31 mar 2018
Two stealth fighters reportedly flew undetected over Iran, crossing Syria and Lebanon on the way, to conduct surveillance missions on sites believed to be connected to the Iranian nuclear project.
Israeli stealth planes reached Iran and returned without anyone noticing, Kuwaiti daily newspaper Al-Jarida reported Thursday, citing unnamed sources.
According to the report, two IAF F-35 Adir fighter jets entered Iranian airspace last month and conducted reconnaissance flights undetected, crossing Syrian and Iraqi airspace on their way to the Islamic republic.
The flyby was intended in preparation for a possible joint Israeli-American attack in Syria, specifically on Iranian outposts, the report said, without confirming whether the operation was undertaken in coordination with the US army.
The two planes—which are considered to be among the most advanced in the world—flew at a high altitude over sites suspected for a long time to be connected to the Iranian nuclear project, the report added, noting they were not detected at any moment by radar systems in any of the countries they flew over, including Russian radar systems stationed in Syria.
Iran has made no announcement that it spotted such action.
Al-Jarida has in the past uncovered a series of security affairs related to Israel, and has even claimed to receive its information directly from the prime minister's office.
This report comes in the wake of Israel's official admission last week that it was responsible for the 2007 attack on the nuclear reactor in Syria, as well as against the backdrop of mounting tensions with Iran.
Israeli stealth planes reached Iran and returned without anyone noticing, Kuwaiti daily newspaper Al-Jarida reported Thursday, citing unnamed sources.
According to the report, two IAF F-35 Adir fighter jets entered Iranian airspace last month and conducted reconnaissance flights undetected, crossing Syrian and Iraqi airspace on their way to the Islamic republic.
The flyby was intended in preparation for a possible joint Israeli-American attack in Syria, specifically on Iranian outposts, the report said, without confirming whether the operation was undertaken in coordination with the US army.
The two planes—which are considered to be among the most advanced in the world—flew at a high altitude over sites suspected for a long time to be connected to the Iranian nuclear project, the report added, noting they were not detected at any moment by radar systems in any of the countries they flew over, including Russian radar systems stationed in Syria.
Iran has made no announcement that it spotted such action.
Al-Jarida has in the past uncovered a series of security affairs related to Israel, and has even claimed to receive its information directly from the prime minister's office.
This report comes in the wake of Israel's official admission last week that it was responsible for the 2007 attack on the nuclear reactor in Syria, as well as against the backdrop of mounting tensions with Iran.
8 mar 2018
Lebanon has threatened to take military action against Israel if the latter started to build its intended wall in the disputed border area, welcoming any mediation efforts that that will help it restore its rights fully.
According to Arab 48 website, director of Lebanon’s general security Abbas Ibrahim said that if Israel started to build a wall in the disputed border area, what had been decided earlier in this regard by the Lebanese higher defense council would be binding.
Last February, the Lebanese higher defense council gave the green light for all military and armed forces in the country to confront any possible Israeli aggression on land or at sea.
According to Arab 48 website, director of Lebanon’s general security Abbas Ibrahim said that if Israel started to build a wall in the disputed border area, what had been decided earlier in this regard by the Lebanese higher defense council would be binding.
Last February, the Lebanese higher defense council gave the green light for all military and armed forces in the country to confront any possible Israeli aggression on land or at sea.
4 mar 2018
|
3 mar 2018
Through US senator Lindsey Graham, Israel has made renewed war threats against Lebanon at the pretext of confronting Hezbollah and Iran.
Graham said Tuesday, following a trip to the Middle East, that Israeli officials warned him and other lawmakers during his visit to Israel that “should Hezbollah continue to taunt Israel with its threats to assault the country with its growing arsenal of long-range missiles, Israel would have to go to war, according to Haaretz newspaper.
“They've told us in no uncertain terms that if this threat continues — they keep making rockets that can hit the airport and do a lot of damage to the State of Israel — they are going to have to go in,” Graham was quoted as saying to reporters earlier this week.
"Southern Lebanon is where the next war is coming," Graham noted.
Speaking further of his meetings with Israeli officials, Graham said that they had two major requests for American lawmakers, “the first one was military support in the form of ‘ammunition, ammunition, ammunition,’” and “the second was Washington's backing should Israel have to resort to striking civilian targets in Lebanon, where it believes Hezbollah is operating.”
