Extending the Reach and the story of Mr. Rida

Last week was the graduation week of the latest course of Israeli's finest, its fighter pilot corps.

Proud Male and Female pilots were standing in the desert heat to hear the Prime Minister speak.

Both the Prime Minister and the chief of the air-force used similar words in their speech; "We have operated in long reaching territories".

Lets think of the meaning of these words. First, they are a warning to this coming Summer: Iran, even though you elected a supposed "moderate" to your leadership, we are capable and will act if we think you are still advancing in your weapons grade development of nuclear weapons. Second, in the past year, Israeli air-force groups along with special forces teams have completed several operations in territories very far from their comfort zone indeed.

If you look  back to my blog posts you will find several occasions in which I mentioned these events. Some but not all include the following:

1. Destruction of a truck convoy in the desert of Sudan.

2. Seizure and sabotage of an arms truck in Italy

3. Attack on a car outside the Khartoum Airport

4. Arrest of Hezbollah operatives in Cyprus

5. Arrest and seizure of a Russian boat in West Africa

6. Train derailment in Northern Iran

7. Electric grid sabotage near the Nantaz Nuclear facility in Iran

8. Flame Virus attack.

9. Attack on a truck convoy in Syria that killed one of the top Iranian Revolutionary Guard Generals

10. Attack on missile depot in the Damascus Airport that destroyed the missiles and killed many Hezbollah operatives.


....and many more we cannot reveal in this forum.

Now we want to explore the latest interesting story of Mr.Wael Abu Rida. Mr. Rida has went out of his home in Gaza and strolled over to the Egyptian side of the border to the city of Rafah and suddenly disappeared. Recently, using freedom of information tactics, it was revealed that Mr. Rida is held in an Israeli prison. Some think he was part of the weapons smuggling operatus that is smuggling weapons from Egypt to Gaza but another proposition could be that he was actually an Israeli operative and in order to protect his cover, he was brought back to jail to cover his tracks. He was almost captured by the Egyptian authorities but was smuggled in a daring operation back to Israel for his own protection. Read the story in the papers and come up with your own conclusion

Z Out....

The Bait and Switch in Iran

In the past few days, the media has presented a revolution story for us in Iran; A new moderate leader has been elected in a revolution in Iran. Rohani is so moderate that he will stop the nuclear arms development, he will give gays and women rights in Iran and we should all rejoice.

The reality is far from the truth...

The smart observer of the Iranian regime and the latest vote can see that there were over 50 million voters but only ONE vote that really matters. This vote is the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatullah Humaini. He is baiting the world to stop the sanctions but switching a conservative and combative front with a moderate one.

It does not matter!!!

1. Iran will not change much in the coming years

2. They will not stop their nuclear development program

3. Iran will continue supporting groups like Hezbollah and the Syrian regime

4. Islamic fundamentalism will always hate the West and will keep on killing US and Israeli citizens with no prejudice

Weapons to the Rebels? Really?

There has been talk about the Obama administration helping the Syrian rebels with weapons. Personally, I think its all a farce. The Gulf states have been arming the rebels with everything money could buy so what would the Obama administration give the rebels that money can't buy?

There are some sort of weapons that the US could send that are hard to get but the question is, what would these weapons do to an ally like Israel if they are turned around and aimed at Israeli troops from the Golan heights?

Well, in my opinion, if the rebels take over the Syrian army stockpiles, there is a lot of danger to the Israeli citizens from what the rebels could use including in the extreme case; Chemical Weapons.  However, in my humble opinion, I don't see the rebels taking over anything in the short terms and I do see this war continuing on for years.

So, lets review what the US could give the rebels that could be harmful to Israel:

1. Anti Tank Missiles - These missiles could be turned around and target Israeli patrols on the Syrian border. Dangerous but not uncontrollable. The Israelis could identify teams close to their border and destroy them potentially before they are able to set up positions to launch these missiles. An example of that you can see on the Israeli border with Gaza.

2. Anti Aircraft shoulder missiles  (Stingers) - These missiles proved to be very effective against the Russian helicopters in Afghanistan when they were given to people like Osama Bin Laden (yes, the US gave weapons to people like Osama to fight in Afghanistan and look what happened there)

3. Heavy weaponry like tanks - Not possible

4. Mortars - Yes but not that accurate or dangerous. Israeli Tamouz missile could hunt these mortar teams and destroy them

5. Night vision equipment - Yes, this in my mind is the most dangerous weapon the US could give the rebels.


So, the control of what weapons are sent is important, the danger is there but could be defended against but the question remains, would the US really give out these weapons and would they try to account for what happens to them? As history suggest, the answer to both of those question is probably not.

What Are the Israeli Interests in Syria?

A few days ago, rebel elements in Syria took over the closest city in Syria to the Israeli border; Quneitra.

This city was supposed to be in the demilitarized zone controlled by UN forces. As we all know, the UN forces are useless in any location of conflict in the world and immediately fled to Israel with their hands up in the air. The Syrian army took back the city in a fierce fight and in a short period of time. Some of the rebel wounded were actually sent back inside Israel to be treated for gun shot wounds. It was then published that one Syrian rebel took off his cloths and a grenade fell out of his trousers.

Yesterday, Israeli mortar rounds with Hebrew writings on them were found next to the town of Quseir in the North of Syria where the Hezbollah was fighting the rebels. These might have been relics of the last war with Hezbollah in 2006 but might has also been weapons transferred to the rebels fighting in that area.

Most interesting are the sources of news that are reporting that some of the "Rebels" fighting in Syria are not really rebels but actually Israeli Arab agents working for the Israeli Mossad and working towards being long term plants in the future rebel chain of command. Now, that sounds much more like my old pals...

So, why would Israel would do that? Israel's interest is that the Assad regime stays in place as long as they promise not to send advanced weapons to the Hezbollah, period!!!

However, the Israeli government needs to hedge its risks thinking strategically to the future; If the Assad regime topples, then the Al Qaeda elements of the rebel forces would probably rule the next version of Syria. If that happens it will not be good for Israel but Israel is hedging now by infiltrating these elements early on. If one of the "War Heros" from the rebel side becomes the next senior level executive in the future "Islamic Republic of Syria" he will have the perfect cover to be an agent of the Israeli organization.

Smart people, right? Also, brave agents, wouldn't you say? You don't have to go back too much in history to remember the story of Eli Cohen, the super Israeli agent that was planted by the Israeli Mossad and reached the highest ranks of the Syrian regime just before the 6 Day war in 1967. Unfortunately he was caught and hung in Damascus later but nonetheless, was the most successful agent in Mossad history or at least the most successful known agent...:-)