Video: Iran's Plan To Destroy Israel

MEMRI has a video of Hezbullah MP, Retired Brig.-Gen. Walid Sakariya, who on Lebanese TV on August explained how a united force of Iran, Hezbollah, Syria and Iraq will combine to destroy Israel:




Here is a partial transcript:

Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Walid Sakariya: Iran is the country most hostile to Israel, but Iraq serves as a buffer between Iran and the Palestine front – from the days of Saddam Hussein and until the US military presence in Iraq. Iran supports the forces of confrontation: Hamas, Hizbullah, and Syria.

If, following the US withdrawal, Iraq becomes a bridge linking Iran to Syria, the Iranian forces could cross Iraq and arrive in Syria, in order to participate in a direct war on the Golan front.

In that case, Israel would not be fighting Hizbullah alone. It would be fighting Hizbullah, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. This is the so-called "Shiite Crescent" that they fear. Since Iran dominates this [axis], the Arab countries refer to it as the "Shiite Crescent."

If Hizbullah has 5,000 missiles and can destroy some targets in Israel, the equation will completely change when Syria and Iran join the war. You will have the strategic superiority and a force large enough to pulverize Israel, even if this war costs you hundreds of thousands of martyrs – not just 1,000 or 2,000. You will enter this war with a population mass exceeding 100 million.

Interestingly, Hamas is only mentioned once, even though it would seem to be a natural partner with Iran and serves as a front on the other side of Israel.

In addition, Syria is mentioned as participating--despite the problems Assad is currently having with the protests. There is building pressure on Assad. True, that would present him with a motive to participate in a war with Israel, b

Just how important is Syria to this proposed plan? Sakariya continues:

Interviewer: Syria is that important...

Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Walid Sakariya: Of course. But if Syria is victorious as a confrontation country, Israel will come to an end. There are military balances. Hizbullah can defeat Israel, but it cannot abolish it. If Syria enters a war with Israel, it may be able to regain the Golan, but it will not be able to liberate Haifa and Tel Aviv.

However, Hizbullah, Syria, Iraq, and Iran will constitute a force that is militarily superior to Israel and will destroy it. They will wage a war and might even suffer hundreds of thousands of martyrs – because Israel might use the nuclear weapon in order to survive – but nevertheless, this war will put an end to Israel.

If Syria is unable to join such an attack because of its own problems, that puts a dent into this hypothetical attack. Likewise, presumably the US would put pressure on Iraq to stay out of it. That would leave Hezbollah on the one hand and Iran, which without Iraq would lack the bridge to cross over.

And how much of a threat is Hezbollah? The Propagandist writes that while this may sound threatening, Hezbollah may not be the threat it is built up to be:

A sceptic might also suggest that this is no real threat, since a representative of Hizbullah is obviously an extremist who can be counted on to make such threats as a matter of course. That is their raison d'etre. The problem is that Lebanon has effectively been taken over by Hizbullah and there is little indication that this organization's goals are any different from the vast majority of citizens in the region outside of Israel.

The Lebanese Daily Star feels that Hezbollah may be limited in joining such an attack:

Nadim Shehadeh, a fellow at the London-based Chatham House, said Hezbollah was in a bind given the platform on which it has built support.

"Their power is based on such big words as freedom and liberation and their constituency follows them blindly on this," he told AFP.

"But they supported the Arab spring in Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Libya, everywhere except Syria, and that is contradictory," Shehadeh said.

For now, analysts say, Hezbollah will probably continue to adopt a low-key approach and avoid any confrontation.

Even the idea of Hezbollah, declaring war to help out Israel, a possibility that has been raised often by pundits may be impractic impractical:

"We thought that Damascus would ask Hezbollah to launch an attack against Israel to divert attention," [Paris-based Middle East expert Agnes] Levallois said.

"But the Syrian regime understood that it could lose on all fronts if it did so because it is too weak."

With all this, Sakariya's threats are reduced to just so much empty rhetoric.
Nevertheless, Israel cannot afford to take into account all possibilities.

Technorati Tag: Iran and Hezbollah.