Times of Israel
The Israel Defense Forces believes it significantly curbed Iran’s ability to transfer weapons and equipment through Syria over the past year through its airstrikes, and plans to continue doing so in 2022, The Times of Israel has learned.
The military hopes that these attacks will also drive a wedge between Syrian dictator Bashar Assad and Tehran.
At the same time, the military is pressing ahead with its preparations for a potential strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, amid ongoing talks in Vienna between Tehran and world powers on a return to the 2015 accord to halt the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
While efforts to develop what Israeli officials refer to as a “credible military threat” against Iran’s program are continuing apace, and despite at-times bellicose rhetoric from Israeli politicians and IDF officers, it remains entirely unclear if Israel would indeed carry out such a strike even if Iran were on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon: Such an attack would almost surely prompt large-scale retaliation by Iran directly and through its proxies in the region, potentially plunging Israel into a massive, devastating multi-front war.
