by Hugh Fitzgerald
The Mullahs' hallucinations.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh claims a great “victory” in Gaza, and Iran’s Supreme Leader similarly gloats over the lesson the “axis of resistance” has taught the Zionists. Both men are hallucinating, overlooking the reality that Hamas’ weapons stockpiles, especially its rockets, have been greatly depleted, much of its extensive tunnel network has been destroyed, its command-and control centers, intelligence offices, weapons warehouses, all razed to the ground. During the 11-day conflict, the IDF destroyed more than 6,500 terrorist targets, including Hamas and PIJ operational headquarters, weapon production sites and arsenals, and over 100 kilometers (62 miles) of Hamas’ infamous grid of terror tunnels. At least 225 terrorists were killed in the strikes, including 25 senior Hamas and PIJ commanders. The Israeli military predicts that it will be many years – some say it could be as many as 10 years – for Hamas to return to its prewar strength.
Meanwhile, Israel’s Mossad neither slumbers nor sleeps. A few days after Israel announced it had shot down an Iranian armed drone on its border with Jordan, the world learned of a mysterious explosion at an Iranian drone factory in Isfahan. The report is here: “Report: Facility in Iran Used for Drone Manufacturing Hit by Explosion That Injured Nine, Days After Israel Downs Iranian UAV,” by Sharon Wrobel, Algemeiner, May 24, 2021:
An explosion was reported at a complex in Iran that houses a drone factory, several days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unveiled to European foreign ministers parts from an Iranian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that had been downed during clashes with the Hamas militant group.
The explosion, which reportedly occurred on Sunday at a petrochemical factory complex in Isfahan, injured at least nine workers. According to The Guardian, the Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company (HESA), which it said is located in the complex owned by Sepahan Nargostar Chemical Industries, produces a variety of aircraft and drones for Iranian and pro-Iranian forces.
Iran has not provided any information on the source of the explosion or the extent of the damage to the factory. The incident comes after Netanyahu revealed on Thursday that during the hostilities with the Hamas, “Iran sent an armed drone from Iraq or Syria, which our forces intercepted on the border between Israel and Jordan, and that I think says everything on the true patron of terror in the Middle East and in the world: Iran.”
During the conflict, the Israeli army also shot down a so-called armed suicide drone carrying explosives, launched by the Hamas at Israeli territory….
Do you have any doubt that Mossad was behind the attack on Iran’s drone factory? The “mysterious explosion” came just a few days after Israel had shot down an Iranian drone on its border with Jordan. It also came just as Yossi Cohen, Mossad’s spectacularly successful director, is turning over his duties to his successor, David Barnea; possibly this drone factory explosion was Cohen’s last hurrah, a way of reminding Iran that while Israel was for 11 days focused on trouncing Hamas in Gaza, Iran was always in Mossad’s thoughts.
A day later (that is, the day after the drone factory explosion), there was another mysterious explosion, this one at an oil refinery on the coast. The report on that second likely act of Israeli sabotage is here: “Iran: Large fire reported at oil refinery, day after drone factory blast,” by Tzvi Joffre, Jerusalem Post, May 25, 2021:
A large fire was reported at the Kangan Petro Refining Co. (KPRC) in southern Iran along the coast of the Persian Gulf on Monday, just a day after an explosion reportedly impacted a drone factory in the center of the country.
According to Iranian media, a fire at the waste warehouse at KPRC was contained and extinguished within an hour and no operational units were damaged. No injuries were reported in the fire….
The Iranian government, experience has shown, routinely under-reports its own casualties and minimizes the damage inflicted on its facilities by Mossad. The public may never know how extensive the damage was done to the drone factory or to the oil refinery or to many other targets of “mysterious attacks” that have plagued Iran during the last decade with ever greater frequency. But Mossad – which I think Is almost certainly to have been responsible both for this oil refinery fire and for the explosion at the drone factory just the day before – has reminded Iran’s government, yet again, of what Israel’s extensive network of agents in Iran can do.
And on May 26, Iranian state media reported on still a third explosion, this one at an oxygen pipeline in a petrochemical plant in Assaluyeh on Iran’s Gulf coast. There was no mention of its cause.
In these three cases, the Iranians surely know who is responsible. But they don’t want to talk about Mossad’s exploits. They’ll try to accentuate the positive by, for example, continuing to hail the crushing defeat of Hamas in the 11-day war as a “great victory.” But they’ve been badly rattled.
A parting word of advice to the Supreme Leader: “Those who watch over Israel neither slumber nor sleep.”
Hugh Fitzgerald
Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/06/mysterious-explosions-remind-iran-mossad-neither-hugh-fitzgerald/
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