by Stephen Lendman

It's unannounced. It's no secret. Israel is heavily involved. It's been so all along. It wants Assad ousted.

It bombs Syrian targets at its discretion. It supplies weapons to Islamic State terrorists and other extremist Takfiri fighters.

It treats their wounded in Israeli hospitals. It supplies other support overtly and covertly.

On Tuesday, Israel confirmed it shot down a Syrian Sukhoi 24 fighter jet aircraft. It used a surface-to-air missile against it.

It said it "infiltrated into Israeli airspace." It's unclear if Israel's claim is true. Crew members ejected.

They landed safely in Syrian territory. Reports indicate aircraft remains fell into Mediterranean Sea waters.

Syria was bombing areas around Quneitra. It's near Israeli-controlled Golan.

Damascus authorities said Israel committed an act of aggression. Syrian state television quoted a military source.

He said downing its aircraft coincides with US-led airstrikes. It's part of Israel's "support for the terrorist (Islamic State) and Nusra Front."

It constituted a flagrant violation of Security Council Resolution 2170. It calls on UN Member States "to suppress the flow of foreign fighters, financing and other support to Islamist extremist groups in Iraq and Syria…"

It "condemned in the strongest terms what it called 'gross, systematic and widespread abuse' of human rights by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) and Al-Nusra Front."

It "demanded that ISIL, Al-Nusra Front and all other entities associated with Al-Qaida cease all violence and terrorist acts, and immediately disarm and disband."

It called for "further firm Council action to deal with them."

SC members welcomed its adoption. So did Iraq and Syria.

It's a resolution for peace and stability. Obama's war sabotages them. So does Israeli complicity.

In the past, it scrambled warplanes against Syrian aircraft approaching its border. It never engaged them in combat.

Israel claimed Syria's fighter jet penetrated about half a mile into its territory. When attacked, it was flying toward Syrian territory, Israeli authorities said.

Entering its airspace was inadvertent. It constituted no threat to Israel's security. Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon lied.

On the one hand, he said Syria's aircraft entered Israeli airspace accidentally.

On the other, he claimed it did so in a "threatening way." He vowed retaliation against further type incidents.

"We will not allow any element, whether it is a terror group or a state, to threaten our security and breach our sovereignty," he said.

"We are committed first and foremost to ensure the security of Israel's citizens, and we will use all means at our disposal to do so," he added.

Israeli General Ram Shmuli (Res.) said:

"We cannot tolerate any penetration of the Israeli airspace, so we had to shoot him down even though we understand that his intention was not to attack us."

He lied claiming Israel isn't involved in Obama's war in Syria. "(W)e don’t have any intention to be involved," he said.

"We have to keep our borders safe on one side but we have to make sure we are not part of this war," he added.

Israel and Syria are bitter enemies. They've been technically at war for decades. Syria entirely refrains from provocations.

Israel initiates them at its discretion. Tuesday's incident is the latest example. It won't be the last. It's the first time Israel downed a Syrian aircraft since the mid-1980s.

Perhaps it intends greater provocations ahead. It's covertly partnered with Obama's war.

In August, it downed a Syrian drone. It inadvertently entered Israeli airspace on its side of Golan's border.

Tuesday's act was extremely provocative. Perhaps intended to draw Syria into conflict. It tried doing so several times before.

It didn't work. It won't now. Syria has no intention of confronting Israel militarily. Or engaging US-led warplanes bombing its territory.

Doing so assures greater mass slaughter and destruction than Washington plans. Whatever strategy Damascus chooses looks likely to fail.

It's between a rock and a hard place. Obama plans regime change. He wants Assad ousted.

He wants pro-Western stooge governance replacing him. His strategy combines proxy IS and other Takfiri extremist shock troops with US-led shock-and-awe air power.

It involves Gulf states, Jordanian and Israeli participation. On Tuesday, Obama's war on Syria entered a new phase. What follows remains to be seen.

Expect lots more death and destruction. Expect Syrian civilians to suffer most.

Expect US-led high crimes against peace. Expect Big Lies to conceal them.

On Saturday, an Israeli Skylark drone crashed in southern Lebanon. Israeli sources said it malfunctioned.

Lebanese media reported it entered its airspace illegally. Israel does so virtually daily. Often multiple times.

According to Hezbollah, the drone destroyed an Israeli listening device after it was discovered in Tyre.

Separately, The New York Times said US airstrikes against IS fighters in Iraq did little to "tamp down the conspiracy theories still circulating from the streets of Baghdad to the highest levels of Iraqi government that the CIA is secretly behind the same extremists that it is now attacking."

"We know about who made Daesh," said Bahaa al-Araji…(Hes) a deputy prime minister…"

He "us(ed) an Arabic shorthand for the Islamic State on Saturday at a demonstration called by the Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr to warn against the possible deployment of American ground troops."

He blamed CIA operatives for creating IS. He did so publicly.

A Saturday Baghdad demonstration drew several thousand. Dozens of parliamentary members were involved.

It's the latest in a series of incidents. They warn against deploying US combat troops in Iraq. Participants don't trust Obama for good reason.

He's a war criminal. He's a serial liar. He's a moral coward. He's waging Iraq war III. He's bombing Syria. He's waging war on humanity.

One Saturday demonstrator likely spoke for others, saying:

"The Islamic State is a clear creation of the United States, and the United States is trying to intervene again using the excuse of the Islamic State."

Another participant called it a US/Israeli creation. America uses IS and other terrorist groups strategically as both allies and enemies.

It's part of Washington's global conquest strategy. Obama's war on Iraq and Syria is the latest example.

He has lots more death and destruction in mind. Large parts of an entire region are threatened.

On Tuesday, Russia's Foreign Ministry said:

"(A)ttempts to pursue own geopolitical goals through violating the sovereignty of other states only escalates tensions and aggravates the situation even further."

"Moscow has repeatedly warned that those who initiated one-sided military scenarios bear full international legal responsibility for the consequences."

These and similar comments fall on deaf ears in Washington. Advancing America's imperium alone matters.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III".

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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