Sunni Muslim fighters stream into Syria from across the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia, helped by the US, the UK and Qatar. Iran and Hizballah are pushing Shiite reinforcements into the embattled country. Al Qaeda is deeply plunged in the fray. The latest DEBKA-Net-Weekly out last Friday traces the Syrian war cycle as it widens into a deadly Sunni-Shiite showdown set to outstrip the Afghan and Iraqi wars in scale and violence.
To find out more plus an exclusive forward look at this dire conflict's outcome -
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In its bluntest message yet, the Obama administration declared that Israel is on its own if it attacks Iran. Thursday, Aug. 30, Gen. Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reiterated that an Israeli attack would “delay but probably not destroy Iran’s nuclear program,” adding impatiently: “I don't want to be complicit if they [Israel] choose to do it." Sanctions were having an effect, said the general. But as he spoke the IAEA reported a 31 percent jump in Iran’s enriched uranium stock.

Tehran was forced to eat crow and backtrack on its ploy for winning international recognition for its nuclear program by showing Non-Aligned Summit leaders and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon around its nuclear sites. The tour was planned for Wednesday, Aug. 29. However, debkafile reports that Washington intervened Tuesday and “advised” NAM participants as well as Ban to turn Tehran down on its nuclear tour, which was to have included the suspected nuclear-related explosives testing lab at Parchin.

US C130 transports stand ready at Middle East air bases to fly into Syria US elite units especially trained in combat against chemical and biological weapons and tactics for securing their arsenals against their use or their fall into radical Islamic rebel fighters’ hands. Western intelligence sources reported Thursday, Aug. 23 that those units are on standby at bases in Israel and Jordan. debkafile: Direct American military involvement in the Syrian conflict has effectively begun before action against Iran, although this may follow.

Some Western intelligence circles suggest that Israel may choose to disable Iran’s nuclear program by eliminating its leaders.

The White House this week scrambled to reconnect with Jerusalem after the Obama administration realized Israel was seriously contemplating a military operation against Iran’s nuclear program this fall - notwithstanding the heavy opposition guns aimed at it at home and from Washington. As Israel embarked on home front defense measures, Obama asked what it would take to hold Israel back before the Nov. 6 US presidential election. The answer: A solemn, binding US guarantee to strike Iran next spring - plus weapons upgrades.

Four separate groups are fighting the Netanyahu government to stop an attack on and if possible to throw it out of office. One is headquartered at the US embassy in Tel Aviv, two others are led by political opposition groups and a fourth is spearheaded by social protest activists ...

The White House is setting up a meeting between US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at the September opening of the next UN General Assembly, at which Netanyahu plans to call for Iran’s expulsion, debkafile reports. Sources close to Obama admit that the US-Israeli dialogue on Iran has petered out and this is hurting the president’s campaign for reelection. Israeli ambassador Michael Oren said Israel would be willing to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities - even for a few years’ delay.

US Gen. Martin Dempsey said Tuesday, Aug. 14 Israel could “delay but not destroy Iran’s nuclear capabilities.” debkafile: Israel's leaders and military chiefs don’t pretended otherwise, because even a US strike could no longer destroy those capacities. Today, an Israeli attack could delay Iran for a couple of years; an American strike, for 4-5 years. 2007 was the last moment for totaling the program. But the longer action is held off now the shorter the delay achievable in Iran’s bomb-building time table.

Barack Obama’s quarrel with Binyamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak is becoming more intense and personal the closer Israel comes to attacking Iran’s nuclear program before the US Nov. 6 vote.  Read the coming DEBKA-Net-Weekly out next Friday, and find out how that feud fires up certain opposition political circles at home and fuels their virulent campaign to tie the Netanyahu government’s hands and so push it out of office.
And don’t miss our insights into the Muslim Brotherhood’s coup against the Egyptian army and the Syrian conflict.

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Iran will have 250 kilograms of 20-percent grade uranium, enough to build its first nuclear bomb, in six weeks, debkafile’s military and intelligence sources report. That deadline prompted Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s comment Sunday, Aug. 12: “All threats against the home front are dwarfed by one – Iran must not be allowed to have nuclear arms!”  He was followed 8 hours later by the Muslim Brotherhood coup in Cairo - and a tough security dilemma born of his long foot-dragging on Iran.

Tehran is sticking to its guns and racing forward toward a nuclear weapon in the face of extreme economic hardship. As Ahmadinejad falls out of favor, former president Rafsanjani begins a comeback.

In a radio interview Thursday, Aug. 9, Defense Minister Ehud Barak stoutly refuted reported disagreements between the US and Israel, and himself and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu over a military attack on Iran’s nuclear program. Both see eye to eye on the matter, he said, as do US and Israeli intelligence evaluations.  “A nuclear Iran is taking shape before our eyes” Barak stressed, and new US intelligence findings make a decision on a possible attack “extremely urgent."

An Iran war has become inevitable since international diplomacy gave Iran the time and freedom to accelerate its progress towards a nuclear bomb. While rapidly fortifying its nuclear facilities against bombardment, Tehran is also raising the level of uranium enrichment, developing dirty bombs and sending terrorists to blow up Israelis abroad. Sanctions have failed to force Iran to give up its drive for a nuclear weapon or the development of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles. These dangerous developments are generating the current an eve-of-war climate.

Iran’s fast-advancing mega-fortification for its nuclear sites gives Israel and its current military capabilities no more than three months for a disruptive - not destructrive - attack on its nuclear program with conventional weapons. A delay will make a tactical nuclear strike the only feasible option. That is the ...

The US army is completed its planning for an Israeli war on Iran in October at the latest. Its tasks will be to destroy Iranian missiles geared for reprisals against US military sites and Israel, defend Saudi oil and keep the Strait of Hormuz open to oil traffic.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called a “last war council” of top military chiefs Friday, July 27, ordered Iran's biggest fortification program ever to protect its nuclear sites.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Tuesday, July 31, that he hasn’t yet reached a decision on attacking Iran, but added: “The ayatollahs have inscribed Israel’s destruction on their banner.” He stressed his personal commitment “not to permit Israel to come under Iranian atomic threat.”
Netanyahu spoke shortly before US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said upon landing in Israel that he is not going to discuss potential attack plans with Israeli leaders – only “various contingencies and how we would respond.”

US, Israeli, Saudi and Iranian war preparations are on fast forward, as the coming issue of DEBKA-Net-Weekly discloses in detail next Friday. All their leaders face agonizing decisions in the weeks ahead. US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is on a tour of inspection to make sure US Middle East military forces are ready for an operation against Iran. Its timeline is now pared down to weeks because Iran's ongoing mega-fortifications threaten to make its nuclear facilities indestructible - even by American super-weapons.
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President Barack Obama can’t be sure the Netanyahu government won’t spring on him a surprise attack on Iran’s nuclear sites earlier than the date under discussion between them. October is now widely cited. debkafile: To forestall Israel, the CIA has spread a broad undercover network of agents across the country to pick up any clue of the IDF switching to operational mode for a strike on Iran. The US agency also leaked to AP a detailed article defaming Israel as its “No.1 counterintelligence threat” in the Middle East.