12/27 Links Pt1: Photos said to show Iranian warehouse flattened by Israeli strike in Syria; U.S., Israel work to block unilateral Palestinian statehood drive at U.N. ~ EoZ

From Ian:

Photos said to show Iranian warehouse flattened by Israeli strike in Syria

Satellite images show the extent of damage from an alleged Israeli strike in Syria this week, with one photo indicating that a large storage facility was completely destroyed, an Israeli satellite imaging company said Thursday.

The photos, taken December 26 and published by ImageSat International, were of the remains of an Iranian warehouse at a base belonging to the Syrian army’s 4th division and located west of the capital Damascus, the company said. The 900-square-meter (8,000 square foot) structure appeared to have been obliterated by the attack, it said.

However, by contrast, the images showed no evidence of an attack at Damascus airport. Initial media reports of the airstrike had speculated that a 747 cargo jet, belonging to Iran’s Fars Air Qeshm, had been targeted after it landed at the airport.

The civilian company has been accused on multiple occasions of smuggling Iranian arms to Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Lebanese terror group that fought Israel in a 2006 war, and media speculated that its cargo had been the target of the strikes.

An Israeli security official confirmed to the Associated Press on Wednesday that Israel carried out the overnight airstrike in Syria, saying a series of Iranian targets were hit.

Jerusalem official confirms Israel struck Iranian arms depot in Syria

An Israeli security official confirmed Wednesday that Israel carried out an overnight airstrike in Syria, saying a series of Iranian targets were hit.

The Israeli official said the air force had attacked several Iranian targets in three main locations late Tuesday and early Wednesday. He said the targets were primarily storage and logistics facilities used by archenemy Iran to ship weapons to Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Lebanese terror group that fought Israel in a 2006 war.

He said Israel also destroyed a Syrian anti-aircraft battery that fired at the Israeli planes, and claimed that Iranian forces are operating less than 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the Israeli border, contrary to Russian assurances.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity under standard security protocols. The Israeli military has not commented on the incident.

Earlier Wednesday, Russia criticized the airstrikes, saying they had endangered civilian flights. The Israeli official said, however, that Israel alerted Russia about the airstrikes ahead of time and the flights were endangered by Syrian anti-aircraft fire.

IDF Hezbollah tunnel-destroying material discovered in Lebanese homes

Twenty-three days after Israel launched Operation Northern Shield and found the first tunnel dug into northern Israel from southern Lebanon by Hezbollah, the military has completed the destruction of a number of tunnels which infiltrated close to the community of Metula.

According to IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Ronen Manelis the military destroyed the tunnels by filling them with material which would prevent the Shiite terror group from every using them again.

The material he said, has come out of the tunnel in several places in the southern Lebanese village of Kafr Kila where the tunnel was dug from, including in a residential building next to the border fence which was used to make bricks.

“This fact indicates Hezbollah's use of civilian structures in the heart of an urban area in southern Lebanon, in flagrant violation of Resolution 1701 and endangering its citizens by using them as human shields,” the military said in a statement.

“It is clear that this factory belongs to Hezbollah and was used to build tunnels,” Manelis said, adding that there were other locations in Kafr Kila which were connected to tunnels and therefore the IDF saw material come out in several locations, including into residential homes.

“Whoever decides to live above a terror tunnel endangers his life, just like someone who decides to live above a weapons storehouse,” Manelis said.

The operation which began on December 4 to find and destroy the tunnels dug by the Shiite terror group has so far found five cross-border attack tunnels and last week the military began the process of destroying them.

On Wednesday, the military announced that it had destroyed a fifth cross-border attack tunnel crossing into northern Israel from the southern Lebanese village of Ayta as-Shab. It was discovered several days ago and destroyed by an explosion Wednesday night.

WATCH: We neutralized this attack tunnel dug from Lebanon into Israel by Hezbollah and poured cement into the openings on the Israeli side. The cement spilled out of the opening on the Lebanese side - revealing it was dug between homes and a factory. pic.twitter.com/KKXGIsqxW3
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) December 27, 2018

JPost Editorial: Action in Syria

In the latest issue of The Jerusalem Report, veteran military analyst Yossi Melman argues that US President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw his contingent of more than 2,000 troops from Syria was “a Christmas gift to the US’s enemies and rivals, above all Russia and Iran, and indirectly China, and a bombshell dropped on Israel and the Sunni Arab world, which have been encouraged by the US to form a steadfast front against the expansionist aspirations of Shi’ite Iran.”

