Originally appeared at Mint Press News
By killing top Iranian military commander, Qasem Soleimani, American and Israeli leaders demonstrated the idiom ‘out of the frying pan into the fire.’
US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are both politically and legally embattled – the former has just been impeached and the latter is dogged by an Attorney General indictment and investigation into major corruption cases.
Despairing, out of options and united by a common cause, both leaders were on the lookout for a major disruption – that would situate them in a positive light within their countries’ respective media – and they found it.
The assassination of the Iranian major general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and commander of its Quds Force, Soleimani, on January 3, along with several Iranian military leaders by a US drone was a testament to the degree of that US and Israeli desperation.
Although there has been no official confirmation or denial of the Israeli role in the US operation, it is only logical to assume indirect or even direct Israeli involvement in the assassination.
Over the last few months, the possibility of a war against Iran has once more gained momentum, topping the agenda of Israel’s foreign policy makers. Politically beleaguered Netanyahu has repeatedly and tirelessly asked his friends in Washington to increase pressure on Teheran.
“Iran is increasing its aggression as we speak,” Netanyahu claimed on December 4, during a meeting with US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo. “We are actively engaging in countering that aggression.”
One can only assume what “active engagement” from the overtly militant Israeli point of view can possibly mean in this context.
Moreover, the fingerprints of the Israeli intelligence, the Mossad, are unmistakably present in the assassination. It is plausible that the attack at Soleimani’s convoy near the Baghdad International airport was a joint CIA-Mossad operation.
It is well-known that Israel has more experience in targeted assassinations in the region than all Middle Eastern countries combined. It has killed hundreds of Palestinian and Arab activists this way. The assassination of Hezbollah’s top military leader – the movement’s second in command – Imad Mughniyah in February 2008, in Syria, was only one of numerous such killings.
The scene of the Israeli car bomb attack in Damascus, Syria that killed Imad Mughniyeh. HO| AFP
It is no secret that Israel is itching for a war against Iran. Yet all of Tel Aviv’s efforts have failed to bring about US-led war similar to the Iraq invasion in 2003. The most that Netanyahu could achieve in terms of US support in that regard was a decision by the Trump administration to renege on the US commitment to the international community by withdrawing from the Iran Nuclear Treaty in May 2018.
That coveted Israeli war seemed assured when Iran, after various provocations and the slapping by Washington of yet more sanctions, shot down a US unmanned aerial vehicle that, as Iran maintained, violated the country’s airspace, on June 20, 2019.
Even then, the US response fell short of achieving the all-out war that Netanyahu has been so frantically seeking.
But much has happened since then, including a repeat of Netanyahu’s failure to win a decisive election, thus securing another term in office, compounding the Israeli Prime Minister’s fully justified fear that he could eventually find himself behind bars for operating a massive racket of bribes and misuse of power.
Trump, too, has his own political woes, thus his own reasons to act erratically and irresponsibly. His official impeachment by the US House of Representatives on December 18 was the last of such bad news. He too needed to up the political ante.
If there is one thing that many Democratic and Republican lawmakers have in common is their desire for more Middle East military interventions and to maintain a stronger military presence in the oil and gas-rich region. This was reflected in the near-celebratory tone that US officials, generals, and media commentators have used following the assassination of the Iranian commander in Baghdad.
Israeli officials too were visibly excited. Immediately following the killing of General Soleimani, Israeli leaders and officials issued statements and tweets in support of the US action.
For his part, Netanyahu declared that “Israel has the right to defend itself. The US has the same right exactly.” “Soleimani,” he added, “is responsible for the deaths of innocent US citizens and many others. He was planning further attacks.”
The last statement in particular, “he was planning further attacks,” points to the obvious joint intelligence and information sharing between Washington and Tel Aviv.
Benny Gantz, mistakenly celebrated for being a “centrist”, was no less militant in his views. When it comes to matters of national security, “there is no coalition and opposition,” he stated.
“The killing of Soleimani is a message to all the head of global terror: on your own heads be it,” the Israeli general, responsible for the death of thousands of innocent Palestinians in Gaza and elsewhere, also added.
