Israel - Approaching War on Iran

العالم الان - إسرائيل تدق طبول الحرب مع إيران

Israel is beating the drums of war.

[Paris Newsشبكة باريس نيوز, Arabic language source, on 5 May 2018]




يبرمان بشأن الحرب مع إيران: أي ثمن ندفعه حاليا أقل بكثير مما سندفعه مستقبلا

Lieberman about war on Iran: [Whatever] price for us to pay at present
is much less than what we have to pay in the future.

The article is referring to Israel's minister of defense Avigdor Lieberman.

[Almadenah News المدينة, Amman / Jordan, on 5 May 2018]


An interesting view on the Middle Eastern conflict was offered by Christian Science Monitor on 4 May. Here are some quotations from their article and which is concentrating on Russia's position in the conflict:

“The roots of the conflict are much deeper than issues over the Iran nuclear deal,” says Vladimir Sotnikov, an independent Middle East expert. “Iran views itself as an ancient civilization, the inheritor of the Persian Empire that once dominated the entire region. The present enmity between Iran and the Arab states of the Gulf, Saudi Arabia in the first place, is just the latest incarnation of a very old feud. Iran sees Israel as just a proxy for the US.”

“For its part, Israel fears that Iran wants to become the regional hegemon, and any force that might block Israeli goals is something it will not tolerate,” Mr. Sotnikov adds. “All this animosity is now unfolding on the Syrian battlefield, with Russia caught in between.”

..........

“The standoff between Israel and Iran is one of the most complicated problems Russian diplomacy faces today,” says Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of Russia in Global Affairs, a leading Moscow foreign policy journal. “Russia's relationship with Iran is made necessary by their cooperation in Syria. They need each other. But there is also good understanding with Israel. Until recently, Russia managed to keep some balance between those two, but now it's becoming impossible.”

..........

Russian hopes for solving the long-running Syrian crisis on its terms will depend on keeping Iran and Israel apart in the coming weeks.

“Putin is a pragmatist, and he understands that Israel has a point when it complains about Iranian military presence near its borders,” says Lukyanov. “But he also cannot allow the achievements Russia has made in Syria to be destroyed. He needs to maintain the alliance with Iran, so he will also need to show Israel that there are certain limits that Israel should not exceed. Russia would never clash directly with Israel, but will probably enforce its will by strengthening Syrian air defenses in ways that restrain Israel's field of action.”