By Ryan Jones, Israel Today— Israel’s defense establishment reacted with surprise and a degree of concern on Thursday to US President Donald Trump’s announcement that ISIS had been defeated, and that American forces would therefore be leaving Syria. In fact, the withdrawal of the US military from Syria began even as Trump was delivering his…
By Ariel Kahana, Israel Hayom— There is one good thing about U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw American forces from Syria: The move makes it clear to all those promoting the anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in particular do not in fact run the White House. Yes, this is…
By Raphael Ahren, Times of Israel— The US administration’s planned complete withdrawal from Syria is bad news for Israel both militarily and diplomatically, experts said Wednesday, since it will be leaving a vacuum in the war-torn country that will very likely be filled by Iran. While the US military had only some 2,000 troops in…
By Caroline Glick, Jpost— Israelis woke up Tuesday morning to the news that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had initiated a new campaign called “Northern Shield.” The mission, which began in the middle of the night between Monday and Tuesday, is to destroy attack tunnels that Hezbollah, the Iranian-controlled terror army in Lebanon, has excavated.…
By Ron Ben Yishai, Ynet— At present, Israeli defense officials don’t foresee a military escalation in the north. While the IDF is working to expose and destroy a Hezbollah tunnel—and perhaps several tunnels—in the Metula area, the work is being done inside Israeli territory and neither Hezbollah nor the Lebanese government have any cause to…
By Israel Today— Analysts have been saying for years that it was only a matter of time until Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah terrorist militia were again engaged in open conflict. The events of the past several days have finally woken most Israelis up to the seriousness of those warnings. Over the weekend, Hezbollah deputy secretary…
By Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser, JCPA— The discovery of Hizbullah’s invasion tunnels has removed a critical component of the organization’s and Iran’s plan for war against Israel, expected to break out at some time. The discovery robbed them of the ability to surprise Israel through an offensive (under)ground assault into Israeli territory, which was to…
By Judah Ari Gross, Times of Israel— The Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday launched an operation to destroy a number of cross-border attack tunnels that it says were dug by the Iran-backed Hezbollah group into northern Israel from Lebanon. Announcing the launch of Operation Northern Shield, IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said “a number…
By Tzvi Lev, Arutz 7— A London-based Arab newspaper reports that American and European nations informed Lebanon that Israel will attack the country if the Hezbollah militia continues to develop their long-range missiles. The Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah has been building factories in the heart of Beirut to convert missiles into highly-accurate precision weapons capable of…
By Israel Hayom—- U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly agreed in principle that Iranian forces should exit Syria when they met in Helsinki in July, according to a U.S. administration official familiar with the meeting. However, the official told Bloomberg that the Russian leadership said securing Iran’s withdrawal from Syria would…