According to recent reports Israel’s defense establishment has noted that the Islamic Republic of Iran is trying to improve their air defense systems in areas that the Israeli military has been attacking. These reports claim that Iran is developing an array of surface-to-air missiles in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and other locations, seeking to bring down Israeli aircraft that target Iran and its proxies.

These reports come a couple of days after it was reported that Israel targeted Hezbollah-linked targets in Syria. This came after Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would not disrupt Israeli attacks upon Iranian targets in Syria. According to these reports, Israel hit yet another three more targets in Syria early Monday morning. However, it should be added that during a recent Israeli air strike on Syria, Syrian soldiers fired back utilizing an Iranian-made missile defense system.

Dr. Seth Frantzman, an expert on drone warfare recently published a book titled Drone Wars: Pioneers, Killing Machines and Artificial Intelligence. He noted in a recent article in the Jerusalem Post that the Islamic Republic of Iran and its proxies have also used drones to attack the State of Israel: “In February 2018, an Iranian drone from the T-4 base near Palmyra flew into Israeli airspace. Israel shot it down. In May 2021, another Iranian drone, brought from Iraq, flew into Israeli airspace, and was downed. In August 2019, Israel struck a Hezbollah killer drone team that was operating near the Golan Heights border.”

Other reports verify that the Israeli government has noted an increased use of Iranian drones targeting Israel by Hezbollah, Hamas, and others. Iranian political theorist Dr. Reza Parchizadeh stated in an interview with Israel Today: “The reason for the Iranian regime propping up Syria’s air defenses is that it is anticipating an overwhelming Israeli invasion of Iran’s nuclear facilities soon. The regime knows that once the charade of the Vienna talks for reviving the 2015 nuclear deal is over and there is no more room to play around on the issue, it will have to get entrenched and make the final rush for the nuclear bomb. The ‘props’ in Syria are erected to shut down as many Israeli aircraft as they can before they reach their targets in Iran.”

Sirwan Mansouri, a Kurdish journalist based in the Middle East, concurred in an interview with Israel Today: “It is said that Israeli officials are ready to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities in case of negotiation failure and they even set a budget for it. The talks to rejoin the JCPOA are reaching a dead end and Iran tries to waste time to shorten the needed time for making a nuclear bomb. Although the West and especially the US know this fact, they prefer to solve the problem by negotiations. But the matter for Israel is completely different.”

Israel is more willing to act to stop a nuclear Iran than the US is. Aside from this fact, Mansouri added that the Islamic Republic of Iran is ideologically committed to the destruction of Israel: “Iran never has hidden its intention to target Israel by any means. However, Iran does not have the power on the ground or in the air to defeat Israel, so they have been working on a new capability in recent decades: cyber-attacks and missile systems. Iran has increased its missile range and has acquired new radar capabilities.”

According to Mansouri, Iran has established a missile network system in areas controlled by their proxy groups in Lebanon, Syria and even Libya “to attack Israel in times of danger. Israel knows that Iran is moving to make an atomic bomb and the West knows it as well, but they are more far from Iran than Israel is, so the real threat is towards Israel. Iran also has strengthened its drones, which function as a suicide system. If there is a war, Iran can launch thousands of missiles and drones toward Israel. Although most will be destroyed by the Iron Dome, there will be intense psychological consequences for Israeli citizens.”

Mansouri claims that the West lacks the desire to wage war against Iran’s regime and that the Islamic Republic as well as Israel know this: “So, just one way remains I think and that is Israel must hit Iran’s nuclear facilities hard before it reaches the atomic bomb, so that it destroys Iran’s ability to make a nuclear weapon forever. At the same time, Israel must strengthen its defense system against Iran’s missiles and utilize modern technology such as the F-35 jets to neutralize Iran’s radar system and to use laser-based defense systems against its missiles.”

Nevertheless, Mansouri stressed that Israel does have some advantages in a possible war. He claimed that in the wake of the Abraham Accords, Israel can use the air space of its Arab allies, who are enemies of Iran ideologically, to attack Iran. According to Mansouri, it is also possible for Israel to utilize opposition groups inside Iran, who can “weaken the power of Iran’s regime to act normally and use its ultimate power.”

For example, inside of Iran, Southern Azerbaijanis, Kurds, Baloch, and Ahwaz all have grievances against the Islamic Republic of Iran and have active opposition groups, some of which seek to secede from Iran and establish their own sovereign nations, free of Persian hegemony. Two of these groups, Kurds, and Azerbaijanis, are known to be friendly towards Israel and will be eager to help fight against the mullahs’ regime.

There are also many liberal Persians who seek to have a democratic regime replace the Islamic Republic, as well as some Persian nationalists who would like the son of the former Shah to return to power. Some of them may also be eager to help Israel as well.

