Breaking - US Arming Hezbollah With State-Of-The-Art Missiles

 

The U.S. delivered part of an $8.6 million military aid package to Lebanon today including laser-guided artillery shells and Hellfire air-to-surface missiles. This amounts to a doubling of military aid to Lebanon.

The story from the Obama Administration is that these munitions are to help Lebanon's military defend the country’s eastern border from what the State Department referred to as "violent extremists."

Just one thing...speaking of violent extremists, there's a peculiar thing about Lebanon's Army. Like the rest of Lebanon's military, it is now  totally integrated with Hezbollah. And it has been for years.

The armaments the Obama Administration is giving Lebanon will thus be freely available to  Hezbollah and used against Israel when the time comes.That's why the Israelis made a formal announcement  that if they were attacked from Lebanon again, unlike the last time they would consider it an attack on Israel by Lebanon, not just Hezbollah.

And it even gets worse than that.

Those extremists the Obama Administration  is blathering about?A reasonable person might think that would include Jaish al-Fatah, the Army of Conquest. These are the so-called  'moderates' funded, armed and trained by President Obama in conjunction with Turkey, Qatar and the Saudis. Jaish al-Fatah is primarily composed of 'moderates' like Ahrar ash-Sham, an officially designated terrorist group and  the al-Qaeda offshoot al-Nusrah.And they're right on Lebanon's border in Idlib province.

 

These are the same wonderful folks the Obama administration is complaining about Vladimir Putin conducting air strikes on:

“Greater than 90 percent of the strikes that we’ve seen them take to date have not been against ISIL or al Qaeda-affiliated terrorists,” said State Department spokesman John Kirby.

“They’ve been largely against opposition groups that want a better future for Syria and don’t want to see the Assad regime stay in power.
Al-Nusrah isn't affiliated with al-Qaedah? That's certainly not what they say. Read up on al-Nusrah and Ahrar ash-Sham. You'll quickly find out what kind of future these hard line Islamists want for Syria, and their differences with ISIS could basically be summed up by the phrase 'Who's going to be king of the mountain ?'

And by the way, this is exactly how ISIS was created...out of the Syrian Free Army funded, trained and armed by the Obama Administration, Turkey and Qatar.

What we have here is material aid to terrorism, something that is clearly against U.S. law except when President Obama does it. Even more, we're aiding both sides in this conflict who, whatever their differences hate us and have plenty of American blood on their hands.Our president's actions have already ensured that we lose out either way.

At least Russia's Vladimir Putin seems to know whose side he's on. And he seems to be actually taking on those 'Sunni extremists' and 'al-Qada affiliated terrorists' John Kirby was talking about.

As for me, I have to confess something. When my tax dollars are going to a government that funds groups that would happily murder me and my family let alone my friends in Israel, it is definitely food for thought.

Certainly I never want to hear this president or any of his minions talk about how they 'have Israel's back' when they're arming. training and funding genocidal terrorists.

Israel's Syria Strike Wipes Out Russian Weapons Designed To Prevent US 'No Fly' Zone

The Israeli Air Force conducted a decisive raid over the weekend on Syrian arms stocks warehoused near Damascus and at an airfield in the Dimas area, northwest of the Syrian capital and near the Lebanese border.

The arms targeted were newly-arrived Russian anti-air weaponry, radar and hardware, including advanced, Russian-made S-300 missiles.

Israel's main strategic interest was the planned delivery of these item to Hezbollah in Lebanon, but it also affected an interesting back and forth between Russia and the Obama Administration.

Israel had a tacit agreement with Russia's Vladimir Putin that he would avoid introducing this kind of weaponry into the region, and Israel would avoid strikes on Assad's forces. That fell apart just as the last one did because of the actions of the Obama Administration.


The Obama Administration has decided to establish a 'no fly' zone in Syria to aid the Islamist rebels in their war against Bashir Assad.

Contrary to what's in the linked article, the deal has already been drafted with Turkey according to my sources. The draft agreement allows American warplanes to take off from the U.S. leased Turkish airbase of Incirlik for operations against Syrian planes, assault helicopters or drones entering the no-fly zone. Formerly, only non-combat recon aircraft like unarmed drones were allowed to use Incirlik to fly over Syria. The Turks originally wanted the no-fly zone extended to Aleppo, where the Syrian Army is on the verge of defeating the rebels. Instead, the U.S. insisted on a much narrower area, between one half and three quarters of a mile.That makes little strategic sense unless the primary object is to provide a safe haven for the Islamist rebels close to the Turkish border to train,rearm and regroup.

