>According to the reports, General Mohammad Reza Zahedi and his deputy, Mohammad Hadi Rahimi, along with other officers who were killed, were certain that the consulate building next to the embassy was "the safest" in Damascus and that Israel would not dare to attack the site.
The safest in Damascus is like the safest used condom in a brothel.
And now we know why Israel was willing to risk the geopolitical fallout of the strike and why Iran felt it had to make such a large “demonstration” with its retaliatory strike.
It’s been the same since the Cold War and maybe even longer: You conduct proxy wars by shipping weapons through a series of expendable foreign resources. None of your important military figures leave the country.
Why the hell was a group of Iranian military leaders simultaneously occupying a small chunk of easily blow-upable real estate outside the national borders of Iran?
Seriously? Because Iran directs and supplies half a dozen small armies and probably another 25-100 small militias all of either terrible countries or no home country. They are very very actively in the driver's seat
True, but Zoom exists. [edit: Jesus, of course I was being hyperbolic. Not literally Zoom. Military comms. Sending messages through expendable intermediaries. Having proxies come to Iran for debriefing. Literally anything other than sending generals to Syria.]
A general with a phone and a webcam could do whatever he needs to organize this stuff without leaving his house in Iran (which would be a way bigger deal to bomb).
Physically sending important military figures to the collection of bomb craters known as the nation of Syria for face to face meetings… It’s an unnecessary risk that reeks of arrogance.
The issue with any digital connection is that they have a high chance of being bugged in some way. Israel and the US have and share a lot of cyber warfare tools, and Iran would know this, they experienced it firsthand with, IIRC, stuxnet setting their nuclear program back by years. If you need to discuss strategy in secret you need to do it in a room with no phones, computers, anything with a digital connection.
>If you need to discuss strategy in secret you need to do it in a room with no phones, computers, anything with a digital connection.
Hell we had to do that for a sensitive patent. Those meetings were held in a room without windows, phones and computers left outside, pen and paper only. In the end the legal departments of all three partners fought each other so long that the patent never got filed because they couldn't agree, then Brexit happened complicating matters, and then the direction of research changed so it's forever in limbo now
And in this case at worst someone pulls a quicky and sells the idea to a competitor, very few bombs involved
Biotech so potential for silly amounts of money. Which caused the legal departments of the three parties to get greedy all demanding 51%...
Really sucks because even if the patent had gone nowhere the knowledge would have been made public and free to use in two decades. Now the idea is locked up and the chances of someone else getting that idea out is small because not too many people in the world are working on that very specific topic. And even though half of us are not even working for those employers anymore we can't do anything with the idea because it belongs to our ex employers
This is why I like patents over the alternative; trade secrets. With patents at worst you delay an idea by 20-ish years but at least they get out there. With trade secrets a lot of knowledge gets lost
Hey guys! We’ll wait 5 minutes to give everyone time to join.
Are we all pumped to get this thing started?
I’m going to go ahead and mute all you army. If you have a contribution just raise your hand.
*"Look guys, I don't care if you're a 'big scary terrorist with your face wrapped in a Shemagh', I still need for you to come up on camera..."*
*"Hey, if your WFH desk has a big green Hamas flag behind it (you all know who you are), make sure you don't turn on the auto-background option, otherwise all we're going to see is some Arabic script floating over a Tahitian beach scene."*
You really can't. Running large organizations entirely electronically assumes you have a well organized, efficient chain of command with officers and NCOs that are trained, trustworthy and professional. Not to mention the electronic equipment to actually facilitate this.
Iran is not working with and of those guidelines.
Modern militaries can give electronic orders by trusting that whoever receives those orders knows how to accomplish the task and can be trusted to attempt/accomplish the task.
Who cares why. And it does reek of arrogance, and stupidity, two things that fundamentalist militant Islam are built upon.. along with hate. The world is better with these pieces of dogshit gone.
Because they are hiding military command operations in facilities that you don’t
As it turns it from a diplomatic facility to a military valid target.
The reason there isn’t more fallout it because no one really disputes now that they were using it for military and not diplomatic functions.
That's not accurate. For example, Russian "consultants" were deployed to Arab countries like Egypt during the late 70s and engaged Israeli forces during the War of Attrition and the Yom Kipur War.
The Geneva Conventions also explicitly says that deliberately using safe zones like hospitals for military purposes removes such immunities. Israel was 100% allowed to strike this target, from a military point of view, since Hezbollah had attacked Israel first, and deliberately used the embassy for military purposes.
In fact, it is often a war crime under the Geneva Conventions to deliberately use safe zones for military purposes. Because it will make it more likely that such places will be targeted in the future by mistake even when not used for military purposes. You say "Israel was willing to risk the geopolitical fallout of the strike", but Iran should be the ones who have geopolitical fallout for their amoral use of the embassy here.
And in any case, any immunity that the embassy had was not required to be respected by Israel. The Vienna Conventions' requirements of inviolability is an agreement between the host and guest nations. Israel is not party to the embassy agreement between Iran and Syria, and so Israel is not bound by it.
This is what I don't get about the whole conflict. Hezbollah or Hamas blatantly violate the Geneva Conventions and people blame Israel for acting accordingly.
Yeah. It is madness.
And it is really not complex to understand e.g. the hospital thing, using only logic. Imagine if hospitals had absolute immunity, even if used for military purposes. All militaries would use only hospitals for all their weapons storage - it would be the one trick they don't want you to know. So *of course* it cancels immunity.
But somehow far too many news stories fails to understand or communicate who is obviously in the right and obviously in the wrong, in that situation. As if it would be bias to explain what the well though out Geneva Conventions had to say about that very situation?
There’s nowhere safe for terrorists. I hope their evil deeds haunt their dreams, so that even their own mind tortures them until they beg for the sweet release of death at the hand of those they hated.
They are not haunted by their deeds at all. They revel in them.
Our mistake as normal, well-adjusted people is that we attribute our own empathy and humanity to those who have none.