Iran will certainly respond, not only against American targets but Israeli targets as well, for Teheran is convinced that Israel has played a major role in the operation. The pressing questions are more about the nature and the timing of the Iranian response: How far will Iran go to send even a stronger message back to Washington and Tel Aviv? and could Teheran communicate a decisive message without granting Netanyahu his wish of an all-out war between Iran and the United States?
Recent events in Iraq – the mass protests and attempt by unarmed protesters to storm the US embassy in Baghdad on December 31 – were, to some extent, a game changer. Initially, they were understood as an angry response to US airstrikes on an Iranian-backed militia group on Sunday, but the protests had unintended consequences as well, particularly dangerous from a US military and strategic perspective. For the first time since the phony US ‘withdrawal’ from Iraq under the previous administration of Barack Obama in 2012, a new collective understanding began maturing among ordinary Iraqis and their representatives that the US must leave the country for good.
Acting quickly, the US, with palpable Israeli giddiness, assassinated Soleimani to send a clear message to Iraq and Iran that demanding or expecting an American withdrawal is a red line that cannot be crossed – and to the whole Middle East that the evident US retreat from the region will not be duplicated in Iraq.
The great game is afoot
Soleimani’s assassination was followed by yet more US airstrikes on Iran’s allies in Iraq, as to also emphasize the level of US seriousness and willingness to seek violent confrontation as a matter of course.
While Iran is now weighing in its responses, it must also be aware of the geostrategic consequences of its decisions. An Iranian move against US-Israeli interests would have to be convincing from the point of view of Iran and its allies, yet, again, without engaging in an all-out war.
Either way, Iran’s next move will define the Iranian-US-Israeli relations in the region for years to come and will further intensify the ongoing regional and international “Great Game” on full display throughout the Middle East.
Soleimani’s assassination could also be understood as a clear message to both Russia and China as well, that the US is prepared to set the whole region on fire, if necessary, in order to maintain its strategic presence and to serve its economic interests – which mostly lie in Iraqi and Arab oil and gas.
This comes at the heel of a joint Russian, Chinese and Iranian naval drill in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Oman, starting on December 27. The news of the military exercises must have been particularly alarming to the Pentagon, as Iran, which was meant to be isolated and browbeaten, is increasingly becoming a regional access point to the emergent and resurfacing Chinese and Russian military powers respectively.
Soleimani was an Iranian commander, but his massive network and military alliances in the region and beyond made his assassination a powerful message sent by Washington and Tel Aviv that they are ready and unafraid to up their game.
The ball is now in the court of Iran and its allies.
Judging by past experiences, it is likely that Washington will regret assassinating the Iranian general for many years to come.
Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of five books. His latest is “These Chains Will Be Broken: Palestinian Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli Prisons” (Clarity Press, Atlanta). Dr. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA), Istanbul Zaim University (IZU). His website is www.ramzybaroud.net
Romana Rubeo is an Italian writer, translator and an editor at The Palestine Chronicle. Rubeo holds a Master’s Degree in Foreign Languages and Literature and specializes in Audio-Visual and Journalism Translation.
Well written and factual article. The Jew scum have been trying to subvert humanity for 2100 years and now are trying in earnest desperation to have the rednecks die for them. They failed big time.
ISraHell is done….their American Goyim-LGBTQI-Pussy-Cannonfodder can only Cry like Bitches after a couple of Missiles landed in their area…
https://youtu.be/i62MDG81mlI
What a Bloody disgrace…the only thing these Satanic Kidkilling Executioners are Good at is Killing Women, Children & Handcuffed Men…
THEY WILL COME FOR YOU SOON ISRAHELL!
You ZioNazi Kidkilling Chickenshit-Parasites are History…
SAME RATS…SAME BEHAVIOUR!
https://youtu.be/4RBMu4zcqvQ?list=PLxCWZDxGmVWefTxrAF448EOV_UhoXfrBh
Thanks Issam & Assad for the nice videos
If you missed it, that top Islamist Iranian general was a wee bit more than a women or child. And he was killed. Same goes for the top Islamist Iraqi commander of Iran’s lap puppies in Iraq. Oh, and the same for the half dozen Islamist Iranian and Iraqi officers killed along with those top guys. Try to focus and then take your meds.