In conclusion, Mansouri declared: “I think if there is a war and Israel will attack Iran’s nuclear facilities and military bases using its full power the people’s dissatisfaction inside the country may lead to regime change. The Shah of Iran was a good friend of Israel in the past. Things can be like that again. Iran and Israel do not have to be enemies. If Israel liberates the Iranian people from this regime, then many Iranians will be grateful and help them.”

Source: https://www.israeltoday.co.il/read/report-israel-readying-to-attack-irans-nuclear-facilities-in-case-of-negotiation-failure/

The post Report: Israel Readying to Attack Iran’s Nuclear Facilities in Case of Negotiation Failure first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The Israeli Air Force is currently in the midst of preparations for a broad-ranging exercise in which dozens of airplanes will participate, in preparation for a possible attack on Iran.

According to a report on Channel 11, the exercise will take place in the coming spring over the Mediterranean Sea, and will be held openly. Enhanced budgets have been allotted toward this exercise, which involves, among other things, flights of over 1000 kilometers in length, similar to what pilots would be traveling if they were headed to Iran.

Three months ago, IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi announced that the IDF was accelerating its plans for scenarios involving attacks on Iran – the announcement was made partly as a message to the world in order to convey Israel’s intentions and the seriousness with which it regards the current situation.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday night Defense Minister Benny Gantz departed for Washington D.C., where he will be holding talks with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on possible military options for destroying Iran’s nuclear facilities, in the event that diplomacy fails. The talks between Gantz and Austin follow an October 25 briefing by Pentagon leaders to White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, on the full set of military options available to ensure Iran does not become capable of producing a nuclear weapon.

Gantz is expected to request of the United States that it continue to exert pressure on Iran – via retaining substantial armed forces in the Middle East, as well as taking steps to display its might against the Islamic regime. Israel is working under the assumption that such steps will be seen as more significant if they occur within the timeframe of the nuclear talks in Vienna which are set to resume on Thursday, and that with the talks appearing to have stalled, a show of force could prove effective.

Gantz has also assessed that now is the right time to advance what in the United States is known as “Plan B” – that is, sanctions along with a credible military threat. Prior to leaving for Washington, Gantz met with Kochavi and also with the head of IDF Military Intelligence, in order to be updated on the latest developments with regard to the Iran issue.

Commenting on the aerial exercise, Housing and Construction Minister Zeev Elkin (New Hope) told KanNews, “The aim is for us to prepare for every eventuality. Israel needs to be ready for any scenario; we will not allow Iran to go nuclear. Unfortunately, Israel has shown weakness in the past, and it’s vital that we address the situation alertly now.

“Anyone with eyes in his head can see that the Iranians are trying to entrench themselves in Syria,” Elkin added. “We are doing everything that we can and so far, we have had a large number of successes. I’m not going to relate to anything specific, but Israel has red lines,” he concluded.

Source: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318342

The post Dozens of IAF warplanes to take part in simulated attack on Iran first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

In remarks delivered Tuesday during a visit to Israel’s Northern Command, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Aviv Kochavi spoke out in response to the launching of two rockets from Lebanese territory toward Israel’s Western Galilee region. The IDF said late Monday, early Tuesday local time, one rocket was intercepted by the Iron Dome Defense System, while the other landed in an open field.

The hostilities are the latest to rock the volatile border between Israel and Lebanon, which has undergone a severe economic decline owing to a financial crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, and political paralysis among the country’s ruling class. Kovachi blamed the powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah movement for the dire situation Lebanon faced.

“Lebanon is in the process of collapsing—a collapse Hezbollah has helped cause,” Kovachi said. “But we do not intend to allow, as a result of this collapse, the rocket fire that happened this morning.”

He warned of retaliation seen and unseen.

“We will respond both overtly and covertly to any violation of Israeli sovereignty from Lebanon, whoever it may be,” Kovachi said.

Shortly after the rocket barrage across the border, the IDF said it conducted artillery fire on Lebanese territory.

The attacks from both sides of the border were confirmed to Newsweek at the time by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

“Just before 4 a.m. this morning, UNIFIL radar detected the firing of rockets from an area north-west of Al Qulaylah toward Israel,” a UNIFIL spokesperson said. “Our radar subsequently detected return artillery fire by the IDF.”

The force, which is tasked with patrolling the restive border on behalf of the U.N., said it was working to prevent further escalation.

“UNIFIL is in direct contact with the parties to urge maximum restraint and avoid further escalation,” the spokesperson said. “Our liaison and coordination mechanisms are fully engaged. Together with the Lebanese Armed Forces, we have increased security in the area and have launched an investigation.”

The Lebanese Armed Forces’ Orientation Directorate later released a statement of their own regarding the series of events.