The Russians have repeatedly told the Obama Administration that any attempt to establish a no-fly zone would be regarded as a direct intervention against their ally Assad and would lead to use of the Russian military to defend the Assad regime in response.When Putin found out about the draft agreement between Turkey and the U.S., he told Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman that all bets were off and responded immediately with a huge Russian shipment of anti-air missiles, radar systems and computer hardware.

The Israelis were left with no choice but to take them out...which also leaves Putin little choice but to bring in the Russian military directly when and if U.S. planes start intervening on behalf of Syria's Islamist rebels.

Russia reacted promptly to the Israeli raid with a formal protest to the UN demanding “that such attacks should not happen again… Moscow is deeply worried by this dangerous development, the circumstances of which demand an explanation.”

Stay tuned.

WSJ: Secret UN Report ID's Iran as Source of Hamas Weapons

 

In an editorial published Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal commented on the findings of a report recently issued by a United Nations committee regarding the illegal Iranian arms shipment found on the Klos C, a ship that Israel intercepted in March. The weapons were found hidden under bags of cement.

The editorial (Google search  terms) ties the findings to the recent escalation of hostilities between the Iranian-sponsored terror groups in Gaza and Israel.

Tehran denies any role in the shipment. But a recent classified report from the U.N. Security Council's Sanctions Committee effectively confirms it, and we've seen the pertinent portions. The panel found that Bandar Abbas, a southern Iranian port, "is established as the origin of the shipment of 100 containers of cement, including the 20 containing weapons and ammunition." ...

The panel concluded: "The shipment of arms and related material found aboard the Klos C is a violation of Iran's obligations under paragraph 5 of resolution 1747," referring to an embargo on Iranian arms transfers imposed by the Security Council in 2007. The panel didn't weigh in on the ultimate intended recipient of the shipment, yet previous such shipments have made their way to Gaza.

1747 is the the third of six Security Council resolutions passed overwhelmingly with regard to Iran's nuclear weapons program.

With less than two weeks to go before the deadline for a nuclear deal between the P5+1 nations and Iran, the UN report serves as an important reminder of the multiple threats Iran poses to the region.

In Iran is *Really* Good at Evading Sanctions, which appeared in the September 2013 issue of The Tower Magazine, Emanuele Ottolenghi warned, "If the world wants to avoid a dystopia in which the Bashar Assads of today and those of tomorrow enjoy perfect immunity to use chemical weapons against civilian populations as long as a nuclear-armed Tehran is on their side, figuring out how to dramatically and quickly ratchet up sanctions, before its too late, should be a major strategic imperative." The warning is especially apt in light of this latest revelation of Iran evading sanctions.

(By The Tower staff writers- reprinted by permission)

House Passes Amendment To Limit US Military Involvement In Syria

And it was surprisingly bi-partisan and almost unanimous:

With little argument, the House of Representatives approved measures Wednesday that would prevent the Obama administration from spending money on U.S. military operations in Syria without consulting Congress and would forbid funding U.S. military or paramilitary operations in Egypt.

The measures, part of the House’s $598 billion defense bill, were supposed to be contentious issues exposing bipartisan rifts between interventionists who want to give Obama a free hand in dealing with the civil war in Syria and unrest in Egypt and war-weary lawmakers concerned that U.S. troops will be dragged into more military actions.

But both amendments were approved on voice votes with only scant dissent.

On Syria, lawmakers passed an amendment by Rep. Trey Radel, R-Fla., that would forbid any military action in Syria if it violates the War Powers Resolution – which requires the president to consult Congress before committing U.S. forces to battle or placing them in situations where hostilities are imminent.

This is a major slap in the face for President Obama , who was gearing up to repeat in Syria the same idiocy he put into action in Libya.

This amendment doesn't affect throwing our tax dollars away in the form of weapons for the president's al-Qaeda and Muslim Brotherhood allies in Syria, but it would definitely setting up a no-fly zone or using U.S. ships to launch attacks on sites in Syria or using U.S. troops in Jordan in any way to help the rebels.

