WORLD AT WAR: 6.17.16 - First ever Israeli-Russian war game is coming

First ever Israeli-Russian war game is coming - http://www.debka.com/article/25474/First-ever-Israeli-Russian-war-game-is-coming-

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu decided at their June 7 meeting in Moscow to deepen the military ties between the Russian and Israeli armed forces, debkafile reports exclusively from is military and intelligence sources. It was a historic decision that spells the end of the IDF's unique relationship with the US military.

 

 The head of the IDF's military intelligence branch, Maj. Gen. Hertzi Halevi, and Mossad chief Yossi Cohen also participated in the meeting.

 

 Our sources report that Putin and Netanyahu decided that a joint exercise by the Israeli and Russian naval and air forces will be held this summer as part of the first stage of expanded ties.

 

 It will mark the first time in modern Middle East military history that Russian military planes take off from an Arab country, Syria's Hmeymim airbase, and Russian warships sail out of their bases in Tartus and Latakia, for joint maneuvers with the Israeli air force and navy.

 

debkafile's military sources add that, ahead of the exercise, the joint mechanism that coordinates Russian and Israeli air flights in Syrian airspace will be expanded.

 

 According to those sources, the bilateral decision for the joint war game was tied to an agreement to allow Russian gas companies to compete for contracts to develop Israel's Leviathan and Tamar offshore gas fields.

 

 Netanyahu said June 7 in Moscow, "Our doors are open now to all companies from all countries that have substantial experience in developing gas fields, including Russia of course."

 

 Putin had tried repeatedly to win a foothold for Russian companies, especially energy giant Gazprom, in the development of Israel's offshore gas fields and export industry. The Russian leader tried to convince Netanyahu by saying that the presence of the Russian navy and air force in the area would guarantee that no Arab or Muslim military force, such as those of Iran, Syria and Hezbollah, would attack the gas fields.

 

debkafile's military sources point out that increased cooperation between the navies of the two countries could serve as a basis for regional and economic cooperation and for the defense of any future Gazprom energy infrastructure in the Mediterranean.

 

 In the long term, the combination of Russia's massive warships and Israel's smaller and faster vessels built for rapid response to any attack along its coast, may provide an effective defense of energy assets in the Mediterranean basin, especially in the region of Cyprus, Greece, Turkey and Israel.

 

 These assets would include shipping routes, drilling platforms, gas pipelines and undersea optic cables, among others.

 

 Alongside the advantages, cooperation with a world military power like Russia holds operational, intelligence, tactical and strategic risks.

 

 Although the joint exercise will be of limited scope, it needs advance preparation, a careful division of tasks, missions and resources, assignment of flight paths and sea routes, and goals preset as benchmarks for measuring the joint drill success. Radio and other communication networks must be set up and the degree of intelligence sharing determined. Both the Russian military and the IDF appreciate that this shared maneuver may result in mutual exposure of some of their military secrets.  

 

 To play it as safe as possible, Putin and Netanyahu decided to hold their joint exercise high in the sky and far out at sea, in an effort by both to guard their military secrets as far as possible.

 

1,200 rockets a day in next Lebanon war, officer warns - By Stuart Winer - http://www.timesofisrael.com/1200-rockets-a-day-in-next-lebanon-war-officer-warns/?utm_source=The+Times+of+Israel+Daily+Edition&utm_campaign=7b733146fd-2016_06_14&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_adb46cec92-7b733146fd-54964941

 

Former home front chief says country will need 'mental fortitude' more than military defense in future bout with Hezbollah

 

The former head of the IDF Home Front Command warned Tuesday that in a future war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, Israel could be pounded with over 1,000 rockets a day, far more than the country has endured in any past conflict.

 

"If in the Second Lebanon War the record was 160 rockets in a day [fired] at the northern region, we need to expect up to 1,200 rockets in a day - it will be a completely different scenario from anything we've known," Major-General (res) Yitzhak Gershon, who was home front chief during the last major conflict with Hezbollah in 2006, said in an Army Radio interview published Tuesday. 

 

"We will need mental fortitude more than physical protection," added Gershon, who now commands the IDF's reservist northern region emergency division.

