That’s what Lebanon’s Prime Minister, Saad al-Harir, claimed may be in the works today in an interview with the BBC in which he accused Israeli aircraft of repeatedly violating Lebanese air space on a daily basis:
“We hear a lot of Israeli threats day in and day out, and not only threats,” Hariri told the BBC. “We see what’s happening on the ground and in our air space and what’s happening all the time during the past two months — every day we have Israeli war planes entering Lebanese air space,” he said.
“This is something that has been escalating, and this is something that is really dangerous,” Hariri said in a video posted on the BBC’s web site.
The BBC quoted Hariri as saying he feared the prospect of another war with Israel.
Last month Syria also accused Israel of pushing the region toward war to which the foreign Minister of Israel responded with threats that Israel would easily defeat the Syrians in any conflict and that the current ruler President Bashar al-Assad would suffer the fate of regime change. Prime Minister Netanhayu later stated that Israel wants peace and not war with Syria, but clearly not everyone in his cabinet is willing to reject bellicose rhetoric against its neighbors.
Certainly that is the view of Hamas leader in exile, Khaled Meshal, which was reported by Yeshiva World News on Monday:
“I don’t see any chance of advancing on the Palestinian, Syria, or Lebanese fronts because the Israeli leadership is one of war, violence and occupation, not one that exhibits a desire for peace”.
The terrorist leader made his statements to the ITAR-TASS News Agency during a visit to Russia. […]
It should be noted that it was Meshal who was targeted in an assassination attempt during Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s first tenure, about a decade ago. While the Mossad never officially accepted responsibility, the apprehension of two ‘Mossad agents’ in Jordan resulted in a diplomatic row, compelling Netanyahu to send the antidote for the pharmacological agent injected into Meshal, thereby saving his life.
I suppose if I had been the target of assassination attempts for which Israel tacitly admitted responsibility when it provided medical assistance in the form of an antitdote to the poison injected into me, and the same person who led Israel at that time was its leader again, I might have a dim view of Israel’s intentions. One thing we do know is that there has been next to no movement on any peace accord between Israel and the Palestinians despite the election of President Obama.
And the Arab media in the region is reporting that Israeli Missile ships moved from the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal earlier this month, presumably destined for the Persian Gulf, reports that the conservative news website, Right Side News is taking seriously:
Reports are coming out of the Arab Media that two Israeli “Missile Boats” passed through the Suez Canal, on February 6th, enroute to the Red Sea. Speculation is that the ultimate destination is, in fact, the Persian Gulf.
The website Strategy Page also has made this same claim regarding the movemnt of Israeli warships to the Persian Gulf, based on reports from Egypt, which allegedly allowed Israel’s Navy free passage through the Suez Canal:
February 10, 2010: Egyptians reported that two Israeli warships passed through the Suez canal recently. The two ships are believed headed for the Persian Gulf, where Israeli ships have been mapping the local waters, in cooperation with the U.S. Navy.
For years, Egypt would not allow Israeli submarines to pass through the Suez canal. But last June, an Israeli submarine went through the Suez canal and conducted naval exercises in the Red Sea. Israel said that the sub would not be stationed in the Red Sea, but would return to its Mediterranean base. There were reports that an Israeli missile boat passed through the canal last Summer as well.
Those reports in the Egyptian press also claim the United States military has been conducting “extensive maneuvers in the Persian Gulf, including some across Iran’s shores.” The information is sourced to “senior Egyptian” officials. This information is possibly being being “leaked” to the public at this time as a means to pressure Iran. Iran’s government recently announced its intent to enrich uranium to the 19.75% level in order to produce medical isotopes, a move condemned by the US Secretary of Defense Gates:
“I think that everybody’s interest is in seeing this issue resolve without resorting to conflict. But it makes it all the more important,” he said. “We have to face the reality that if Iran continues and develops nuclear weapons it almost certainly will provoke proliferation in the Middle East. That’s a huge danger.”
This all may be a grand Kabuki show of saber rattling by Iran (for domestic political purposes where the political opposition is once again planning massive street protests) in which the US Government and Israel have chosen to play a role. Their actions certainly fit the pattern of the “stick” in the “carrot and stick” approach to Tehran which the Obama administration has been pursuing under Secretary of State Clinton for some time now.
But the warning signs are getting more and more ominous that the Israel’s “dogs of war” may slip the leash of its presumed handler, the US government, and attack one of its neighbors in the near future, if only to show its Middle Eastern neighbors that it remains the predominant military force in the region and can act with impunity regardless of whether a Republican or Democrat occupies the seat in the Oval Office.