Israel training for war with Iran, Syria?
Pastor Dale Morgan
Israel training for war with Iran, Syria?*
Palestinians claim army conducted exercises in West Bank city
Posted: March 2, 2007
News from Israel
TEL AVIV – Israel this week conducted military training exercises in a
Palestinian city for a possible war scenario against Syria or Iran, top
Palestinian intelligence officials claim.
The Israeli government denied the claim.
The Israel Defense Forces today completed a week-long, large-scale
operation in Nablus, the largest West Bank Arab city. The operation,
codenamed "Hot Winter," utilized four IDF battalions, reservists and
border police guards and purportedly was aimed at arresting top wanted
terror leaders in the city.
Nablus is a stronghold of several major Palestinian terror
organizations, most notably the Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad and the Al
Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the declared military wing of Palestinian
Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party. The Brigades and Islamic
Jihad are responsible for every suicide bombing in Israel the past two
years.
During the large operation, the IDF did not arrest any top terror
suspects, but the army said it found three weapons factories as well as
an arms cache.
One top Palestinian intelligence official said he found the operation
"unusual" in that it involved a rotation of Israeli forces and "didn't
achieve anything militarily as far as fighting terrorism."
"On the ground you had a massive number of soldiers who seemed to be
conducting drills. They were in the city the entire week with units
switching. Normally week-long military operations utilize the same units
and don't keep switching troops. In the end, after a week of a major
military presence, what did the IDF get as far as fighting terror in
Nablus?" commented the top official.
"The operation was very clearly an urban warfare training exercise,
likely for a confrontation with Syria or Iran," the official claimed.
Another top Palestinian intelligence official said, "Nablus happens to
resemble very closely as a model the city of Damascus."
A spokeswoman for the IDF denied Palestinian claims the large operation
was for war training. She said the Israeli army arrested 11 militants in
Nablus this week, although she said they were lower-level and did not
include any members of Israel's wanted list.
Abu Nasser, the second-in-command of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in
Nablus, said that no members of his group or the Islamic Jihad terror
organization were arrested during the Israeli operation.
"It didn't feel like we were even being targeted," Abu Nasser said.
The claim of Israeli training follows reports in the Israeli media last
week Syria, aided by Iranian officers, has been boosting its army and
navy. The reports, denied by Damascus, claimed Syria last week was
moving troops closer to the border with Israel.
Israeli security officials said that Israel is not expecting
confrontations with Iran or Syria. Speaking theoretically, they said if
any war breaks out involving Iran, they expect Syria, Hezbollah and
Palestinian terrorists to join the fray and attack Israel.
The security officials said the greatest threat Syria poses to the
Jewish state are the country's missiles. They noted Syria recently
test-fired two Scud-D surface-to-surface missiles, which have a range of
about 250 miles, covering most Israeli territory. The officials said the
Syrian missile test was coordinated with Iran and is believed to have
been successful. It is not known what type of warhead the missiles had.
In addition to longer range Scuds, Syria is in possession of shorter
range missiles such as 220 millimeter and 305 millimeter rockets, some
of which have been passed on to Hezbollah.
According to information received by Israel, Russia is set to conclude a
deal worth several hundred million dollars transferring thousands of
advanced anti-tank missiles to Syria. Anti-tank missiles used by
Hezbollah during Israel's war in Lebanon last summer devastated Israeli
tanks and caused the highest number of Israeli troop casualties during
the 34 days of military confrontations.
Last week, a senior officer from the intelligence unit of the Israeli
Defense Forces announced Hezbollah is stronger today than before the
2006 Lebanon war.
"Hezbollah has reinforced and it is stronger today than it was before
the war in Lebanon," Gen. Yossi Beidatz, head of the IDF's intelligence
research department, told the Knesset.
During the war in Lebanon, Hezbollah fired more than 3,000 rockets into
northern Israel, killing 39 civilians and devastating many northern towns.
Beidatz also said Syria is reinforcing its military to prepare for the
possibility of a new armed conflict in the region.