Saudi Arabia - Middle East Keystone Supporting America, Europe and Israel

There are two Middle East stories today that are important because they point to major problems and alignments in the region and beyond, and because they affect Israel and its relations with its neighbors and with the United States. ~~~~~ Missiles fired by the Lebanese Hezbollah group struck an Israeli military convoy on today, killing two soldiers and wounding seven others, the military said. The strike, in an area where Israel, Lebanon and Syria borders touch, was an apparent retaliation for a deadly airstrike attributed to Israel that killed six Hezbollah fighters in Syria earlier this month. Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would respond forcefully. The Israeli aerial and ground assault on Hezbollah positions included 50 artillery shells, according to Lebanese officials. A Spanish peacekeeper was killed in later follow-up incidents in southern Lebanon. The Spanish Defense Ministry identified the dead peacekeeper as Corporel Francisco Javier Soria Toledo, 36. Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo told reporters he received a phone call from Israel's ambassador to Spain, offering condolences. Celebratory gunfire could be heard in shiite-dominated areas of Beirut, while in some areas, worried parents picked up their children from school and headed for home. In a prepared statement, Hezbollah said the attack, carried out by a group calling itself the "righteous martyrs of Quneitra, destroyed a number of Israeli vehicles that were carrying Israeli officers and soldiers and caused casualties among "enemy ranks." The Israeli military said it responded with fire toward Lebanese positions, and evacuated Israeli visitors from a ski resort in the area. The flare-up in reminiscent of the beginning of the month-long 2006 Israel-Lebanon war, which was sparked by a Hezbollah attack on an Israeli military vehicle along the border and the kidnapping and killing of two Israeli soldiers. There was no indication that Israeli soldiers weee captured in today's attack. But the latest border flare-up raised the possibility of renewed fighting along the Lebanese-Israel border, which has remained mostly quiet since the 2006 war. Since then, Israel has responded with airstrikes and artillery fire following a number of rocket attacks and shootings, but the violence has remained contained. Earlier today, Israel launched airstrikes in Syria against Syrian army artillery posts after two rockets were fired from Syria the previous day into the Israeli-held Golan Heights. No casualties were reported. Netanyahu, speaking at an event in southern Israel, warned that Israel's enemies would face a fate similar to Hamas, the Gaza Strip rulers who fought a brutal 50-day war against Israel last summer. Netanyahu warned : "To anyone who is trying to challenge us on the northern border I suggest looking at what happened here, not far from the city of Sderot, in the Gaza Strip. Hamas was dealt its heaviest blow ever since its founding and the Israel Defense Forces is prepared to act forcefully in all areas." Israel Ziv, a reserve Israeli general and former head of the IDF's Operations Directorate, told reporters that the situation was "flammable" and that Israel should try to contain the situation. "We could find ourselves in a war that does not belong to Israel....I do believe that Israel understands that it needs to contain it," he said, added Israel should not take any "steps that would pull us into the chaotic situation in Syria." ~~~~~ There are few reports of President Obama's meetings with Saudi Arabia King Salman Abdul Aziz Al Saud. One of the few offering details came from Reuters, which saod that Obama met met with King Salmam, after a dinner at Erga Palace in central Riyadh, on Tuesday "to pay respects to the late King Abdullah and bolster a relationship that now stretches well beyond oil interests to security cooperation across the volatile Gulf Arab region." King Salman, in his first official meeting with a high-level foreign delegation, did not express reservations over US-led negotiations aimed at curbing Iran's nuclear program, a US official said. It was unclear whether King Salman's comments on the nuclear talks offered a hint of change. Saudi Arabia, the Middle East’s top sunni power, has been concerned that the talks would lead to a rapprochement between the United States and the kingdom's main rival, shi'ite-led Iran. Reuters reported, however, that a US official told reporters on Air Force One that King Salman said Teheran should not be allowed to build a nuclear weapon. In an indication of the critical importance of the meeting for Obama, he was joined on the four-hour visit by Secretary of State John Kerry and a bipartisan group of prominent current and former officials - including former Secretaries of State Condoleezza Rice and James Baker III, and Senator John McCain, the Arizona republican who is a frequent critic of Obama's foreign policy in the Middle East. Their presence helped to convey the importance of a relationship that has endured on-off strains in recent years. The new king also signaled continuity in energy policies by the world's top oil exporter, the US official said. The two discussed the stability of the oil market. Obama's visit came as the US struggles with deepening strife in the Middle East, where America counts on Saudi Arabia as one of its few steady partners in a campaign against ISIS. American security headache worsened last week after Yemen's government resigned under pressure by Iran-backed rebels, a setback to US efforts to contain al Qaida in Yemen and to limit the regional influence of shi'ite Moslem Iran. The Yemen government's collapse is a deep concern for Saudi Arabia because of their common border and because of the advance of Iran into the Arabian peninsula, not only in Yemrn but also in Bahrain. The US official Obama and Salman discussed Saudi's role in rallying Arab countries to join a coalition against ISIS. The Saudi-US alliance has long been a cornerstone of US Middle East policy, but the kingdom has made clear its impatience with the Obama administration’s failure to do more to oust Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and voiced its anxiety over US–led nuclear negotiations with Iran. This added to a sense among Saudi rulers that Obama was neglecting old Arab allies. US-Saudi relations have improved recently after Obama made a fence-mending visit to Riyadh last March. The kingdom’s willingness to keep output high despite tumbling global oil prices has bolstered Obama’s domestic economic recovery efforts, as well as his strategy of keeping pressure on oil producers Russia and Iran, who are feeling the negative economic impact of Saudi's action. ~~~~~ Dear readers, the tensions on the Israel borders with Lebanon and Syria are not going to lessen. It is fired by Hezbollah rocket attacks on Israel positions inside Israel. The rockets and everything else is provided to Hezbollah by Iran. Saudi Arabia is the only Middle East nation capable of defending the region against Iran's aggressive expansion actions. Saudi Arabia can also enlist Egypt President el-Sissi and his US trained and supplied army in the effort. Without Saudi Arabia, America would be cut out of the Middle East. Clearly, this is the major American strategic relationship in the region and it makes the US-Israel relationship sustainable as the "western" point of departure for economic and social development in the Middle East. So, forget Michelle's uncovered head. Tread slowly and privately on human rights in the kingdom. They will come. But, without Saudi cultural, religious and military leadership, the Middle East would collapse. And with it, Israel's future would be in jeopardy.