Al-Qaeda, Saudi Arabia and Israel

[eridani]

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/28434-focus-al-qaeda-saudi-arabia-and-israel

The behind-the-scenes Israeli-Saudi alliance has put the two governments – uncomfortably at times – on the side of Sunni jihadists battling Shiite influence in Syria, Lebanon and even Iraq. On Jan. 18, 2015, for instance, Israel attacked Lebanese-Iranian advisers assisting Assad’s government in Syria, killing several members of Hezbollah and an Iranian general. These military advisors were engaged in operations against al-Qaeda’s Nusra Front.

Meanwhile, Israel has refrained from attacking Nusra Front militants who have seized Syrian territory near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. One source familiar with U.S. intelligence information on Syria told me that Israel has a “non-aggression pact” with these Nusra forces.

Israel’s odd-couple alliances with Sunni interests have evolved over the past several years, as Israel and Saudi Arabia emerged as strange bedfellows in the geopolitical struggle against Shiite-ruled Iran and its allies in Iraq, Syria and southern Lebanon. In Syria, for instance, senior Israelis have made clear they would prefer Sunni extremists to prevail in the civil war rather than Assad, who is an Alawite, a branch of Shiite Islam.

In September 2013, Israel’s Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren, then a close adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told the Jerusalem Post that Israel favored the Sunni extremists over Assad.

“The greatest danger to Israel is by the strategic arc that extends from Tehran, to Damascus to Beirut. And we saw the Assad regime as the keystone in that arc,” Oren told the Jerusalem Post in an interview. “We always wanted Bashar Assad to go, we always preferred the bad guys who weren’t backed by Iran to the bad guys who were backed by Iran.” He said this was the case even if the “bad guys” were affiliated with al-Qaeda.

And, in June 2014, speaking as a former ambassador at an Aspen Institute conference, Oren expanded on his position, saying Israel would even prefer a victory by the brutal Islamic State over continuation of the Iranian-backed Assad in Syria. “From Israel’s perspective, if there’s got to be an evil that’s got to prevail, let the Sunni evil prevail,” Oren said.

[delrem]

1. Actually, promoting a war between Islamic sects, then sitting back to watch.

The most basic technique that there is.

[Waiting For Everyman]

2. That is a very interesting article.

It certainly explains a lot.

[Douglas Carpenter]

3. it gets complicated perhaps more so than this article suggest. But I think this article is more

right than wrong - It is pretty much correct, I think.

[libdem4life]

4. The enemy of my enemy is my friend..until they turn into my enemy..whereas I'll find another friend

who might have been my former enemy, but no matter. Just tell us where to send arms this week.

Just in case...

[eridani]

5. Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia. We have never been at war with Eurasia. n/t

[libdem4life]

7. We don't do "war" ... since the Last Great War ... we now "intervene" and "change regimes"

You haven't read about Obama "pondering" about arms to Ukraine while Merkel and Hollande hurried over to work on a diplomatic arrangement, hopefully to keep the US out of Europe's business? Or the Balkans?

No, we don't do war anymore...just side with our pick that, in this case, has already created Regime Change. Some people regard foreign arms, foreign troops, foreign bases and other continents (North America) taking political sides to be a form of war. Still, I never mentioned war.

http://academic.evergreen.edu/g/grossmaz/interventions.html

[kelliekat44]

6. Ironically, i just mentioned this alliance to some friends tonight and they though I was crazy.

Israel is in an alliance with the majority perps of 9/11. Cue the conspiracy theories about 9/11...