And conservative Republicans and Left-leaning progressive Dems are on the same side in this one.

“I believe without a shadow of a doubt this is one of the most insane policies that borders on madness – the United States to give funding, training and arms most likely to al Qaida in Syria doesn’t make any sense,” said Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. “This is absolute madness.”

Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., agreed, calling the situation in Syria “chaotic.”

“Distinguishing between the good rebels and the bad rebels is impossible,” Welch said on the House floor. “The notion that we can have a micromanaged approach and pick the good guys, and arm them, and not have any reasonable . . . expectation that the arms will get into bad hands I think is naive.”

A similar amendment by Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky that would prohibit the U.S. from using money authorized in the defense bill to fund military operations in Egypt or to fund individuals, groups or organizations also passed by voice vote.

It's a pity the House didn't have it's act together to do this on Libya, but perhaps they finally learned something about this president when it comes to his foreign policy ineptness.

US Military Chief General Dempsey's Latest Brilliant Idea - 'Let's Arm And Train Hezbollah!"

 

General Martin Dempsey is President Obama's Head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. And in spite of a decent record as a  combat commander  in Iraq, it's pretty obvious that he fits in perfectly with this president and his policy goals.

Aside from being the point man in calling the Ft. Hood jihadi killings a 'workplace accident',  imposing ridiculous rules of engagement on our troops under fire and preventing them from being taught about the nature of Islamist fascism, he's come up with another brainstorm, undoubtedly via SecDef Chuck Hagel - wouldn't it be just splendid to arm and train the Lebanese military?

The top US military officer said on Wednesday he has recommended bolstering Lebanese forces grappling with the fallout from Syria's civil war by sending in military trainers and accelerating arms sales.

He was responding to a question at the news conference about whether Lebanon had asked for military help and whether the US military might go into that country.

"When you say would we send the United States Army or the United States military into Lebanon, I'm talking about teams of trainers, and I'm talking about accelerating foreign military sales for equipment for them," Dempsey said in response.

There's absolutely no sense in our providing shiny new equipment and training on how to use it to any Arab army...but it's particularly clueless when it comes to Lebanon.

You see, there's a peculiarity about Lebanon's Army. It's totally integrated with Hezbollah. And it has been for years.

Even Lebanon's current president, General Michel Suleiman is a  Hezbollah ally who as the  former Lebanese C in C refused to allow the Lebanese Army to fight against Hezbollah even when Hezbollah was killing Lebanese civilians during a series of attacks against the March 14 Lebanese government in May of 2008.

He has famously said on a number of occasions that 'Hezbollah is Lebanon'. That's why the Israelis made a formal announcement  that if they were attacked from Lebanon again, unlike the last time they would consider it an attack on Israel by Lebanon, not just Hezbollah.

This is whom General Dempsey (and former Sec Sate Hillary Clinton before him)  want to arm and 'bolster'. To assume that US military aid earmarked for the Lebanese forces won't somehow end up being used by Hezbollah is the sort of fantasy beyond even what you'd expect from today's White House.

Among other things, it presents the ludicrous picture of our arming the Muslim Brotherhood and  al-Qaeda allied  Syrian rebels with one hand and Hezbollah with the other. And of course, having any personnel we have there targeted by both sides. Remember what happened in Beirut at the hands of Hezbollah the last time we sent troops there?

Of course, it also provides Israel's enemies with armaments and support as well, which might be the whole point anyway.

Beyond ludicrous.

Russians To Ship Assad Mig Jet Fighters

The Russians are announcing that they plan to supply the Assad regime with 10 Mig 29 fighter planes.

If they're delivered, you can also assume some Russian pilots will go with them, since the Syrians are, shall we say, perhaps not a good match for this type of relatively sophisticated equipment:

On Friday, journalist Ali Branstien reported in Hebrew daily Ma'ariv that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu hinted in his meeting earlier this month with Russian President Vladimir Putin that Israel will prevent the Assad regime of making the S-300 missiles operational.