Graham also referred to a report in January that claims that Iran was helping Hezbollah construct a precision weapons factory in Lebanon.
Graham said Tuesday, following a trip to the Middle East, that Israeli officials warned him and other lawmakers during his visit to Israel that “should Hezbollah continue to taunt Israel with its threats to assault the country with its growing arsenal of long-range missiles, Israel would have to go to war, according to Haaretz newspaper.
“They've told us in no uncertain terms that if this threat continues — they keep making rockets that can hit the airport and do a lot of damage to the State of Israel — they are going to have to go in,” Graham was quoted as saying to reporters earlier this week.
"Southern Lebanon is where the next war is coming," Graham noted.
Speaking further of his meetings with Israeli officials, Graham said that they had two major requests for American lawmakers, “the first one was military support in the form of ‘ammunition, ammunition, ammunition,’” and “the second was Washington's backing should Israel have to resort to striking civilian targets in Lebanon, where it believes Hezbollah is operating.”
Graham also referred to a report in January that claims that Iran was helping Hezbollah construct a precision weapons factory in Lebanon.
10 feb 2018
By H. Javan
The sun had barely risen on Saturday, February 10, 2018 when Israel deployed warplanes — reportedly at least two F-16 fighter jets — to conduct an airstrike against a position inside Syria, much as it casually had in the past.
The sun was far from the middle of the sky when it turned out nothing had gone casually this time around.
At least one of the Israeli F-16s was shot with a missile, fired by the Syrian air defense, inside Syrian airspace. It never reported back to base. And shortly afterwards, the Israeli military was collecting its charred remains in northern Israel.
The Israeli regime has conducted military attacks in Syria in the past, most of them incognito, with Tel Aviv refusing to publicly claim responsibility while wishing to be attributed credibility. In retrospect, the Israeli military would have wished to keep the Saturday strike incognito, too. If, that is, that would have been possible.
Little was left of the warplane’s fuselage at its crash site on the ground, images of which appeared first on social media and only hours later on news agency feeds.
The two pilots of the jet parachuted out just in time for them not to die in roasting iron scrap but one of them was seriously injured anyway.
Rocket sirens were also sounded in northern Israel; bomb shelters were opened; and air traffic was halted at the Ben Gurion airport outside of Tel Aviv.
Then came reports of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, constantly holding security meetings with military and other staff, imaginably worried, and struggling to look composed in a political and military field of fight where, with Russian military presence, he has little room to wiggle.
Israeli officials attempted a lot of damage control, from claiming that the Israeli warplane had managed to leave Syrian airspace when it was shot, to saying that they were still investigating the cause of its crash some 24 hours after it was shot down.
Tel Aviv also claimed that the Israeli military had struck 12 more positions inside Syria in response to the downing of the plane.
Israeli officials also attempted to attribute some of the responsibility to Russian technology. The Israeli air force’s second-in-command, Tomer Bar, said “at least four different types of Russian-made air defense systems, specifically the SA-5, SA-17, SA-6 and SA-3” had been involved in the downing of the Israeli F-16.
But all of that did little to help avoid the inevitable shattering of the Israeli military image that had come with the downing of the jet. No Israeli warplane had been downed since the first Israeli war on Lebanon in 1982, and the Israeli military had attempted to capitalize on that fortuitous history to build an image of “invincibility” for its air force.
Which came to naught when the Syrian air defense comfortably acquired a radar lock on the Israeli F-16 (reportedly known in Israel as Sufa) and sent it down in flames and smoke.
Israeli media picked up that motif soon after the attack, with one Israeli columnist calling the downing of the jet “a blow to the national pride of a country that holds its air force as invincible.”
All attention was thus duly on Syria’s air defense performance.
But while the Syrian missile repository may be restocked, and its air defense technology upgraded, the most consequential development may be that Damascus now has adequate attention to spare to confront an aggressive Israel. And that has shaken Tel Aviv.
Syria war winding down means trouble for Israel
Syria first experienced Israeli aggression in 1967, when the Tel Aviv regime occupied parts of the Golan Heights. Then, in September 2007, the Israeli military attacked what it believed was a nuclear facility in Syria’s Dayr al-Zawr, in an operation Tel Aviv never claimed responsibility for.