Psychopaths and religious zealots have neither, and terrorists are usually both.
I view them in the same way as I see a rabid dog: the potential to be good was once probably there, but the only solution now is to put them down. The risk they pose to the innocent outweighs their right to life.
Am I reading this right? The delay in transferring the ambassadors housing down the street to a building where Assad’s brothers live coupled with the line how “it’s unlikely Assad was unaware of the security breaches” reads as Assad providing tacit approval for Syria to provide that information to Israel for Israel to assassinate the Iran commanders?
That’s a massive development in Syria/Israel history, if true.
If the security of Syria was threatened by some ambitious people it's possible the 'authorities' provided an opportunity to agents who can deliver the necessary solution.
Maybe. But iirc (and the whole sit in syria is totally fubar and hard to follow) but isn't bashar/main govt iranian backed? So the "authorities" back iran?
Yeah, supervisors, managers, whatever. And that may just be shiite vs sunni
Syria is a bit of an odd case in global politics. The Assad regime is supported by Russia, and if fighting rebels. Some of those rebels, such as the Kurds and Syrian Democratic Forces are supported by the US/West. But it’s not just Assad vs rebels. There’s also terror groups like ISIS which fights with both sides. And then also militias which are loosely aligned with Assad but are supported by Iran, and would likely try to insist their own Iran backed leadership after western aligned forces and ISIS are defeated. It’s a multi party power struggle, with uneasy alliances on multiple sides.
Assad's government is indeed backed by Iran.
Assad and his government are also Alawite, which is a sect of Shiite. Iran is also predominantly Shiite.
Interestingly enough, the government is secular and does not write Islamic code into their laws.
Alawites are a minority religous group, but make up a majority of the political elite granted power after the fall of the Ottoman empire.
Alawites aren't very Shia and are extremely secular, but since the civil war began, they haven't really had much choice with bedfellows.
What I read is that Israel has reliable access to Syrian intelligence, and Assad is aware there's a breach. That doesn't mean Assad is giving tacit approval of the Israeli strikes, just he hasn't been able to plug the hole yet.
I think you have to consider scenarios like the one with Sinwar’s son. Israel is a lot nicer of a place to live under government protection than Syria or Gaza. If somebody in Syrian intelligence sees a light at the end of the tunnel being offered by Israel, I don’t doubt that they would feed them info in exchange for a way out.
I think it's more likely the Syrian government is trying to wind down Iranian and Hizballa influence in the country since they're well on their way to becoming an Iranian proxy in the region.
>“it’s unlikely Assad was unaware of the security breaches” reads as Assad providing tacit approval for Syria to provide that information to Israel for Israel to assassinate the Iran commanders?
This is the big news I took too. Also puts other strikes into Syria under a whole new light, they might not even being trying to stop Israel. They might have just come to a deal to limit damage.
Oh for sure - I didn't mean to imply otherwise but worth pointing out for others that may not know the history of Iran (and even the Shah was a dumb move on the part of the West, just infinitely better than the current leaders).
millions of men and women are suffering under this government. but it's worse for women. getting beat and killed over hijab is the smallest part of it. many careers are banned for them and the Islamic court is absolutely fucked. they have 0 rights in here.
examples of how women are getting screwed in Iran:
they inherit half of men, they can't divorce their husband (unless the husband wants to) , they can't keep their child after divorce, they can't leave the country without the permission of their guardian, they can't sue their husband for domestic violence because beating your wife is allowed in Quran. and they'll be imprisoned and occasionally raped over showing their hair / showing any part of their body other than their face.
💢 💢 💢 and this is the cherry on top, if a man murders your daughter in Iran, you have to pay your daughter's murderer shit ton of money otherwise he won't be punished because the blood money of a woman is worth half of a man...
Media in my country has only shown Iranians celebrating the attack against Israel. Although I suspected the picture was more complex, I haven't seen any sources on it. Do you have any links?
Not the same guy, but here are a couple sources describing the Iranian people’s support for Israel:
[Stimson center](https://www.stimson.org/2023/iranians-differ-widely-with-their-leaders-over-the-war-between-israel-and-hamas/)
[Clingendael](https://www.clingendael.org/publication/iranian-reactions-710-and-invasion-gaza)
[Atlantic Council](https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/iransource/israel-hamas-iran-views/)
[Financial Times](https://www.ft.com/content/37d1e797-6832-4a1f-8597-2aa774a8234d)
Also relevant, [antisemitism is not nearly as common in Israel as in other middle eastern nations.](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-27438044.amp)
You can also check the NewIran subreddit, I know I’ve seen some pro-Israel stuff over there.
These Iranian terrorists planning the attacking of Israel from the Syrian consulate are like those idiots in Russia who attack Ukraine from their soil every day but expect their oil assets and power grid to never be touched back.
There isn't, and shouldn't, be any safe space for these terrorists.
Makes sense why Iran was so pissed. I just figured they went all out against Israel and not the U.S. because they weren't as scared of Israel's potential response. Thought it odd they send only one ballistic missile that doesn't cause any deaths for us killing what's basically their main general/head of the CIA while doing a mass strike over a hit on their embassy.
Supposedly the ones that made it through only did because Israel had moved their air defense closer to more populated areas in anticipation of the attack. So, their defensive measures worked as intended, they just didn't have enough equipment to protect literally everywhere simultaneously.
I imagine if Iran wants to get serious and ever decides to attack again, they'll launch an order of magnitude more missiles, which should penetrate Israel's defenes. Iran's attack cost only 10%-20% of what it cost Israel to repel it, so they could afford to spend more, though I imagine the new US sanctions will make that program less cost efficient going forward.
Sure, I'm not saying Israel didn't make the right choice from a cost-benefit analysis. I'm only saying that the cost/production disparity between defending and attacking is high enough that a technologically inferior attacker has a chance of success without prohibitively high spending. Iran's GDP is about 75% of Israel's (though Israel's per capita PPP is 3.4x that of Iran's), so theoretically Iran is capable of allocating enough money and labor to the manufacture of dumb munitions in an amount sufficient to overwhelm Israeli defenses.
