Israel, Hezbollah and Gulf Monarchies Preparing for the Possibility of Strikes in Iran

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Israel, Hezbollah and Gulf Monarchies Preparing for the Possibility of Strikes in Iran
Submitted by davidswanson on Thu, 2007-10-18 00:49. Iran

By Georges Malbrunot
Le Figaro, via www.truthout.org

No one knows whether George W. Bush will attack Iran, but in the prognostication game, the scenario of targeted attacks is buttressed by several "indicators." In the absence of specific information supplied by Tel-Aviv and Damascus, the mysterious Israeli raid against a Syrian installation September 6 continues to feed speculation. Analysis of the first satellite images reveals the following scenario: Six Israeli fighter planes flew along the Mediterranean coast before refueling between Cyprus and Turkey, then overflying Turkish territory where the pilots dumped their large fuel tanks to better penetrate Syrian air space. Two of those tanks were found in Syria and two others in Turkey. That unburdening allowed them to fly at supersonic speed over Syria and so escape Syrian defenses.

According to one French expert, the Israeli message is twofold: "on the one hand to show the Syrians that the IDF remains able to destroy a site whether it's proliferating or not; one the other hand, to make a demonstration of force for the benefit of the international community." In that framework, the indication of a dress rehearsal before a preventative Israeli strike against the "nesting doll" Iranian nuclear system cannot be excluded.

In anticipation of a possible Iranian riposte to American bombings, Israel has also decided to "bury" its Defense Ministry in Tel-Aviv, where "bunkerization" works proceed apace. The Hebrew state, which fears a hijacked airplane crashing against a tower of the Defense Ministry, has learned its lesson from the Iraqi Scuds' launch against Tel-Aviv in 1991. All the more so as one hundred kilometers to the north, Hezbollah is also getting ready. No longer only to the north of the Litani River in the eastern part of the Bekaa Valley, where a rearmament has been observed since the beginning of the year, but - and this is new - in South Lebanon, in the UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force, reinforced after the summer 2006 war between the IDF and Hezbollah) zone.

Lately, truck convoys have been sighted at night, as well as trenches dug amid the palm groves and immediately recovered; suspicious explosions have been heard: so many indications that strangely recall the 2005-2006 preparations, when, in anticipation of a conflict with Israel, Hezbollah dug tunnels, fortified bunkers and secured its radio communications. "The Lebanese Army has been informed, but for the moment, it does nothing," deplores the French military expert.

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