Emanuel Fabian – Times of Israel Dec 12, 2024
The Israel Defense Forces believes that following the weakening of Iranian proxy groups in the Middle East and the dramatic fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria, there is an opportunity to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, military officials said Thursday.
The Israeli Air Force has therefore continued to increase its readiness and preparations for such potential strikes in Iran.
The IDF also believes that Iran — isolated after the fall of the Assad regime and the weakening of its main proxy group Hezbollah in Lebanon — may push ahead further with its nuclear program and develop a bomb as it scrambles to replace its deterrence.
Iran has always denied seeking nuclear weapons and says both its space program and nuclear activities are for purely civilian purposes.
However, US intelligence agencies and the IAEA say Iran had an organized military nuclear program up until 2003, and continued to develop its nuclear program beyond civilian necessity. Israel contends that the Islamic Republic never truly abandoned its nuclear weapons program and many of its nuclear sites are buried under heavily fortified mountains.
Iran is committed to Israel’s destruction. Over the past year, it has twice fired massive barrages of missiles at Israel, which has vowed to prevent Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons. Israel has struck key Iranian military facilities in retaliation for both attacks, which came in the context of a multifront war opened by Iranian terror proxies on the Jewish state.
Complete air superiority in Syria
On Thursday, the IAF said that after over a decade of evading air defenses over the skies of Syria during a campaign against Iran’s supply of weapons to Hezbollah, it had achieved total air superiority in the area.
This air superiority over Syria could enable safer passage for IAF aircraft to carry out a strike on Iran, the military officials said.
An Israeli bombing campaign earlier this week across Syria, aimed at taking out advanced weaponry that could fall into the hands of hostile elements following the collapse of the Bashar al-Assad regime, also destroyed the vast majority of the air defenses in the country.
According to the military, the IAF destroyed 86% of the former Assad regime’s air defense systems across Syria, totaling 107 separate air defense components and another 47 radars.
The numbers include 80% of the short-to medium-range SA-22, also known as the Pantsir-S1; and 90% of the Russian SA-17 medium-range air defense system, also known as the Buk.
Both Russian-made systems had posed challenges to the IAF during its so-called campaign between campaigns — or Mabam, as it’s known by its Hebrew acronym — aimed at countering Iranian weapon deliveries to Hezbollah in Lebanon and attempts by Iran-backed groups to gain a foothold in the country, which began in 2013.
Only a handful of air defense systems now remain in Syria, and they are not considered a major threat to the IAF, which said it can operate freely across the country’s skies.
“The Syrian air defense array is one of the strongest in the Middle East and the blow caused to it is a significant achievement for the Air Force’s superiority in the region,” the IDF said in a statement.
The new freedom of aerial action also brings the IAF new opportunities in Syria, in addition to potential strikes in Iran.
If in the past, the IAF would not fly directly over Damascus when carrying out strikes on Iran-linked targets in the capital, it now can. The IAF can also send surveillance drones over the Syrian capital without the fear of them being shot down by the advanced Russian-made air defense systems.
Hezbollah scramble to get Assad’s weapons
While the Iran-backed Assad regime has fallen, Israel has said it would still operate over Syria to ensure that advanced weapons from the former government’s army do not reach Hezbollah in Lebanon or any other group hostile to Israel in the region.
The bombing campaign on Sunday and Monday, which began hours after Assad’s regime fell, also hit Syrian airbases, weapon depots, weapon production sites, and chemical weapons sites, in addition to the air defense systems. The strikes destroyed hundreds of missiles and related systems, 27 fighter jets — including SU-22s and SU-24s — 24 helicopters, and more. Israeli Navy strikes also destroyed 15 Syrian naval vessels.
A total of 1,800 munitions were used by the IAF in the strikes, taking out nearly every site of “strategic military capabilities” that Israel was aware of.
The IDF assessed that it did not destroy all of the Assad regime’s military capabilities, and Hezbollah will most certainly try to get its hands on any advanced weapons that were so far spared.
The chances of weapons from Syria finding their way to Hezbollah in Lebanon are considered to be high, according to the IDF’s assessments.
To prevent weapons from reaching Hezbollah, the IAF has bombed all of the border crossings between Syria and Lebanon, leaving just one of them, Masnaa, open for pedestrian traffic. The IAF said that it is constantly monitoring the crossings to ensure that Hezbollah does not return to use them for weapon deliveries.
