Iran threatens Israel with 'annihilation' over growing involvement in Syria - Polidicks

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/20/iran-israeli-bases-within-reach-syria Hossein Salami, the deputy commander of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards, reacting to earlier comments by Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanhayu, said on Friday: “If any war happens, it will definitely be followed by your annihilation.” An Israeli airstrike on a Syrian airbase near the Syrian city of Homs this month killed at least seven Iranian military personnel in an incident that Tehran vowed would not be left unanswered. “The smallest goal would be targeting your existence,” he added. “You cannot bear it. When your civilians and military forces escape, you’ll have no way but to the sea. Don’t trust in your airbases, they are within reach … your miscalculation would be dangerous.”

Presuming a war happens, it'll be pretty apocalyptic. Russia might back Iran, and the US will definitely back Israel, and it'll destabilise an already volatile region even further.

Not to mention that Syria is likely to be where a ground offensive from either side is launched, making life for Syrian civilians even more difficult than suffering through these years of civil war. Really don't want to see a "IDF captures Damascus from Iranian troops" headline in the future.

Israel needs to stay the fuck out of Syria full stop, while the US and pals may have some humanitarianism mixed in with their operations, Israel certainly does not.

The US has almost no humanitarian considerations in these conflicts and people should have learned this from Iraq.

Operation Good Neighbor do 2 minutes of research, israel's been ferrying tons of aid across the border Israel is completely in the right to destroy any Iranian bases in Syria, Iran has been getting way too powerful and people in the West are too blind to see the huge danger that Iran represents with even people like Kerry being completely outmaneuvered by the Iranians.

As opposed to what? Currently there are two options for Syria: A continuation of a brutal dictatorship or an extremist government that will prey on the power vacuum caused by throwing out a brutal dictatorship. Like how many times does this have to happen before people get it? Revolutions without major central leaders serving as icons fail to seize control. Arab spring did a wonderful illustrating that point. At least an Israeli occupation has a chance of something other than a completely devastating outcome. The fact that their objective ISN'T humanitarian is a massive fucking bonus because it means maintaining long term support for keeping stability in the region is in their best interest. They aren't, like the US, acting on stupid misguided whims.

I remember when Russia was sending truck loads of Aid across the Ukrainian Border also and everything turned out well for the region. It's a hearts and minds operation so they can make a land grab if Assad falls, which Iran isn't going to let happen. The real enemy is Islamists for the Syrian people, they will use western powers to destabilize the region and then fight over the scraps of the rubble.

yeah classic US humanitarianism, lets help them by bombing the fuck out of them.

Almost as if people who have no business in the region keep destabilizing it for their own goals.

israel had a chance for a land grab in 67, we literally could have taken damascus. Israel is not interested in taking Syrian land, you're aware that the entire idea of Greater Israel is pretty much a meme?

Yes. It is a proxy conflict and a wonderful example of why the US should stop spending so goddamn much money on our military. If you have a massive military, you feel compelled to use it.

It's a hard bargain but I guess we would have to look at what Syria was like pre-arab spring. Syria was a prosperous nation with freedoms rarely seen in the region compared to places a little further east. It was very much like turkey in terms of rights and so on. From what I can see the arab spring has fucked up most nations that took part in it if those that revolutionized won, with a few exceptions (Tunisia). Assad may be doing barbaric things but I would argue he is fighting a war against nation ruining religious zealots that even though their intentions begin well (such as the case of Egypt) it leaves a massive gap that far right religious fundamentalists fill. If you watch videos of Egyptian politicians speaking about general life before the Arab spring, these countries appear much like our own. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fswb4a9jcU You will see no such speeches these days. I think bigger than any one harsh ruler for a particular amount of time, is the progression of society all over the world.

Svinnik's right. No matter how much you may disagree or agree with Israel, Iran is a much bigger threat in the region (except for Russia on a grander scale). Israel may be hot-headed when it comes to dealing with them but i see no problem with them destroying Iranian air bases, because they're Iranian. They're a legit threat to Israel and Iran's enemies in the area.

Iran have been actively helping the fight against ISIS within Syria, they are an ally of Assad, we have no business saying who he allows there and who doesn't unless we declare war upon him.

Iran is a threat where ever it goes and trying to set up base in Syria, right next to Israel and closer to the West, is grounds enough to strike imo purely because they're not going there just to fight ISIS. Also they're fighting ISIS mainly by funding Anti-ISIS groups who them themselves then commit terror, funny that they also seem to attack Iran's enemies

The US has been funding anti ISIS groups and anti Assad groups who then themselves commit terrorism, they also have a habit of attacking the US's enemies. Maybe you've forgotten how Al-Qaeda started? If anything they are only as bad as us. We are not the good guys and have never been because there is no such thing.