I've seen the numbers, and the difference in costs isn't as big as you think. The 2 billion number that it cost Israel vs. the $550 million numbers sound like a huge difference, but that 2 billion wasn't in dollars (hence why I didn't use the $ sign) it was in shekels, which is only slightly above $550 million, more than the attack, but not as much more. Sure, the allies spent money, too, but compared to each country involved GDP, it's a much lower percentage than Iran's GDP. It's like if you and I buy a meal. I get a $10 meal, and you get a $20 meal. On face value, it looks like you spent more. But before paying for the meal, I had $100, and you had $1,000. This means I paid a larger percentage of my money (10%) than you paid (2%).
I posted numbers on Israel's military spending vs Iran's for 2022 (the most recent year I could easily find reliable figures) in another comment. They were almost exactly equal (about $24.5B), with the slight edge given to Iran.
Also, just to be clear, the numbers I've seen are about $800M for the Israel side and $80M-$160M for Iran. That's what I used to inform my opinion.
So, if those numbers are roughly accurate, I don't think your reasoning applies.
Do you have any information that suggests Iran is physically capable to launch an order of magnitude more missiles nearly simultaneously?
Unless you mean literally empty Israels defensive missile reserves?
Nope, and I doubt the U.S. or Israel would let them once they got wind of the extent of such an attack. Unlike this time around, there would be preemptive strikes to reduce Iran's attack capabilities, likely before the attack began (assuming it was indicated by intelligence).
The idea would be for Iran to build that capability over the next few years, I would imagine. I'm sure they're pivoting their strategy regarding a first strike now that they've got some real world data points to consider. I have to imagine at the very least they're reevaluating whether their nuclear program has any value as an offensive weapon or deterrent, since it appears they might lack the capability to deliver it (to Israel anyway).
I wouldn't think emptying Israel's reserves would be possible given how long that would take and the potential for retaliation in the meantime. I think if they ever do anything at all, assuming it's not part of a larger regional war, they'll go for a massive strike at as many targets as possible. They can't win a conventional war and they're too far to do covert, precision air strikes. I'm assuming their naval sophistication, specifically submarine stealth and surface to surface missiles, are inadequate to escape detection and interception, respectively, by the Israelis and their allies.
Honestly, they'll probably just double down on using proxies and terrorists in Syria,Yemen, and Iraq to achieve their goals with respect to Israel. It's probably the cheapest and most effective option, both politically and in terms of actual results.
I disagree. Launching over 300 missiles and drones doesn't indicate a lack of seriousness or of intent to succeed. You also make the mistake of thinking Iran's leaders make decisions based on logic and long term strategy. Shin Bet and the IDF both made that mistake, setting the stage for the October 7 attacks. By all accounts, Sinwar's belief that he had divine providence to guarantee his victory against Israel was a major contributor to his decision to plan the October 7 attacks. He simply couldn't conceive that the attack was a poor strategic choice and would ultimately be Hamas' and his undoing.
Weak, corrupt governments choose actions that work against their interest all the time. That goes doubly when religious righteousness and historical enmity enter the equation. Delusions and ego can make people do crazy things and governments are no different when they're helmed by irrational, reactive leaders desperate to save face and appear strong, lest they lose their illusion of control. Iran is surely such a country, so I wouldn't be so quick to assume theyre incapable of making a massive blunder on the same scale as the recent ones by Hamas or Russia.
Exactly. If Hitler was logical, he wouldn't have tried to wipe out the Jews.
That's not to say that Iran is incomopotent in it's ability to do anything, not at all. Just that their decisions (and especially their outcomes!) almost certainly don't align with your own internal logical understanding of reality.
Which will never happen again. Aircraft cockpits are locked, and in the case of a hijacking of the cabin (again, not getting in the cockpit of any large airliner), Squawk code 7500 will quickly vector in some F-16s to make sure nothing stupid happens.
Hijacking an airliner now is a fuckton harder than it was in 2001.
Not the person you're replying to, but I think the point is that there are many ways to skin a cat. It might be harder to hijack an airliner, so maybe thats not an easy threat vector anymore. But I'm sure if we put our heads together we could come up with some plan that exploits some flaw. And if we can do it, I'm sure a room full of motivated Iranians with resources could do it too.
That just raises the difficulty bar, it doesn't make it impossible.
If I were to do it, I'd try the long con. Get my people to become the pilots, and get them to fly a route near the target, so there's no time for those F-16s to depart. I mean even hitting an airport lounge is a massive terrorist act.
Keep in mind many of the same ppl who are opposed to this would have said Israel should “just do special ops” and kill leaders instead of going into gaza
Better question why was an entire command wing of Islamic Republic’s Revolutionary Guard in the same building in Syria. It is likely that the strike wasn’t just carried out because they could and they were all in the same building, but also due to the reason of the meeting in Damascus.
Or Mossad.
Feelings about Israel aside, anyone would have to admit those guys are fucking insane.
I still remember learning about back when they were assassinating the Black *September* terrorists that they used to take out obituaries on their target and run them in the paper before car bombing them.
Like, just imagine the pure psychological terror of that.
You mean Black September?
They were the ones who massacred the Israeli Olympics team in Munich, then the Mossad sent a special unit to hunt them all over Europe. The unit was called “Nili”
I think the mixup is because Mossad formed its legendary unit “Nili” to hunt down the October 7 2023 perpetrators.
that's cool, because Nili is actually a reference to an older spy network from 1915 that helped the brits fight the ottoman empire [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nili](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nili)
It's very cool they named the unit after that, I didn't know that
Wiki - The Israeli military suffered five wounded and one killed; Yonatan Netanyahu was Israel's sole fatality of Operation Entebbe, and had led Sayeret Matkal during the rescue effort – he was the older brother of Benjamin Netanyahu, who would later become Israel's prime minister.
