On the 24 September at Israel’s National Institute of Security Studies, an obdurately dull building off a main road in Tel Aviv, three dozen men and women drawn from the top echelons of Israel’s political and military elite met to play a war-game, the outcome of which could help decide whether Israel goes to war with Iran.

The game began when the players were told that just after midnight, in a surprise air raid, Israeli bombers had attacked nuclear installations deep inside Iran. First reports indicated that Israel had acted alone without consent or help from the Americans.
The Iranians responded quickly to the Israeli strike, launching a barrage of Shahab-3 ballistic missiles (based on the North Korean Nodong-1 missile) at Israeli targets, including the country’s largest city, Tel Aviv. Then they discussed their political goals.

The most immediate of these was the desire to rebuild the nuclear programme, preferably to a level “beyond what it was on the eve of the strike.” Given their newfound status as victims of an attack, another priority was to have the sanctions on Iran lifted; and to have sanctions placed on Israel for its “unprovoked act.”

They also decided to offer Jordan and Egypt extensive aid packages to cancel their peace treaties with Israel, before debating a key dilemma: whether or not to attack US targets. With Iran’s considerable influence in Iraq and Afghanistan, not to mention its huge presence in the Gulf, the Iranians could cause huge problems for Washington.

In the end, though, the decision was taken to refrain; Washington was one more complication they didn't need. Russia (which has been building the Bushehr nuclear power plant) was also approached for immediate help to rebuild the devastated facilities, as well as delivery of S-300 surface-to-air missiles and a consignment of Sukhoi 24 aircraft.
Militarily, Iran tried to get its allies – namely, its proxy militia groups Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza – to enter the conflict on its behalf.

I had seen Israel’s perspective on a possible attack and now wanted an Iranian view, so I caught a flight to Istanbul to put the game’s results to Hossein Mousavian, a former member of Iran’s nuclear negotiating team. He believed the game was deeply flawed.

Dismissing the limited nature of Iran’s response, Mousavian argued that in reality Iran would respond ‘by all means’, employing the total power of its armed forces to draw Israel into a long-term war. Perhaps, more importantly, Mousavian argued that Iran would see the US as complicit.

Iranians, he said, are convinced that Israel is too small to attack Iran unilaterally Iran. "They see Israeli as just a baby,” he said. “One that would never act without US assistance.”
The attack would also have huge regional consequences, he continued. Most obviously, Iran would use its status as the symbol of resistance against Israel in the Middle East to stoke the high levels of anti-Americanism that already exist there.

Even groups like Al Qaeda, he argued, who are Iran’s enemies, would use “inflamed Muslim sentiment to launch attacks at American citizens across the world and on US soldiers on the many American bases in the region.”

At the end of our interview, he leaned forward, took my arm and looked me right in the eyes. He recalled the Israeli strikes on an Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981 and a Syrian reactor in 2007.
“This is the big mistake that people make,” he told me. “To think if Israel attacks Iran, like it attacked Iraq and Syria, the Iranians would not retaliate.
"The nation is one hundred percent different. The whole region would be engulfed.”

http://debka.com/article/22495/London-Paris-Jerusalem-line-up-for-post-US-vote-action-on-Syria-Iran-


The UK , France and Israel showed signs this week of lining up for military action with regard to Syria and Iran as soon as America’s presidential election was out of the way Tuesday, Nov. 6, DEBKAfile’s military sources report. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spent two days (Oct. 31-Nov. 1) talking to President Francois Holland. As the Defense Minister Ehud Barak landed in London the next day, Prime Minister David Cameron was reported on standby for the dispatch of RAF fighter-bombers to the Persian Gulf.

Barak flew to London after US Gen. Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had spent several days in Israel, no doubt tying up the last ends of US-Israeli cooperation for potential action.

Although America’s top military chief can’t tell who will
be his next commander-in-chief - Barack Obama for another four years or the Republican Mitt Romney - he is duty-bound to have US forces in the Middle East ready for any contingency.
Although none has admitted as much, all the parties to these consultations did their best this week to chart alternative scenarios applicable to either winner.

The consensus was that whether it is Obama or Romney, the two flaming Middle East crises can no longer remain subject to the policy immobility dictated by the presidential campaign – certainly not the Syrian bloodbath.

But the presence of thousands of Iranian and Hizballah combatants fighting for Bashar Assad on the battlefields of Syria oblige Western policy architects to reckon with reactions from Tehran and its Lebanese surrogate, HIzballah, as well as their Palestinian allies in the Gaza Strip.