Not all rebels are ISIS in Syria. And Assad started this civil war by firing on unarmed protesters.

Aight look I know you're the new Russian sympathizer but "we're just as bad!" is a pathetic argument in the context of modern politics. Its exactly the same argument people use against NATO or US involvment in Ukraine, "we're just as bad as they are, what right have we got to do anything?" I'm very happy to say i believe that the US, Israel and the West in general is the good guy in the Middle East, especially in the constant fight against Russia and Iran. Both sides do horrific things but theres a major difference between the two, the US isn't going out of its way to set up a state that would kill thousands whilst Iran is. Al-Aaeda also got a majority of its arms from China and China was the reason they won that war in the first place. Or would that dent your Eastern POV?

The west literally set up Israel? Maybe you forgot about that part where we carved a space out of an ancient continent and gave it to the "Chosen Ones"? If you are saying you are rooting for the west than by all means go ahead, don't call me a Russian sympathizer because I'm critical of my own nations foreign policy.

You're extremly skeptical of the Russian's involvement in the UK attack and you're bizarrely active in discussion in matters that affect Russian interests substantially, you're a Russian sympathizer. You're also not just being critical of US foreign policy, you're critical of Israel's and your arugment against counter-arguments is "we're just as bad though". Oh, so that magically means that we shouldn't get involved with Iran? It doesn't matter wether or not the West itself set up Israel, which is also incorrect considering that it wasn't just the singular West and the Zionist movement had been going for generations of violent conflict beforehand. The only thing that matters in this discussion is wether or not Israel's conduct against Iran was justified which i think it is because Iran is a threat to the entire region and must be stopped at all costs, they're an extremist boiling point, caused the suicide bombing to return to conflict across the globe and have been fueling conflicts all over the middle east for years, even more than Pakistan. They're a legitmate evil and this outweighs even the nastiest of Israel's actions. Coming into a thread after being suspiciously "yeah but come on russia CAN'T be the bad guys guys" in previous threads to go "yeah but the west is just as bad we shouldn't be getting involved at all" is not only weird its also downright wrong. Iran's evil and you're going to have to come up with a pretty good explanation to make the West seem worse.

"Iran is evil." I'm done.

I may support the people of Palestine, but I'd still support Israel (vocally of coarse) in a war with Iran if Iran throws the first stone.

Are you actually serious you actually consider Iran, the home of one of the worst islamic revolutions of all time, not complete evil? They're the main funders of Hezzbollah and Hamas, not only have they activly gone against the West they're responsible for countless terror attacks, how can they be in anyway better than the West?

Iran can threaten Israel with annihilation all they want but they completely lack the means to achieve it.

Idk, our leader is pretty fucking evil.

I never said their politicians were not shitty people. Your usage of the word evil just shows your ignorance. The UK and USA created Al-Queda, devastated Iraq and then inadvertently created AND ARMED one of the worst destructive forces that side of the planet has ever seen centuries, ISIS. Whether through ignorance or carelessness, it does not matter, our very intervention in Middle Eastern politics has ravaged the land while we sit back and stuff McDonalds in our mouths, Iran doesn't have that luxury because they actually fucking live there. You are calling for arms against a nuclear state instead of calling for diplomacy and re stabilization of the region because you are lead to believe these people are evil and we are somehow a force of good.

The UK and US did not create Al-Qaeda, they merely supplied them with weapons and training when they opposed the Soviet Union.

lmao that entire chosen ones comment is completely wrong, I dont understand why you keep on posting on threads concerning the middle east when its clear you have no knowledge of basic middle eastern history good news, israel is at war with syria since we never signed a ceasefire, we can bomb iranian bases all we want by your logic. remember, no one but Israel has touched Iranian bases in Syria. iran doesn't "actually live there", they are extremely removed from the consequences of their nations actions. It's actually a point of protests in Iran where protesters complain about Iranian soldiers being sent to far away places like Syria/Lebanon/Yemen/Iraq just to die.

Iran doesn't want diplomacy or re-stabilisation, also, Iran doesn't have luxuries because of their revolution and the following extreme Islamic oppression, its not the fault of the West. The West is a genuine force of good in the fight against Iran considering Iran does not do a single good in the region and never will. You can criticize the West all you want but if you can't come up with a defence for Iran besides "b-b-ut we made it bad", you can't defend their actions that caused the Western intervention in the first place.