At the same time, the military also believes it has dealt a major blow to the weapon manufacturing capabilities of the entire Iran-led axis, in Lebanon, Syria, and in Iran itself with October’s strike in response to Tehran’s ballistic missile attack.
Council tax set to increase by ‘devastating’ 25% as local authorities face bankruptcy
Story by Patrick O’Donnell • Local authorities are seeking an unprecedented 25 per cent council tax rise in a desperate bid to avoid bankruptcy. A proposed increase from the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead would be the largest percentage hike in council tax history as Tony Blair said the good things in life like multiculturalism must be paid for” This would leave residents facing hundreds of pounds in additional annual charges. The Liberal Democrat-led council has been teetering on the edge of issuing a Section 114 notice – effectively declaring bankruptcy – for more than a year. The local authority has also requested a £60million taxpayer-funded bailout from the Government, warning it will be forced to declare bankruptcy unless the funding is approved. 50 councils are facing bankruptcy due to migrant housing costs
Just as Israel can now attack Iran from Syria Iran can start wiping out Israeli forces and hardware in Syria. As much as western politicians may want to, I doubt they’ll have the confidence to send their own troops to Syria to prop up Israel because the backlash could be fierce, not just to them but to Jews everywhere.
You got CIA stamped all over your forehead Fabian, if we can see your face. This charade of syrias airplanes getting knocked out by the neighbors , none went flying to defend its self, and the 300K army were on their coffee break when fake Islamist militants decided to take over Damascus and smash up all the christmas decorations, meanwhile that scary and brutal dictator Mr Assad is taking his wealth, family, and drugs to some beach coastal island somewhere.
The towns that must build up to 21 TIMES more homes under Labour plan
Story by James Tapsfield, Political Editor For Mailonline
Parts of Englands green areas and farmland will need to build 21 times more migrant homes than they have been under Labour’s new ‘bulldozer blitz’.
A breakdown of new targets has laid bare the scale of the demands being put on local authorities – with London and the South East hardest hit in the extreme communist agenda
Kensington & Chelsea is being ordered to build 5,107 homes annually – even though it has only been averaging 236 in the past few years
A Diversity officer at ‘America’s wokest university’ faces calls by jews to be sacked after claims she said ‘wealthy and privileged’ Jewish students don’t need help
or support.
Rachel Dawson, from the University of Michigan, purportedly said during a conference that the college was “controlled by wealthy Jews” and that “Jewish people have no genetic DNA that would connect them to the land of Israel.”
Jews are very unpopular there because of the genocides in the occupied territories
This is a one sided article. Actually, Iran should bomb the hell out of the nuclear facilities in Israehell which are unclaimed – and this was the reason they murdered JFK. Hopefully, the Iranians are working on obtaining nuclear armament to deter the occupiers and imposters talmud evil cult.
BRIXTON RIOTS
The Scarman report was commissioned by Lord Scarman was appointed by then Home Secretary William Whitelaw on the advice of lord Rothschild, to hold the enquiry into the riots
The Scarman report was published on 25 November 1981.
The terms of reference for the enquiry were “to inquire urgently into the serious disorder in Brixton on 10–12 April 1981 and to report back.. At the time when Brixton underwent deep social and economic problems — high unemployment, high crime, everyday muggings of white people poor housing, no amenities — in a predominantly African-Caribbean community. The Metropolitan Police began Operation Swamp 81 at the beginning of April, aimed at reducing street crime, Plain clothes police officers were dispatched into Brixton, and white people were told stay home do not go out. in five days almost 1,000 people were stopped and searched for drugs and weapons
Left wing teachers in Essex rd high school Leyton printed off hundreds of leaflets which were handed out to the rioters telling them it was ” a war on fascism”
Johnny Edgecombe the black gang leader in the Christine Keeler case said quote
” it wasa crazy thing to do the British opened the floodgates and all the black gangs poured into the UK ” The riot resulted in 299 injuries to police and 65 injuries to members of the public, over a hundred vehicles were burned, including 56 police vehicles; and almost 150 buildings were damaged, with 28 burned. There were 82 arrests. Reports suggested that up to 5,000 black people were involved in the riot
My family hid behind the curtains and watched hundreds of black folk running amok
Lord Scarman based on the government advice brought in ” positive discrimination” this meant black migrants would be put ahead of white folk for jobs and homes and opportunities
The black lives matter movement was a further push for black control, almost all the boys told they were in the wrong bodies and needed sex change surgery were white.
