Israel Says US Not in Syrian ‘Game’ as Russia Seen Dominant
February 12, 2018 by admin
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Israel is counting on Russian President Vladimir Putin to keep confrontations with Iran and Syria from spiraling into war as the Trump administration mostly watches from the sidelines, a senior aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
“The American part of the equation is to back us up,” but the U.S. currently “has almost no leverage on the ground,” Michael Oren, Netanyahu’s deputy minister for public diplomacy and a former ambassador to Washington, said in a phone interview Sunday. “America did not ante up in Syria. It’s not in the game.”
Oren’s criticism reflects Israel’s view that Washington isn’t doing enough to curb Iran’s military ambitions in southern Syria, which borders the Israeli-held Golan Heights, as seven years of fighting wind down and actors consolidate gains.
In the worst military confrontation in the border region since the 2006 Lebanon war, the Israeli air force struck 12 targets Saturday in Syria, including four belonging to Iran, after it said an Iranian drone penetrated Israeli airspace. A Syrian missile brought down an Israeli combat plane, the first lost to enemy fire since Israel’s first war in Lebanon in 1982.
Market Falls
Netanyahu was in direct contact with the Russians — the dominant player in Syria — after the confrontation.
“The expectations are that the Russians will stop it because I don’t think anyone is interested right now in a war,” Oren said. Asked if the Russians can keep Iran and Syria at bay, he replied, “We assume that they have that ability. We’ll see.”
Investors in Israel have grown accustomed to geopolitical shocks but Saturday’s showdown reverberated through the market, with the TA-35 stock index falling 1.3 percent Sunday to its lowest level in two months.
No Sure Bet
Relying on Russia may be Israel’s best bet, but it’s not a sure one. Over the past few years Netanyahu has made a number of visits to Russia to lay out Israel’s red lines and ask Putin to rein in Iran. Russian news media have cited Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying that Iran’s presence in the country is legitimate, and Moscow hasn’t promised to guarantee that pro-Iranian forces will leave southern Syria.
Israeli commentators noted that a Russian statement on Saturday’s clashes implicitly criticized Israel for violating Syrian sovereignty, but didn’t criticize the drone infiltration into Israel that prompted the attack.
On Sunday — more than 24 hours after the confrontation — the White House issued a statement backing Israel’s “right to defend itself from the Iranian-backed Syrian and militia forces in southern Syria” and calling on Iran and its allies to “cease provocative actions.”
Netanyahu also conferred with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Israel’s absence from Tillerson’s current Middle East tour has raised questions about how much Israel can depend on the White House, even though U.S. Vice President Mike Pence visited Israel last month.
“I think a visit to Israel by Secretary Tillerson this week, followed by strong U.S.-Israeli coordinated messaging to Russia and the EU,” could allay concerns about U.S. indifference on Syria, tweeted Dan Shapiro, who served as U.S. ambassador to Israel under President Barack Obama. Failing to stop in Israel after Saturday’s clashes would be “malpractice” by Tillerson, Shapiro said.
White House National Security Council Spokesman Michael Anton said Israel should have no doubts about the U.S. stance.
“We support Israel’s security, and the idea that we are ‘on the sidelines’ when its security is threatened is very far from the case,” Anton said. “We have a very close relationship with our Israeli national security counterparts at all levels.”
Russian concern
Russia entered the Syrian war to prop up its client, President Bashar Assad. Iran and Hezbollah also support Assad, and see the vacuum in Syria as a chance to build a sphere of influence stretching from Tehran to the Mediterranean Sea. The U.S. says it opposes Assad, but has limited its role in Syria to helping fight Islamic State.
Russia’s interest “is to reach a political and military solution in Syria and to rebuild it,” Amos Yadlin, a former chief of Israeli military intelligence, told reporters on a conference call Saturday. “A conflict in the north between Israel, Hezbollah and Iran is not in their interest.”
Yadlin, now head of Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies, doesn’t expect Israel’s salvation in Syria to come from the U.S.
“America is busy with other things,” he said.
— With assistance by Justin Sink
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Police in Westerville, Ohio, were previously sent to home where officers were killed
February 12, 2018 by admin
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CLEVELAND – Westerville, Ohio, police were previously called to the home where a man fatally shot two police officers on Sunday. Incident reports showed that the calls were made for three domestic disputes but no arrests were ever made.
Westerville officers Eric Joering, 39, and Anthony Morelli, 54, were killed shortly after noon Saturday in this normally quiet suburb while responding to a 911 hang-up call.
The suspect, 30-year-old Quentin Smith, was shot and wounded by the officers and taken to Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in critical condition Saturday, a Westerville city spokeswoman said. The hospital would not provide updates on his condition Sunday.
A series of 911 calls released by the city of Westerville provide some details about what happened Saturday at a complex of townhomes. Smith lived there with his wife, Candace, and a young daughter.
Westerville police have provided few details about what happened inside the townhome. Westerville Police Chief Joe Morbitzer said at a news conference Saturday that Joering, a 16-year veteran, and Morelli, a 30-year-veteran, were shot immediately upon entering the residence. Columbus police are investigating the shootings.
“The officers gave their lives in defense of others,” Morbitzer said during a news conference Saturday as he fought back tears. He went on to call them “true American heroes.”
Two police officers were fatally shot responding to a potential domestic situation in Ohio on Feb. 10, 2018.
After the initial hang-up call at noon, a dispatcher called the number back and reached a woman who was crying and can be heard saying, “won’t let me in.” Officers were then sent to the home. At 12:12 p.m., an officer told a dispatcher that it’s “all quiet right now,” followed by a door knock. At 12:13 p.m., after a dispatcher confirmed contact has been made, a man’s voice can be heard yelling, “We have shots fired.”
Four minutes later, someone, presumably a police officer, tells a dispatcher: “We have two officers down. Child on couch, one at gunpoint.” It’s unclear at what point Smith was shot.
Other 911 calls show that Candace Smith was hiding in bushes in front of the home, pleading for help because her daughter is still inside the home while a dispatcher calmly tells her to stay there.
“Please help,” Candace Smith repeats several times in a call at 12:14 p.m. “He shot the police officers.”
Westerville police had gone to the couple’s townhome for domestic disputes three times since September of last year. Joering and Morelli’s names aren’t listed on those calls.
WBNS images show the scene where two officers were shot in Westerville, Ohio.
On Sept. 14, police responded to a call from Candace Smith that her husband was drunk and doing something to her car. A brief narrative from the officers says, “No dispute or argument.” Candace Smith told officers they were separating, and that he left when she told him she was calling police.
“Female has his key so she is not concerned about him coming back,” the report said.
A Nov. 29 report said Candace Smith went to the Westerville police station asking about a protection order. She told officers that Quentin Smith had come home drunk earlier in the week and had “forced himself on her,” the report said. Candace Smith said she had found out that day she had been infected with a sexually transmitted disease, according to the report.
Candace Smith also told officers that her husband had threatened to kill her, their daughter and himself if she left him. She said Smith always carried a gun despite being a convicted felon. Smith was convicted in Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland, of felony burglary and misdemeanor domestic violence charges in 2009 and was sentenced to four years in prison.
Shortly after Candace Smith spoke with police at the Westerville station that day, police went to the home when Quentin Smith called to complain that his wife had locked him out of the house. They were told to stay in separate areas of the home.
On Jan. 20, officers went to the home after Quentin Smith’s mother called police to say the couple was arguing. They told police there weren’t fighting.