The paper reported the Russians were "shocked" from the prime minister's "boldness." Sources that were briefed on the meeting told Ma'ariv that Putin had "understood exactly what Netanyahu meant," and that "it came as no surprise to Moscow" when National Security Adviser Yaakov Amidror warned European diplomats Israel might take such an action

The idea here is obviously to prevent any implementation of a no fly zone by President Obama, and as a side benefit to try and prevent any further attacks by Israel on weapons transfers from Syria to Hezbollah.

I actually think the Russians might end up thinking twice about this. They've had their pilots come up against the IDF before, in 1973, in 1982 and in 2001 and the results were pretty bad for them each time.

Syria Announces It Has Received First Shipment Of Advanced S-300 Missiles From Russia

The Syrian regime announced today that  they have received the first shipment of advanced S-300 missiles from Russia:

Syrian dictator President Bashar Assad told Lebanese network Al Manar, the voice of U.S.-designated Islamic terror group Hezbollah, that he is in possession of the first shipment of the missiles and will receive the rest "soon." The interview was reported by Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar.

Assad also warned Israel to stay away from the missiles, which would make it more difficult for Israel to strike targets inside Syria. Israel Defense Forces have launched airstrikes against convoys of weapons headed for southern Lebanon, the base of arch enemy Hezbollah that is on Israel's northern border.

You might remember that the Israelis had carefully crafted an agreement with Russia's Putin not to ship the S-300s to Syria in exchange for Israel agreeing to not to target Assad's forces. That deal blew up when the EU unexpectedly announced they were removing sanctions on sending arms to the al-Qaeda and Muslim Brotherhood rebels May 28th. Hours later, Putin abruptly announced the shipment.

Al-Manar and al-Akbar are Hezbollah mouth pieces, so I personally doubt that the S-300s are in Assad's hands yet, but they're almost certainly en route.

The Israelis regard this as a game changer and I guarantee that they will act accordingly. Among other things, the S-300s have the range to take out commercial airliners landing in Israel.

The peace conference, scheduled for June 15th is another point of contention. Assad agreed to attend provided the goal was a political solution that would allow him to remain in power.The Rebels refused to even attend unless Assad's ouster was guaranteed as a pre-condition.

The Russians had actually put significant work in trying to get the conference to work, and felt that President Obama was working with them to try and craft a diplomatic solution. Putin was outraged at what he saw as Obama's duplicity when he found out about the US deployment of 1,800 US Marines off the USS Kearsage two weeks ago to the Syria-Jordan border and the
president asking the Joint Chiefs of Staff to plan out a no fly zone patrolled by US aircraft over Syria while he was supposedly working with Putin on a peaceful solution.

The war is not going at all well for the Islamist rebels, but President Obama is apparently determined to put yet another Islamist regime in power. In fact, that's pretty much what Benghazi was all about.

The IDF will probably take out the S-300s when they arrive, and I expect to see America and the EU shipping weapons to the Islamist and al-Qaeda rebels and even getting directly involved at some point.

Syria: EU Ends Arms Embargo On Rebels, Russia To Ship S-300s To Assad In Response

 

The Syrian civil war is about to heat up some more  as the outside players get involved.

According to my sources, the Israelis had just about convinced Vladimir Putin to delay shipment of Russia's sophisticated S-300 anti-air missile systems to the Assad regime in Syria when the EU surprised the Russians this morning with an announcement that they were ending a previous arms embargo on the al-Qaeda and Muslim Brotherhood rebels and extending economic sanctions on Syrian leader Basher Assad's government.

Within hours, the Russians announced they were shipping the S-300s to Basher Assad.

To show you how feckless and unthought out  this was, here's a sample of Brit rhetoric from al-Guardian:


Downing Street has refused to say whether MPs will be given the chance to vote on any decision to send arms to Syria following the EU's decision to lift its arms embargo, the Guardian's Andrew Sparrow reports:

The prime minister's spokesman stressed that the government had not taken a decision to arm the Syrian opposition in the light of the EU decision, and indicated that Downing Street hoped that the threat of arms being supplied would persuade the Syrian government to enter negotiations.

Asked whether Britain would arm the rebels, the spokesman said: "The prime minister's view is that it is right that we have the flexibility to respond if [Bashar al-Assad's] regime refused to negotiate. What we are doing is sending a signal, loud and clear, to the regime."
Syrian peace talks are planned for Geneva next month and the spokesman indicated that Britain wanted the Syrian government to participate.

