The Jerusalem Post reported on Thursday that the IDF has received intelligence that the Iranian backed Shi’ite terror militia Hezbollah, which controls Lebanon, has taken advantage of the chaos in neighboring Syria to acquire stocks of highly sophisticated military equipment, including highly accurate air-defense and long-range surface-to-surface missiles. IDF chief of the general staff, Lt. General Benny Gantz warned of the proliferation of advanced weapons to terrorist groups during his address at the NATO summit in Brussels on Wednesday. “Only through joint work combining tough and soft power can we deter and in the long term overcome these radical elements,” Gantz said. “The initiative needs to come earlier by exhausting all of the available means to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.” Meanwhile, the tempo of training for the IDF has increased dramatically in recent months, as was seen on Tuesday when the IDF paratroopers carried out a brigade-level parachute jump, the first time such a massive exercise has been conducted in 15 years. "We are restoring a capability that we once had," Paratroopers Brigade commander Col. Amir Baram told reporters "We cannot know what will happen in the changing Middle East.”
Turkish media reports Iran planning to attack US
A report in the Turkish media on Wednesday indicates that the Quds Force, a special unit of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) tasked with carrying out terrorist acts in pursuit of the Islamic Republic’s foreign policy goals, is preparing to send a team of commandos into Turkey to carry out attacks on various targets, possibly including the US embassy, consulates. The report also states that gunman from the Lebanese Shi’ite terror militia Hezbollah might also be used in the operation. The reports cite a wave of anti-Turkish statements by Iranian politicians and generals in recent months, mostly in response to Turkey’s agreement to host a NATO air defense radar and its criticism of Syria’s president Bashar Assad, Iran’s main Arab ally.
Radioactive material stolen in Egypt
Egypt’s state-run Al-Ahram newspaper reported on Thursday that radioactive material was stolen from the site of the Dabaa nuclear power plant during violent protests there last week. The site on Egypt's Mediterranean coast is still in the construction phase and protesters demanding it be moved clashed with police, prompting most of the workers to refuse to approach until things had calmed down, creating an opening for the thieves to move in. In related news, Egypt’s military ruler Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi held talks with Iraqi Defence Minister Saadun al-Dulaimi on Wednesday, with talks centering on “training Iraqi officers and exchanging military expertise.”
Moslem Brotherhood website filled with anti-Israel hate
The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), issued a report Wednesday on Ikhwanonline.com, the Arabic website of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, showing that it is filled with anti- Semitic and anti-Israel content, in contrast to the adamant denial of anti-Semitism by many of the groups spokesmen. The articles cited include denunciations of Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel, Holocaust denial and articles which warn Muslims against the “Jewish character.” In November, Dr. Abd Al-Rahman Al-Bar, a member of the Brotherhood’s General Guide Office and the International Union of Muslim Scholars, wrote on the website that the Palestinian cause “will remain a prime concern for the ummah [the Arab world], until Allah heralds the end of the racist state of occupation, and until the last of the people of our ummah fights the swindling Jews and their armies and delivers the land from their wickedness.”
Israeli-Arab MK praises ‘martyrs’
A video has surfaced on the internet showing Israeli-Arab MK Ahmed Tibi (UAL-Ta'al) at a Palestinian Authority event honoring Palestinian’s who have been killed during clashes with Israeli security forces or while carrying out suicide bombings. In the video, Tibi declares, "there is no greater source of praise…in the history of nations and their conflicts, the martyr is the ultimate source of pride." The martyr, he added, is "the symbol of the homeland" and for Palestinians, "there is nothing more praiseworthy than those who die for the homeland."
Growing crisis in Gaza as human rights activist stabbed
Mahmoud Abu Rahma, International Relations director at the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, who has published several essays critical of the Islamist terror militia Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, was is reportedly in critical condition after being stabbed multiple times last Friday evening. According to colleagues, it was the second violent attack against him in the last few weeks. “Who will protect the people from the wrongful acts of the resistance and the government?” Abu Rahma asked in a recent article, referring to the use of Palestinian civilians as human shields in their fight against Israel, as well as incidental victims of other violence in the Strip which the Hamas authorities largely ignore. Meanwhile, Israeli aircraft and tanks engaged a group of gunman attempting to place an improvised explosive device near the Gaza Border fence near Beit Hanoun on Wednesday, killing one and critically wounding another, according to Palestinian medical sources.
For the latest intelligence report on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, click HERE (PDF)