How dare you show your face in here little Paedophile Parasite…Soleimani was Killed by a Missile sent by an UNMANNED Aerial Vehicle not by any Man…you Folks are all Kidkilling Faggots… They will come hard for you Boy…you will be squealing like a little piggy for your mommy…You are even Bigger Faggots than I could ever have imagined in my wildest dreams….
Yep, you missed your meds yet again. And if you missed it, in war, whatever works is fine. Been a long time since fistfights determined who wins a war. Try to keep up. Oh, if you missed it, your Islamist Iranian heroes also used missiles, they didn’t go up to that base and ask for a fist fight. The difference is the US missiles got their targets real dead and all those Iranian missiles got no one. Not a person. No casualties. None, nada, zip. But since your heros needed blood, they shot down a civilian airliner killing some 180 innocent people, mostly their own Iranian students. That will show the US, Israel and the world what tough he men they are!
Fucking LGBTQI-Faggots…
https://youtu.be/i62MDG81mlI
just like the IDF
https://youtu.be/4RBMu4zcqvQ?list=PLxCWZDxGmVWefTxrAF448EOV_UhoXfrBh
it goes without saying, almost – behind the assassination of Soleimani you will find the israelis or the squatters with the same kind of certainty that a stone drops to the ground when you let go of it. it’s a sort of understanding that hitler was the ultimate evil and today it’s plausible to add netanyahu to the very same group of ultimate evil. hope he’s satisfied having gained entrance to such group adorned with hitler and other evil doers.
Hitler wasn’t half as evil as the Western bankers who gave him the money to start a war with the Russians.
The US traded with Hitler, sending him the oil he needed for attacking Russia, right up until 1945 through Standard Oil.
LOL.
“In case of emergency
Blame Israel.”
The Israelis apparently attacked the American embassy in Baghdad.
LOL.
Thanks for informing us about that. It has always been clear the ziofascist cancer has screwed and attacked its paymaster time and again, e.g. the USS Liberty, 911, and much more.
So, its attack on the U.S. embassy in Iraq is in line with zionazi behaviour.
“Thanks for informing us about that.” – You are welcome.
All you need to know is that if you have a problem or difficulty in your life Israel / Jews / Americans / Sunnis/the others… are Guilty. They control your life, you have no control over your life. So always blame someone else.
G o o d l u c k.
Were not talking about my difficulties but those in the Middle East. The “difficulties”, as you call them, are in fact chaos, death, and destruction. 99% of that is caused by the genocidal zionazi cesspool. That cancerous boil on the face of the earth deserves the same treatment as its role model, Nazi Germany.
Just thought I’d put things a bit more specific.
The condition of the peoples of the region is not related to anyone but themselves. The peoples of the region should take responsibility for their own lives and stop blaming others.
America won’t die, Britain won’t die, Israel won’t die and Saudi Arabia won’t die, despite the shouts at demonstrations in Iran’s mullahs regime. The mullahs should focus on improving their civilian lives.
You don’t have to agree(-:
Exonerating the zionazi dump, are we, for its ethnic cleansing, dispossession, torture, slaughter of civilians, apartheid, genocide, ….. and all the rest of it. In that case we should exonerate the Nazis for the Holocaust, though somehow I don’t think you’ll agree. And why not? Because the Jews are exceptional and superior to the Goyim?
Furthermore, it is none of your nor anybody’s business what the Iranian government does, it is for the Iranian people to decide.
The lives of civilians in the U.S., UK, the ZioNazi cesspool, Saudi Arabia (head and limb chopping) are worse than in Iran.
I’m not here to defend Israel or the US.
I just think it’s ridiculous that many blame others for all their troubles.
“The lives of civilians in the U.S., UK, ….. are worse than in Iran.” – I understand you’re kidding.
Have a happy life.
No baby, I am not kidding at all, esp. knowing that you ARE defending that zionazi cancer.
So you think I’m the reason for your miserable life.
I’m happy, baby.
