A decade after Israeli naval commandos stopped a flotilla trying to breach the maritime blockade on Gaza Strip, soldiers involved in the raid say mission intelligence fell short, passengers' violence "was off the charts."
University of Haifa Professor Gabriel Weimann warns that future conflicts "will be fought mostly with a keyboard and a screen and not with tanks, planes or bombs."
Egyptian-Israeli relations are at their best level since the peace treaty was signed, mostly based on common security interests. But something can always go wrong.
In the duration of Israel’s south Lebanon presence, it lost 414 soldiers, as hundreds of SLA fighters and more than 1,000 Hezbollah members were killed.
Amid the chaos of the Syrian civil war, Israel has carried out repeated strikes aimed at pushing back Iranian forces and preventing the transfer of advanced weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
In a region rife with adversaries, Israel considers Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shiite terrorist group, to be its toughest and most immediate threat.
Hamas headquarters in the Gaza Strip is working around the clock to try and recruit operatives in the West Bank while for the time being, health authorities have succeeded in preventing an outbreak in the crowded coastal enclave.
Air-defense battery commander says his team’s motivation and acceptance of the need to stay on base for weeks to avoid spreading infection. “The spirit of the personnel is incredible," he states.
US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper wants to pull out some American troops from the Multinational Force and Observers mission the US heads in the Egyptian peninsula. Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz: The international force in Sinai is important, and the US participation in it is important.
"We are not calling to shut down the mission tomorrow morning but we want them to become more efficient," Israeli ambassador to the UN says of United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. UNIFIL includes more than 9,400 ground troops and over 850 naval personnel in a Maritime Task Force. Its budget from July 2018-June 2019 was $474 million.
