Mattis: Expect War Between Iran and Israel soon - starting in Syria
26
April, 2018
A military confrontation between Israel and Iran in Syria is becoming increasing likely, US Defense Secretary James Mattis warned on Thursday as his Israeli counterpart was visiting Washington to discuss the threat.
Secretary
Mattis delivered his warning of yet another military conflict in the
Middle East at a hearing in Congress. Asked if Israel and Iran were
edging toward military confrontation, he said: “I can see how it
might start, but I am not sure when or where.”
"I
think that it's very likely in Syria because Iran continues to do its
proxy work there through Hezbollah.”
He
accused Iran of not only expanding and strengthening its presence in
Syria but also “bringing advanced weapons for Hezbollah through
Syria”.
Israel,
he said “will not wait to see those missiles in the air and we hope
Iran would pull back”.
The
Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who met US
national security adviser John Bolton and Secretary Mattis on
Thursday, also warned of a confrontation with Iran.
"Any
site in which we see an Iranian attempt to achieve a military
foothold in Syria will be struck. We won't let that happen,
regardless of the price,"
he told the Arabic news website Elaph.
Israel
said it carried
out air strikes against
Iranian and Syrian targets in Syria in February after one its F16
fighter jets was downed near the Syrian border.
From al-Masdar News
US
going to expand fight in Syria – Mattis
26
April, 2018
US
Secretary of Defense James Mattis has explained his country’s
decision not to withdraw troops from Syria during a Senate Armed
Services Committee hearing, referring to increased Daesh offensives
in the region.
“Right
now we are not withdrawing [US troops from Syria],” Mattis told the
Senate Armed Services Committee. “We are continuing the fight, we
are going to expand it and bring in more regional support.”
According
to the top US defense official, the United States will expand its
anti-Daesh operation with the help of regional states.
Amid
Trump’s statements concerning the mulled pullout of US troops,
Defense Secretary James Mattis has previously outlined the
possibility of terrorist groups regrouping in remote positions in
Syria, saying to the US president that the withdrawal would reverse
the progress achieved so far.
On
March 3, US President Donald Trump announced his plans to pull the
country’s troops out from Syria in the near-term, which was met
with a conflicting reaction from the president’s special envoy to
the US-led coalition, Brett McGurk, as well as incoming US Secretary
of State Mike Pompeo and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph
Dunford, as well as a number of other officials.
Following
the strong reaction from the officials, Trump decided to keep troops
in Syria. However, according to a representative of his
administration, “he wasn’t thrilled about it, to say the least”.
The
United States has maintained a military presence in Syria since 2014,
leading a coalition of allies in the fight against Daesh, without a
UN mandate or authorization from the Syrian government. Damascus has
consistently called the US military presence in the country
“illegal.”
Communication
With Russia in Syria
Speaking
about the communication line between Russian and US forces in Syria,
Mattis noted that it has never been interrupted.
“Right
now in Syria, we have an open and never interrupted deconfliction
communication line that has worked pretty well to make certain we do
not run afoul of one another’s forces or one another’s
operations,” Mattis told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The
US and Russian military commanders set up deconfliction communication
channels last year, aimed to avoid any accidents between their forces
as both sides recaptured territory from Daesh along opposite sides of
the Euphrates River. As part of these efforts, US and Russian forces
maintain three telephone lines of communication — one for ground
troops, another for air forces, and a third for senior commanders.
*Daesh,
also known as ISIL/ISIS/IS, is a terrorist group banned in Russia and
many other countries
Sanctions
Against Allies
The
US Secretary of Defense went on by speaking about a national security
waiver that would exempt certain US allies including Vietnam and
India from secondary sanctions when they conduct arms trade with
Russia.
“There
are nations in the world who are trying to turn away from formerly
Russian-sourced weapons and systems. We only need to look at India,
Vietnam and some others to recognize that eventually, we are going to
parallelize ourselves. So what we ask for is the Senate and the House
pass a national security waiver in the hand of the Secretary of
State,” Mattis said.
Under
the US Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act,
countries that conduct arms deals with Russia risk secondary
sanctions. Some US allies including Vietnam and India have
Russian-made weapons hardware that they want to modernize without
risking sanction.
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