Now It's Israel's War

From the headline alone "Israeli Warplanes Hit Dozens of Iranian Targets in Syria" one would assume that Syrian air defense, based as it is on Russian technology, is a bust. Isabel Kershner reports that

Overnight, Iranian forces fired around 20 rockets at the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, targeting forward positions of the Israeli military, according to an Israeli military spokesman. The rockets were all either intercepted or fell short of their mark in Syrian territory, the spokesman said, but were nevertheless a significant escalation in Iran’s maneuvers in the Middle East. Though Israel has hit Iranian forces in Syria with a number of deadly airstrikes, Tehran has been restrained in hitting back, until now.

Hours later, Israel responded. By Thursday morning, the country’s air force had destroyed “nearly all” of Iran’s military infrastructure in Syria, according to Israel’s defense minister, Avigdor Lieberman

“If there is rain on our side, there will be a flood on their side,” Mr. Lieberman said in remarks broadcast from a policy conference in Herzliya, near Tel Aviv. He added, “I hope we have finished with this round and that everybody understood.”

In all, at least 23 people were killed in the strikes, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitoring group. Iran’s semiofficial Fars news agency said the Syrian Army had responded by firing 68 missiles at Israel.

In a sign of international concern that the conflict could escalate, Britain, France, Germany and Russia were quick to call for calm. Moscow — which enjoys warm ties with Israel and has had ever-closer relations with Iran in recent years — in particular called for “restraint from all parties,” Mikhail Bogdanov, a Russian deputy foreign minister, was quoted as saying by the Russian news agency Interfax.

Iran has taken advantage of the chaos in Syria to build a substantial military infrastructure there. It has built and trained large militias with thousands of fighters and sent advisers from its Revolutionary Guards Corps to Syrian military bases.

 SANA says Syrian air defenses shot down at least ten Israeli missiles.

The takeaway here is that once the jihadists were cleared out of eastern Ghouta Israel took over responsibility for regime change in Syria.

The final paragraph quoted in Kershner's story is a rich one: "Iran has taken advantage of the chaos in Syria." It should read, "The failed GCC-U.S. covert war in Syria has augmented Iran's stature in the Middle East, something the Likudniks cannot abide."

It's no longer primarily a jihadi war. Now it's Israel's war.