“Our military and diplomatic power is at unprecedented level. We must use it to secure our interests in the future.”
By TPS with EJP
JERUSALEM—“The gravest threat we face is not the third Lebanon war, but the first northern war – simultaneous conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon, Syria and Iran, which Hamas in the south is likely to join,” warned IDF Maj-Gen (res.) Amos Yadlin, formally the head of the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate.
Speaking while presenting Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on Wednesday with the 2019 Strategic Assessment from the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) which he currently heads, Yadlin noted that “Israel of 2019 is a strong country, the IDF is extremely powerful and deters our enemies. The challenge is to take this strength and use it to reinforce the correct policy.”
The INSS research highlights the major political and diplomatic issues facing Israel in the near future. On the list of leading threats by severity, the INSS’s 2019 Strategic Assessment includes war with all the enemy forces and on all fronts in the north: Iran in the Golan Heights, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Syrian regime, military conflict in the south with Hamas in Gaza, and a deterioration of the situation in Judea and Samaria.
Iran’s military build-up in Syria remains a red line for Israel, which has carried out hundreds of attacks to thwart the Iranian entrenchment in the war-torn country.
Iran uses its positions in Syria to transfer weapons and infrastructure to its terror proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah, while attempting to establish another military front against Israel from the Syrian Golan Heights.
The IDF concluded this week its Operation Northern Shield to expose and neutralize Hezbollah’s cross-border tunnels. It detected and destroyed six such tunnels over the course of five weeks of activity.
President Rivlin declared : “Our military and diplomatic power is at unprecedented level. We must use it to secure our interests in the future. The annual assessment and the policy recommendations it includes are, together, a clear-sighted document that does not balk at leveling criticism at our decisions, deeds and deficiencies. At the same time, it is clear that the assessment does not point to genuine concerns for the future and security of Israel. Because of that, the Strategic Assessment is a shining light of patriotism and civil courage of the first order.”