“On 07/20/2021, between the hours of 3.35 and 4.45, the area of ​​Wadi Hamul, Tel Armiz, was bombarded by the Israeli enemy artillery. No casualties or damage were reported,” the statement said. “The area was targeted with 12 155-caliber artillery shells, against the background of the enemy’s allegations that two missiles fell in the occupied territories, originating from Lebanon.”

The Lebanese military then appeared to corroborate the Israeli and UNIFIL account with the discovery of a smoking gun: three devices designed to launch 122mm Grad rockets, one of which had yet to be launched and was subsequently disabled by army units.

A Grad rocket is seen after being discovered July 20 by the Lebanese Armed Forces near Al-Qaliyah, south of Tyre, amid reports of a rocket attack toward Israel and retaliatory Israeli artillery fire against Lebanon.LEBANESE MINISTRY OF INFORMATION

The official Lebanese National News agency also reported Tuesday that Lebanese soldiers had set up checkpoints along roads in the area to check vehicle registration and identity cards.

No nation, group or individual has claimed responsibility for the attacks, which are reminiscent of three similar rocket launches conducted in May amid a raging battle between Israeli forces and Palestinian factions led by the Hamas movement in Gaza. Pro-Palestinian protesters also stormed across the security fence from Lebanon, drawing IDF artillery fire that killed at least one person.

Later on Tuesday, the Lebanese Armed Forces also accused Israel of violating Lebanon’s airspace via an “enemy reconnaissance aircraft” that flew over the southern town of Naqoura.

State-run media recorded further incidents including the firing of a smoke bomb near a shepherd in the Barakat al-Naqar locality outside the town of Shebaa and the firing of weapons in Syria’s Golan Heights, which has been under Israeli control since 1967.

The Lebanese report noted that such activity in the Golan Heights often coincides with Israeli military drills, which the IDF conducted in the disputed region Tuesday.

Like Lebanon, Syria remains technically at war with Israel since 1948, when a coalition of Arab states first went to war over Israel’s establishment on territory also claimed by Palestinians.

Two more Arab-Israeli conflicts were fought in 1967 and 1971, and Israel fought another two conflicts in Lebanon itself, initially taking on Palestinian guerillas and Hezbollah, which remains active today across southern Lebanon.

While the Israel-Lebanon border remains tense, Israel has regularly conducted airstrikes in Syria, which was struck just hours before Tuesday’s rocket launches against Israel from Lebanon.

Asked for comment at the time, the IDF told Newsweek that “we do not comment on reports in the foreign media.”

The Syrian Defense Ministry, however, swiftly blamed the attack on Israel and said most of the incoming missiles were downed by anti-air defenses as they targeted Aleppo province’s Al-Safira region.

On Tuesday, the Syrian Foreign Ministry lashed out at Israel over its alleged involvement in the air raid, accusing the country of aiding militant groups such as the Islamic State and Nusra Front, violating international law, and disrespecting the Eid al-Adha Islamic holiday.

“The Syrian Arab Republic considers this aggression as an Israeli declaration of bankruptcy and a declaration of the defeat of the Western-Israeli subversive project,” the statement said, “and warns ‘Israel’ of the dangerous repercussions resulting from persisting in its attacks under false pretexts, and of its continuous support for armed terrorist organizations, and of its continued occupation of Arab lands, including in the occupied Syrian Golan.”

The ministry called on the U.N. Security Council “to assume its responsibilities within the framework of the United Nations Charter, the most important of which is to maintain international peace and security, to condemn and be held accountable for the blatant Israeli attacks, to take firm and immediate measures to prevent their recurrence and to oblige Israel to respect its resolutions, and to hold it accountable for its terrorism and crimes against the Syrian people.”

Israel has accused Syria of harboring Iran-backed forces setting up forward operating bases and transferring weapons throughout their stated mission of supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his decade-long civil war against rebels and jihadis.

Israel’s ally, the United States, is also active in Syria and has conducted airstrikes against suspected Iran-backed militias in response to rocket attacks against U.S. positions in Iraq. While Washington maintains a partnership with Baghdad, it has severed ties with Assad’s government in Damascus and instead works with a mostly Kurdish militia known as the Syrian Democratic Forces.

As for Lebanon, the U.S. has joined Israel in expressing frustration over the influence of Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah in the country.

On Tuesday, the White House extended a 14-year national emergency with respect to Lebanon “to deal with the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States,” according to a statement that echoed past renewals.

This threat was blamed on “the actions of certain persons to undermine Lebanon’s legitimate and democratically elected government or democratic institutions; to contribute to the deliberate breakdown in the rule of law in Lebanon, including through politically motivated violence and intimidation; to reassert Syrian control or contribute to Syrian interference in Lebanon; or to infringe upon or undermine Lebanese sovereignty.”

“Such actions,” the statement asserted, “contribute to political and economic instability in that country and the region.

And the White House, like in prior years, took particular aim at Hezbollah and Iran.