Ever since, Israeli attacks have occurred every now and then, often targeting what the Tel Aviv regime says are convoys of weapons headed for the Lebanese resistance movement of Hezbollah. Especially since 2011, when Damascus has been busy fighting a foreign-sponsored militancy, the Syrian military has absorbed many of those Israeli attacks.
But the Syrian conflict, as it played out over the past seven years, may now be on the cusp of its final chapter, mainly thanks to efforts by Iran, Russia, and Turkey, which have together steered a peace process for Syria known as the Astana process. Four de-escalation zones have been set up, covering much of Syria, and are being monitored under an arrangement designed by the three guarantor states.
The Syrian Arab Army has also retaken much of the territory that had been overrun by militants. The only parts still to be retaken are Idlib Province, in the northwest, and Ghouta, a suburb of the capital, Damascus.
As the Syrian military finds itself fighting less within Syrian borders, it may be ready to stop the occasional Israeli hit-and-runs.
Sovereign skies
In a statement shortly after the Saturday dawn attack by the Israeli jets on a base in central Syria, a group of forces allied to Damascus said it loud and clear: a “severe and serious” response would now await Israeli “terrorism” — the alliance’s word for the repeated Israeli violations of sovereignty.
One party that signed off on the statement was Hezbollah, the Lebanese resistance movement that has been aiding the Syrian government fight the Daesh terrorist group near Lebanese borders.
Hezbollah is based in Lebanon, where, too, Israel feels comfortable carrying out almost daily airspace violations — what the Tel Aviv regime calls “routine reconnaissance missions.”
And thus, there should be more than one lesson for Israel in the Saturday incident.
Hezbollah called the downing of the Israeli F-16 the “start of a new strategic phase.” As that page has turned, Israeli pilots would be wise to keep one finger on the eject button at all times if they venture into foreign skies ever again.
The sun had barely risen on Saturday, February 10, 2018 when Israel deployed warplanes — reportedly at least two F-16 fighter jets — to conduct an airstrike against a position inside Syria, much as it casually had in the past.
The sun was far from the middle of the sky when it turned out nothing had gone casually this time around.
At least one of the Israeli F-16s was shot with a missile, fired by the Syrian air defense, inside Syrian airspace. It never reported back to base. And shortly afterwards, the Israeli military was collecting its charred remains in northern Israel.
The Israeli regime has conducted military attacks in Syria in the past, most of them incognito, with Tel Aviv refusing to publicly claim responsibility while wishing to be attributed credibility. In retrospect, the Israeli military would have wished to keep the Saturday strike incognito, too. If, that is, that would have been possible.
Little was left of the warplane’s fuselage at its crash site on the ground, images of which appeared first on social media and only hours later on news agency feeds.
The two pilots of the jet parachuted out just in time for them not to die in roasting iron scrap but one of them was seriously injured anyway.
Rocket sirens were also sounded in northern Israel; bomb shelters were opened; and air traffic was halted at the Ben Gurion airport outside of Tel Aviv.
Then came reports of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, constantly holding security meetings with military and other staff, imaginably worried, and struggling to look composed in a political and military field of fight where, with Russian military presence, he has little room to wiggle.
Israeli officials attempted a lot of damage control, from claiming that the Israeli warplane had managed to leave Syrian airspace when it was shot, to saying that they were still investigating the cause of its crash some 24 hours after it was shot down.
Tel Aviv also claimed that the Israeli military had struck 12 more positions inside Syria in response to the downing of the plane.
Israeli officials also attempted to attribute some of the responsibility to Russian technology. The Israeli air force’s second-in-command, Tomer Bar, said “at least four different types of Russian-made air defense systems, specifically the SA-5, SA-17, SA-6 and SA-3” had been involved in the downing of the Israeli F-16.
But all of that did little to help avoid the inevitable shattering of the Israeli military image that had come with the downing of the jet. No Israeli warplane had been downed since the first Israeli war on Lebanon in 1982, and the Israeli military had attempted to capitalize on that fortuitous history to build an image of “invincibility” for its air force.
Which came to naught when the Syrian air defense comfortably acquired a radar lock on the Israeli F-16 (reportedly known in Israel as Sufa) and sent it down in flames and smoke.