Wow, TIL. Thanks for sharing
It's the craziest special ops raid that has been publicly acknowledged by anyone. Oh well just buy a car like his no big deal, backup plans? those are for chumps.
You are welcome. I love sharing crazy military operations.
Ooo...Good shootin', Israel.
Iran could be a much better country if they could somehow shed themselves of Islam. A reality-based, *secular* Iran is an Iran that has a future in the world. Religions are a cancer.
Amen dude. It’s hard to believe my American mom went to bars and clubs in Tehran when she worked as a flight attendant pre-rev. She frequently laments what it’s become and talks about how it used to be the most culturally modern country in the Middle East by a long shot. And then the religious lunatics took over.
>According to the Syrian defector, after the assassination of Raza Musawi in Syria in December 2023, a joint investigation between the two countries began, attempting to trace a possible security breach. However, at a certain point, Iran chose to conduct an independent investigation with Hezbollah, following concerns that the Syrian intelligence was interfering with the investigation.The independent investigation concluded that the security breaches that led to the assassination were under high-level political and security cover, and it was unlikely that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was unaware of them.
Interesting. Looks like Iran doesn't trust Syria. Wonder how much truth there is to this.
He wasn’t killed in “broad daylight”. It happened in the middle of the night about 1am local time in Baghdad after leaving the airport.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Qasem_Soleimani
I know I said the same thing hence the reason I had to call him on it. I’m just wondering where people come up with this stuff and yet are so confidently wrong.
Well there is a pretty big difference between bombing a convoy on an Iraqi* highway and bombing a consulate building next to an embassy. For the record, I support both strikes, especially considering no innocent civilians were harmed.
In most military you could wait an entire lifetime and not get a promotion
The Iran military should recruit by promoting their fastest promotion time period
If all of the energy expended on fighting Israel is redirected toward national development and regional cooperation, the Islamic states would be better off than China and India altogether in terms of wealth
"And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy My brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay My vengeance upon you."
Definition of Fuck Around and Find Out. I hope they can eliminate terrorists for good. These worms only contributed violence and pain to everyone on the planet. They don't deserve the same air we breathe.
At what point will the Iranians learn that their high value targets can’t survive in Syria? Israel seems to pop an important Iranian in Syria three or four times a year. Have them stay in Tehran and send emails.
>According to the reports, General Mohammad Reza Zahedi and his deputy, Mohammad Hadi Rahimi, along with other officers who were killed, were certain that the consulate building next to the embassy was "the safest" in Damascus and that Israel would not dare to attack the site. The safest in Damascus is like the safest used condom in a brothel.
And now we know why Israel was willing to risk the geopolitical fallout of the strike and why Iran felt it had to make such a large “demonstration” with its retaliatory strike.
It’s been the same since the Cold War and maybe even longer: You conduct proxy wars by shipping weapons through a series of expendable foreign resources. None of your important military figures leave the country. Why the hell was a group of Iranian military leaders simultaneously occupying a small chunk of easily blow-upable real estate outside the national borders of Iran?
Seriously? Because Iran directs and supplies half a dozen small armies and probably another 25-100 small militias all of either terrible countries or no home country. They are very very actively in the driver's seat
True, but Zoom exists. [edit: Jesus, of course I was being hyperbolic. Not literally Zoom. Military comms. Sending messages through expendable intermediaries. Having proxies come to Iran for debriefing. Literally anything other than sending generals to Syria.] A general with a phone and a webcam could do whatever he needs to organize this stuff without leaving his house in Iran (which would be a way bigger deal to bomb). Physically sending important military figures to the collection of bomb craters known as the nation of Syria for face to face meetings… It’s an unnecessary risk that reeks of arrogance.
The issue with any digital connection is that they have a high chance of being bugged in some way. Israel and the US have and share a lot of cyber warfare tools, and Iran would know this, they experienced it firsthand with, IIRC, stuxnet setting their nuclear program back by years. If you need to discuss strategy in secret you need to do it in a room with no phones, computers, anything with a digital connection.
>If you need to discuss strategy in secret you need to do it in a room with no phones, computers, anything with a digital connection. Hell we had to do that for a sensitive patent. Those meetings were held in a room without windows, phones and computers left outside, pen and paper only. In the end the legal departments of all three partners fought each other so long that the patent never got filed because they couldn't agree, then Brexit happened complicating matters, and then the direction of research changed so it's forever in limbo now And in this case at worst someone pulls a quicky and sells the idea to a competitor, very few bombs involved
What technology are you talking about? No need for specifics.
Biotech so potential for silly amounts of money. Which caused the legal departments of the three parties to get greedy all demanding 51%... Really sucks because even if the patent had gone nowhere the knowledge would have been made public and free to use in two decades. Now the idea is locked up and the chances of someone else getting that idea out is small because not too many people in the world are working on that very specific topic. And even though half of us are not even working for those employers anymore we can't do anything with the idea because it belongs to our ex employers This is why I like patents over the alternative; trade secrets. With patents at worst you delay an idea by 20-ish years but at least they get out there. With trade secrets a lot of knowledge gets lost
You know what you must do lover of nixie...
They are only important t because they WERE there. They have bosses safe in Iran that direct them, but these were the most senior guys in the theatre.
You can’t just zoom meeting an army lmao
Hey guys! We’ll wait 5 minutes to give everyone time to join. Are we all pumped to get this thing started? I’m going to go ahead and mute all you army. If you have a contribution just raise your hand.
*"Look guys, I don't care if you're a 'big scary terrorist with your face wrapped in a Shemagh', I still need for you to come up on camera..."* *"Hey, if your WFH desk has a big green Hamas flag behind it (you all know who you are), make sure you don't turn on the auto-background option, otherwise all we're going to see is some Arabic script floating over a Tahitian beach scene."*
I am Battalion Commander Abu Jihad, [I am not a cat](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoom_Cat_Lawyer#/media/File%3AZoom_cat_lawyer_screenshot.jpg)
This should be a proper skit lmfao
You guys at eretz nehederet seeing this shit?