Melman notes that the US evacuation opens up an Iranian land corridor from Tehran to Damascus that will allow Iran to accomplish its aspirations to reach Lebanon via land. Where does all this leave Israel?

As Melman concludes, although Israel will continue to enjoy the diplomatic backing of the US and it remains the strongest military power in the region that can defend itself and its interests, without a US presence in Syria, “it will be much more difficult to deal with the crisis.”

“The recovery of the Assad regime and the reassertion of its control over most of the country has brought the Syrian army back to the Golan Heights, where it was joined by Iranian and Hezbollah forces, as well as by Tehran-backed Shi’ite militias,” writes Maj.-Gen. Gershon Hacohen in a paper published by the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, summing up the key strategic turning points of 2018. “The situation was further complicated by the Russian military presence in Syria and the constraints it imposed on Israel’s operational freedom, especially after the September 2018 downing of the Russian plane by Syrian air defense forces.”

Israel, under Netanyahu, has managed to overcome such blips as the downing of the Russian plane, while maintaining close relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. After the US pullout, Netanyahu has to be even more careful not to upset Putin.

Now that Russia has become the key player in Syria, it is essential for Netanyahu to protect Israel’s interests by coordinating with Moscow to foil any Iranian plots against it. We urge him to be tough but smart in acting against Iran in Syria, especially now with new elections on the horizon.

Netanyahu vows to keep hitting Iran in Syria: ‘We stand firmly on our red lines’

Brushing aside Russian criticism of a reported Israeli airstrike in Syria overnight, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday doubled down on Israel’s policy of attacking Iranian-linked targets in Syria.

“We will not abide an Iranian entrenchment in Syria,” Netanyahu, who is also the defense minister, said at a graduation ceremony for fresh Israeli Air Force pilots at the Hatzerim air base in the south.

“We are taking action against it aggressively and powerfully, including in these very days,” he said.

US President Donald Trump’s “decision to pullout American soldiers from Syria does not change our policy,” Netanyahu said. “We stand firmly on our red lines in Syria and everywhere else.”

The Israeli air force’s capabilities are unmatched, and can reach arenas “near and far, very far,” he added.

Israel is doing very well defending itself, Trump says

"We give Israel $4.5 billion a year and they're doing very well defending themselves, if you take a look," U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters Wednesday during a previously unannounced trip to Iraq.

Defending his recent decision to pull all U.S. troops out of Syria, a move that sparked broad concern among U.S. allies, including Israel, Trump went on to say that he had informed Israel of the move. Using a nickname for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said, "I don't see it. I spoke with Bibi. I told Bibi."

"We're going to take good care of Israel. Israel is going to be good. But we give Israel $4.5 billion a year. And we give them, frankly, a lot more money than that, if you look at the books – a lot more money than that. And they've been doing a very good job for themselves," Trump added.

In an effort to dispel concerns voiced by Israeli officials, including the fear that Israel will have to combat the encroaching Iranian presence in Syria without U.S. forces, the American president went on to add that "I'm the one that moved the embassy to Jerusalem. I was the one who was willing to do that. So that's the way it is. We are going to take great care of Israel."

JCPA: Israel Bombed Iranian Facilities in Syria as the Iranian Entrenchment Continues

President Putin is clearly standing by President Bashar Assad. He derives legitimacy for establishing Russian bases in Syria from the Syrian president, who “invited” Russia to be a “guest” in Syria.

It is in the Kremlin’s interest to reduce Israeli aerial operations in Syrian airspace to a minimum until they secure a complete halt to assist President Assad. They are now trying to push Israel out of Syrian skies with the claim that the air force planes endangered civilian flights. This claim is incorrect, as the Israeli air force planes were very far from the civilian aircraft. Civilian flights are constantly flying over the Syrian coast from the Cyprus area. Should Israel halt its flights deep inside Syria because of this?

In fact, the Syrian aerial defense system is what is endangering civilian aviation, because it is not professional enough, and it even accidentally brought down a Russian spy plane in September 2018 in the area of Latakia.

Israeli air force pilots are very cautious and are among the best pilots in the world. Every Israeli aerial operation in Syrian airspace is carefully and painstakingly planned in order to prevent mistakes.

