GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 433

Iran Could Be Next

Nuclear Opportunity

A side effect of taking out the air defenses of Syria is a growing prospect to address the Iranian nuclear threat as we see in a report from The Times Of Israel:

The Israel Defense Forces believes that following the weakening of Iranian proxy groups in the Middle East and the dramatic fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria, there is an opportunity to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, military officials said Thursday.

The Israeli Air Force has therefore continued to increase its readiness and preparations for such potential strikes in Iran.

Israel believes that all the weakening of Iran and Hezbollah and now Syria is actually heightening the nuclear threat from Iran:

The IDF also believes that Iran — isolated after the fall of the Assad regime and the weakening of its main proxy group Hezbollah in Lebanon — may push ahead further with its nuclear program and develop a bomb as it scrambles to replace its deterrence.

Pride does come before a fall and Iran needs a major win to gain credibility now. Iran still denies that they want nuclear ability for anything other than civilian purposes, but no everyone agrees:

Iran has always denied seeking nuclear weapons and says both its space program and nuclear activities are for purely civilian purposes.

However, US intelligence agencies and the IAEA say Iran had an organized military nuclear program up until 2003, and continued to develop its nuclear program beyond civilian necessity. Israel contends that the Islamic Republic never truly abandoned its nuclear weapons program and many of its nuclear sites are buried under heavily fortified mountains.

The truth is that Iran, like so many Arab countries want Israel to not even exist:

Iran is committed to Israel’s destruction. Over the past year, it has twice fired massive barrages of missiles at Israel, which has vowed to prevent Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons. Israel has struck key Iranian military facilities in retaliation for both attacks, which came in the context of a multifront war opened by Iranian terror proxies on the Jewish state.

With the airspace over Syria not cleared, an attack on Iran is much easier:

On Thursday, the IAF said that after over a decade of evading air defenses over the skies of Syria during a campaign against Iran’s supply of weapons to Hezbollah, it had achieved total air superiority in the area.

This air superiority over Syria could enable safer passage for IAF aircraft to carry out a strike on Iran, the military officials said.

An Israeli bombing campaign earlier this week across Syria, aimed at taking out advanced weaponry that could fall into the hands of hostile elements following the collapse of the Bashar al-Assad regime, also destroyed the vast majority of the air defenses in the country.

The Destruction Was Major

Lest anyone think that the IDF strikes were just for show, need to realize that it was far from that:

According to the military, the IAF destroyed 86% of the former Assad regime’s air defense systems across Syria, totaling 107 separate air defense components and another 47 radars.

The numbers include 80% of the short-to medium-range SA-22, also known as the Pantsir-S1; and 90% of the Russian SA-17 medium-range air defense system, also known as the Buk.

Both Russian-made systems had posed challenges to the IAF during its so-called campaign between campaigns — or Mabam, as it’s known by its Hebrew acronym — aimed at countering Iranian weapon deliveries to Hezbollah in Lebanon and attempts by Iran-backed groups to gain a foothold in the country, which began in 2013.

Hardly any defenses remain and the IDF now has the upper hand now:

Only a handful of air defense systems now remain in Syria, and they are not considered a major threat to the IAF, which said it can operate freely across the country’s skies.

“The Syrian air defense array is one of the strongest in the Middle East and the blow caused to it is a significant achievement for the Air Force’s superiority in the region,” the IDF said in a statement.

With clear air superiority, Israel can easily target Iran:

The new freedom of aerial action also brings the IAF new opportunities in Syria, in addition to potential strikes in Iran.

If in the past, the IAF would not fly directly over Damascus when carrying out strikes on Iran-linked targets in the capital, it now can. The IAF can also send surveillance drones over the Syrian capital without the fear of them being shot down by the advanced Russian-made air defense systems.

Hezbollah wants what’s left and Israel will not let that happen:

While the Iran-backed Assad regime has fallen, Israel has said it would still operate over Syria to ensure that advanced weapons from the former government’s army do not reach Hezbollah in Lebanon or any other group hostile to Israel in the region.