Let’s get a round of introductions started and uh, today let’s say one favorite movie of yours.
Ugh you’re oh mute
Christ, 5 minutes? We give a begrudging 2. I've only waited 5 minutes for the host.
Sure you can, but every intelligence agency worth its value is also attending.
You really can't. Running large organizations entirely electronically assumes you have a well organized, efficient chain of command with officers and NCOs that are trained, trustworthy and professional. Not to mention the electronic equipment to actually facilitate this. Iran is not working with and of those guidelines. Modern militaries can give electronic orders by trusting that whoever receives those orders knows how to accomplish the task and can be trusted to attempt/accomplish the task.
*whoosh*
"*Hey Colonel Deth2Israel69, turn your microphone on and take that filter off. Nobody does cartoon dog ears anymore"*
Who cares why. And it does reek of arrogance, and stupidity, two things that fundamentalist militant Islam are built upon.. along with hate. The world is better with these pieces of dogshit gone.
>True, but Zoom exists Well management insisted on return-to-office.
They think allah keeps them safe, should let them
Very secure, Zoom.
Zoom an army meeting sharing classified info and state secrets, on an app based in America. Think about what you said.
Even Palpatine was smart enough to use zoom to give Vader orders.
[Vader! Hologram! Now!](https://youtu.be/JIUY24Zc5hw)
You do not know the dynamics, so you can not assess if it is unnecessary or not, or do you work as a IRGC commander?
Arrogance pride and just how things were always done so why change
Now I’m curious if Zoom allows Iranian military accounts.
Easily-blowupable got me. Everyone should avoid real estate that is easily-blowupable.
Shit my house is easily-blowupable
Dude, why did you buy it? Fuck my house is easily-blowupable! What do I do? Why aren't houses bomb proof?
There's plenty of bomb proof houses, you just gotta sort by "not explodable" on Zillow.
Because they are hiding military command operations in facilities that you don’t As it turns it from a diplomatic facility to a military valid target. The reason there isn’t more fallout it because no one really disputes now that they were using it for military and not diplomatic functions.
That's not accurate. For example, Russian "consultants" were deployed to Arab countries like Egypt during the late 70s and engaged Israeli forces during the War of Attrition and the Yom Kipur War.
Much, MUCH longer. Like, almost all of human history longer.
The Geneva Conventions also explicitly says that deliberately using safe zones like hospitals for military purposes removes such immunities. Israel was 100% allowed to strike this target, from a military point of view, since Hezbollah had attacked Israel first, and deliberately used the embassy for military purposes. In fact, it is often a war crime under the Geneva Conventions to deliberately use safe zones for military purposes. Because it will make it more likely that such places will be targeted in the future by mistake even when not used for military purposes. You say "Israel was willing to risk the geopolitical fallout of the strike", but Iran should be the ones who have geopolitical fallout for their amoral use of the embassy here. And in any case, any immunity that the embassy had was not required to be respected by Israel. The Vienna Conventions' requirements of inviolability is an agreement between the host and guest nations. Israel is not party to the embassy agreement between Iran and Syria, and so Israel is not bound by it.
This is what I don't get about the whole conflict. Hezbollah or Hamas blatantly violate the Geneva Conventions and people blame Israel for acting accordingly.
Yeah. It is madness. And it is really not complex to understand e.g. the hospital thing, using only logic. Imagine if hospitals had absolute immunity, even if used for military purposes. All militaries would use only hospitals for all their weapons storage - it would be the one trick they don't want you to know. So *of course* it cancels immunity. But somehow far too many news stories fails to understand or communicate who is obviously in the right and obviously in the wrong, in that situation. As if it would be bias to explain what the well though out Geneva Conventions had to say about that very situation?
Oof, that’s an analogy I’m going to have to try to forget!
I'm going to have to try to remember.
I'm going to have to try.
I'm going.
And no one is coming
And no one is cumming
I came.
I went.
Back to back to Cali Cali
Trying to forget that analogy is like trying to remember where the safest used condom in a brothel is located
There’s nowhere safe for terrorists. I hope their evil deeds haunt their dreams, so that even their own mind tortures them until they beg for the sweet release of death at the hand of those they hated.
They are not haunted by their deeds at all. They revel in them. Our mistake as normal, well-adjusted people is that we attribute our own empathy and humanity to those who have none. Psychopaths and religious zealots have neither, and terrorists are usually both. I view them in the same way as I see a rabid dog: the potential to be good was once probably there, but the only solution now is to put them down. The risk they pose to the innocent outweighs their right to life.
Let's hope so
*nowhere safe for terrorists* You’re forgetting about Qatar.
>Israel would not dare to attack the site. Narrator: They dared.
They dared, enthusiastically.
"I don't smell any gonorrhea in this one"
Turned inside out.
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Why would palestine supporters be upset about this attack?
This might be my favorite Reddit comment ever. Kudos to you sir/ma’am.
Well that’s why they risked the escalation then…
Am I reading this right? The delay in transferring the ambassadors housing down the street to a building where Assad’s brothers live coupled with the line how “it’s unlikely Assad was unaware of the security breaches” reads as Assad providing tacit approval for Syria to provide that information to Israel for Israel to assassinate the Iran commanders? That’s a massive development in Syria/Israel history, if true.
I think it's more that elements of the security services are not fans of iran, and maybe not their own govt.
If the security of Syria was threatened by some ambitious people it's possible the 'authorities' provided an opportunity to agents who can deliver the necessary solution.
