Major General Yair Golan, former deputy chief of staff in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) says Israel would need help from the U.S. military in a future military confrontation with Iran. Speaking before the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Golan said, “We live in a world where we cannot operate alone not just because we have no expeditionary forces in Israel.” Golan added, “And while we can achieve decisive victory over Hezbollah… and while we can defeat any Shia militia in Syria … we cannot fight Iran alone.”
Golan stated with assured surety that Israel could decisively defeat jihadist groups operating in the Middle East region.
Israel has expressed their displeasure with a peace deal in Syria that allows Iran and Hezbollah to maintain a military presence and political influence in a now-weakened Syria. Israel fears it will create a foothold in northern Syria for Hezbollah to launch strikes on Israel in a future military conflict.
The Israeli Air Force launched a surgical strike deep inside of Syria this past week.
Former Israeli Intelligence Chief, Amos Yadlin, wrote in the New York Times about the recent air strikes, stating, “The second message is political. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already notified Moscow and Washington that the agreement they reached in July, which reportedly stipulated that Hezbollah and other Iranian-backed forces must keep 10 to 20 kilometers away from Israel’s northern border, is unacceptable.”
Israel fully intends to push Iran-backed groups further away from Israeli borders if world powers, such as the United States, and Russia cannot accomplish this diplomatically. Yadlin stated, “The third message has to do with credibility. In a world where threats are cheap and plentiful — recall President Trump’s recent promise of ‘fire and fury’ against North Korea — it is much more meaningful when a nation delivers on tough rhetoric.”
Golan’s speech at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy came hours after Israel’s air strike on Syria.
It is unclear how imminent a direct military confrontation between Israel and Iran is. However, Golan emphasized during a future war with Iran, Israel would need help from the U.S. due to Iran being a formidable force that can inflict a heavy loss of life.
Golan included in his remarks about Iran, “So all right, they could affect us, we could affect them. But it’s all about attrition… If you want to gain something which is deeper, we cannot do it alone. And this is a fact of life.”
[Featured Image by Carolyn Kaster/AP Images]