DEBKAfile’s military and intelligence sources report that all the US, British and French forces that might be needed for military action are already in place in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf, while Israel’s Defense Forces are on standby. They are awaiting orders to go forward after first being told which way to jump – Syria or Iran.

US strength – air, naval and strike ground units – are concentrated on the Red Sea Socotra Island and Oman's Masirah Island in the Persian Gulf. Since mid-October, Washington has maintained supplementary special operations and anti-air units in Turkey, Jordan and Israel.

Britain and France have massed naval, air and special operations forces in the big naval base of Port Zayed and the Al Dhafra air facility – both in the United Arab Emirates. A French fighter-bomber squadron is also parked at the Tabuk air base in Saudi Arabia.

Military strategists regard the initial phases of the Iran-Israeli confrontation as already being in motion, manifested by an Iranian stealth drone which overflew Israel on Oct. 6 and Israel’s raid on Oct. 24 of the Sudanese factory manufacturing and storing Iranian missiles.

They are predicting that such shadow-sparring exercises between Tehran and Jerusalem may evolve next month into more direct clashes between Israel, Iran and Hizballah - more probably isolated incidents related to Iran’s Middle East deployments, especially in Syria and Lebanon, rather than a full-blown eruption of hostilities all at once.

Israeli warplanes fly over Golan as Hizballah fighters pour into Syria
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report November 4, 2012, 9:23 PM (GMT+02:00) Tags:  Syria   Hizballah   Golan   Gen. Benni Gantz   Israel Air Force 

Chinese Katyushas used by Hizballah against Syrian rebels
Israeli warplanes flew over the divided Golan Sunday, Nov. 4, in a show of strength and as a deterrent against the Syrian civil war seeping across the border, DEBKAfile’s military and Western intelligence sources report.  

In Paris, President Francois Hollande vowed Sunday that “France would oppose with all its strength any bid to destabilize Lebanon. Lebanon must be protected.”

He spoke regardless of the 5,000 Lebanese Shiite Hizballah fighters who have poured into Syria from their Beqaa Valley stronghold of al-Harmel to fight Bashar Assad’s war. Our sources reveal that these Lebanese fighters have now advanced 50-60 kilometers deep into southwestern Syria, up to the outskirts of the embattled town of Homs.
On the Golan, further to the east, Israel’s chief of staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz visited the IDF contingent stationed there to reinforce the message broadcast by the IAF.

Hizballah is now openly flaunting the presence of its regular troops in Syria. They are armed with heavy artillery and Chinese WS-1 multiple-launch rocket systems made in Iran. These “Katyushas,” shoot 302mm rockets at targets up to 100 kilometers away and can operate in the rugged mountain terrain of Lebanon, Syria and Israel and in harsh weather conditions, including snow.

Hizballah fighters are reported by our sources to have already used this weapon with deadly effect in a battle with Syrian rebels over the town of Quseir opposite the Lebanese Beqaa Valley. It ended in Hizbalah’s capture of the town.

While Israel’s right-wing politicians consolidate, the military makes no effort to conceal its active preparations for combat. Military exercise follows military exercise. Some experts even concede that the al-Hartum factory strike, widely attributed in the press to Israel, could have been a rehearsal of sorts.

Iranians are not sleeping through the crisis either; in early October they initiated the launch into Israel’s airspace of the Iranian drone aircraft Hesballoy. On October 29 a large-scale military exercise began in the region along the Iraqi border.

Some political experts claim there will be a risk that a new “big wave” in the Middle East could reach its peak after the American presidential elections, and that the region might plummet into the abyss. They say that Israel is ready to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities.

At the same time the Islamic Republic, whose economy is on the verge of collapse due to sanctions, is also prepared to stand up to Israel.

So far, uncertainty in the US presidential race has served as a containment factor. But what will happen after the elections?

Irina Fedorova, a specialist in Iranian-US relations, delivers a “partly cloudy” forecast for the near future; “Before the Inauguration on January 20 it is hardly possible to anticipate any sudden political moves from the US president, who will be elected on November 6. The main task of the new, or old, president with the US political elite will be the formation of a new government. That is why foreign policy issues will not take precedence in that period.

“The issue that will influence the US president’s opinion on the possibility of a military strike against Iran will be the crisis in Syria, including the problem of Bashar al-Assad. Until those problems are resolved, the US president’s attention will be focused on Syria.”

