A commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said that a U.S. military strike on Syria would lead to a “second Vietnam” war.
President Obama has been threatening a strike on Syria ever since the United States concluded that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used a chemical weapon on hundreds of innocent civilians.
Reuters reports that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has threatened to retaliate against Israel if the United States launches an attack on Syria.
Mohammad Ali Jafari, a commander of the Guard, said that a U.S. strike on Syria would lead to the “imminent destruction of Israel” and would drag America into a “second Vietnam” war.
In an interview with the Tasnim news agency, Jafari said: “An attack on Syria will mean the imminent destruction of Israel… Syria will turn into a more dangerous and deadly battlefield than the Vietnam War, and in fact, Syria will become the second Vietnam for the United States.”
The Wall Street Journal quotes Major General Hassan Firouzabadi, chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces, saying that an attack on Syria would provoke retaliation on Israel.
Firouzabadi said: “Any attack on Syria would burn down Israel.”
The Washington Post reports that the threats made by the United States has caused panic in Israel. Israeli citizens have been seeking out gas masks in the case of an attack from Iran.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged citizens to be prepared but also said that there was nothing to panic about.
Netanyahu said: “There is no reason to change daily routines… At the same time, we are prepared for any scenario.”
President Obama said earlier today that he had not made up his mind about an attack on Syria. The President said that Syria must be punished for using chemical weapons on its citizens but that he hasn’t decided on how to proceed.
Obama said : “We have not yet made a decision but the international norm against the use of chemical weapons needs to be kept in place… If we are saying in a clear and decisive but very limited way, we send a shot across the bow saying, ‘Stop doing this,’ this can have a positive impact on our national security over the long term.”