I have no miserable life, I probably have a better life than most people on the planet. What I do not accept is a racist entity that is allowed to exist when its 2 predecessors were not allowed to exist. The zionazi cancer deserves the exact same treatment as Nazi Germany.
Anyway, thanks for implicitly confirming that you do support the zionazi cancer. You see, hypocrisy and lies eventually get exposed; it did not take much effort to expose yours.
You can think what you want.
But you don’t sound happy. People with so much rage and hate are never happy.
You can try to deflect from your beloved zionazi garbage dump, but this standard, pathetic hasbara trick does not work with me.
This article is about your beloved zionazi cancer that is destroying the Middle East. 1 small positive point: the cancer has started to feed on itself, as demonstrated by the non-conclusive “elections” and a corrupt Führer who has been indicted. And that’s just for starters.
I really hope Ali Khamenei and Netanyahu will unite in the dustbin of history.
Have a great life.
These neocons make their plight sound very urgent and neccessary. They fail to realise that the majority of people across the world do not believe a word they say. These warmongers also fail to recognise that the people across the world have watched the iseali regime march across Palestine like proper little nazis. They have watched, for decades, the mistreatment of everyone the isreali regime has had contact with, everything from small boys to pregnant women and unarmed teenagers.
Netty and his whole regime is too big for its boots. One day, when the west can no longer support their genocide, they will turn on their friends in the west. ‘Little Boots’ will be stomping mad when he realises that he won’t be getting his ‘greater isreal’, because of Iran.
IMO, the problems that Netty and the Trumpster both face is indicative of the out-of-control totalitarian regimes they foster. Both are rotten and now feeding off each other and any small fry that comes their way.
Cancer always end up feeding on itself.
There are numerous reports that indicate the assassination of General Soleimani was conducted with a KSA de-escalation initiative serving as an assassination trap. For example:
– “According to the available data, the Iranian commander arrived in Baghdad under an official request from Iraq. He was set to receive de-escalation proposals that Saudi Arabia sent to Iran via Iraq. US President Donald Trump allegedly supported this idea during a phone call with the Iraqi Prime Minister. Therefore, the US supposedly used this initiative to set a trap for the Iranian military commander and assassinate him.” (Iraqi Prime Minister: Soleimani Arrived In Baghdad To Receive De-Escalation Proposal From Saudi Arabia. Trump Supported Initiative, Southfront, 05/01/2020)
https://southfront.org/iraqi-prime-minister-soleimani-arrived-in-baghdad-to-receive-de-escalation-proposal-from-saudi-arabia-trump-supported-initiative/
Other reports indicate Israeli involvement:
– “This is an act of war. Unilateral, unprovoked and illegal….. According to my best Southwest Asia intel sources, “Israel gave the US the coordinates for the assassination of Qasem Soleimani as they wanted to avoid the repercussions of taking the assassination upon themselves.”. “(US starts the Raging Twenties declaring war on Iran, by Pepe Escobar, January 04, 2020)
http://thesaker.is/us-starts-the-raging-twenties-declaring-war-on-iran/
Verified or not, statements from the IRGC hold Israel equally responsible:
– ” The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) call Israel an accomplice of the United States in the assassination of ex-commander of IRGC Quds Force General Qasem Soleimani, Fars News Agency reported on Wednesday. “Within the frames of this crime [Soleimani’s assassination] we in no way view Israel separately from the United States,” Fars reported citing a statement from IRGC.” (IRGC calls Israel ‘a US accomplice’ in assassination on General Soleimani — Fars news, Tass, 08/01/2020)
https://tass.com/world/1106137
It is reasonable to expect the entities identified by Iran as responsible for the assassination of General Soleimani will all be targeted in retaliatory actions.
It is worth noting a Debka (Israeli) report indicated the US assassination policy was not restricted to General Soleimani :
– ” The US air force continued to hunt down pro-Iran militia chiefs early Saturday, Jan 4, after killing their master, thus revealing America’s follow-up tactics…. ” (In a fresh air strike, US targets Iraq’s pro-Iranian militia chiefs after terminating their master, Debka, Jan 4, 2020)
https://www.debka.com/in-a-fresh-air-strike-us-targets-iraqs-pro-iranian-militia-chiefs-after-terminating-their-master/
The US embrace of Israeli assassination policies is a development that will have significant implications as their adversaries would believe it legitimises symmetrical actions. The US, Israel and KSA have established a precedent that will not be favourable to them as their adversaries will likely resort to similar methods. This is not a matter of advocacy, merely logic.