Israeli media picked up that motif soon after the attack, with one Israeli columnist calling the downing of the jet “a blow to the national pride of a country that holds its air force as invincible.”
All attention was thus duly on Syria’s air defense performance.
But while the Syrian missile repository may be restocked, and its air defense technology upgraded, the most consequential development may be that Damascus now has adequate attention to spare to confront an aggressive Israel. And that has shaken Tel Aviv.
Syria war winding down means trouble for Israel
Syria first experienced Israeli aggression in 1967, when the Tel Aviv regime occupied parts of the Golan Heights. Then, in September 2007, the Israeli military attacked what it believed was a nuclear facility in Syria’s Dayr al-Zawr, in an operation Tel Aviv never claimed responsibility for.
Ever since, Israeli attacks have occurred every now and then, often targeting what the Tel Aviv regime says are convoys of weapons headed for the Lebanese resistance movement of Hezbollah. Especially since 2011, when Damascus has been busy fighting a foreign-sponsored militancy, the Syrian military has absorbed many of those Israeli attacks.
But the Syrian conflict, as it played out over the past seven years, may now be on the cusp of its final chapter, mainly thanks to efforts by Iran, Russia, and Turkey, which have together steered a peace process for Syria known as the Astana process. Four de-escalation zones have been set up, covering much of Syria, and are being monitored under an arrangement designed by the three guarantor states.
The Syrian Arab Army has also retaken much of the territory that had been overrun by militants. The only parts still to be retaken are Idlib Province, in the northwest, and Ghouta, a suburb of the capital, Damascus.
As the Syrian military finds itself fighting less within Syrian borders, it may be ready to stop the occasional Israeli hit-and-runs.
Sovereign skies
In a statement shortly after the Saturday dawn attack by the Israeli jets on a base in central Syria, a group of forces allied to Damascus said it loud and clear: a “severe and serious” response would now await Israeli “terrorism” — the alliance’s word for the repeated Israeli violations of sovereignty.
One party that signed off on the statement was Hezbollah, the Lebanese resistance movement that has been aiding the Syrian government fight the Daesh terrorist group near Lebanese borders.
Hezbollah is based in Lebanon, where, too, Israel feels comfortable carrying out almost daily airspace violations — what the Tel Aviv regime calls “routine reconnaissance missions.”
And thus, there should be more than one lesson for Israel in the Saturday incident.
Hezbollah called the downing of the Israeli F-16 the “start of a new strategic phase.” As that page has turned, Israeli pilots would be wise to keep one finger on the eject button at all times if they venture into foreign skies ever again.
3 feb 2018
Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper revealed that the Israeli army has decided to establish a new force of ground-to-ground missiles after a long debate over the need for a rocket force with a range of 150-300 kilometers.
According to the plan, the army will be first equipped with a missile system with a range of 150 kilometers that is capable of firing 400 rockets within one hour. At a later stage, missiles with a range of 300 kilometers that can reach targets in Syria and Lebanon will be added.
The project is expected to cost up to $2 billion spread out over a decade depending on the number of missiles the Israeli army will acquire.
This new project comes in view of the escalating tone of Israeli threats against Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel's Minister of Intelligence Yisrael Katz in December threatened that Israel would "send Lebanon back to the Stone Age" in any war that might erupt.
These threats stem from Israeli security concerns over the growing military influence of Iran, Hezbollah's main supporter, in the region.
According to the plan, the army will be first equipped with a missile system with a range of 150 kilometers that is capable of firing 400 rockets within one hour. At a later stage, missiles with a range of 300 kilometers that can reach targets in Syria and Lebanon will be added.
The project is expected to cost up to $2 billion spread out over a decade depending on the number of missiles the Israeli army will acquire.
This new project comes in view of the escalating tone of Israeli threats against Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel's Minister of Intelligence Yisrael Katz in December threatened that Israel would "send Lebanon back to the Stone Age" in any war that might erupt.
These threats stem from Israeli security concerns over the growing military influence of Iran, Hezbollah's main supporter, in the region.
27 jan 2018
The Lebanese Interior Ministry on Friday confirmed Israel's involvement in the car bomb attack that targeted a Hamas official in the southern city of Sidon nearly two weeks ago.