Disputes between Israel and Russia on this issue will not go away because the Iranians are continuing with their efforts to entrench themselves militarily in Syria. This crisis is expected to continue. President Putin knows how to play the diplomatic game with Israel, and he is trying to continue exerting diplomatic pressure to end the Israeli air attacks from Syrian airspace. Putin’s interest is to bring stability and reconstruction to Syria.

The question is if Putin will now try again to distance the Iranians from the border with Israel, as he had promised. If he does, this will reduce Israel’s need to attack Iranian targets in Syria.

Caroline Glick: Withdrawal from Syria Has a Positive Side -- But Erdogan Is a Negative One

Evoking antisemitic conspiracy theories, Erdogan blamed the West for stoking conflict in the Muslim world for financial gain.

“When the tension escalates in the Islamic world, Western companies’ profits rise accordingly. When the conflicts escalate in the Middle East, Western governments sell more weapons,” he said.

In subsequent days, Erdogan’s foreign minister and defense minister accused Netanyahu of killing babies and of committing mass murder.

In shor, then, Turkey has a poor record of fighting terror, and credible allegations have been raised for years that Erdogan either turned a blind eye to ISIS operations on his territory or enabled its operation in Turkey.

At the same time, Erdogan has used his position as a member of the anti-ISIS coalition to attack Kurdish forces that played a central role in defeating ISIS.

Erdogan is, at a minimum, double dealing with the U.S. and Russia in relation to the Patriot and S-400 sales, playing one power against the other in a contest that harms the U.S. and NATO.

And Erdogan, who supports Hamas openly, is inciting antisemitism, war, and violence against Israel, thus putting Turkey in common cause with Iran, Hezbollah, and the Syrian regime.

It is hard to countenance Trump’s sudden faith in Erdogan. In August he doubled tariffs on Turkish steel exports to the U.S. to secure the release of U.S. pastor Andrew Brunson, whom Erdogan was effectively holding hostage. And yet, in the past week, Trump has repeatedly presented the same Erdogan as a responsible actor who can be trusted to fill America’s shoes in Syria.

Erdogan is not a responsible actor. He is a bully with imperialist aspirations that target the U.S.’s Sunni Arab allies, and with jihadist ambitions that threaten Israel, Europe, and the U.S. itself.

His empowerment in the framework of the U.S. withdrawal from Syria is by far the largest negative consequence of the move.

Criticism of the U.S. Withdrawal from Syria Is Overblown

Criticism of the U.S. withdrawal of troops from Syria as handing both Russia and Iran a significant "victory" is overblown. Russia and Iran were positioned from the beginning to be the dominant influencers in the course of Syria's civil war. Moreover, what passes for a short-term win for Moscow and Tehran will likely prove to be a rather hollow victory.

First, Russia and Iran have vital interests at stake in Syria, whereas U.S. interests have always been limited. Moscow and Tehran were never going to abandon Syria, which has been their ally for decades. Moreover, in the battle for influence in Syria, Moscow and Tehran were supporting an existing internationally-recognized government possessing a large array of domestic security and military forces. In contrast, the U.S. supported a fractured and divided political opposition which, aside from Syrian Kurdish militias, proved to be anemic and ineffective.

Syria will remain a broken, divided, and weak country for decades to come. The civil war displaced nearly half of Syria's 22 million people, destroyed much of its infrastructure, and hardened the political, religious, and social divisions within Syrian society.

With Russia and Iran both suffering under the heavy burden of U.S. sanctions, neither country can afford to make the substantial investment needed for reconstruction. For the foreseeable future, a needy Syria will remain a drain on Russian and Iranian coffers.

NYTs: Syria Faces Brittle Future, Dominated by Russia and Iran

The Syria that the U.S. military is vacating is a Balkanized version of the country that plunged into a calamitous civil war nearly eight years ago. The most likely Syrian future, Middle East analysts project, is a far more brittle version of what existed before the war: President Assad leading a repressive government puppeteered by Russia and Iran.

Defying the Syrian government's historic secularism, Iran and Hizbullah have infused parts of the country with a strikingly religious tint. Ali Rizk, a Beirut-based analyst, said Iran and Hizbullah have spread their Shiite beliefs among some of the Syrian forces. Moreover, some Syrian army soldiers have joined Iran-backed Shiite militias because their fighters receive better pay and more days off.