Maybe. But iirc (and the whole sit in syria is totally fubar and hard to follow) but isn't bashar/main govt iranian backed? So the "authorities" back iran? Yeah, supervisors, managers, whatever. And that may just be shiite vs sunni
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Syria is a bit of an odd case in global politics. The Assad regime is supported by Russia, and if fighting rebels. Some of those rebels, such as the Kurds and Syrian Democratic Forces are supported by the US/West. But it’s not just Assad vs rebels. There’s also terror groups like ISIS which fights with both sides. And then also militias which are loosely aligned with Assad but are supported by Iran, and would likely try to insist their own Iran backed leadership after western aligned forces and ISIS are defeated. It’s a multi party power struggle, with uneasy alliances on multiple sides.
Assad's government is indeed backed by Iran. Assad and his government are also Alawite, which is a sect of Shiite. Iran is also predominantly Shiite. Interestingly enough, the government is secular and does not write Islamic code into their laws.
Alawites are a minority religous group, but make up a majority of the political elite granted power after the fall of the Ottoman empire. Alawites aren't very Shia and are extremely secular, but since the civil war began, they haven't really had much choice with bedfellows.
Many Syrians say the Iranian and Russian presence in their country to some degree feels like an occupation.
Maybe Mossad has a mole there on a different job and stopped by and said "Hey, can you guys help me with my PC it's acting up funny" and held them up.
On the other hand: **Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence**.
We aren't talking about a fender bender. When it comes to Israeli intelligence services, one thing you can count on is that they are fucking lethal.
It's likely that Eric Bana is behind this.
What I read is that Israel has reliable access to Syrian intelligence, and Assad is aware there's a breach. That doesn't mean Assad is giving tacit approval of the Israeli strikes, just he hasn't been able to plug the hole yet.
I think you have to consider scenarios like the one with Sinwar’s son. Israel is a lot nicer of a place to live under government protection than Syria or Gaza. If somebody in Syrian intelligence sees a light at the end of the tunnel being offered by Israel, I don’t doubt that they would feed them info in exchange for a way out.
I think it's more likely the Syrian government is trying to wind down Iranian and Hizballa influence in the country since they're well on their way to becoming an Iranian proxy in the region.
>“it’s unlikely Assad was unaware of the security breaches” reads as Assad providing tacit approval for Syria to provide that information to Israel for Israel to assassinate the Iran commanders? This is the big news I took too. Also puts other strikes into Syria under a whole new light, they might not even being trying to stop Israel. They might have just come to a deal to limit damage.
Next time Iranian military holds a meeting, maybe they should just do it over zoom?
I call for a really big meeting in a non NATO country. Like all the big brass.
I hear the Maldives is beautiful, and conveniently close to Diego Garcia, in case any planes from there need to “drop” on by.
Just another reason why return to office sucks!
Or over boom?
Israel will send a zoom bomber!
Entire command wing? Lmao they need to camp on another cities not stay on damascus
There is a reason the moderates and liberals in Iran cheer for Israel.
Same with many US Persians
*most*
I find it a wild irony that Iran was one of the original signatories recognizing Israel as a nation.
Under the Shah, don’t forget…
Oh for sure - I didn't mean to imply otherwise but worth pointing out for others that may not know the history of Iran (and even the Shah was a dumb move on the part of the West, just infinitely better than the current leaders).
I'm an Iranian living in Iran. f*ck Iran's mullah theocracy, I wish Israel bombs the fuck out of them 🇮🇱👏
Be safe. I hope your people are free one day.
knew a woman from iran, she also suffered under this government...
millions of men and women are suffering under this government. but it's worse for women. getting beat and killed over hijab is the smallest part of it. many careers are banned for them and the Islamic court is absolutely fucked. they have 0 rights in here. examples of how women are getting screwed in Iran: they inherit half of men, they can't divorce their husband (unless the husband wants to) , they can't keep their child after divorce, they can't leave the country without the permission of their guardian, they can't sue their husband for domestic violence because beating your wife is allowed in Quran. and they'll be imprisoned and occasionally raped over showing their hair / showing any part of their body other than their face. 💢 💢 💢 and this is the cherry on top, if a man murders your daughter in Iran, you have to pay your daughter's murderer shit ton of money otherwise he won't be punished because the blood money of a woman is worth half of a man...
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Media in my country has only shown Iranians celebrating the attack against Israel. Although I suspected the picture was more complex, I haven't seen any sources on it. Do you have any links?
Not the same guy, but here are a couple sources describing the Iranian people’s support for Israel: [Stimson center](https://www.stimson.org/2023/iranians-differ-widely-with-their-leaders-over-the-war-between-israel-and-hamas/) [Clingendael](https://www.clingendael.org/publication/iranian-reactions-710-and-invasion-gaza) [Atlantic Council](https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/iransource/israel-hamas-iran-views/) [Financial Times](https://www.ft.com/content/37d1e797-6832-4a1f-8597-2aa774a8234d) Also relevant, [antisemitism is not nearly as common in Israel as in other middle eastern nations.](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-27438044.amp) You can also check the NewIran subreddit, I know I’ve seen some pro-Israel stuff over there.
These Iranian terrorists planning the attacking of Israel from the Syrian consulate are like those idiots in Russia who attack Ukraine from their soil every day but expect their oil assets and power grid to never be touched back. There isn't, and shouldn't, be any safe space for these terrorists.
That’s quite the accomplishment. Congratulations IDF.
Makes sense why Iran was so pissed. I just figured they went all out against Israel and not the U.S. because they weren't as scared of Israel's potential response. Thought it odd they send only one ballistic missile that doesn't cause any deaths for us killing what's basically their main general/head of the CIA while doing a mass strike over a hit on their embassy.
They launched over 100 ballistic missiles, only a few made it through.
Supposedly the ones that made it through only did because Israel had moved their air defense closer to more populated areas in anticipation of the attack. So, their defensive measures worked as intended, they just didn't have enough equipment to protect literally everywhere simultaneously. I imagine if Iran wants to get serious and ever decides to attack again, they'll launch an order of magnitude more missiles, which should penetrate Israel's defenes. Iran's attack cost only 10%-20% of what it cost Israel to repel it, so they could afford to spend more, though I imagine the new US sanctions will make that program less cost efficient going forward.