The information office of Lebanon's Interior Minister, Nohad Machnouk, said in a statement that the information division has completed the investigation and it now has the full scenario of the assassination attempt.
The office pointed out that the Ministry was able to find one of the main perpetrators of the crime who admitted that he was tasked by the Mossad to carry out the attack.
Last Tuesday Turkey handed over to the Lebanese authorities the suspect in the failed assassination attempt Mohammed Beitieh. The Lebanese newspaper al-Diyar said that the Turkish authorities decided to hand Beitieh over after they arrested him in Istanbul based on a request by the Lebanese Interior Ministry.
The Information office affirmed that advanced communication devices containing regular letters between Beitieh and those who recruited him were found in Beitieh's house.
About ten days ago, the Hamas official Mohammed Hamdan was injured after his car exploded in Sidon city. Hamas Movement then affirmed that the initial investigation indicates that Israel is behind the attack.
The information office of Lebanon's Interior Minister, Nohad Machnouk, said in a statement that the information division has completed the investigation and it now has the full scenario of the assassination attempt.
The office pointed out that the Ministry was able to find one of the main perpetrators of the crime who admitted that he was tasked by the Mossad to carry out the attack.
Last Tuesday Turkey handed over to the Lebanese authorities the suspect in the failed assassination attempt Mohammed Beitieh. The Lebanese newspaper al-Diyar said that the Turkish authorities decided to hand Beitieh over after they arrested him in Istanbul based on a request by the Lebanese Interior Ministry.
The Information office affirmed that advanced communication devices containing regular letters between Beitieh and those who recruited him were found in Beitieh's house.
About ten days ago, the Hamas official Mohammed Hamdan was injured after his car exploded in Sidon city. Hamas Movement then affirmed that the initial investigation indicates that Israel is behind the attack.
26 jan 2018
Turkey has handed over a suspect in last week’s bomb attack, which targeted a leading Hamas member in the Lebanese city of Sidon, to Lebanon, a Lebanese newspaper announced Thursday.
"The intelligence branch of Lebanon’s Internal Security Agency has received Ahmed Bitiyya, a suspect in last week’s assassination attempt on Hamas member Mohamed Hamdan," al-Diyar Lebanese newspaper reported.
According to the newspaper, Turkey decided to hand over Bitiyya to the Lebanese Interior Security after he was arrested in Istanbul upon request by the Lebanese authorities.
Lebanese security forces have subjected Bitiyya to investigation to identify a group of four individuals suspected of involvement in the January 14 bomb attack, which targeted Hamdan in Sidon.
Based on the investigation, the four suspects had fled outside Lebanon.
"The intelligence branch of Lebanon’s Internal Security Agency has received Ahmed Bitiyya, a suspect in last week’s assassination attempt on Hamas member Mohamed Hamdan," al-Diyar Lebanese newspaper reported.
According to the newspaper, Turkey decided to hand over Bitiyya to the Lebanese Interior Security after he was arrested in Istanbul upon request by the Lebanese authorities.
Lebanese security forces have subjected Bitiyya to investigation to identify a group of four individuals suspected of involvement in the January 14 bomb attack, which targeted Hamdan in Sidon.
Based on the investigation, the four suspects had fled outside Lebanon.
14 jan 2018
A Palestinian official was reportedly injured on Sunday in a car bomb blast in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon.
Sidon mayor told Voice of Lebanon radio that the blast took place as the injured man, identified as Mohammed Hamdan, opened the door of his booby-trapped car, adding that no one else was hurt in the explosion.
Hamas movement, talking to Lebanese media outlets, denied the news that one of its leaders was killed in Sidon attack.
For his part, the Hamas official in Sidon Ayman Shana'a said that Hamdan, who is a senior Hamas official, was taken to the hospital for treatment after being slightly injured in the leg.
Sidon mayor told Voice of Lebanon radio that the blast took place as the injured man, identified as Mohammed Hamdan, opened the door of his booby-trapped car, adding that no one else was hurt in the explosion.
Hamas movement, talking to Lebanese media outlets, denied the news that one of its leaders was killed in Sidon attack.
For his part, the Hamas official in Sidon Ayman Shana'a said that Hamdan, who is a senior Hamas official, was taken to the hospital for treatment after being slightly injured in the leg.
Page: 2 - 1