Iran and Russia are already in competition, with Russia wanting a self-supporting Syrian government weaned from Russian military and financial help, and Iran preferring something weaker, analysts said. But neither can afford the cost of Syria's reconstruction.

The Russians "want to find an exit from Syria basically, militarily, leaving in place their two bases and their own people within the security apparatus, and Russian companies to help with reconstruction," said Joost Hiltermann, the Middle East program director for the International Crisis Group. "They don't want to get bogged down militarily."

Both patrons may find Syria's stability hard to re-establish under Assad. Already, peaceful protests against him have been staged in areas where he has reasserted control, analysts said. "The Russians are very keenly aware that Assad's position is fragile, the economy is totally destroyed, and politically it's a mess," said Alexander Bick, who oversaw Syria issues at the National Security Council under the Obama administration.

Amb. Alan Baker: Setting the Wolf to Guard the Sheep: Electing the Palestinian Attorney-General to the ICC Nominations Committee for Judges

The recent election of the Palestinian Attorney-General as a member of the committee for nominating judges of the International Criminal Court gives rise to some basic questions regarding the Palestinian status vis-à-vis the Court.

The Palestinian leadership has acknowledged the fact that a “State of Palestine” does not exist, but that does not prevent them from manipulating international bodies into accepting a fictional Palestinian state.

The ICC, by its Statute, is open to states only. The Palestinian accession to the ICC was achieved through a political manipulation of a non-binding General Assembly resolution, even though there exists no Palestinian state.

Since there is no Palestinian state, there can be no sovereign Palestinian territory. The issue of the final status of the West Bank and Gaza areas has yet to be agreed upon in negotiations, and thus the area cannot be seen to be Palestinian territory.

The ICC cannot exercise jurisdiction over territory that is subject to a dispute settlement procedure.

The Palestinian leadership is manipulating and abusing the ICC and turning it into their own “back-yard tribunal” for
hounding Israel.

The election of a Palestinian member to the Judges Nominating Committee is premature and should be deferred pending determination by the Court as to the legal standing of the fictional Palestinian state.

U.S., Israel work to block unilateral Palestinian statehood drive at U.N.

The United States and Israel are working to block a renewed Palestinian Authority drive to become a member state of the United Nations.

“We are preparing to stop the initiative,” said Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon.

The move would effectively hand the Palestinians unilateral statehood recognition outside the context of any final status agreement with Israel.

Under past peace initiatives, including the Oslo Accord, Palestinian statehood recognition was expected to be granted at the conclusion of a peace process with Israel.

The PA move also comes in advance of the much anticipated roll out of the Trump Administration’s peace plan, which may now be delayed until after the Israeli election on April 9.

For the last decade the Palestinians have attempted to separate the process and attain unilateral statehood recognition, particularly through acceptance as a member state of the UN.

There are 137 countries which, outside the context of the UN, recognize Palestine as a state, out of which 120 maintain full diplomatic ties.

But most Western countries, including most European nations, have not recognized Palestine as a state.

The UN’s immorality and UNIFIL’s counter-productivity.

Again, this assigns to UNIFIL more than just a monitoring role.Now, what about a mandate to disarm Hezbollah?Back to the text of Resolution 1701, which:

Requests the Secretary-General to develop, in liaison with relevant international actors and the concerned parties, proposals to implement the relevant provisions of the Taif Accords, and resolutions 1559 (2004) and 1680 (2006), including disarmament…

Again, instead of maintaining just a monitoring mode, UNIFIL does have a mandate to search homes when there is evidence of violations. More than that, the text clearly states that when the illegal presence of weapons is detected, UNIFIL not only has the authority to search but also to act “with all means available” — meaning that it can disarm.There is, in fact, a documented case of UNIFIL doing a search of private homes in 2010, using sniffer dogs and resulting in villagers retaliating by grabbing the weapons of a UNIFIL patrol, throwing stones at them and blocking the road.In this case, it was UNIFIL that was disarmed.The bottom line is that clearly, the role of UNIFIL was not intended to be as
passive as Tenenti claims, limited to monitoring.

o UNIFIL is allowed to use force
o The issue of disarming Hezbollah is a hot potato everyone is trying to avoid, but there is no clear indication that UNIFIL cannot disarm Hezbollah in specific circumstances “to prevent hostile activities”
o UNIFIL is allowed to do searches when there is evidence of a violation

The fact that Hezbollah was able to dig multiple tunnels into Israel is just one more reminder of UNIFIL’s failure to do its job.

