Iran, Israel and Their Red Lines Over Syria
Meir Javedanfar writes that a transfer of Syria’s chemical-weapon stockpiles to Iran may be a better option that the weapons falling into the hands of groups linked to al-Qaeda.
On Saturday [Jan. 26] the government of Iran drew a red line around Syria. “An attack on Syria is considered attack on Iran and Iran’s allies,” declared Ali Akbar Velayati, the Iranian supreme leader’s top foreign policy adviser.
One day after, Israel drew its own red line around Syria. Concerned about the possibility of Syria’s chemical weapons falling into the hands of Hezbollah, Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom declared that transfer of such weapons would be a red line for Israel.
According to reports, today Israel crossed Iran’s red line by attacking a military target inside Syria killing two people and destroying a building.
Now that Iran’s red line has been crossed, we have to ask: What is Iran’s response likely to be? Will Iran attack Israel in retaliation?
