Israel Attacks Syria, Hitting Dozens of Targets
Attack called biggest strike in decades
While Israeli officials continue to insist they don’t “seek escalation” in Syria, they have been precipitously escalating the conflict along the border. Overnight, Israel carried out missile strikes against dozens of targets across Syria, an attack described as the most extensive Israeli attack on the country in decades.
Preliminary reports have 23 people killed in the Israeli attacks, with 15 described by Israel as “foreigners.” Israeli officials are also claiming to have hit virtually all of Iran’s “infrastructure” inside Syria.
Israel is presenting this as retaliation for Wednesday’s rocket fire against the Golan Heights, which they are blaming on Iran. Iran is denying involvement, but even if they had the rocket fire would itself be retaliation for multiple Israeli attacks against Syria in recent weeks.
Read more at https://news.antiwar.com/2018/05/10/israel-attacks-syria-hitting-dozens-of-targets/
‘Iran has no reason to strike Golan’: Analysts dispute Israel’s ‘political’ claim of missile attack
10 May, 2018
“Every time one resorts to arms, one seeks to hit some particular targets and has to analyze the potential consequences [of the attack],” Leonid Ivashov, the president of the Academy for Geopolitical Problems and a retired colonel-general of the Russian military intelligence (GRU), told RT. Ivashov was commenting on the reports accusing Iran’s Quds Force of launching a missile attack on the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights from Syrian territory.
“It would be just egregiously silly to launch a missile targeting the region of Golan Heights [which is heavily guarded by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF)] as it would certainly prompt military response,” Ivashov said. Iran has “absolutely no reasons” to launch a missile strike against Israel, he added.
Read more at https://www.rt.com/news/426415-iran-no-reason-attack-golan/
Merkel Proposes to Discuss Iranian Missile Program – Statement
11.05.2018
German Chancellor Angela Merkel held on Thursday a phone conversation with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and proposed him to discuss Tehran’s missile program and activities in Syria and Yemen, the German government’s press service said in a statement.
“The chancellor called for holding negotiations with Iran and an extended number of states on its ballistic missile program as well as on its international activities including those in Yemen and Syria,” the statement said.”
Read more at https://sputniknews.com/europe/201805111064342974-germany-eu-iran-missiles-deal/
Putin, Erdogan agree to coordinate steps on Iranian nuclear deal
May 11, 2018
The presidents of Russia and Turkey, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdgan, agreed in a phone conversation on Thursday to coordinate their further steps regarding the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran’s nuclear program, the Kremlin press service said.
“The situation, linked to United States’ unilateral withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran’s nuclear program, was discussed. It was stressed that the JCPOA is of utmost importance for international and regional security and also for the global non-proliferation,” the Kremlin said in a statement.
Read more at http://tass.com/world/1003770
Barack Obama calls Donald Trump’s decision to pull US out of Iran nuclear deal a ‘serious mistake’
8 May, 2018
Former US President Barack Obama has said President Donald Trump‘s decision to withdraw the US from the historic Iran nuclear deal signed during Mr Obama’s time in office is “so misguided” and a “serious mistake”.
In a lengthy Facebook post: “There are few issues more important to the security of the US than the potential spread of nuclear weapons, or the potential for even more destructive war in the Middle East. That’s why the US negotiated the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in the first place”.
Mr Trump has long criticised the deal and said earlier today that the deal did not go far enough in ensuring Tehran’s compliance and said the US would be withdrawing from it. Iran is a “regime of great terror” and that “no action taken by the regime has been more dangerous than its pursuit of nuclear weapons and the means of delivering them,” Mr Trump said.
Read more at https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/trump-iran-nuclear-deal-latest-obama-response-war-a8342256.html