"What we need is a transitional regime [for Syria] that is supported by both sides, including the [opposition] Syrian National Coalition," said the spokesman. As part of that process, Assad would have to go.

As for France, French foreign ministry spokesman Philippe Lalliot said France could potentially send arms to the opposition before the embargo expires on Aug. 1, but said 'it had no immediate plans to do so.'

So...they're not actually shipping arms to the Syrian rebels, but they've announced they might..and that somehow is going to facilitate peace talks, which the rebels are against anyway! You simply couldn't be more clueless.

Meanwhile, Putin isn't waffling. He's responding to this lukewarm nonsense as a red line and is shipping the Syrian regime the tools they'll need to prevent America, the UK or anyone else from establishing a no fly zone like they did in Libya.

As for the Israelis, they're not at all happy at the likes of the EU wrecking what was some carefully worked out diplomacy on their part. Unlike the David Camerons,John McCains and other useful idiots, they understand that the rebels are dominated by al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood and are no friends to the West.

But on the other hand, they don;t want the Syrians (and by extension, Hezbollah) getting the S-300s. So they issued a clear warning to Putin that if the S-300s are shipped top Syria, they're going to take action. And they're definitely not kidding.

The last time Putin shipped S-300s into the Middle East, the Russian Ship Arctic Sea was mysteriously hijacked en route to Iran, the S-300s were removed and disappeared and it was Israel's Mossad who told the Russians where they could find their ship, which had been boarded by a mysterious group of men posing as narcotics agents off the coast of Sweden some days earlier.

I'd be very surprised if the Mossad wasn't likewise watching any current shipment of S-300s like hawks.

Clueless Sen. John McCain Meets With Syrian Jihadis

 

I've never questioned Senator John McCain's personal coverage, but for quite some time I've questioned his common sense.

Senator McCain crossed over into Syria from the Turkish border today to meet with General Salem Idris, the leader of Syria's Supreme Military Council of the Free Syrian Army (SMC).

The meeting likely took place in the area around Azaz, Syria, which is just south of the Turkish border crossing at Kilis and the only area in the vicinity partially under the control of the Free Syrian Army (FSA).

As I've revealed before,the Free Syrian Army and Al Nusrah, the two main armed factions of the Syrian resistance are jihadist groups run by the Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaeda. Al-Nusrah in particular is nothing more than al-Qaeda's franchise in Syraia, and is actually an officially designated terrorist group by our State Department.The SMC has very little to do with the actual leadership of the Free Syrian Army and General Idris is just a figurehead  who has no real power, because almost all of the other members of the council are leaders of radical Islamist rebel groups whose only use for the SMC and General Idris to use them as a front to acquire weapons from the west and western intervention to take out Assad.

I wonder if Senator McCain has the least clue about that?

“What we want from the U.S. government is to take the decision to support the Syrian revolution with weapons and ammunition, anti-tank missiles and anti-aircraft weapons,” Idris said. “Of course we want a no-fly zone and we ask for strategic strikes against Hezbollah both inside Lebanon and inside Syria.”

Of course they do. And General Idris and his friends will tell gullible ferenghis like McCain anything he wants to hear to get it.

Remember when Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood were telling President Obama about how they were going to have a democratic regime that would respect religious freedoms for non-Muslims and human rights?

That pledge evaporated as soon as Mubarak was ousted with President Obama's assistance and the Brotherhood had control of the government.

Once we start sending the Syrian rebels arms, there is absolutely no way we can 'vet' who's getting them. General Idris and his front group have few if any boots on the ground and will have to send those arms to the jihadis in the Free Syrian Army and al-Nusrah. Rest assured that we will be arming jihadists who are the enemies of America and the West.

As for Senator McCain...I think it's time he retired.

Rand Paul: Senate Is Arming Al-Qaeda And Voting To Enter The War in Syria

 

The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee has voted to send a bill to the floor for a vote that authorizes “critical support to the Syrian opposition through provision of military assistance, training, and additional humanitarian support.”

