Tensions are running higher than usual in the Middle East, and Israel is beginning to make preparations for a possible war with Iran and Syria.
The Israelis have long been critical of the Iranian influence in the region and have repeatedly emphasized the desire to launch preemptive strikes against Iranian missile facilities. Such attacks would all but certainly mean U.S. involvement in what could be a prolonged, bloody, and potentially ruinous conflict.
On many occasions, the Israelis have come back from the brink, but after an Israeli fighter jet crashed this week after coming under Syrian/Iranian fire, it has driven the Jewish nation to prepare for a wider conflict.
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Israeli military forces also downed an Iranian drone that entered the nation’s airspace, although it is not clear whether it was armed.
Preparing for war in the north, Israel boosts air defense https://t.co/wjJbbYwcFN pic.twitter.com/ASphZRtnk0
— The Jerusalem Post (@Jerusalem_Post) February 11, 2018
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Via the Jerusalem Post, “Preparing for War in the North, Israel Boosts Air Defenses”:
Israel has boosted its air defense in the North following a significant confrontation between the Jewish State, Syria and Iran which led to the loss of an F-16 fighter jet.
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While the army refused to comment on the reports, witnesses reported seeing a convoy of missile-defense batteries heading north near the Israeli-Arab city of Baka al-Gharbiya. Other witnesses posted photos of several trucks carrying the batteries on central highways in northern Israel.
Israel has boosted its air defense in the North following a significant confrontation between the Jewish State, Syria and Iran which led to the loss of an F-16 fighter jet.
While the army refused to comment on the reports, witnesses reported seeing a convoy of missile-defense batteries heading north near the Israeli-Arab city of Baka al-Gharbiya. Other witnesses posted photos of several trucks carrying the batteries on central highways in northern Israel.
Israel’s air defenses currently include the Iron Dome, designed to shoot down short-range rockets; the Arrow system, which intercepts ballistic missiles outside of the Earth’s atmosphere and the David’s Sling missile-defense system, which is designed to intercept tactical ballistic missiles, medium- to long-range rockets and cruise missiles fired from ranges of between 40 km. to 300 km.
Israel also has Patriot missile batteries stationed in the North and has used them to intercept drones infiltrating into Israeli airspace from Syria. In September, an Iranian-built unmanned aerial vehicle breached the “Bravo line” that marks the Syrian demilitarized zone, and was intercepted by an Israeli Patriot anti-ballistic missile launched from a station near the northern city of Safed.
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The Arrow system was first used in April when it was launched to intercept three surface-to-air missiles fired toward IAF jets by Syrian-regime air defense.
On Saturday, an Iranian drone, which took off from Syria’s T4 airbase in northern Homs province, flew through Jordanian territory before it infiltrated into Israel. It flew for about a minute and a half in the northern Jordan Valley before it was was shot down by a helicopter flown by Lt.-Col. “L.”, commander of the 113 Squadron.
Additional information via the Wall Street Journal:
The conflict between Israel and Iran may be heating up after a half-decade simmer. On Friday night Iran dispatched a drone from Syria that penetrated Israeli airspace in the Golan Heights. Israel destroyed it with an Apache helicopter. Then on Saturday Israel sent eight F-16s across the border to strike the airfield in the Homs governorate, called the T-4 base, where the drone originated, as well as a handful of other Iranian targets. Although the mission was a success, one F-16 was shot down by Syrian antiaircraft fire—though the pilot made it back to Israel, where he and his navigator ejected successfully.
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This was the most significant clash to date between Israel and the so-called Axis of Resistance—Iran, Syria’s Assad regime and Hezbollah—since Iran began deploying soldiers and proxies to Syria six years ago. Israel insists its response was limited and its intent is to contain this conflagration. Its critics worry that the skirmish could explode into one of the worst wars the Middle East has ever seen.
The Iranians have been exploiting the chaos of the Syrian civil war to build up military assets there that target Israel, all the while sending advanced weaponry to Lebanon by way of Damascus, also under the fog of war. The Israelis have been vigilant; they have destroyed some of this hardware in Syria with one-off strikes. In December they struck an Iranian base southwest of Damascus, some 30 miles from the Golan Heights. But they had never entered Syria with the kind of overwhelming force seen on Saturday morning.
What prompted this level of response is still unclear. Israeli military officials won’t say whether the Iranian unmanned aerial vehicle was armed. It would be a surprise, though, if Israel’s reprisal was prompted by an unarmed UAV.
The White House has as expected reiterated its support for Israel.
Israel is a staunch ally of the United States.
We support its right to defend itself from the Iranian-backed Syrian and militia forces in southern Syria. We call on Iran and its allies to cease provocative actions and work toward regional peace.— The White House (@WhiteHouse) February 11, 2018