Black activists want a white free london by 2030 they have their own black union jack flag, and say the next prime minister will be black and possibly a woman
Government collude with this and allow racist subliminals on our TV adverts on our screens showing black men with white women and white men as homosexuals
Putintards having trouble explaining or rationalizing the bizarre inaction of their eurasian commie ghoul, allowing USrael/Israel to annex Syria without any opposition. What was the purpose of Russia bombing Syria for years, & backing Asshead? Oh that’s right they’re all in on it pretending to be ‘enemies’.
Iran will do nothing against Israel, just like Russia did nothing against the Israeli takeover of Syria, since they’re all in on it.
christards must be loving the development of all this, as ‘biblical prophecy’ is progressing toward the arrival of mongrel moshiach
Christians to the lions
If Israel “removes” Iran’s “nukes”, there will be no possibility of proving their existence…How convenient… I could certainly foresee some big desert explosions and pyrotechnics — with Iran’s complicity — as “proof” of this intent.
A correspondent sent me this link:
“Oreshnik missiles to eliminate need for nuclear weapons, Putin says
MOSCOW, December 10. /TASS/. Once there is a sufficient amount of Oreshnik missiles, Russia will no longer consider the use of nuclear weapons, President Vladimir Putin said, addressing a meeting of the Council on Civil Society and Human Rights….”
https://tass.com/politics/1885299
And once again, I say, how convenient…
No doubt unicorns and dragons once existed, but they were hunted to extinction, and so we have no proof of them ever living…How convenient…
So a minimum of 4 squadrons of MiG-21, MiG-23, MiG-29, Su-22, and Su-24 fighters, 2 dozen attack choppers and hundreds of tanks just sat there on tarmacs and parking lots as huge convoys of the enemy made their way to the big cities and finally the capital itself. Aleppo to Damascus is 200 miles.
Enemy sitting duck convoys on those looooong stretches of open highways for weeks which could have and should have been a Iraqi “highway of death” redux but instead resulted in barely a scratch (if even that) inflicted upon the enemy convoys.
C’mon man, I’m calling shenanigans!
I’m confused. I was under the impression that it was Iran’s EW and air defence that thwarted Israel last time. Now, you are saying it was Syria’s air defence?
Someone needs to get their story straight methinks.
This is all nonsense. The US/Zion air-force attack on Iran proved pathetic to say the least. Iran’s air-defense was so powerful, F35s were locked on 180 KM away from Iranian borders in Iraqi air space. Their 3 wave attack was canceled because their first wave failed miserably. Iran’s awesome passive beyond horizon radars can’t be seen or tracked. There was no video footage of the attack on Iran but there were plenty of video evidence of Iran’s Op True Promise 2 wrecking Nevatim airbase.
Iran does not keep key missile production tech like fuel-mixers on the ground; Iran is vast with great geographic depth with huge Alborz and Zagros mountain ranges. Just like AnsarAllah’s weapons manufacturing facilities are underground; even Hezbollah’s missile and rocket factories are under mountains. And you guessed it right AlQassam in Gaza is also underground! These Resistance Axis forces make their own weapons and they only require certain smaller parts that can be easily moved around and transported. There is not need to put a large missile on a large truck and move it around to be easily seen and destroyed by the enemy, that’d be stupid!
Iran and the Resistance Axis have not lost any men or equipment in the fall of Syria. The Syrian Arab Army has lost and Syria has been wrecked.
Remember when US escaped or tactically withdrew from Afghanistan and Taliban just walked back in facing no resistance and US trained army in place just fell apart? Fall of Assad and SAA was very similar!
I think it is very naive to fall for Zionist propaganda at this stage. Operation True Promise 3 is still up and we shall see what will happen. Also a group of SAA have promised to fight back for Syria in the near future, so there will be a huge mess in Syria that will harm Turkey and Persian Gulf Arab states.