Recognising the US-allied coalition seeking to maintain a military occupation of Iraq and Syria (facilitating permanent military basing and regional resource extraction) is incompatible with the Iranian-allied objective of removing these occupation forces, numerous analysts have concluded that the unfolding war will likely continue to progress to more advanced stages. US-allied occupation forces will not leave absent of the use of force. Force is likely to be applied (by which parties remains to be seen). In this context, whether the US will direct responsibility for attacks (by forces that may or may not be aligned with Iran) against its occupation forces towards Iran is yet to be determined. Importantly, as Iranian officials have made clear the removal of the US from the region will be their revenge, the probability of another miscalculation by the US (or the engineering of a war by Israel or the KSA) would bring opposing powers into a more profound stage of conflict.
Note: In relation to the possibility of an eventual full-scale war against Iran, recognising the tendency of the US to be unable to win wars (despite its qualitative and quantitative advantages), the outcome (which would involve the allies of Iran, translating to a regional conflagration) is again unlikely to be favourable to the US or its allies. For example, Israel would be unable to secure its borders while the missile capabilities of Hezbollah, Hamas, etc. are considerable. Asymmetric warfare has been shown to be effective against powers with much larger conventional warfare capabilities. Analysts have also identified Iran’s capability of restricting regional oil supplies (as a potential response to the restriction of its oil supplies) or the targeting of its adversaries infrastructure if Iranian infrastructure is targeted in a war context).
Maybe. But regardless of what Islamist Iran could do to the US and Israel, Iran would be destroyed and cease to exist as a functioning modern country. So it is particularly good for the Iranian people that their Islamist leaders settled for a symbolic attack and Trump was magnanimous in response.
Iran may be destroyed, but before that happens a missile rain from both Iran and Lebanon will turn your beloved ziofascist garbage dump into a parking lot, an empty one at that.
Iran has already stated that if the U.S. attacks it, Iran will attack the cesspool. Result: Trump proposes to talk because, hey, a parking lot isa heavy price to pay for his re-election.
Maybe. But the way bigger parking lot of Iran will be much prettier and be glow in the dark glass. And no, Iran and friends will not have the time to do anything so existential to Israel since nukes are so much more efficient and fast acting. Get real and stop with your delusional wet dreams. For the sake of the Iranian and Lebanese people the Murdering Mullahs are not as stupid and suicidal as you.
I am too old to have wet dreams, mate, it’s obviously the stage in life you are still in.
As for your “concern” for the people in Iran and Lebanon, let’s get straight:
1. your godforsaken zionazi Führers have not stopped destroying Lebanon and the people with its illegal invasions in combination with that Nazi-like Dahiya doctrine
2. Iran has not attacked a single country in the past 300 years, yet your current Führer keeps threatening it with nuclear annihilation.
Your stinking zionazi cancerous boil has inflicted death and destruction on the Middle East ever since it was created fraudulently. So please, stop your sick, Nazi-like holier-than-thou comments.
BTW, before the nukes hit Iran to turn it into a parking lot, the zionazi cancerous boil will be history already.