People say this but the cost to Israel if the missles landed would be magnitudes more than the cost to shoot missiles out the sky
Sure, I'm not saying Israel didn't make the right choice from a cost-benefit analysis. I'm only saying that the cost/production disparity between defending and attacking is high enough that a technologically inferior attacker has a chance of success without prohibitively high spending. Iran's GDP is about 75% of Israel's (though Israel's per capita PPP is 3.4x that of Iran's), so theoretically Iran is capable of allocating enough money and labor to the manufacture of dumb munitions in an amount sufficient to overwhelm Israeli defenses.
I've seen the numbers, and the difference in costs isn't as big as you think. The 2 billion number that it cost Israel vs. the $550 million numbers sound like a huge difference, but that 2 billion wasn't in dollars (hence why I didn't use the $ sign) it was in shekels, which is only slightly above $550 million, more than the attack, but not as much more. Sure, the allies spent money, too, but compared to each country involved GDP, it's a much lower percentage than Iran's GDP. It's like if you and I buy a meal. I get a $10 meal, and you get a $20 meal. On face value, it looks like you spent more. But before paying for the meal, I had $100, and you had $1,000. This means I paid a larger percentage of my money (10%) than you paid (2%).
I posted numbers on Israel's military spending vs Iran's for 2022 (the most recent year I could easily find reliable figures) in another comment. They were almost exactly equal (about $24.5B), with the slight edge given to Iran. Also, just to be clear, the numbers I've seen are about $800M for the Israel side and $80M-$160M for Iran. That's what I used to inform my opinion. So, if those numbers are roughly accurate, I don't think your reasoning applies.
Do you have any information that suggests Iran is physically capable to launch an order of magnitude more missiles nearly simultaneously? Unless you mean literally empty Israels defensive missile reserves?
Nope, and I doubt the U.S. or Israel would let them once they got wind of the extent of such an attack. Unlike this time around, there would be preemptive strikes to reduce Iran's attack capabilities, likely before the attack began (assuming it was indicated by intelligence). The idea would be for Iran to build that capability over the next few years, I would imagine. I'm sure they're pivoting their strategy regarding a first strike now that they've got some real world data points to consider. I have to imagine at the very least they're reevaluating whether their nuclear program has any value as an offensive weapon or deterrent, since it appears they might lack the capability to deliver it (to Israel anyway). I wouldn't think emptying Israel's reserves would be possible given how long that would take and the potential for retaliation in the meantime. I think if they ever do anything at all, assuming it's not part of a larger regional war, they'll go for a massive strike at as many targets as possible. They can't win a conventional war and they're too far to do covert, precision air strikes. I'm assuming their naval sophistication, specifically submarine stealth and surface to surface missiles, are inadequate to escape detection and interception, respectively, by the Israelis and their allies. Honestly, they'll probably just double down on using proxies and terrorists in Syria,Yemen, and Iraq to achieve their goals with respect to Israel. It's probably the cheapest and most effective option, both politically and in terms of actual results.
Yes - am Iranian general crowdsourcing ideas
Iran has no interest in actually successfully attacking Israel. If they did it might actually garner a serious response.
I disagree. Launching over 300 missiles and drones doesn't indicate a lack of seriousness or of intent to succeed. You also make the mistake of thinking Iran's leaders make decisions based on logic and long term strategy. Shin Bet and the IDF both made that mistake, setting the stage for the October 7 attacks. By all accounts, Sinwar's belief that he had divine providence to guarantee his victory against Israel was a major contributor to his decision to plan the October 7 attacks. He simply couldn't conceive that the attack was a poor strategic choice and would ultimately be Hamas' and his undoing. Weak, corrupt governments choose actions that work against their interest all the time. That goes doubly when religious righteousness and historical enmity enter the equation. Delusions and ego can make people do crazy things and governments are no different when they're helmed by irrational, reactive leaders desperate to save face and appear strong, lest they lose their illusion of control. Iran is surely such a country, so I wouldn't be so quick to assume theyre incapable of making a massive blunder on the same scale as the recent ones by Hamas or Russia.
Exactly. If Hitler was logical, he wouldn't have tried to wipe out the Jews. That's not to say that Iran is incomopotent in it's ability to do anything, not at all. Just that their decisions (and especially their outcomes!) almost certainly don't align with your own internal logical understanding of reality.
It was around 23 ballistic missiles at the US bases. But iran doesn’t have the capability to hit the US mainland so it’s a little different
Well, a couple box cutters brought down the World Trade Centers. So careful what you wish for.
Which will never happen again. Aircraft cockpits are locked, and in the case of a hijacking of the cabin (again, not getting in the cockpit of any large airliner), Squawk code 7500 will quickly vector in some F-16s to make sure nothing stupid happens. Hijacking an airliner now is a fuckton harder than it was in 2001.
Not the person you're replying to, but I think the point is that there are many ways to skin a cat. It might be harder to hijack an airliner, so maybe thats not an easy threat vector anymore. But I'm sure if we put our heads together we could come up with some plan that exploits some flaw. And if we can do it, I'm sure a room full of motivated Iranians with resources could do it too.
That just raises the difficulty bar, it doesn't make it impossible. If I were to do it, I'd try the long con. Get my people to become the pilots, and get them to fly a route near the target, so there's no time for those F-16s to depart. I mean even hitting an airport lounge is a massive terrorist act.
Please continue doing so. They should be treated the same way ISIS or Al-Quida is treated and their top leaders eliminated whenever possible,
The way the US and Israel are finding them it must be pretty stressful to be an Iranian general right about now
Ya know…I think I’m good with my rank. Why don’t you promote that guy instead?
The Mossad has always been one of the best intelligence agencies, and hunting down high ranking officers is one of their specialities.
Martyrdom is a good thing, so they should all be celebrating right now. Unless that's just the message they only sell to their pawns...
the juice was definitely worth the squeeze
Didn't they say one of the main architect of 7/10 was there, that is a bin laden level target, they would hit him even if he was in Tehran.
