After Iranian Military Launches Missiles at Israel From Positions in Golan Heights, Israel Destroys "Nearly All" of Iran's Military Infrastructure in Syria

Israeli Warplanes Hit Dozens of Iranian Targets in Syria

Hours later, Israel responded. By Thursday morning, the country's air force had destroyed "nearly all" of Iran's military infrastructure in Syria, according to Israel's defense minister, Avigdor Lieberman.

"If there is rain on our side, there will be a flood on their side," Mr. Lieberman said in remarks broadcast from a policy conference in Herzliya, near Tel Aviv. He added, "I hope we have finished with this round and that everybody understood."

In all, at least 23 people were killed in the strikes, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group. The Syrian Army, by contrast, said that three people had died.

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The White House condemned the missile attack on Israel, saying in a statement that it strongly supported "Israel's right to act in self-defense," and called on Iran "to take no further provocative steps."

What do you think President SportsCenter would have said?

Waiting for Jen Rubin to condemn Israel now.

The Independent says Israel and Iran are on "the brink of war."

I don't think that would work out well for Iran.

The Independent offers a few more details and yet a third translation of the "rain" threat, this one my favorite:

The blistering Israeli response targeted what officials said was almost all of Iran’s military infrastructure inside Syria, including dozens of weapons storage sites and intelligence centres used by elite Iranian forces, as well as Syrian air defence systems. The Syrian systems did not damage any Israeli planes.

"They need to remember the saying that if it rains on us, it'll storm on them," Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman told media on Thursday. "I hope we finished this chapter and everyone got the message."

According to the Russian military, Israel fired more than 70 missiles during the attack.

Netanyahu also said Iran "crossed a red line."

While the Europeans are "concerned" about the Israeli counter-attack and will likely condemn them -- Europeans have a tradition of conducting Jews to their deaths -- the Arab state Bahrain supports Israel.

The once-secret alliance of Israel and several Arab states is no longer secret at all, especially now that Obama has scared hell out of them by giving Iran the bomb.

In an extremely rare expression of support for an Israeli military operation, the foreign minister of Bahrain on Thursday said Israel's overnight attack on Iranian targets in Syria was legitimate in light of Tehran’s increasing aggression.

"As long as Iran continues the current status quo of its forces and rockets operating in the region, any country -- including Israel -- has the right to defend itself by eliminating the source of danger," Khalid bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa posted on his Twitter account, writing in Arabic.

BTW, I just found CNN with yet a fourth translation of the rain threat:

"Israel has hit almost all of Iran's infrastructure in Syria," Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said Thursday morning. "If it will rain in Israel, there will be a biblical flood on the other side."

I'm staring to think what this guy really said was the Hebrew word for "deluge" but editors don't trust Current Year Americans to know what that word means and have to keep looking for other words for it.

posted by Ace of Spades at 01:38 PM

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