End Of Days News
Israel’s defense minister Ehud Barak had strong words for Iran and its allies
at the Munich Security Conference Sunday, Feb. 3, while, in Damascus, Iran’s
National Security Director Saeed Jalili conferred urgently with Syrian President
Bashar Assad. They discussed activating the secret mutual defense pact binding
Iran, Syria, Hizballlah and Hamas in reprisal for the Israeli air strike which
reportedly hit a military complex near Damascus last Wednesday.
Without directly confirming the Israel attack on the Jamraya military
compound, defense minister Barak said, “…what happened in Syria several days
ago… that’s proof that when we said something we mean it… and we say that we
don’t think it should be allowed to bring advanced weapons systems into
Lebanon.”
Addressing top world diplomats and defense officials, Barak when on to say:
"Hizballah from Lebanon and the Iranians are the only allies that Assad has
left.” Assad’s fall is “coming imminently” and that “will be a major blow to the
Iranians and Hizbollah. I think that they will pay the price," he said.
In Tehran, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani warned Israel Sunday of
the consequences of its alleged strike. "The world is witnessing a vengeance
carried out by the West, particularly the US, and some backward elements in the
region against resistance." Larijani called on countries in the region to
distance themselves from Israel and said he believed "the Islamic awakening
movement in the region would give a proper response to the Zionist regime."
On the face of it, Tehran looks as though it is passing the buck for “a
proper response to the Zionist regime” to fellow Muslims and the Arab world.
However, debkafile’s Iranian
and intelligence sources believe the Iranians are simply playing for time to
decide how to retaliate for Israel’s reported strike on the military complex
which Syria shares with its allies. The man to watch is Jalilee who, we can
report exclusively, arrived post haste in Damascus Saturday, Feb. 2, to warn
Syrian leaders that Tehran is not willing to forego a military response to an
attack which destroyed a whole supply of advanced Iranian weapons Tehran sent to
Hizballah in the last two years and which were stored at the Jamraya
compound.
The Syrian ruler clearly agrees with his Iranian guest. Sunday, he
accused Israel of trying to "destabilize" his country. His first remarks on the
reported Israeli air strike in Syria on Wednesday came after he met Jalilee. He
added that Syria was able to confront "current threats... and aggression."
Iran, Syria and Hizballah must now decide on the nature of their reprisal,
set up the operation and assign forces for its implementation, while taking into
account Israel’s options for a counter-response.
Barak’s tough comments in Munich told Tehran that Israel is ready to remove
the gloves against Syria and Hizballlah. Iranian leaders heeded his words well
while at the same time keeping track of the Syrian opposition leader Mouaz
al-Khatib’s meetings in Munich with US Vice President Joe Biden and, for the
first time, with the foreign ministers of Russia and Iran, Sergey Lavrov and Ali
Akbar Salehi.
Salehi spent 45 minutes with the Syrian dissident on the
sidelines of the conference addressed by the Israeli defense minister.
Those
meetings were taken as suggesting that the Syrian opposition does not expect the
Syrian ruler to fall in the short term and has therefore decided there is no
option but to start talking to him about a power-sharing format for ending the
Syrian conflict. Tehran is already angling for a role in a Syrian peace
settlement.
However an Iranian-backed reprisal operation countered by a tough Israel
response could upset this promising scenario.
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