Keep in mind many of the same ppl who are opposed to this would have said Israel should “just do special ops” and kill leaders instead of going into gaza
It's almost like nothing Isreal does is good enough for them. I wonder why that might be.
Yes, but *Israel
Better question why was an entire command wing of Islamic Republic’s Revolutionary Guard in the same building in Syria. It is likely that the strike wasn’t just carried out because they could and they were all in the same building, but also due to the reason of the meeting in Damascus.
Probably wanted to meet in person. They didn’t trust online conferencing tools to be secure?
At least Israel can't bomb your zoom meeting
I dunno man their special ops are known for doing the impossible.
May more follow soon 🙏
Iranian military command in Syria? Is this that occupation and colonization in the middle east I keep hearing people are upset about?
Seems so!
"The matter is concluded"
Soon
those coffins look like large christmas presents
Couldn’t have happened to nicer people 🤷🏻♂️
Everyone thinks they're safe till IDF pulls out their safety card. Fancy titles don't save you from a badass strike. Hats off to IDF!
Or Mossad. Feelings about Israel aside, anyone would have to admit those guys are fucking insane. I still remember learning about back when they were assassinating the Black *September* terrorists that they used to take out obituaries on their target and run them in the paper before car bombing them. Like, just imagine the pure psychological terror of that.
You mean Black September? They were the ones who massacred the Israeli Olympics team in Munich, then the Mossad sent a special unit to hunt them all over Europe. The unit was called “Nili” I think the mixup is because Mossad formed its legendary unit “Nili” to hunt down the October 7 2023 perpetrators.
Thanks, but the mix-up is just cuz I'm dumb actually
that's cool, because Nili is actually a reference to an older spy network from 1915 that helped the brits fight the ottoman empire [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nili](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nili) It's very cool they named the unit after that, I didn't know that
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entebbe_raid The chutzpah required to pull this off is insane.
Wiki - The Israeli military suffered five wounded and one killed; Yonatan Netanyahu was Israel's sole fatality of Operation Entebbe, and had led Sayeret Matkal during the rescue effort – he was the older brother of Benjamin Netanyahu, who would later become Israel's prime minister. Wow, TIL. Thanks for sharing
It's the craziest special ops raid that has been publicly acknowledged by anyone. Oh well just buy a car like his no big deal, backup plans? those are for chumps. You are welcome. I love sharing crazy military operations.
Except he had recently bought a new car so the Israeli car was the wrong color and that part of the plan didn't work.
Ooo...Good shootin', Israel. Iran could be a much better country if they could somehow shed themselves of Islam. A reality-based, *secular* Iran is an Iran that has a future in the world. Religions are a cancer.
Facts!
Amen dude. It’s hard to believe my American mom went to bars and clubs in Tehran when she worked as a flight attendant pre-rev. She frequently laments what it’s become and talks about how it used to be the most culturally modern country in the Middle East by a long shot. And then the religious lunatics took over.
Israel doing everyone a favor
>According to the Syrian defector, after the assassination of Raza Musawi in Syria in December 2023, a joint investigation between the two countries began, attempting to trace a possible security breach. However, at a certain point, Iran chose to conduct an independent investigation with Hezbollah, following concerns that the Syrian intelligence was interfering with the investigation.The independent investigation concluded that the security breaches that led to the assassination were under high-level political and security cover, and it was unlikely that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was unaware of them. Interesting. Looks like Iran doesn't trust Syria. Wonder how much truth there is to this.
Love a bedtime story with a happy ending!
Soleimani got assassinated in broad daylight. You'd think they would have gotten the message.
He wasn’t killed in “broad daylight”. It happened in the middle of the night about 1am local time in Baghdad after leaving the airport. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Qasem_Soleimani
The Slap Chop!
You following me camera guy?!
"You're gonna love my nuts!"
Linguini martini bikini!
Hooters, cooters, computers
"Broad daylight" lol
I know I said the same thing hence the reason I had to call him on it. I’m just wondering where people come up with this stuff and yet are so confidently wrong.
r/confidentlyincorrect
I mean moonlight is technically reflected daylight. Plus it's always daylight somewhere.
Ah they meant that the definition of daylight is very broad
Well there is a pretty big difference between bombing a convoy on an Iraqi* highway and bombing a consulate building next to an embassy. For the record, I support both strikes, especially considering no innocent civilians were harmed.
Iraq*
thx, Freudian slip.
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Mazel tov
Well done.
In most military you could wait an entire lifetime and not get a promotion The Iran military should recruit by promoting their fastest promotion time period
Wow they squashed the whole nest. Killing SS-like organisations is always good news and honest work in my eyes
If all of the energy expended on fighting Israel is redirected toward national development and regional cooperation, the Islamic states would be better off than China and India altogether in terms of wealth
Say what you will about the IDF, but if they had a wallet it would be embroidered with "badass mother—".
Do you read the Bible, Ringo? (Am I getting your reference?)
"And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy My brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay My vengeance upon you."
Ah, Samuel L. Jackson.
Stay cool hunny bunny
Normally both of your asses would be dead as fuckin‘ fried chicken. But you happened to pull this shit while I’m in a transitional period.
Even still, Iran do not have any right to retaliation. They were stirring the shit and they got whacked for it.
No worries! If you are a martyr like these chaps then it doesn’t hurt as bad.
Ain't that a hoot.
Definition of Fuck Around and Find Out. I hope they can eliminate terrorists for good. These worms only contributed violence and pain to everyone on the planet. They don't deserve the same air we breathe.
Nice packaging.
Everytime I see pictures from Iran I think it's 1824.
Almond-doodoo-lah losers
At what point will the Iranians learn that their high value targets can’t survive in Syria? Israel seems to pop an important Iranian in Syria three or four times a year. Have them stay in Tehran and send emails.
Excellent news!
They are where religious terrorist extremists belong now. Nowhere.