News Digest — 12/13/24
Defense Minister: We’ll Remain In The Hermon Area During The Winter Months
Defense Minister Israel Katz instructed the IDF to remain in conquered areas of the Hermon during the winter months, saying it is ‘enormously important for security.’
Katz has ordered the IDF to prepare for an extended stay in the conquered Syrian Hermon region, due to the instability in Syria.
The instructions followed a Thursday (12th) security assessment led by Katz and included IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and additional commanders.
Under the new orders, the IDF will remain in Syria throughout the winter months.
However, due to the inclement weather, the IDF will need to set up appropriate facilities and make special preparations for the soldiers’ stay in the area.
Katz stressed, “due to what is happening in Syria, there is enormous security importance in our hold on to the peak of the Hermon, and we must do everything in order to ensure the IDF’s preparations in the area, so as to allow the soldiers to remain in the area even in inclement weather conditions.”
Syria Dissident Leaders Call For ‘Abrahamic Peace’ With Israel
A group of Syrian dissidents called for “Abrahamic peace” between Syria and Israel following the ousting of President Bashar al-Assad.
In a virtual forum held by the Middle East Center, the dissidents, calling themselves the “Syrian Government in Exile,” met with Religious Zionist Party MK Ohad Tal during a panel discussion hosted by Israeli political strategist Tom Wegner, who founded the center.
One of the participants, Jamal Sabbagh, head of the so-called Syrian Government in Exile (SGE) , lauded Israeli policy and efforts to expand “Abrahamic peace” in the Middle East in an apparent reference to the Abraham Accords.
Dr. Ziad Karim, communications director of the SGE, endorsed the Abraham Accords and called for the deepening of ties among Middle Eastern nations, including Israel.
“We are living on an isolated island but in a shared fate,” Karim said, according to the Jerusalem Post. He warned against allowing the Middle East to become mired in the “swamp of extremism,.”
“The Abrahamic peace is a roadmap to mutual understanding and a future where wisdom embraces humanity above all else,” he said.
SGE foreign affairs chief Amal Sharkasi claimed that prior to the takeover of Syria by Bashar Assad’s father, Hafez, in 1971, Syria had promoted interfaith coexistence, citing the term of Christian prime minister, Fares al-Khouri, and Jewish doctors in Aleppo.
During the virtual meeting, the SGE members claimed the group is “more Hebrew than the Children of Israel” and called for tolerance and mutual respect.
Tal, a member of the Knesset’s powerful Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, emphasized opportunities for collaboration between Israel and Arab states against both Iran and radical Sunni Islamist elements.
Several Iraqi delegates participated in the meeting, including peace activist Abu Musa al-Iraqi, who operates social media accounts under the handle “Virtual Embassy of Iraq to Israel.”
Netanyahu To Iranians: ‘All The Money Your Oppressors Wasted On Terror Went Up In Smoke’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu published a video message on Thursday (12th) addressing the people of Iran following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria.
“As we see history unfold before our very eyes, I can only imagine what you’re feeling right now. Your oppressors spent over 30 billion dollars supporting Assad in Syria. Today, after only 11 days of fighting his regime collapsed into the dust,” Netanyahu opened.
“Your oppressors spent billions supporting Hamas in Gaza. Today, their regime lies in ruins. Your oppressors spent 20 billion dollars supporting Hezbollah in Lebanon. In a matter of weeks, most of Hezbollah’s leaders, its rockets, and thousands of its terrorists went up in smoke. It’s the money your oppressors stole from you that truly went up in smoke,” he continued.”You must be furious, imagining the new schools, roads, and hospitals that could have been built with the tens of billions of collars your dictators wasted backing terrorists who lose over, and over, and over again.”
“You know why Iran’s oppressors keep losing? It’s not only because they’re incompetent and cruel. It’s because they seek to conquer other nations, to impose fundamentalist tyranny on the Middle East and the entire world. The only thing Israel seeks is to defend our state. But in doing so, we’re defending civilization from barbarism.”
Netanyahu added: “The historic events we witness today are a chain reaction – a chain reaction to the pounding of Hamas, the decimation of Hezbollah, the targeting of Nasrallah, the blows we delivered to the Iran regime’s axis of terror. And all this came as President Trump pointed out this week, ‘because of Israel and its fighting success.’”
He declared: “I want to make clear, Israel wants peace. We want peace with all those who truly want peace with us. And I have no doubt that you, the People of Iran, know this. I know that just as we want peace with you, you want peace with us. But you suffer under the rule of a regime that subjugates you and threatens us.”
“You know what this regime is truly terrified of? It’s terrified of you, the People of Iran. And one day, I know that this will change. One day Iran will be free,” he predicted.
“Women, Life, Freedom, Zan, Zendegi, Azadi. That is the future of Iran. That is the future of peace. And I have no doubt that we will realize that future together – a lot sooner than people think. I know and I believe we will transform the Middle East into a beacon of prosperity, progress, and peace,” the Prime Minister concluded.
Israeli Strikes In Syria May Pave Way For Targeting Iran’s Nuclear Sites
The IDF said that military actions, including the elimination of 85% of Syrian anti-aircraft missiles, may provide an opportunity to target Iran’s nuclear program.
Sources in the Israeli Air Force said they were preparing for action against Iran’s nuclear sites and were enlisting the aid of the US.
