Israel seems to be preparing for war with Iran, U.S. officials say - Polidicks

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/mideast/israel-seems-be-preparing-war-iran-say-u-s-officials-n870051 Can we please don't

Yeah. Let's not.

Before last week's meeting between Mattis and Lieberman at the Pentagon, Mattis was asked by reporters whether weapons being shipped from Iran to Syria would be used against Israel. Mattis responded, "I can't think of any other purpose for them right now." It's hard to fault Israel here but obviously I hope a proxy war doesn't turn into a "real" war.

The thought of the possibility of Russia and the US being dragged into this is worrisome.

Yeah, this looks like a clear cut case of Iran beginning a build up inside Syria, which is what Israel has been fearing since day one of their involvement.

Wow, I really don't need a war in my life right now, thanks. Guess living in the north of the country won't help this time around.

Does Iran have any major alliances that are publicly known? I know that they have a pretty wacky government, but unless they were somehow able to launch some sort of blitzkreig against Israel, I don't see how any sort of formal war would ever work out in their favor. Even with a lightning fast invasion, with Israel being one of the smallest countries in the middle east, Israel has one of the most technologically advanced militaries and one of the most well trained militaries in the world. This probably will only result in the already brutal proxy war just getting worse, but an actual full on war with Israel would be suicide for any nation in the middle east, as not only do they have to contend with Israel's military, but also their military allies including the US.

Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria are all vocal allies. Iraqi-Iranian relations amusingly drastically improved after the removal of Saddam Hussein.

iran has russia

Unless Russia decides to directly step into the conflict that doesn't mean much. If they decide to do what they've done in the past, which is quietly pass weapons, then it really doesn't change anything.

Iran has Hezbollah. If a war actually starts Hezbollah will launch hundreds to thousands of mortars and short-to-medium range missiles into Israel (every day, that is), targeting everything from towns right across the border to cities deep inside Israel like Haifa and Tell Aviv and try to overwhelm Israel's missile defense systems. They may also by their own declarations try to stage commando raids across the border attempting to capture and hold (for however long they can) Israeli towns or abduct Israeli soldiers and citizens and take them back with them as hostages. If they have any working AA systems they may also try to target Israeli air traffic and shut down all air travel to and from Israel. Iran probably won't intervene directly but they'll provide all the logistical support they can as well as military advisers, intel and anything else they can contribute like missile and drone operators. Hamas may join in on the fun and try to start a new front in the south, though they're stretched out pretty thin already and can't really afford to take another serious beating. Russia will stay the fuck out of this conflict they way they did with all previous ones as long as no one touches their assets in Syria. They may sell Syria/Iran more stuff, I guess.

@Svinnik whats your view on this? Asking genuinely

scumbunny got everything right pretty much (no shit because he actually lives in israel and has served in the IDF. I've studied a lot but its nothing compared to him, esp since he lived through the era of hope that was the 90s and isnt as cynical as me due to that) Iran's been prepping for a war with Israel and the war is here, that's pretty much all that there is to say that Scumbunny hasnt said. The only way to maybe stop it is to kill Soleimani, the leader of the Quds force but it's probably too late even with that. Israel was about to assassinate him 3 years ago but Obama's administration went and told the Iranians about the attempt. If Soleimani was killed then, none of this would be happening. When there is a war, it's in both sides interest to finish the war quickly. There are a lot of protests in Tehran recently about Iranian soldiers being sent away far from home to fight in Syria/Yemen/Lebanon and it's a source of discontent, Iran doesn't want another Persian Spring during a war and Israel can't hold long under a constant barrage of missiles from Syria and Lebanon. It's likely that israel might go full total war on South Lebanon for the safety of everyone in Israel.

If Israel is attacked first by either Iran or Syria (And I'm talking about something on a significant scale), I can understand NATO getting involved to help defend their allies. If, on the other hand, Israel decides to launch a pre-emptive strike on Iran, I'd prefer if Canada and even the US stayed out of it. Not really our problem. Right now, it's still a very similar situation to North Korea's past aggression. A lot of dick-waving, maybe a shot fired here or there, but nothing on a large scale yet. The belligerent will be whoever loses their nerve first. And what with the corruption scandals plaguing Nehtanyahu's government, I'm sure he's itching for a nice war to distract from it all.

Israel isn't in NATO, NATO has no obligation towards israel and turkey would never allow NATO to help israel

iran is not a hill that russia is willing to die on

Israel has already killed Iranian soldiers in the past few weeks in air attacks. The uncertainty is whether or not Iran will retaliate any time soon.

each side is waiting for the other side to go first, iran pokes at israel, israel pokes at iran, etc. Iran poked first this time and so far israel hasnt been the instigator of any action, only reacting to iran as iran steps over a line

actually they're not allies at all

And they did anyway. Can't be a deal if they didn't follow through on their end.

no one is invading iran though

Very curious to what Saudi Arabia will do. They've been fairly supportive of Israel, as far as an Islamic Arab nation goes, and they most definitely are looking for a way to kick Iran in the balls.