US and Zion want to divide Syria and give Syrian Democratic Forces (Kurds) a good chunk, this will be bad for Turkey that has its own Kurdish problem. There are also some in the HTS who are questioning the fate of Oil wells in Syria under control of Kurds and US. Syria is a powder keg. Iran, seeing a power vacuum, attacked the strategy of its enemies, who were attempting to create another Sunni-Shia conflict. This conflict, if successful, would have weakened Resistance/Iran and allowed US/Zion to initiate their Azerbaijan-Armenia plan.
And now we have the curious drone situation in US! : )
Simon Smith, I’m still trying to believe via START Russia and the U.S. destroyed and disposed of some 60,000 nukes without nary a nuke or a few dozen falling between the cracks. Imagine that..
Two Rials–the Americans have no government and have not tried to win a war since WW2
Iran chose not to strike Israel, Iran did not flatten IDF airbases.
Israel takes Syria and destroys Syrian air force and AA batteries.
Iran is cut off from Syria – and thus can not supply Hezbollah.
Israel will now attack Iran from Syria.
Iran made a huge mistake and may perish as a result.
phylis da costa i love what you say here
Dont forget as iran is fighting the jew not just for them but for the whole world including the UK
iran needs our support
@hp
It’s ironic that the “Manhattan Project” is often cited in terms of how government can keep secrets when it wants to, but the purport of this aphorism in this instance should mean something different to what people commonly believe it to. We see that war is not fought with physical weapons against an external foe but mental weapons against one’s own civilians…
Large hoax projects like the moon landings often draw apologetics like, “There were too many people involved for it to have been faked”. Philosophically and logistically, the process of compartmentalisation is interesting to contemplate. How far down the chain of knowing any given project become “real” for the participants is a good question. The “need for secrecy” clearly is a useful pretext for disseminating only “necessary” information as well as disinformation.
Do prime ministers and presidents know nukes are bogus? How far up in the military is it known? Field marshal, general? At corporate level, in the civil service, and in the masons, one might also wonder at what level the truth is known…
@ hp
“So a minimum of 4 squadrons of MiG-21, MiG-23, MiG-29, Su-22, and Su-24 fighters…C’mon man, I’m calling shenanigans!”
I recall you have an airforce background, but it seems that besuited “ex generals/CIA” are the ones that TTS regards as “experts”.
So are you suggesting a top-level call was made? Maybe Assad sold out?
***
I confess to being wrong a week ago or so by wondering whether Assad’s removal might have been exaggerated…
Simon, yes I do believe Assad’s fall was a coordinated event. It really does seem too obvious. Even a 10 year old would ask why those aircraft and armor weren’t unleashing hell on those open road convoys. I’ve heard nary a peep of explanation nor excuses why those convoy busting forces were not employed. When one’s nation is falling an all out blitzkrieg against the enemy is in order. Instead all we get is the usual sensationalistic personal and factional after the fact reporting. Pure shenanigans.
As for the nukes even if they were real does anyone really believe the bureaucrats, with flawless precision and immaculate accounting disposed of 60,000 nukes without even a hiccup. Yes, because everyone knows how the bureaucrats are famous for operating like a well oiled machine.
Simon Smith–you do not actually know that the moon landings were a “large hoax project” any more than Flat Earthers know what they “know”. Studying the FE people has given me more knowledge about delusion
@Lewis Jones
Unfortunately I can’t “unlearn” what I have studied to gain your sense of “unknowing” on the moon landing. And if I were to give references and so on, I would be testing your attention span and wasting my time. Not that I’m claiming consensus is any guarantee of truth, but I expect you to be in a minority on the “moon landing” question among visitors to this site.
It astonishes me that you believe in the mainstream accounts on all of this…The use of “flat earth” to conflate anything you don’t believe in with, is a deplorable debating “technique”. I could also say believing in Apollo is like believing in flat earth and are equivalently delusional positions to hold. I don’t wish to rattle the cages of one or two flat earthers who I might otherwise agree with on many issue, but your utterance gives me no choice. I believe one reason for “flat earth” belief promulgation has been to strawman those of us calling out the moon landing hoax.
I have noticed that a certain dialectic has emerged, evidenced by YouTube searches, that you can believe in Apollo or you can believe it was a hoax, with the attendant narrative of “flat earth”. Philosophically, I have noticed the same dialectic presented us with UFOs. You are allowed to believe they are aliens or swamp gas, but never encouraged to believe that some of them are deep state projects including anti-gravity or/and holographic.