The IDF announced that it has struck 320 targets and destroyed at least 80% of Syria’s military capabilities to prevent them from falling into the hands of terrorist groups.
More than 350 Israeli fighter jets took part in operation “Bashan’s Arrow” to neutralize military sites once controlled by the Assad regime, which fell to rebel fighters.
Among the targets were advanced military systems such as tanks, fighter jets, helicopters, air defense systems, missile equipped ships, rockets, arms manufacturing facilities, munitions storage sites, Scud missiles, cruise missiles, coastal defense missiles, drones, and various other weaponry.
In addition the IDF struck at a Scud missile manufacturing site in the Homs area.
An Iranian Secret nuclear weapons research facility in Parchin, located 19 miles southeast of Tehran, was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike on October 26, according to a report from Axios.
The facility housed advanced equipment used for testing explosives necessary to detonate nuclear devices, the report stated, citing three US officials, as well as one current and one former Israeli official.
High-resolution satellite images obtained by the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security showed that the site was completely destroyed in the attack.
Israel and US intelligence agencies first detected activity at the Taleghan 2 facility within the Parchin military complex in early 2024, a site that had remained largely inactive since 2003, when Iran froze its military nuclear program, Axios reported.
According to one unnamed US official quoted in the report, “The Iranians conducted scientific activity that could pave the way for the production of a nuclear weapon. It was a top-secret operation. Only a small segment of the Iranian government was aware of it, while most of the government remained in the dark.”
The Smell Of Regime Change Is Now In The Tehran Air – Andrew Neil (Daily Mail-UK)
• The dreams of Middle East Hegemony by the ruling Mullahs of Iran are now in ruins, their genocidal aim of wiping Israel off the map now mission impossible, their ability to supply their murderous proxies across the region with weapons now crippled. There is said to be a growing sense of panic in Tehran among the ruling elite. If Assad can be so easily toppled, what is the chance of their survival?
• In little more thana year, Israel decapitated the high commands of Hamas and Hezbollah, killing thousands of their most battle-hardened fighters. Iran built them up, at huge expense, to be omnipresent threats to Israel on its very borders, the advanced guard of its mission to engulf Israel with enemies and destroy it. These threats are no more.
• When Iran’s puppet regime in Damascus started to totter in the face of a renewed rebel onslaught last month, Iran’s diplomats and military personnel scuttled for the exit. Revolutionary Guard bases had been established on Syrian soil. These bases and supply chains are now shattered.
• Israel stands vindicated in its uncompromising stance post-October 7. Palestinians who thought Hanas, Hezbollah and Iran were the routes to a better future have, yet again, made the wrong call. Iran is now reeling because Israel ignored the foreign policy pressure of its Western allies and their media echo chambers to hold back.
• Washington, London, and Paris all urged Israel to show restraint against Hamas and not to open a second front against Hezbollah. The New York Times, the BBC and Monde piled on the pressure for Israel to back off by constantly highlighting the humanitarian cost of the conflict, usually with suspect Hamas statistics. But Israel took only cursory notice, pursued its own interests, and did us all a favor.
• Tehran’s foreign policy is in ruins, its reputation in the mud and its options limited. The People of Iran have never shared the regime’s anti-Semitism, its obsession with Israel, its imperialist expansion, or its passion for medieval theocracy. They have watched billions squandered (as everyone can see now) on the likes of Hezbollah. The ayatollahs have never been more vulnerable. The smell of regime change is in the Tehran air.
The writer, former editor of the Sunday Times, has presented political programs on the BBC and Britain’s Channel 4.
Fall Of Assad Reveals Major Divisions Within Iran’s Armed Forces -Roland Oliphant
Officials of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said commanders were blaming each other “in angry terms” for the collapse of Assad’s regime and the loss of Iranian influence in the region. “The atmosphere is like something between almost punching each other, punching the walls, yelling at each other and kicking rubbish bins. They are blaming each other, and no one is taking responsibility,” one official from Tehran told the Telegraph. “The focus for 10 years had been only on keeping [Assad] in power. And it was not because we were in love with him, it was because we wanted to maintain proximity to Israel and Hezbollah.”
A second IRGC official said that some are blaming Brig.-Gen. Esmail Qaani, the present commander of the Quds Force. “No one dares to tell him to his face, but… he is the one to hold accountable and fire. He has done nothing to prevent Iran’s interests from crumbling. Allies of Iran fell one after another, and he was watching from Tehran.”
Asked about the military’s view of Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader whose Oct.7 attack on Israel sparked the war, the first IRGC official said: “I can tell you that he is no longer a celebrity here.” “The resistance project almost no longer exists. You don’t need to be an expert to see that we are in our weakest and most vulnerable position in decades and many acknowledge that here.”
Arash Azizi, an Iranian historian, said, “There is a big segment of the Iranian establishment which realizes the gig is up: revolutionary Islamism devoted to confronting America is not going to get them anywhere. That doesn’t mean they want to be a liberal democracy, but they want to be more like Turkey or India, a big power in pursuit of their own interests.”
Some ordinary Iranian citizens are celebrating the fall of Assad. One Tehran resident said, “More than 90 % of the people are happy and celebrating it. The mullahs should know that this is what will happen if they don’t have the people’s support. The repression of people leads to dictators’ downfall.” (Telegraph-UK)
