Following the U.S.-led strikes in Syria after the chemical weapons attack in Douma that killed dozens of civilians, tensions continue to rise. However, a potential military confrontation isn’t so much on the horizon between the U.S. and Russia, as it is between Israel and Iran.
A Wall Street Journal report on Thursday said that for Israel, “The Iranian threat now is next door.”
Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., told the Washington Examiner editorial board he believes the conflict in Syria has potential to spill over into other parts of the Middle East, taking shape as an open military conflict that involves Israel and Iran.
“If Joe Donnelly retains his seat in Indiana, Illinois is not going to collapse. If Syria continues in the direction it’s going with civil war and hundreds of thousands of people dying, Russia engagement, and Iran through Hezbollah engaging in ways that will cause war, there will be nations collapsing. That will be devastating to our national interests,” Gardner explained. “I simply believe we can’t stand idly by while 500,000 people get wiped out, and our ally Israel is on the verge of war with Iran.”
He added that if Israel and Iran descended into war, “Israel could very much handle this in ways with our support.”
Gardner went into some detail about his experience visiting Israel, specifically when traveling to a lookout in the Golan Heights.
“We could hear mortars exploding in the background, and they were showing us where Iran had bases in the face of international agreement. Not just any international agreement, the agreement must’ve been agreed to in the last [few] months or so,” Gardner said. “And they identified the areas in Lebanon where they have precision guided munitions embedded in schools and mosques and residential areas.
He continued. “And the Iranian influence that’s funding those, paying for them, the Iranian munitions factory in Lebanon that’s building these precision guided munitions. When Israel is faced with that choice, if something sparks, you’re going to have Israel going into civilian areas doing things that the world hasn’t seen for a long time.”