The Israeli factor cannot be ignored either: the current situation in Israel provides much food for thought. The Knesset is dissolved and elections are set for January 22, the day after the new president of the USA is inaugurated. There are two politicians who are ready for a war against Iran; Benjamin Netanyahu from Likud and Avigdor Lieberman of Israel is Our Home [Yisrael Beiteinu], and there is a very real possibility that one of them will win.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/britain-meets-gulf-allies-over-growing-tensions-in-iran-8278101.html

The Government is expected to hold discussions with senior officials in the Gulf region about the threat posed by Iran to Middle Eastern oil supplies.

Leaders in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are increasingly concerned in case there are attempts by the Iranians to block the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway through which 40 per cent of the world's oil supplies are shipped.

Britain already has mine-sweeping Royal Navy vessels in the Gulf region, and The Independent revealed yesterday that Prime Minister David Cameron is considering stationing warplanes in the Persian Gulf amid rising tension in the region.

It is understood that the Government is keen to reassure its Gulf allies that they would have Britain's full diplomatic and military backing should tensions with Iran escalate further.

Mr Barak said in London this week that Iran appears to have pulled back from proceeding apace to acquire nuclear weapons. But he reiterated Israel's determination to carry out a military strike if it felt this was necessary.

The Ministry of Defence said in a statement: "The UK regularly deploys Typhoons to UAE as part of our routine exercise programme and to demonstrate our military commitment to UAE and the security of the region. We have a mutual interest with our GCC [Gulf] partners in ensuring peace and stability in the region."

The MoD added: "These deployments are not due to our concerns over Iran's nuclear programme. As we continue to make clear, the Government does not believe military action against Iran is the right course of action at this time"

The British Government has urged Israel to exercise restraint over Iran, pointing out that sanctions are having a crippling effect on the Iranian economy – with the fallout from the punitive measures making the government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad increasingly unpopular.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/now-us-navy-is-arming-drone-boats-8280128.html


While the US Air Force's drones have been firing all sorts of air-to-surface missiles and bombs for roughly a decade now, the Navy took a big step toward getting in on the action last week when it launched six Israeli-made Spike missiles from an unmanned 36-foot motorboat.

The Navy pretty much admits that the project — called the unmanned surface vehicle precision engagement module (USV PEM) — is aimed at defeating threats that are straight out of Iran's war plans for the Persian Gulf region.

The project is part of a joint-US-Israeli collaboration run out of the US Navy's sea systems command's Special Warfare Program Office. The same shop is responsible for, among other things, fielding a number of tiny submarines used to listen for enemy submarines, deliver Navy SEALS and other secret squirrel activities.

Until the Navy can field these killer roboboats, it will be mounting remotely controlled chain guns aboard its ships and possibly lasers and Griffin missiles to defend against swarm attacks.

It sounds like the Navy is looking at using small fleets of these vehicles to patrol the waters around its larger vessels to shield against swarms of suicide attackers using tiny speedboats laden with explosives — a longstanding vulnerability to US ships designed to pummel large ships, aircraft, and inland targets from far away using missiles, torpedoes and large caliber cannons.

How does USV PEM work? During last week's test, a crew in a control station on shore piloted the boat — similar to the way UAVs are controlled — and used its night vision and infrared cameras to find and kill targets using the missiles or a remotely controlled .50 caliber heavy machine gun that's mounted on board. It's easy to imagine that in the future, these control stations could install aboard ships being protected by the USV PEM technology.

"During the demonstration, they engaged stationary and moving targets out to 3.5km," or just over two miles, says the Navy's press release.

Hmmm,

It's only a matter of Time...

JERUSALEM — An Israeli news program claims that Israel’s premier told his military to prepare for a strike on Iranian nuclear sites in 2010, but it was not ready.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak says in excerpts aired Sunday that “at the moment of truth, the answer given was that the ability didn’t exist.

”It quotes former Mossad chief Meir Dagan as telling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the order was illegal, as it needed Cabinet approval.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/9643647/Israel-says-Iran-has-pulled-back-from-the-brink-of-nuclear-weapon-for-now.html

Israel says Iran has pulled back from the brink of nuclear weapon - for now

Iran has drawn back from its ambition to build a nuclear weapon but the respite is only temporary and Tehran will still have to be confronted by next summer, Ehud Barak, the Israeli defence minister, said on Tuesday.