 

His remarks came as Israel marked 10 years since the outbreak of fighting with Hezbollah in Lebanon on July 12, 2006, known as the Second Lebanon War. Sparked by a coordinated attack that left three Israeli soldiers dead and saw two others taken captive, the war, during which Hezbollah lobbed thousands of rockets into northern Israel, continued until a United Nations-brokered ceasefire on August 14. Israeli losses included 121 IDF soldiers and 44 civilians killed. Some 1,200 IDF soldiers and 1,300 Israeli civilians were injured. In 2008 the bodies of captured IDF soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were returned to Israel in exchange for five Lebanese terrorists and the bodies of 200 others killed in Lebanon and held by Israel.

 

Army Radio cited officials who said the defense establishment does not expect Hezbollah to initiate a new round of fighting; however, they assessed, an individual incident could escalate into open war.

 

In March 2015, IDF Home Front Command chief Eyal Eisenberg warned any future war between Israel and Hezbollah would include hundreds or thousands of rockets on a daily basis. Eisenberg spoke during an event marking his stepping down from the post and handing it over to Maj. Gen. Yoel Strick.

 

The citizens of Israel, he said, should be prepared for significant future challenges. According to estimates by the Home Front Command conducted during Eisenberg's tenure, he added, Israel must be prepared for a "blitz of attacks" bringing 1,000-1,500 rockets falling on Israel's home front every day.

 

But Eisenberg said it was not all grim: "Will it be hard [a conflict with Hezbollah]? Can we stand up to them? Definitely; we have no choice."

 

Security pundits cited in Hebrew-language media have suggested that a key aspect of an awareness campaign by the IDF is to keep civilian expectations of Israel's anti-missile capabilities realistic. During the 2014 summer conflict between the IDF and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Palestinians fired over 4,000 rockets at Israeli towns and cities. The Iron Dome anti-rocket system knocked out of the sky many of the projectiles that were heading toward population centers, but Hezbollah's far greater ability to rain down massive barrages of larger, more accurate rockets could overwhelm it.

 

Since the end of the 2006 war the northern border with Lebanon has remained mostly quiet, although four IDF soldiers have been killed. There have been no civilian deaths.

 

On eve of Tel Aviv terror attack, Hamas called Ramadan 'month of jihad' - http://www.timesofisrael.com/day-before-tel-aviv-attack-hamas-calls-ramadan-month-of-jihad/

 

Article by group's military wing says that during religious holiday, a fighter 'dedicates himself to Islam by day, defends Palestine by night'

 

The military wing of Palestinian terror group Hamas called the Muslim holy month of Ramadan the "month of jihad," in an article published on Tuesday - a day before two West Bank terrorists killed four people in an attack in Tel Aviv.

 

According to the watchdog organization MEMRI, which monitors the Arabic-language media, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades's article claims that during the fast month, "the jihad fighter dedicates himself to the study of Islam by day he sets forth to defend his homeland, Palestine, by night."  

 

The article - entitled "Ramadan - The Month of Jihad, Fighting and Victory over the Enemies" - praises "jihad for the sake of Allah [as] the pinnacle of Islam," calling it "one of the best and most noble deeds."

 

The piece also harks back to the 2014 Gaza war between Israel and Hamas, which partly took place during Ramadan. "This month has seen the actualization of exceptional Islamic victories," it says.

 

During the war, the article claims, "the Palestinian resistance, chiefly the Al-Qassam Brigades, fought the most impressive battles of heroism and martyrdom."

 

While fasting, the piece continues, the Hamas military wing "dealt the enemy fatal blows in the eastern parts of the Gaza Strip... and Allah helped them achieve such a great number of victories that they [shattered] the myth of the undefeatable [Israeli] army, expelling it, defeated, from the Gaza Strip."

 

The terrorists, 21-year-old cousins Muhammad and Khalid Muhamra from the West Bank town of Yatta, entered Israel near Beersheba already armed. They then traveled to Tel Aviv, where they carried out their attack at the Sarona Market. Both were caught shortly after the shooting.

 

Hamas said in a statement early Thursday that the two gunmen were members of the organization. It praised the shooting as "heroic" and intimated that more attacks would follow over Ramadan, which started on Monday.

 

Israeli security sources said Sunday, however, that the pair were not members of Hamas or any other terror group, but that they had been "radicalized" recently.

 

 

A Hamas media outlet shared a photo of a traditional Palestinian Ramadan treat being stuffed with a bullet with the caption "Tel Aviv operation."