The bill's official title is the Syria Transition Support Act, and its  two co-authors were Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Senator Bob Corker (R-TN). Aside from providing weaponry and armaments, the bill includes:


• “Creation of a $250 million transition fund each year through FY2015 drawn from funds otherwise appropriated for regional transition support”;

• “Sanctions on arms and oil sales to Assad: Targeting any person that the President of the United States determines has knowingly participated in or facilitated a transaction related to the sale or transfer of military equipment, arms, petroleum, or petroleum products to the Assad regime.”; and

• “Amendment to the Syria Accountability Act: To allow for sanctions removal once a transitional government is in place and certain terrorism and WMD criteria have been met.”

That last one is important, and we'll return to it later.

The bill easily got through committee  15-3, and the only Senator to offer meaningful opposition was Senator Rand Paul ( R-KY).

“This is an important moment. You will be funding, today, the allies of al Qaeda,” Paul said.

 He's 100% correct.

The biggest and most prominent armed factions in the Syrian resistance are outright al-Qaeda affiliates like   Jabhat al-Nusra and the Syrian Free Army, which is a mixture of Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaeda dominated factions. Even the new 'official' Syrian resistance groups President Obama formed as a figleaf,  the Syrian Opposition Coalition,(SOC)and the associated Joint Military Council are dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood.The leader of the SOC is one Ahmed Mouaz al-Khatib, former imam of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus,  a religious cleric closely allied to the Damascus branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and fairly hardline and radical himself.

Senator Paul tried to tack two amendments on to the bill, one that would have forbidden the transfer of weapons to the radical Islamists of the rebel forces and another that would have prevented the use of U.S. military armed forces in Syria.

Both were voted down.

There were the usual pro-forma remarks from Paul's colleagues about 'oversight' and transparency' but in the end, there's nothing to stop the Syrian rebels from simply telling us what we want to hear to get weapons and our money, and then turning those guns on whomever they wish...including us. The Qu'ran tells Muslims explicitly that any promise made to kuffars (non-Muslims), any treaty or agreement is null and void whenever it's convenient.

Anyone taken a look at what's happening in Afghanistan lately?

Just for the record, (not that it matters), the original Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) enacted after 9/11 specifically called for finding and destroying al-Qaeda..and here we are a few years later voting to supply arms to them!

What this is setting the stage for is a formalization of President's Obama's desire to put Islamists in charge of yet another Muslim country.

What happened in Benghazi was a failed Fast and Furious style covert attempt to purchase and send weapons from Khaddaffi's arsenals to the Syrian rebels. That failed, so now we're going to be doing it openly.

I would not be at all surprised to see U.S. boots on the ground in Syria in the next few months if Assad continues to hold out. That could have been what's behind the deployment of those 1,800 Marines off the USS Kearsarge who landed at the Israeli port of Eilat nine days ago and are now stationed on Jordan's Syrian border.

Americans traditionally rally behind a sitting president when there's a foreign intervention or crisis, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if a U.S. intervention in Syria wasn't timed to head off the fallout from the massive scandals the Obama regime finds itself entangled in of late.

This is a major strategic error on steroids.

Turning The Screws: Obama Expands Arms Freeze On Israel

While President Obama has made a real career out of alienating our traditional allies, he appears to have a special place in his warped heart for Israel.

It started with top administration official snubbing Israel's Chief of Staff on a special trip here or to discuss Iran. and with special new Pentagon rules put in place by the Obama administration that that amount to a de facto cut in military aid to Israel.

It's continued with Secretary of State Clinton's insulting demands that Israel stop building homes for Jews who happen to live in Jewish communities like Jerusalem, Efrat, Gush Etzion, Ariel or other any other Jewish communities the Palestinians want to occupy, and with the Obama Administration's refusal to respect Israel declaration of Jerusalem as its undivided capitol, creating what amounts to almost outright hostility and intimidation of the sort one would expect from the UN rather than from America.

It's continuing with outright freezes and deliberately created bureaucratic delays on Israeli arms requests:

The Obama administration has blocked Israel's request for advanced U.S.-origin attack helicopters.

Government sources said the administration has held up Israel's request for the AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopter. The sources said the request was undergoing an interagency review to determine whether additional Longbow helicopters would threaten Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip.

"During the recent war, Israel made considerable use of the Longbow, and there were high civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip," a source close to the administration said.

