Israel Says U.S. Not in Syrian ‘Game’ as Russia Seen Dominant

Israel is counting on Russian President Vladimir Putin to keep confrontations with Iran and Syria from spiraling into war as the Trump administration mostly watches from the sidelines, a senior aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

“The American part of the equation is to back us up,” but the U.S. currently “has almost no leverage on the ground,” Michael Oren, Netanyahu’s deputy minister for public diplomacy and a former ambassador to Washington, said in a phone interview Sunday. “America did not ante up in Syria. It’s not in the game.”

It used to be that if you wanted to destroy or take over a country, you needed to send an army, navy and (depending on the decade) an air force. They would pound the country into submission, or you’d fail and go home. Wars aren’t fought that way anymore. Country A supports various factions in and around Country B causing Country B to bleed off its resources fighting them instead of you. The amount of bleeding inflicted on B by A is dependent on the amount of money A is willing to spend.

In the case of Israel, it is probably much harder to support factions against Iran in and around Iran because Iran is a closed society. This is, in this case, an Iranian strength. Meanwhile, you can’t get much more open than Israel. Unless there is an outstanding arrest warrant for somebody, they can walk around Israel all day long, even if they are known to harbor anti-Israeli thoughts and perform anti-Israeli actions elsewhere.

Israel’s options for fighting back and eventually stopping Iran from supporting terrorists who attack Israel are limited. But a hot war is fraught with potentially so much more damage and uncertainty it seems unlikely to occur until there is no other way for Israelis to protect themselves.

Iran has built weapons factories in Lebanon. This is because Israel has so far been largely successful in preventing direct deliveries. It’s three-D chess with wildcards in the form of the world press and world opinion and United Nations edicts, any of which can cause Israel significant harm...but almost never any good. It’s a game where every move has a percentage of advantage and a percentage of disadvantage. So far Netanyahu has played it very well. But well financed factions in his own country and government work daily to remove him for this sin. They are Israel’s equivalent of the Democrats. Instead of Russia, Russian, Russia the chirp corruption, corruption, corruption. Each move brings them closer to victory, and, thus, helps Iran remove the one key player that has so far stood firmly in their way.

In my opinion Israel has to back Assad pressing him to limit Iranian and Hezbollah influence. The problem is Israel’s sovereignty is somehow limited and it had to follow Hillary’s policy to back ‘moderate’ rebels.
It is no win situation as a result since Assad has little to offer.
Now they want to press Putin into greater involvement or tweak US for the very same reason. Both Russia and US have little interest to up their bets right now.
US is basically cornered and left without reliable allies with the only game-changing option to invade in full force which is contrary to US interest. Russia is not in a position to limit Iran and Hezbollah without massive invasion too and the difference it doesn’t really need it because while a nuisance for Israel both Hezbollah and Iran aren’t an obstacle but more like a positive factor for Russian objectives. They hate Israel, true, but they also hate ISIS and Al Qaeda. The latter makes their presence a positive factor for the Russians.

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