Much of Western bloc mainstream media believe that the recent Iranian retaliatory missile strikes were the extent of revenge by Iran and its allies. Such beliefs are based on wishful thinking as statements by key Iranian officials and allied officials show otherwise. For example:
– “Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh underlined that the Islamic Republic’s reprisal after assassination of Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani will not be limited to firing a dozen missiles. “Martry Soleimani’s revenge will not end by launching four missiles or targeting a US military base or even by killing Trump; I mean none of these have the same value as the blood of this martyr,”….. “The only thing that can compensate the blood of this martyr is the complete destruction of America in the region,”.” (Commander: General Soleimani’s Revenge Not to End by Shooting Few Missiles, FarsNews, 06/01/2020)
– “A spokesman for Hashd al-Shaabi (Iraqi popular forces) warned that the group will target the US positions around the world in retaliation for the assassination of two Iraqi and Iranian commanders. Ali al-Hosseini, the spokesman of Hashd al-Shaabi in Northern Iraq, said that the US should know that a huge battle has started. “We intend to target the US bases across the world and even in Tel Aviv, and we will take revenge from them,”.” (Hashd Al-Shaabi Warns to Attack Worldwide US Targets, FarsNews, 05/01/2020)
– “Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has said Iran’s early morning retaliation against US assassination of Gen. Qassem Soleimani was just “a slap….. what is important is that the seditious presence of America in the region should be ended,” Ayatollah Khamenei said….. “The Americans want Iraq to be like the former idolatrous regime in Iran [a US installed regime] or Saudi Arabia today – a region full of oil to be under their control so they can do whatever they want – a milking cow in the words of that individual,” he said in reference to US President Donald Trump.” (Ayatollah Khamenei: Iran’s retaliation against US only ‘a slap’, PressTV, 08 January 2020), etc……
Numerous Iranian officials have stated the objective is to remove the US military from the region (which would compromise US permanent military basing plans, US regional proxy warfare operations, US-Israeli theft of regional oil resources and US destabilisation/partition operations). For example:
– “the Israel lobby-led effort to have the U.S. facilitate the sale of Syrian oil to Israel is not an isolated incident…. pro-Israel lobby groups and Zionist neoconservatives manipulated both U.S. policy and Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in order to allow Iraqi oil to be sold to Israel without the approval of the Iraqi government. These designs, not unlike those that continue to unfold in Syria, were in service to longstanding neoconservative and Zionist efforts to balkanize Iraq by strengthening the KRG and weakening Baghdad…. Israel imported massive amounts of oil from the Kurds during this period, all without the consent of Baghdad. Israel was also the largest customer of oil sold by ISIS….” (The Israel Lobby’s Hidden Hand in the Theft of Iraqi and Syrian Oil, Agha Hussain Whitney Webb, UNZ, 10/12/2019),
The US, Israel and the KSA have indeed opened a Pandora’s Box they will be unable to close. As developments progress towards a multi-front regional conflagration (the US, Israel or the KSA will almost certainly act to escalate eventually), appropriate warnings have been issued:
– “I hope all Israelis will listen carefully to what I say: Netanyahu, his government and military officials did not correctly evaluate the magnitude this war will reach if they succeed to light its fires. What will be its extent, what will be its territory, who will participate on it, who will enter it… Netanyahu, his government and military officials do not know how this war will end if they start it……
……I now call first all Jews except the Zionists to detach their considerations from Zionist calculations who lead themselves to their final destruction. And I call on all those who came in occupied Palestine believing the promises that they would find the land of milk and honey to leave. I call them to leave Palestine and go back to the countries from which they came so that they don’t become mere fuel in any war where would lead them the stupid Netanyahu government. For if Netanyahu launched a war in this region, there may be no more time for them to leave Palestine, and there will be no safe place for them in occupied Palestine……
…..the scale of the massacres committed by Israel against the Palestinian people and the peoples of the region, its partnership with Daesh and its open complicity in the project of partition of our region through its open and eager support to the secession of Kurdistan, all this will push the people of the region to render a capital verdict against them.” [Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah]
As the US, Israel, KSA and UAE expand criminal actions (violations of international law) in conjunction with key allies, they do not yet understand the consequences of their actions. In time they shall understand.
That Jew Esper and zionist toe-rag Pompeo were the main pushers on Adelson’s orange courtier to kill Soleimani is itself sufficient evidence of Israeli involvement/prodding, in addition to Netanyahu’s usual Iranophobic verbiage.
Almost everybody outside of the US know that US ruling elite or the industrial-military-media complex is the powerful jewish lobby that is directly controlled from Israel. Ordinary US citizens don’t care about it, like German people cared by electing nazi party in 1932. All rich jews escaped to the US after elections of uncle Adolf, as you see today as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer or Universal Studios. German people didn’t allow jewish mind control over them while US people doesn’t really give a heck about it.
Target Israel with nukes, only than wars will stop