The sources said Israel has sought to purchase up to six new AH-64Ds in an effort to bolster conventional and counter-insurgency capabilities. They said Israel wants to replenish its fleet after the loss of two Apache helicopters in the 2006 war with Hizbullah. {...}

Israel's Defense Ministry and air force have discussed procurement of additional Longbows with the U.S. firm Boeing. But the sources said the Longbow as well as other defense requests have been shelved by the administration amid its review of the potential use of American weapons platforms by Israel.

Interesting that Hezbollah gets mentioned. They're slated to take over Lebanon in the June 7th elections, and as I write this, Vice President Slo-Joe Biden just got back from Beirut, after promising that the Obama Administration will follow through on a major arms deal with Lebanon even if Hezbollah wins the election:

Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr says US Vice President Biden promised to provide Middle Eastern country with 42 fighter jets as well as helicopters, UAVs and tanks, regardless of election results.

US Vice President Joe Biden promised that Washington will provide the Lebanese army with 42 fighter jets, helicopters, UAVs and tanks, Arab media outlets reported on Saturday. {...}

The aid package is estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of US dollars.

Biden wrapped up his seven-hour visit at Beirut airport Friday, standing before an array of military equipment, including tanks, armored personnel carriers and helicopters that he said are part of more than half a billion dollars in US military assistance to Lebanon since 2005.

"We believe it's crucial that you be able to do your mission to defend the state and citizens of Lebanon," Biden said, standing Murr.

"One army, one armed group, one police power, one capability to control your own country," he added.

Meanwhile Israel continues to be frozen out. And it's not just the Longbow:

The Obama administration has imposed obstacles on Israeli efforts to procure U.S.-origin fighter-jets.

Administration sources said the White House has drafted measures that could prevent Israel and other non-NATO allies from procuring U.S. fighter-jets, including the F-35. They said the administration would require that Israel obtain special permission from the Defense Department and State Department to acquire the Joint Strike Fighter.

The administration has also been resisting Israeli requests for technical data on the new F-15SE fighter-jet.

Under the proposals, the Pentagon would order modifications of JSF to provide the aircraft with nuclear strike capabilities. The sources said such a capability would provide the Pentagon with access to government budgets to maintain and develop the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

"Once JSF obtains nuclear strike capability, there becomes a problem with exports," the source said. "NATO countries would have less of a problem; non-NATO countries would need special exemptions."

The sources said Lockheed Martin would not be instructed to develop both nuclear- and non-nuclear models of the F-35 for the first stage of production. Israel has sought to become among the first export clients of JSF.

Over the last few months, the administration has rejected a series of Israeli requests regarding modifications of the F-35. They included Israeli electronic warfare systems and acquisition of U.S. software codes that would allow Israel to repair the aircraft's central computer. The U.S. refusal meant that the Israel Air Force would be forced to send the F-35 to the United States for any repairs, a process that could take months.

The sources said the State Department has been delaying Israeli requests for pre-export licenses required for an examination of the new generation F-15.

The sources said the administration has not approved the new F-15 for the Foreign Military Sales program. They said this could prevent Israel from using U.S. military aid to purchase the aircraft from Boeing.

"This is a legal issue," a source said. "The F-15SE might not qualify for FMS."

I might also mention that Israel contributed $22 million towards the research and development of the F-35 with the agreement that they would be able to evaluate the fighter and have the right to purchase it.

Here's what's going on. President Obama and his administration have not cut Israeli military aid outright, which might have political repercussions with what is still mostly pro-Israel Congress. Instead, what he's doing is placing unreasonable restrictions and delays on actually spending the money. And since 80% of Israel's US military aid is mandated to be spent in the US by federal law, more and more of the aid will simply become unusable.

Rest assured, Obama will continue to tighten the screws on Israel in an effort to appease the Muslim world, prevent Israel from dealing with Iran's nuclear weapons and force them to surrender to the Palestinians.

He is, after all, George Soros and Reverend Wright's protege and I hope every silly Leftard Jew who voted for him in spite of everything they were told about this president's history and associations is starting to come to terms with what they endorsed and how they were cynically manipulated.Some mistakes in judgment simply aren't forgivable or easily paved over.

As for Israel, they're going to have to come to terms with a foul betrayal by a long term ally and look to their own interests.

(hat tip, the Hashmonean