This explains why the IDF acted so quickly in destroying the Syrian military stockpiles and assets:

The bombing campaign on Sunday and Monday, which began hours after Assad’s regime fell, also hit Syrian airbases, weapon depots, weapon production sites, and chemical weapons sites, in addition to the air defense systems. The strikes destroyed hundreds of missiles and related systems, 27 fighter jets — including SU-22s and SU-24s — 24 helicopters, and more. Israeli Navy strikes also destroyed 15 Syrian naval vessels.

A total of 1,800 munitions were used by the IAF in the strikes, taking out nearly every site of “strategic military capabilities” that Israel was aware of.

While massive, the destruction wasn’t total and there is a very good chance that Hezbollah will try to get some of what is still left:

The IDF assessed that it did not destroy all of the Assad regime’s military capabilities, and Hezbollah will most certainly try to get its hands on any advanced weapons that were so far spared.

To prevent weapons from reaching Hezbollah, the IAF has bombed all of the border crossings between Syria and Lebanon, leaving just one of them, Masnaa, open for pedestrian traffic. The IAF said that it is constantly monitoring the crossings to ensure that Hezbollah does not return to use them for weapon deliveries.

Syrian Threat To Christians

As we’re told in an article from americanthinker.com the fall of the Assad regime may be good news for Israel, but it’s not good for Christians living there:

Now that Syria's brutal dictator, Bashar al-Assad, is out of power, either dead in a plane crash, or else alive in Moscow, there is plenty of reason to worry about what will remain of Syria's dwindling ancient Christian community as ISIS and al-Qaida followers take over.

The archbishop of Homs thinks Christianity itself in Aleppo will be decimated and already sees the signs of it.

The article then sites another source to tells us just how bad things are:

According to Catholic Vote, citing wire services:

Syrian Catholic Archbishop Jacques Mourad, of the Diocese of Homs, Syria, has decried the immense suffering of refugees fleeing the ongoing violence in Aleppo and the impending destruction of Christianity in the region. In an interview with Agenzia Fides, the news outlet for the Pontifical Missions Society, Archbishop Mourad described the dire situation.

“We are really tired,” he said. “We are really exhausted, and we are also finished, in every sense.”

The Archbishop has lived through so much through his time living in Aleppo:

Archbishop Mourad, a member of the monastic community of Deir Mar Musa, was born in Aleppo. He retains cherished memories of the city. As a spiritual son of Father Paolo Dall’Oglio, the Jesuit founder of Deir Mar Musa who disappeared in 2013 in ISIS-controlled Raqqa, the Archbishop personally endured the horrors of conflict. He was kidnapped in 2015 by jihadist forces and held captive for months, first in isolation and later alongside 150 other Christians in territories controlled by ISIS.

Christians are fleeing Aleppo in droves as the terrorists advance to more and more areas of Syria:
Now, as refugees from Aleppo pour into Homs, Archbishop Mourad and his diocese are overwhelmed. The Archbishop told Agenzia Fides that many of the refugees have endured grueling 25-hour journeys, arriving thirsty, hungry, cold, and destitute.

“We cannot bear all the suffering of the people who arrive here exhausted,” he said.

They are being helped, but Mourad wonders why this persecution keeps happening:

The churches are doing what they can to help the fleeing Christian refugees with food and shelter. But the archbishop asks the obvious question:

“Why is Aleppo being so tormented? Why do they want to destroy this historic, symbolic and important city for the whole world?” Archbishop Mourad questioned. After 14 years of war, he lamented the continuous suffering, misery, and death the Syrian people have endured. Why are we so abandoned in this world, in this unbearable injustice?” he asked.

This happened with believers in Iraq and unfortunately, it is happening in Syria:

It's terribly sad, because we all know what happened to the Chaldean Christians around Iraq -- they vanished.

Aleppo may meet the same terrible fate.

Sadly this persecution is being overlooked as all eyes are only looking at the war against terrorists in the region. But we know now and we need to pray that this will also be changed as Israel pushes back on brutal leaders who are no friends of Jews either.