“Certain ongoing activities, such as Iran’s continuing arms transfers to Hizballah — which include increasingly sophisticated weapons systems — serve to undermine Lebanese sovereignty, contribute to political and economic instability in the region, and continue to constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States,” the statement said.

Israeli soldiers take part in a military drill near Moshav Odem in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights on July 20. Israel seized the territory from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed it in a 1981 move not recognized internationally except for the U.S.JALAA MAREY/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

As Lebanon’s woes continued to mount, the country’s political plight took yet another apparent turn for the worse on Thursday when Prime Minister-designate Saad al-Hariri offered his resignation to President Michel Aoun. Hariri has twice before served as premier and ultimately resigned from his post both times.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken described Hariri’s latest decision to step down as “yet another disappointing development for the Lebanese people.”

“It is critical that a government committed and able to implement priority reforms be formed now,” the top U.S. diplomat said. “The government must also start preparing for the 2022 parliamentary elections, which should be held on time and conducted in a free and fair manner.”

Blinken issued an appeal to Lebanese leaders to overcome their differences for the common cause of salvaging the country.

“Lebanon’s political class has squandered the last nine months. The Lebanese economy is in free-fall, and the current government is not providing basic services in a reliable fashion,” he said. “Leaders in Beirut must urgently put aside partisan differences and form a government that serves the Lebanese people. That is what the people of Lebanon desperately need.”

A Hezbollah flag flutters on the Lebanese side of the border fence with Israel, near the northern Israeli settlement of Shtula on July 20. Israel shelled Lebanon early that same day in response to earlier rocket attacks, the Israeli army said, as the United Nations urged all sides to show “maximum restraint.”JALAA MAREY/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Source: https://www.newsweek.com/israel-threatens-lebanon-over-rocket-attacks-syria-warns-israel-against-airstrikes-1611665?piano_t=1

The post Israel Threatens Lebanon Over Rocket Attacks, Syria Warns Israel Against Airstrikes first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

HEZBOLLAH MEMBERS wave Hezbollah and Lebanese flags during a 2015 rally in southern Lebanon marking the anniversary of the end of the terrorist organization’s 2006 war with Israel… (photo credit: AZIZ TAHER/REUTERS)

Israel’s military will provide anti-missile protection to 20 strategic sites across the country as well as build additional hardened aircraft hangers to protect against the threat posed by Hezbollah’s missile arsenal.

According to a report in Jane’s Defense Weekly, the Israeli Air Force is looking to build an unspecified number of strengthened aircraft hangars at a cost of USD 10 million in an area of about 4,000 m2.

The work will see the construction of about 1.5 km of taxiways, 3.3 km of service roads, 2,150 m2 of auxiliary facilities, 450 m2 of administrative buildings, 1,900 m2 of utility tunnels, and 5,600 m2 of general storage buildings, the report said quoting a notice published on the USU Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) website

In addition, according to a report in Haaretz, the IDF’s Home Front Command will strengthen the protection of several key sites across the country with walls of reinforced concrete, stronger ceilings, blast-proof doors, and anti-shrapnel protection.

The IDF believes that the next war on the northern border will not be contained to one front but along the entire northern border with both Lebanon and Syria. The military also expects that during the next war Hezbollah will try to bring the fight to the home front by infiltrating Israeli communities to inflict significant civilian and military casualties.

Last year the head of the Home Front command warned that 2.5 million Israelis do not have adequate protection from Hezbollah missiles and the government later designated an extra NIS 150 million for work to strengthen buildings around the country from rocket attacks.

In April Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said that while Israel boasts about their missile defense system, it cannot defend the country’s citizens against the threat posed by Hezbollah’s rocket arsenal.
Israel and Hezbollah last fought a war – the Second Lebanon War – in 2006 and has since then morphed from a guerrilla group to an army with a set hierarchy and procedures. While Hezbollah is not believed to possess any precision missiles, it has rebuilt its arsenal since 2006 and has hundreds of thousands of short-range rockets and several thousand more missiles that can reach deeper into Israel.

In an interview with Hezbollah al-Manar, TV Nasrallah on Friday warned that “the 70-kilometer Israeli coast starting from Netanya and ending at Ashdod is under the resistance fire”

Pulling out a map of Israel, Nasrallah pointed to strategic targets, which he said Hezbollah could hit, including Ben Gurion Airport, arms depots, petrochemical and water desalination plants, Tel Aviv and the Ashdod port.

Nasrallah said that there will be “surprises on the ground, in the air and at sea” in the next war between the two enemies, adding that while the Lebanese Shiite group has game-changing weapons.

“Any war will be bigger than the 2006 war for Israel and it will put it on the brink of extinction,”  he warned.

Source: https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Israels-military-to-increase-protection-of-strategic-sites-from-Hezbollah-missiles-595930

The post Israel’s military to increase protection of strategic sites from Hezbollah Missiles first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.