syria’s Scientific Research Centre under the supervision of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRGC), as well as Iranian-made missiles transported to the warehouse in recent months.

According to SOHR, the missiles were assembled over the course of more than a year and their numbers are more than 1,000. Other sources doubt this high number.

The IDF has remained silent on the report, as it usually does after reported operations in Syria.

The targeted areas host military headquarters and posts and weapons warehouses affiliated with Iranian-backed militias.

The Saudi Al-Haddath channel reported that the Israeli attack hit workshops for the production of precision-guided missiles.

As the Biden administration seeks or begs Iran for a new nuclear arms agreement, the Israeli government is more realistic concerning Iranian intentions in the Middle East. It would be nice if President Biden had the same concern for our southern border that the Israelis have for their own borders.

The Russian Navy and Air Force, despite their presence in Syria, have not been able to prevent strikes against IRG weapons depots or IRG ground forces.

Several sources have reported that Russia has recently removed its advanced S-300 air defense system from Syria and transferred it to the war in Ukraine, thus creating a better opportunity for Israel to attack Iranian and Hezbollah targets in Syria.

This latest strike was the 21st Israeli attack in Syrian territory in 2022, according to the SOHR’s count.

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  1. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    Percival (View Comment):
    Qassem Soleimani really did have Americans killed. 

    Pssht.  So did Hillary.  

    • #31
  2. James Lileks Contributor
    James Lileks
    @jameslileks

    Mark Camp (View Comment):

    Israel and Iran and its allies, including Syria, are unquestionably at war. The Islamist alliance  don’t deny that they are at war with Israel, with the announced political goal of destroying the country and as many Jews as possible.

    Making war implies violating the sovereignty of the enemy’s nation. To assert that it is immoral for Israel to violate the sovereignty of Syria is to imply that it is immoral for Israel to defend itself from annihilation and its people from extermination.

    So let us all celebrate the destruction of missiles intended for death and injury and destruction in Israel.

    It’s entirely possible that Iran put the materiel in Syria because they thought Israel might join NATO. The Iranians, historically concerned about invasions, regard Israel’s entry into NATO as a threat, since it might mean Polish tanks thundering across the desert to impose the will of the EU. Given these historical realities, one can certainly understand why the IRG would pre-position missiles in Syria. It really is a pity that we don’t understand these things, but view them through archaic, simplistic lens, like “the Islamist leadership has a teensy prob with the Jews.” 

    Since no technical, formal, legal state of war exists that would satisfy the UN bureaucracy, Israel is thus required to do nothing until the missiles are used. After the missile are used, the number of dead civilian Jews shall be balanced against the victims of the retaliation on military facilities, and if the ratio is not 1:1,  a hologram of Boutrous-Boutrous Golly will be activated to condemn the response. France will abstain; Russia will side with Iran, because c’mon, bombing Syria is their thing. 

     

    • #32
  3. Titus Techera Contributor
    Titus Techera
    @TitusTechera

    Weird as it seems, the Bush destruction of Saddam’s army necessarily led to the rise of Iran as the major power in the region; Obama accordingly decided to make peace with Iran, let them dominate the region on the supposition that they would become a more respectable partner in international decisions–there was a lot of money for them if they did. Obama was almost as incompetent a strategist as Bush, so you can see how that worked out. We have the worst of the two now, with Biden, who was both very much for Middle East wars & very much for Iranian eminence.

    The result has been, against the intentions of American foreign policy elites, an alliance between Israel & Saudi Arabia, as well as other minor Sunni powers threatened by Shia Iran. Trump proved a much better president for America so far as the Middle East is concerned, but also for Israel.

    This is welcome news, Israel destroying Iranian material. Nothing Americans have done in the Middle East in 50 years has persuaded Iran to stop committing acts of war against America; if American foreign policy elites could bring themselves to support this new anti-Iran alliance, that might finally contain the problem & give America some peace.

    • #33
  4. Arahant Member
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    Titus Techera (View Comment):
    Obama was almost as incompetent a strategist as Bush, so you can see how that worked out. We have the worst of the two now, with Biden, who was both very much for Middle East wars & very much for Iranian eminence.

    Now that’s eloquence right there.

    • #34
  5. iWe Coolidge
    iWe
    @iWe

    James Lileks (View Comment):
    It’s entirely possible that Iran put the materiel in Syria because they thought Israel might join NATO.

    Genius. Pure genius.

    • #35
  6. Red Herring Coolidge
    Red Herring
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    RushBabe49 (View Comment):

    Paul Stinchfield (View Comment):

    Barry Jones (View Comment):

    RushBabe49 (View Comment):

    Percival (View Comment):

    RushBabe49 (View Comment):

    Go IDF!! I guess it’s time for me to get out my Israeli Airforce t-shirt that I got in Israel.

    Yeah, and my CCAs are in the cockpit of that F-16!

    When I was in the service we had an IDF Colonel as an advisort/observer to the Armor Brigade I (an Armor 1LT) served in. He had a poster on the wall in his office that said: “For the IDF every test is a final” which was and is very true. The IDF is quite justifiable in proactively destroying weapons which would be used(and only used) against civilian targets.

    Also weapons that would be used against military targets. When someone has promised to kill you, and has repeated tried to do so, you are fully justified in using deadly force to prevent future attempts.

    Hmmm… Does this mean we are justified in taking out Iran, whose call of “Death to America” sounds a lot like a threat to kill us?

    Would have stopped their terrorist attacks a long time ago if not for lawyers.

    • #36
  7. Paul Stinchfield Member
    Paul Stinchfield
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    James Lileks (View Comment):
    Since no technical, formal, legal state of war exists that would satisfy the UN bureaucracy, Israel is thus required to do nothing until the missiles are used.

    Sounds like something the Libertarian Party would say.

    • #37
  8. CuriousKevmo Inactive
    CuriousKevmo
    @CuriousKevmo

    Percival (View Comment):

    RushBabe49 (View Comment):

    Go IDF!! I guess it’s time for me to get out my Israeli Airforce t-shirt that I got in Israel.

    Where can I score one of those shirts?

    • #38
  9. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    CuriousKevmo (View Comment):

    Percival (View Comment):

    RushBabe49 (View Comment):

    Go IDF!! I guess it’s time for me to get out my Israeli Airforce t-shirt that I got in Israel.

    Where can I score one of those shirts?

    They used to be common, but I haven’t seen one in a while. Mine was retired some years ago. It was useful for provoking spittle-flecked outrage from supporters of “Palestine,” a Roman fiction over two thousand years old. They would accost me and call me all kinds of names.

    Those people were the wind beneath my wings.

    • #39
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