170,000 Missiles Currently Aimed at Israel - Abe Katsman - http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-London/2014/06/11/170-000-Missiles-Currently-Aimed-at-Israel
Terror groups are now pointing well over a hundred thousand missiles at Israel, a top IDF officer told listeners at the Herzliya Conference, as reported by Israel National News.
Itai Brun, director of research in the Israel Defense Forces Intelligence branch, said that terror groups have more than replenished their supply of missiles in the periods since Israel last took military action against them. Brun noted that, a year and a half after Israel delivered a crushing blow to Hamas in the 2012 Operation Pillar of Defense, there were now hundreds of long-range missiles in Gaza - and that between Hezbollah, Hamas, and the other Gaza terror groups, there were now 170,000 missiles aimed at Israel.
Replenishing its missile supply was also a chief aim Hezbollah after the 2006 Lebanon War, in which Hezbollah attacked Israel with thousands of rockets. The campaign has been very successful, Brun said.
Brun explained to hundreds of listeners at the Conference Monday that though a majority of those rockets were of the shorter-range Kassam variety, things are changing for the worse. "Until now the terror groups had no guidance systems and could only approximate targets, but they are improving their aim, thanks to technology. Iran has been very helpful to them in this regard," he said.
Regarding Iran, Brun said that so far, the Iranians were keeping to the agreements they had made. But, he warned, make no mistake - Iran is doggedly preparing for a "great war" against Israel.
Brun added that Iran was also working hard to make its mark on Syria, where 80% of the forces fighting the Syrian government forces of Bashar al-Assad had an Islamist agenda. Many of the victories in the revolution, however, have been achieved by secular groups. It is those secular militias which are currently in control of areas of Syria bordering Israel.
Saudis 'arming jihadists' seizing Iraqi cities - Aaron Klein - http://www.wnd.com/2014/06/saudis-arming-jihadists-seizing-iraqi-cities/?cat_orig=us
Militants threaten to take Baghdad, holy Shiite shrines
Jordanian and Syrian regime sources are fingering Saudi Arabia for arming the jihadist group that reportedly has seized control of two key Sunni-dominated cities in Iraq.
Sources from both regimes say the Saudis are a driving force in supporting the group called the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which Wednesday reportedly seized control of Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's former hometown.
One day earlier al-Qaida-linked jihadists took control most of the city of Mosul.
On Thursday, Iraq's government released a video showing what it said were airstrikes targeting the jihadist strongholds.
Hours earlier, Abu Mohammed al-Adnanin, an ISIS spokesman, threatened to march on Baghdad.
Adnanin also said his group would take control of Karbala and Najaf, setting off sectarian concerns since the cities house some of the holiest sites for Shiite Muslims.
Syrian regime sources told WND Thursday the Saudis view the failure to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during a three-years-long insurgency as a victory for Assad's ally, Iran.
The sources said the Saudi kingdom is supporting the Iraqi jihadists, particularly ISIS, in a bid to offset Iranian dominance in Iraq and the region and to gain a Sunni stronghold in the strategic area.
The Jordanian regime sources told WND they fear the sectarian violence will spill over into their own country as well as into Syria.
ISIS previously posted a video on YouTube threatening to move on Jordan and "slaughter" King Abdullah, whom they view as an enemy of Islam.
The Jordanian sources explained President Obama's reported reluctance to assist in airstrikes in Iraq. The sources claimed striking along the Iraq-Syria border would cut off the supply line to rebels fighting in Syria.
On Thursday the New York Times reported that last month the Obama administration rebuffed a secret request from Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, who was concerned over jihadist gains, to consider military airstrikes against extremist strongholds.
Israel Will Use "Force" Against Iran - Lea Speyer - http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/16358/idf-chief-israel-will-use-force-iran/#KuysTvXitrQCW5za.97
"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." (Psalm 46:1)
IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz warned of the growing security challenges facing Israel at the annual Herzliya Conference.
Gantz argued that the Syrian civil war, which has now entered its fourth year, poses a serious threat to Israel. According to Israeli intelligence, Gantz revealed that Russia is arming the Syrian army under the control of President Bashar Assad.
According to Gantz, rule of law in Syria "is crashing like a house of cards. As long as Assad is there, we won't see a meaningful solution because they [the rebels are fighting against him and not for the future."
