In an interview with Bret Stephens published in the New York Times on January 11, the outgoing IDF chief-of-staff Gadi Eisenkot stated bluntly that Israel had struck “thousands” of Iranian targets in Syria in recent years. The same day, Benjamin Netanyahu made a similar on-the-record statement at cabinet meeting. These admissions mark a break from Jerusalem’s longstanding reluctance to claim responsibility for airstrikes it has carried out in the midst of the Syrian civil war—a policy that dates back even earlier, to such events as the destruction of a Syrian nuclear reactor in 2007. Eyal Zisser explains the rationale behind breaking with this policy of “strategic ambiguity”:
More than anything, a policy of silence helps keep the enemy in the dark about how exposed and vulnerable it is to Israeli operational and intelligence-gathering capabilities. Silence also . . . allows [Syria and Iran] to save face—as any direct Israeli claims of responsibility would force them into a corner and compel them to retaliate. [Nonetheless], there was never much ambiguity in the true sense of the word. . . . [T]he people on the other side of the border certainly have no doubts about what is going on. Even without official claims of responsibility, our neighbors never thought these attacks were the work of anyone else. A long line of defense ministers and generals have a history of intimating—and sometimes stating outright—that Israel has been responsible.
It is ridiculous, therefore, to argue, [as some have done], that the recent claims of responsibility in Israel specifically prodded the Iranians to escalate their own response against Israel [as in a barrage of missiles aimed at the Golan Heights last week]. After all, in Tehran and Damascus alike, policy isn’t determined by headlines in Israel, [but ultimately by] the reality on the ground.
And on the ground, Israel has indeed managed to delay and even block Tehran’s efforts to establish a military foothold in Syria. As this is a paramount Iranian strategic interest, Tehran is determined to change the rules of the game, especially now that the war in Syria is almost over and Israeli-Russian relations aren’t as warm as they used to be. The time has come to dispense with ambiguity, which never really existed in the first place, and replace it with clear declarations that highlight Israel’s red lines vis-à-vis Tehran.
Read more on Israel Hayom: http://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/lets-stop-playing-pretend/