Israel Hezbollah Pager Attack.

Handing over Syria to Al-Qaida was prob a well thought out move. Pieces falling into place:

Still struggling to figure this out. A couple of things seem likely

- a civil war or close to it in Lebanon as the minority Christians, Druze & Sunnis push back a weakened Shia Hezbollah.

- whether the establishment of an Islamist state in Syria threatens the moderate Jordan and gulf monarchs due to the Muslim brotherhood getting a foothold in Syria. Saudis definitely won't want that so will act to counter it in Syria like Turkey wants to suppress the Kurds.
I am waiting for the day Akhundzada attacks the quad-state west of India. West Panjabi's and Sindhis will signing petitions to join the Akhand Bharat project :)
Yeah, that one turned out different to what was expected. Instead of increasing attacks on j&k by the Taliban it was Pakistan that has to deal with the reopened border dispute by a nationalist Taliban about the Durand line cutting through Pashtun country
 
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The US relies on a kurdish group inside Syria known as the PKK to guard ISIS prisoners and keep a control. This policy dates back to the Obama era.

The Turks consider PKK a seperatist/terrorist group that at all costs must be kept away from their border and defeated.

What a betrayal of an ally by the Obama administration. Was it so hard to ask Turkey to do the job instead of the PKK? Yes, because that would upset Iran and back in 2014 Obama wanted to have a nuke deal with them. Over time the Israelis have also started supporting the kurds.

The easiest way out of this situation is for the US & Israel to abandon the Kurds. That would prevent both from getting on the wrong side of Turkey & the new government in Syria. More important that Israel does so but they seem oblivious.

Given what Trump said about not getting involved in Syria, it would not be a surprise that within the first year of his term he withdraws the 1,000 or so odd US personnel presently stationed in Syria to combat IS.

There isn't agreement as yet whether to abandon the Kurds or not.

Failing which both Turkey & US troops will be up against each other. There is an odd exception in the NATO rules. Article 5 won't be invoked should members engage each other so long as it does not occur in NATO territory (!)

Which option do you think will happen?
 

I can understand the Americans not getting this one right but Israeli intel too :rolleyes:

The only reason the Israelis went into Lebanon was because the PM decided the price was worth it whatever it was.

Oh and the chief of staff and the defense minister were against the pager operation. The PM overuled them and went ahead. The date was brought forward due to a leak from the Israeli government.

Can you can see why the defense minister was sacked. Highly decorated vet that he was but not of the same political mindset.
 
Pager operation happened at right time, if bibi waited for everybody else's consensus the charge might've got expired and not working when it was desperately needed.
Right now, Israel's handler USA is weak due to Biden's mental state together with ongoing mega RUvsUA war, multiple conflicts in every other place, etc., so Israel can do whatever the want if they strategize correctly.
Things may change once Trump take over.
 
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