Is the USA getting drawn into Syria’s war — PATRICK BUCHANAN

“Syrian air defense confronts an Israeli reconnaissance plane over Quneitra, forces it to leave the Syrian spaces”, the official SANA news outlet reported.

The ministry sent the warning to 15 Israeli ambassadors around the world as part of guidelines issued on addressing the topics of Iran, Syria and the Hezbollah terror organization in their host countries, following a military escalation between Israel and Syria this week.

In Saturday’s exchange of fire Syria scored a rare success, downing an Israeli F-16 fighter jet with an antiaircraft missile, apparently taking advantage of a vulnerability in the way the crew flew the jet.

The balance sheet was clear: Israel demonstrated its ability to defend its skies; it struck Iranian forces directly for the first time in Syria and exacted a price from Iran; it destroyed many Syrian SAM sites and left Damascus exposed to future attacks.

Iran does not recognize Israel and supports anti-Israeli militant groups such as the Palestinian Hamas and the Lebanese Hezbollah group. Iran entered the conflict in 2011 to help prop up Assad’s regime as it faced growing nationwide protests.

The latest battle began with an incursion into Israeli airspace by an Iranian reconnaissance drone.

Iran’s U.N. Mission rejected Haley’s “baseless allegation”, accusing the USA government in a statement of responsibility for the growth of “terrorism” in the Middle East and calling Israel’s “illegal and aggressive practices. the primary source of instability and insecurity in the region”. Iran wants Bashar Assad to come out as the sole victor in the Civil War, because that means that Iran will have another proxy state, like Iraq and Lebanon.

Since starting in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests, the war has evolved into a complex conflict involving global powers and jihadists.

The news comes in the wake of Israel’s interception of an Iranian drone and the subsequent downing of an Israeli F-16. But if Iran decides to again challenge Israel directly, it could order Hezbollah, armed with 130,000 projectiles, to join the action.

Bibi and the FDD want to see US power deployed alongside that of Israel, against Iran, Assad and Hezbollah. And Russia has been playing off Iran and Israel by allowing each to intervene in Syria.

There have been several allegations of chemical weapons attacks in Ghouta and Idlib, and in the Afrin district on the border with Turkey, he added.

Just in time for the 39th anniversary celebration of the Iranian revolution, Iran showed a variety of homemade, nuclear capable ballistic missiles, claiming the missiles can hit Israel from Iranian territory. But while Israel’s interests are clear, what would be the USA vital interest?

With its logical and realistic policy and an understanding of the post-Trump situation in Europe, particularly in France, Iran expects Europe to adopt a realistic approach to global developments and help establish world peace, the spokesperson went on to say.

Tillerson – who is on a tour of the Middle East – held closed-door talks with Syrian opposition negotiators in Amman in the wake of a January peace summit hosted by regime backer Russian Federation.

As the Syrian civil war gradually lumbers on towards an expected but still out-of-reach end, the conflicting interests of state and non-state actors continue to poison the situation and push the end further away.