Iranian Horn Prepared To Attack Israel (Daniel 8:4)

Report: Iran has direct military presence on Israel’s borders

According to new report, Iran is establishing Hezbollah Syria organization and has a direct presence in Syria, particularly on Golan • Former Revolutionary Guard commander: “Our strategic depth reaches to the Mediterranean, and over Israel’s head.”

 

Daniel Siryoti and Israel Hayom Staff

Members of the Lebanese pro-Syrian Popular Committees train along the Lebanese-Syrian border [Archive]

Geographically, while hundreds of kilometers separate Iran and Israel, in actuality the Islamic republic is already sitting on Israel’s doorstep along the northern border, especially on the Golan Heights, according to a new report by the Middle East Media Research Institute.

The authors, whose report is founded on research of Arab and Iranian media, write that in recent years “Iran has based its deployment in Syria on the establishment of a new Hezbollah Syria organization along the lines of Hezbollah Lebanon, as well as on the direct presence of Iranian forces in Syria, particularly on the Golan Heights.”

According to the report, Iran’s deployment in Syria, specifically the presence of its forces on the Golan Heights, “at first only as command posts and a limited number of special forces, reveals a trend of Iranian activity in the region that is direct, not only by proxy as it has been to date.”

The command posts, write the authors, are meant to operate “130,000 trained Iranian Basij fighters waiting to enter Syria,” as is evident from statements by Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps senior official Hossein Hamedani in May 2014, which were censored and removed immediately after publication in Iran.

Senior Iranian officials have boasted in recent months that direct Iranian deployment on the Golan Heights creates a unified battle front against Israel spanning from Rosh Hanikra on the Mediterranean coast to Quneitra on the Golan.

For example, in May 2014, Yahya Rahim Safavi, former IRGC commander and security affairs advisor to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, said: “Our strategic depth reaches to the Mediterranean, and above Israel’s head.”

In similar statements made recently, Ali Saeedi, Khamenei’s representative in the IRGC, claimed: “The borders of Islamic Iran have expanded [all the way] to the shores of the Mediterranean and the countries of the region are supported by Iran. … We must prepare the ground for the globalization of the Islamic Revolution.”

IRGC commander Mohammad Ali Jafari said, “Today, the borders of Islamic Iran and [its Islamic] Revolution have expanded, and we are not defending our country from its own borders but are standing fast and fighting together with our Shiite and Sunni brothers against the front of the arrogance [i.e., the West, headed by the U.S.] many kilometers from Iran’s borders.”

However, Iran’s goal in deploying on the Golan Heights is not limited to deterring Israel from attacking its nuclear program or defending its interests in Syria and Lebanon — it is also focused on arming Palestinian groups in the West Bank and Gaza.

According to the authors, “It also meshes with the Iranian regime’s ideological perception of Israel as an entity that must be eliminated. … According to this perception, the West Bank must be armed, as the Gaza Strip was, in advance of eliminating the State of Israel.

Iran is also “building capabilities and ways of operating against Israel and against Jewish/Israeli targets worldwide.”

According to the MEMRI report, in late August 2014, IRGC Deputy Commander Hossein Salami said: “Destroying the Zionist regime is a very simple matter. … [It] will take place gradually. It is a matter of divine faith, [it is] more than a mere wish for us.”

On November 26, 2014, Basij Commander Mohammad Reza Naqdi said: “The Iranian nation and Basij members are determined to hold victory prayers led by their imam [Khamenei] at the Aqsa mosque.” The next day, IRGC Navy official Ali Razmjou said that the Zionist regime “will be eliminated from he world map in the near future thanks to the resistance of Basij and Hezbollah members throughout the world.”