The chief of staff warned of two major dangers Israel faces from the Syrian conflict. The first is Assad's strengthening relationship with radical Iran and Hezbollah. The second is the ever increasing, far reaching Global Jihad Islamist terror movement.
Hezbollah, which threatens Israel from the north in Lebanon, has aligned itself with Iran, a global sponsor of terrorist. Estimating Hezbollah's strength, Gantz said "there are maybe four or five countries (in the region) with more fire power than Hezbollah. They have a tremendous fire power which covers all of Israel."
"In Israel you can be drinking coffee at nine in the morning, and by four in the afternoon be at war," warned Gantz.
Touching upon Iran's nuclear program, Gantz made clear that Israel would not stand idly by should Iran continue to seek nuclear weapons.
"It's possible to earnestly prevent Iran from achieving a nuclear weapon - by force or not by force...It's preferable without force, but if there is no choice it is possible by force. The main thing is that they don't reach the nuclear threshold," he stated.
Gantz believes that the Islamic Republic, which is currently engaged in nuclear talks in Geneva with world powers, is putting on a façade and is not sincere in giving up its nuclear ambitions.
"Iran will try to preserve its abilities to restore its nuclear program in the future, and to advance it. It couldn't ignore the voice on the street (of the Iranian public), so it was forced to open dialogue with the international community while not giving up on its vision," Gantz argued.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei echoed these same sentiments in January when he called nuclear talks "stupid and idiotic" and confirmed that Iran was merely stalling for time.
IDF gets set to target 50,000 Al Qaeda fighters piling up around Israel in Syria and Iraq - http://www.debka.com/article/23984/Gantz-IDF-gets-set-to-target-50-000-Al-Qaeda-fighters-piling-up-around-Israel-in-Syria-and-Iraq
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz's cryptic remark Monday, June 6, that "The Israeli Air Force will next month dramatically change its mode of operation," meant that a decision has been taken to start directing the IAF's fire power against military and terrorist targets in the Syrian and Iraqi arenas - in particular the al Qaeda forces foregathering ever closer to Israel's borders with Syria, Iraq and Jordan. By aerial fire power, the general meant not just warplanes but also Israel's long-range unmanned aerial vehicles and helicopters.
He was lecturing to the Herzliya meeting of the Interdisciplinary Center's policy and strategy institute.
On May 28, foreign sources were quoted as reporting that the Israeli Air force had shut down its last AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters squadron, which had served manly for strikes against armored and ground targets. Instead, lighter and cheaper drones have been commissioned for use against those targets.
Asked what he meant by "a dramatic change in the IAF's mode of operations," Gen. Gantz replied: A different kind of enemy is at our door. It is "more mobile, better at concealment and comes from farther away."
If we count the jihadists present in the northern part of the map (.i.e., north of Israel) and add them to those scattered in the south and east (Iraq, Jordan and the Sinai Peninsula), we come to a total of 50,000 armed Islamist fighters, he said..
So how do we handle them? Two divisions? That may work for the Gaza Strip. But this enemy is widely scattered and not susceptible to our usual military tools. Still, we are obliged to deal with this menace and "we also have the opportunity to do so."
That was all the chief of staff was ready to say on the subject.
He made it clear that conventional military divisions are obviously no use for combating Al Qaeda's 50,000 terrorists because they are not a standing, regular army deployed on fixed front lines. They move around stealthily in deeply remote desert regions and wadis, which are often unmarked even on military maps.
But they do have command centers, some of them mobile, and are beginning to take over strategic points in Syria and Iraq, including main road hubs, bridges, small towns and oil fields and pipelines.
The intelligence to support aerial combat against these targets is also different from the kind which supported the IDF hitherto.
Gen. Gantz touched on this when he said: "We understand that we must turn to a method of warfare that hinges on intelligence, which means bringing our intelligence into those places."
In other words, before Israeli aerial vehicles approach jihadist targets, Military Intelligence Corps combat field units must be on hand, operating over broader stretches of terrain than ever before.
All this adds up to the IDF and IAF undergoing a process of radical change in its military-air-intelligence strategy, which, say debkafile's military sources, brings them close to the American methods of operation in Afghanistan and Pakistan to be introduced after the US troop withdrawal at the end of the year.