I am getting tired of these empty threat's. If they want to attack Iran I don't think they will make it public? Do you have to inform your enemy before you attack him? What strategy are they trying to use sef

Any attack on Iran will be devastating and will likely result in another world war. Israel is a very powerful country no doubt about that, but Iran is no push over, they can cause serious damages to Israel/USA.

Brothers, it seems the 2012 prediction is real? The beginning of the end is near, repent now of all your sins.

An immediate crisis was avoided in the summer when Iran quietly chose to use over a third of its medium-enriched uranium for civilian purposes, delaying the moment when it could have built a nuclear bomb. Without this decision, Mr Barak told The Daily Telegraph, the situation would “probably” have peaked before the US presidential election.

In the event, Iran delayed the “moment of truth” by “eight to 10 months”, but Mr Barak predicted that sanctions and diplomacy would still fail to resolve the stand-off. If so, he said that Israel and its allies would probably face the decision over whether to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities in 2013.

Israel reserved the right to act alone, added Mr Barak, who stated bluntly that any “operation against Iran” would be less dangerous “now” than when the country had crossed the nuclear threshold.

Mr Barak, the most decorated soldier in Israeli history, became defence minister five years ago with one driving preoccupation. His central task – indeed what he views as his historic responsibility – is to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran from threatening Israel and casting a shadow over the world.

FRONT PAGE MATERIAL

“They think of themselves as a major regional power from the dawn of history and they are determined not to fall into the trap that, in their mind, in their judgment, the late Gaddafi fell into.”

The costs and risks of a preventive war would only mount, so the option of acting “now” must be retained, he stressed.

“It’s not a minor decision to contemplate an operation against Iran, but however complicated, dangerous – it probably carries some unintended consequences – an operation against Iran could be now – think of what it means to try it when Iran is already nuclear, several years down the stream,” he said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/04/us-sudan-hamas-israel-idUSBRE8A30AS20121104

(Reuters) - Sudan will not stop supporting Palestinian group Hamas despite Israeli "aggression," a senior Sudanese official said on Sunday, less than two weeks after Khartoum accused Israel of bombing an arms plant in the Sudanese capital.

Israel accuses Sudan of channeling weapons from Iran to Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, via Egypt's Sinai desert. Sudan denies the charge but often expresses sympathy for Hamas in its conflict with Israel.

A blast at Khartoum's Yarmouk arms factory last month drew new attention to the accusations after Sudan said an Israeli air strike was behind the explosion. Israel has not commented on the blast.

On Sunday, Sudan's Second Vice President al-Haj Adam Youssef said the incident would not stop Sudan supporting Hamas, whose officials have often visited Khartoum in the past, state radio reported in a text message sent to mobile phones.

"We declare our support for Hamas ... Israel's aggression has not scared us," the message quoted him as saying.

A visit by two Iranian warships to a Sudanese port last week highlighted military ties between the two countries, and prompted speculation the stay was related to the arms factory blast. Sudan denied this, saying the visit was "routine."

Ricky_Ross: I am getting tired of these empty threat's. If they want to attack Iran I don't think they will make it public? Do you have to inform your enemy before you attack him? What strategy are they trying to use sef

Any attack on Iran will be devastating and will likely result in another world war. Israel is a very powerful country no doubt about that, but Iran is no push over, they can cause serious damages to Israel/USA.

Brothers, it seems the 2012 prediction is real? The beginning of the end is near, repent now of all your sins.

They are already doing so just not directly. Even the ones they did directly, hacking and dumping computer virus into one of their nuclear system rendering (you get it).

This is about to be Third World War between U.S, U.K, Israel, Europe and her allies vs Iran, Russia, China and her allies. I pray that this doesn't get messy.

manny4life:


They are already doing so just not directly. Even the ones they did directly, hacking and dumping computer virus into one of their nuclear system rendering (you get it).

This is about to be Third World War between U.S, U.K, Israel, Europe and her allies vs Iran, Russia, China and her allies. I pray that this doesn't get messy.

So who are you gonna support in this messy situation? As a Christian I will naturally support Israel, I always feel pity for the Iranians because they have every right to own Nuclear weapons like Israel, Pakistan, India etc?

If Russia and China finally joins this war it means the end of the world has come.

ABEG MAKE I GO VILLAGE GO BRING MY CHAPLET, I DEY COME