UNIFIL not only fails to do its job, as detailed above, but Evelyn Gordon argues that it interferes in the political domain as UNIFIL deters the EU from banning Hezbollah:

Total of 2018 Condemnations adopted at UN General Assembly:
🇮🇱 Israel 21
🇮🇷 Iran 1
🇸🇾 Syria 1
🇰🇵 North Korea 1
🇷🇺 Russia 1
🇲🇲 Myanmar 1
🇺🇸 US 1
🇩🇿 Algeria 0
🇨🇳 China 0
🏴‍☠️ Hamas 0
🇮🇶 Iraq 0
🇵🇰 Pakistan 0
🇶🇦 Qatar 0
🇸🇦 Saudi 0
🇸🇴 Somalia 0
🇹🇷 Turkey 0
🇻🇪 Venezuela 0
🇿🇼 Zimbabwe 0
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) December 26, 2018

Alan Dershowitz: Not enough evidence to indict Netanyahu

Alan Dershowitz, a prominent law professor and champion of Israel, said he does not consider there to be enough evidence to convict Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for corruption over his alleged negotiations with a newspaper publisher for better coverage, and that this is the kind of thing that all politicians do anyway.

Police have recommended that Netanyahu be indicted in three separate corruption cases, one of which, Case 2000, revolves around allegations that Netanyahu negotiated with Arnon Mozes, the publisher of the daily Yedioth Ahronoth, for better coverage as part of a quid pro quo deal.

“There are is not enough proof of a criminal offense,” Dershowitz told Army Radio in an interview Thursday. “I think it is very dangerous to start indicting people based on negotiations with newspapers. That’s what politicians do.”

“To start interfering in the relationship between media and the government poses a tremendous danger to free speech and a tremendous danger to democracy,” he added.

Netanyahu denies any wrongdoing in all the cases, and charges that he is the victim of a political witch hunt involving the media, the left and the police.

MKs cheer news firebrand Arab lawmaker retiring, but she says it’s a nasty rumor

Right-wing lawmakers responded with delight Wednesday after news spread that two outspoken Arab Knesset members were not going to run in the upcoming April 2019 elections, but one of them quickly put a damper on their celebrations, saying it was too early to write off her parliamentary career.

Hebrew media reports claimed that MKs Hanin Zoabi and Jamal Zahalka would retire from the Knesset due to internal regulations of their Balad party.

Balad, an acronym for National Democratic Assembly, is part of the 13-MK Joint (Arab) List, a coalition of Arab Israeli parties in parliament. Balad’s Knesset members have at times been vilified as a fifth column in Israeli politics, and other lawmakers have attempted to have them banned from being able to run for Knesset.

The Globes media outlet reported that Zoabi and Zahalka may be prevented from running again due to internal party regulations limiting the number of terms in office a member can serve — unless the party’s central committee votes to approve it.

Zoabi has raised fury over her past comments in support of the Gaza terror group Hamas, her labeling of IDF soldiers as “murderers” and other similar rhetoric.

Knesset Speaker MK Yuli Edelstein, of the ruling Likud party, welcomed the reported development.

Israel warns Gazans to stay away from border Friday or risk getting shot

With Gaza-based Palestinian terror groups threatening renewed violence on the border with Israel on Friday, defense officials issued a warning to Gazan civilians, telling them to stay away from the area or face injury.

“Residents of Gaza, what do you want your upcoming Friday to look like? Are you interested in it being spent with members of your family, or in unpleasant incidents on the security fence?” the Head of the Coordination and Liaison Administration to Gaza, Col. Eyad Sirhan, said Thursday in an appeal to Gazans via the Arabic-language Facebook page of the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) unit.

“The IDF will not tolerate incidents on the security fence. We, too, want a Friday without casualties among you, but this depends on you and you alone,” Sirhan warned.

“The IDF will not allow those disturbing the peace to approach the security fence or to damage it, and any attempt to harm IDF soldiers, or to violate Israeli sovereignty, will be answered with a determined response from IDF forces,” the Defense Ministry official added, concluding, “Keep your distance from the fence area; in so doing you will keep yourselves safe.”
A Palestinian carries a young man away from demonstrations on the border between Israel and Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, on December 14, 2018. (Said Khatib/AFP)

On Sunday, the military wings of several Palestinian terror groups warned in a joint statement that Friday will be “decisive” in determining their response to the killing of four people during border protests and riots last week.

Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinians: Silencing and Intimidating Critics

Palestinian columnist Sami Fuda denounced the Hamas crackdown on its critics in Gaza: "Apparently, freedom of expression is unacceptable to the de facto rulers of the Gaza Strip... The policy of intimidating and imprisoning writers will not deter them and is completely ineffective and unacceptable."

While these few Palestinians have expressed concern over Hamas's effort to silence its critics, international human rights organizations, including some that operate in the Gaza Strip, continue to turn a blind eye to this assault on public freedoms. They are either afraid of Hamas, or they do not give a damn about human rights violations unless they can find a way of pointing an accusatory finger at Israel.

Hamas is prepared to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a rally marking the 31st anniversary of its founding, but says it cannot afford to provide financial aid to impoverished Palestinians. Meanwhile, any Palestinians who dare to ask Hamas the wrong questions will find themselves behind bars.

Palestinian Arab Bethlehem is at war with Christians and Jews

What does the story of Bethlehem tell us today? Two things.

Under the control of Israel (1967-1995), the Christian population of Bethlehem grew by 57 percent. When Israel delivered the city of Jesus to the Palestinian Authority in 1995, Bethlehem had an 80 percent Christian population. Now it is just 20 percent.

This change took place because in the areas of the Palestinian Authority, as well as throughout the entire Middle East, Christians are under pressure and persecuted. Christians fled Bethlehem not because of the Israeli “occupation,” but due to the Palestinian Authority.

In recent years, there have been numerous acts of violence against Christians in Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

- Palestinian terrorists have taken the Christian houses of Beit Jala from where their snipers fired on the houses of the Jewish quarters of southern Jerusalem.
- Armed Palestinians occupied the Basilica of the Nativity, sacking it and using it as a latrine.
- Two churches in Nablus were burned in 2006 after Pope Benedict XVI's lectio in Regensburg.

The Christian fear of living under the Palestinian Arab-Islamic rule began after the 1967 war, when hundreds of Christian notables in Bethlehem turned to the Israeli government asking that they annex the city. In 1995, the Christian mayor of Bethlehem, Elias Freij, turned to then PM Yitzhak Rabin and asked him not to withdraw from the city because of fear for the future of Christians in the city.

Bus full of permit-less Palestinians stopped en route to Eilat vacation

Border police who stopped a bus full of West Bank Palestinian vacationers, among them two Jordanian nationals, on the way to the resort city of Eilat discovered that none of the passengers had permits to be in Israel, police said Thursday.

The bus was pulled over at a checkpoint north of the southern city on Wednesday after officers became suspicious of the vehicle. Border guards and counter-terrorism officers entered the bus and detained those on board.

Most of the Palestinians were from the cities of Ramallah and Hebron in the West Bank. Two of the passengers were from Jordan.

An initial investigation found that the passengers were the victims of a suspected swindle by a Ramallah travel company, which sold them vacation packages in Eilat without obtaining the permits needed by Palestinians to leave the West Bank and enter Israel.

After they were questioned, the Palestinians were taken back to the West Bank by Border Police Wednesday evening and sent home.

German company linked with Iran's rockets stops business with Tehran

A spokesman for the German company Krempel, which provided construction material to Tehran businessmen that was used in rockets produced by the Iranian regime to gas Syrians earlier this year, told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday that the global business firm has stopped trade with the Islamic Republic of Iran.

“Since several months ago, Krempel no longer delivers goods to Iran,” Rainer Westermann said.

“Corporations realize that doing business with Iran means funding the IRGC’s terror strategy,” US ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell told the Post on Thursday. The IRGC stands for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which the US designated as a terrorist entity last year.

Grenell is widely credited with causing German businesses to leave Iran and has been praised for his efforts in seeking to counter companies that aid Iran’s terrorism and cause suffering for Syrians and Iranians within the Islamic Republic.

The Krempel Group, located near the southern city of Stuttgart, sold electronic press boards to Iranian companies that were used in the production of rockets. The press boards are frequently inserted into motors.

Regime forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad fired the Iranian missiles containing Krempel material, resulting in the severe gassing of 21 adults and children. Krempel, a global company, has a distribution center in the US.

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