It is safe to assume that the two armies will work together in close rapport in the war on Al Qaeda.
The Gantz doctrine has not been accepted by all of Israel's generals and commanders. On May 21, former Navy Chief, Brig. (Res.) Elie Merom made bluntly critical remarks on what he referred to as the "monopoly on firepower in depth" which Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon proposed to award the IAF. He said this imbalance was unhealthy, that the air force has many limitations and putting all one's eggs in one basket is asking for glitches and uncertain consequences.
Merom added: "These days, automatic fire can be initiated from any platform just as well and accurately as from airplanes. It's also cheaper."
A kind of competitive dispute has sprung up among the IDF's top generals and commanders over whether it is the task of the armed forces to define and locate targets for the air force to strike, or whether other combat units can manage to provide firepower of the same quality, efficacy and precision as the air force.
Israel: Hezbollah is now stronger than any Arab army - By Nicholas Blanford - http://news.yahoo.com/israel-hezbollah-now-stronger-arab-army-161239663.html
Israel's top military officer warned today that Hezbollah is more powerful than most of the world's armies and that a confrontation between Israel and the Lebanese Shiite militant organization was a near certainty.
While the threat posed by conventional Arab armies has diminished in recent years, Israel now faces highly mobile enemies like Hezbollah, skilled in asymmetric warfare and equipped with advanced weapons systems, Gen. Benny Gantz said. However, the massive destruction Israel can inflict on Hezbollah's assets and Lebanon's infrastructure continues to deter Hezbollah from overt aggression against Israel.
"Bring me four or five states that have more firepower than Hezbollah: Russia, China, Israel, France, and England," he told Israel's annual security-oriented Herzliya Conference. "What is this enormous power that they [Hezbollah] have that can cover every area of the state of Israel?"
Gantz's comments reflect Israel's longstanding concern about Hezbollah's growing might, which has soared in terms of weaponry, technology, and personnel since the two enemies last fought each other in open war in 2006.
Last week, an anonymous Israeli intelligence officer wrote in Israel's Maarachot military magazine that in the next war, Hezbollah would not merely defend against an Israeli invasion but could make a "ground offensive and multi-pronged attack on Israeli territory."
In the past eight years, the Iran-backed group is believed to have acquired GPS-guided Syrian-manufactured missiles fitted with 1,100-pound warheads with ranges of at least 150 miles. That puts Tel Aviv within range of the Lebanese border. It also has drones that can carry dozens of pounds of explosive. In October 2012, a drone operated by Hezbollah penetrated Israeli airspace in the south before being detected and shot down by Israeli jets.
Hezbollah's reconnaissance and communications capabilities have also improved. Fighters serving in Syria use thermal imaging cameras to monitor rebel movements and prepare ambushes, including one in February that killed 175 rebel fighters near Otaiba, east of Damascus. It has built a few dozen training camps across the Bekaa Valley in recent years to process the steady influx of new recruits.
But the most significant change may be the crucial combat experience Hezbollah's cadres have gained from fighting in Syria's war on behalf of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Hezbollah is credited with helping turn the tide against the rebel forces in the past year, granting Mr. Assad the confidence to hold a presidential election last week that saw him earn his third seven-year term in office in a poll widely derided by the Syrian opposition and the West.
"Iran is investing a lot in Hezbollah in Syria.... Hezbollah is involved up to their necks in it," Gantz said.
It is fortunate for Israel that Hezbollah's attention is divided between domestic politics, military preparations against Israel, and its intervention in Syria, Gantz said. Fear of a damaging war has served as a mutual deterrence.
"Hezbollah is like a state and they know exactly what is going to happen in Lebanon if they start a war with us, and that this would set Lebanon back decades," he said.
Despite that, tensions rose in February and March after an Israeli airstrike on a Hezbollah facility in the Bekaa Valley. The target was a 2,450-sq.-ft. utility building, possibly a temporary arms storage facility, beside a track used by Hezbollah to smuggle weapons into Lebanon from neighboring Syria, according to comparisons of satellite imagery on Google Earth.
It was the first Israeli air attack against Hezbollah in Lebanon since 2006. In response, Hezbollah detonated a roadside bomb against Israeli troops on Lebanon's southern border. It is also thought responsible for staging three other attacks against soldiers in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, wounding four.
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