Specter Of War Looming In Mideast, Says Israeli General
By KUNA
Chief of the Israeli army Home Front Command Major General Eyal Eisenberg warned Monday evening of an imminent war in the Middle East that could prompt use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
Recent revolutions in the Arab world and the deteriorating ties with Turkey are raising the likelihood of a regional war, Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot quoted on its website ‘Ynet’ Eisenberg as saying.
Addressing a symposium, organized by Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in Tel Aviv, he said: “It looks like the Arab Spring, but it can also be a radical Islamic winter which may lead to regional war.”
“This leads us to the conclusion that through a long-term process, the likelihood of an all-out war is increasingly growing. Iran has not abandoned its nuclear program. The opposite is true; it continues full steam ahead,” he said.
“In Lebanon, Hezbollah is growing stronger within government arms, but it has not lost its desire to harm Israel, and the ties with Turkey aren’t at their best,” Maj.-Gen. Eisenberg added.
He claimed that new, more lethal arms surfaced in the hands of the armed groups in Gaza Strip during the latest round of fighting in the area, thereby prompting Israel to instruct its civilians to adopt greater precautions.
Eisenberg added that some 25 percent of local authorities in Israel are ill prepared to face emergency situations.
However, Eisenberg’s remarks infuriated some security and defense officials, who slammed the senior officer for revealing classified information and provoking regional tensions, according to the report.
“It’s unclear why an IDF general heats up tensions in the region and why he exposes secret intelligence information about new Palestinian capabilities,” one of them said.
It is not all bad Erdogan has done what Stalin did and removed his top officers so Turkey is not ready for war. Assad knows this and had no concern of a war with Turkey. If it does not go well a war that Turkey starts it will be sledgehammer mark II for Erdogan.
Now the Israeli’s are going to start arming the Greeks with high tech Israeli weapons, supply advisers, swap intelligence, buy or lease a Greek island for an IDF base.
Syria is broken, the population is rising up, there are defections among units. Assad cannot use his crack units that are loyal to him to fight war and keep the population down. If he was to launch a war in the next 5 years the people would be capable of overthrowing him, and once you pick a fight you cannot just withdraw due to civil unrest.
Unless Erdogan can take custodianship of the two Holy Mosques he will have no influence to run the middle east. He is a Muslim he should know that, he is a light weight and always will be.
First they saw an option to be allies with Syria, now they see other opportunities post Assad to increase their influence. Just as with Assad Turkish influence was proven to be an illusion, so will be the Turkish vision post Assad.