Netanyahu tells Israel ‘We are at war’ after Hamas launches an unprecedented attack, killing at leas

This one is unintentionally damning. Al Jazeera, to their credit, tries to be very exacting, and concludes that it was a PIJ Rocket, intercepted by Iron Dome, suggesting without saying that the deaths are therefore Israeli responsibility. Ankit Panda retweets someone saying that is not how how Iron Dome works. I have followed Ankit for years - he has substantial subject matter expertise.

But even if it was Iron Dome (I am confident it was not), what does that mean? Are the Israelis morally responsible for intercepting a missile that falls apart after interception and does damage? Is that supposed to be controllable?

 

These events are frustrating to try to understand.

I put on an episode of the Useful Idiots podcast last week since I know they tend to take positions on foreign policy and military conflicts that go against my gut feelings and challenge what we're hearing from the White House. I did this despite feeling that they seem as much pro Russia as they do mere pacifists. The parts I listened to were hyper-focused on questioning the reports of beheaded babies, and I didn't hear them even address the murders of civilians at the music festival.

I don't speak Hebrew, Arabic, or Farsi. I don't have a background in military tactics or damages caused by various weapons. I'm highly skeptical of which sources to trust, particularly during the fog of war. At some point, I hope to think we can trust our allies, intelligence experts, and military leaders to understand what's really happening on the ground.

 

This is particularly disturbing. The Houthis would not dare attack a U.S. vessel without a go-ahead from Iran.

 

Not the first time. USS Mason - 2016. And the article was equivocal. Speculation, this was just a "show" they knew had no chance, for some political reason. Or to test something. But if they were serious, from all I have read, something would be swarming, drones, motorboats, ASMs

 

US positions on Iraq also subject to repelled rocket attack. Iranian dogs running loose or are they obediently listening to the whistle?

 

Timely - ;>

 

Missiles not aimed at ship, heading north (range? Israel?). I would think out of range, but ?

 

Tyler Rogoway raised his thread from last week, which should be read

 

Right now, I would say you are seeing “warnings” from Iran: get Israel to stand down and quietly accept the damage they took on 7 October … or else. The question I have for the group is, are we the kind of country that accepts ultimatums from countries like Iran?

 

Perhaps that is the reason we have three carrier groups in the region?

 

They don't have a particularly good track record of truth telling!

 

The relative muted response could lead one to believe that they know that Israel didn't bomb the hospital

 

What level of proof would be required to prompt a military response against Iran if drone or rocket attacks were successful?

 

Egypt supporting protests today

I would think the red sea is a bad environment for ships given the surrounding areas and missiles

 

That's unfortunately very true.

Since I can't personally verify or intelligently analyze these claims myself, my default is to have more confidence in the sincerity and the motives of the United States and our allies. Perhaps that's naive and simple-minded, but I'm not sure if there are any governments/groups that I place less trust in than the mullahs of Iran and fundamentalist terrorists like Hamas & Hezbollah. I can only imagine the religious mandates they'd be putting on the rest of the world if they had nukes - or what would happen to our Jewish friends and family if they had their way. That doesn't mean I take everything coming out of Israel or Washington D.C. at face value, of course.

I've been vacillating between being tempted to wade into the waters of information/disinformation or maybe just tuning out of the day-to-day claims and responses altogether. It's all just sad and angering and it feels like there are no collective solutions. Part of me thinks that human beings suck and it's a matter of time before we all below each other up anyway. Sorry for being a Debbie Downer but the whole situation has me upset. Thanks for letting me vent!

 

Your guess is as good as mine. We don’t want to have to attack Iran, so I would think it would need to be unequivocal. I think we would take any out where we could blame such an attack on an Iranian proxy and just attack them instead. Iran would have to attack us directly and openly.

 

from what I heard the missiles were fired towards israel and were taken out by the US ship. Probably get the real story shortly as more reports come out.

 

nice, send those down the tunnels

 

Could very well be. Though, I doubt that Iran would give Houthis missiles that have the range to hit Israel. Yemen is a long, long ways from there (>1300 miles), and I don’t see the payoff.