Three years ago, an IDF officer stood on the Golan Heights at the Bustar military outpost on the border with Syria and explained to The Jerusalem Post how the military had recently formulated new rules to deter combatants in the civil war raging next door from firing on Israel.
Those who fire on Israel can expect a devastating reply in the form of return fire, which often took the form of Tamuz guided-missile strikes, the officer said.
“We don’t always know if we’re fired on intentionally or not. It doesn’t interest us. If someone fires on us, it’s not okay,” he said, speaking in October 2013.
Israel now uses its air force, not just surface-to-surface missiles, to punish those who fire into its territory. Last week, the Israel Air Force struck Assad regime artillery guns on no fewer than three occasions, in response to stray mortar shells fired from Syria that exploded on the Israeli side of the Golan Heights.
A new policy appears to have taken shape in which Israel cracks down harder on the Assad regime when it, or its allied forces, accidentally fire shells into Israel, including the one that struck 15 kilometers inside Israeli territory last week.
But Israel wants the Assad regime to be more careful.
The last time Iran and Hezbollah attempted to exploit their presence on the Syrian Golan to set up a terrorist base against Israel they paid a heavy price, losing several senior operatives from the Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah in a reported Israeli strike, and neither has tried its luck against Israel from Syria since.
The last time Iran and Hezbollah attempted to exploit their presence on the Syrian Golan to set up a terrorist base against Israel they paid a heavy price, losing several senior operatives from the Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah in a reported Israeli strike, and neither has tried its luck against Israel from Syria since.
That, however, could change.
Israel will continue to closely monitor developments, and prepare for all possibilities while seeking to keep itself out of the bloodletting.
Israel will continue to closely monitor developments, and prepare for all possibilities while seeking to keep itself out of the bloodletting.
Days before the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, terror group Al Qaeda has released a video referring to the day as a “slap” to the U.S. and calling on jihadis to carry out more attacks on U.S. soil.
Al Qaeda’s media wing Al Sahab released the video online featuring the group’s current leader Ayman Al Zawahiri in a 20-minute address to Al Qaeda loyalists along with archived footage of the group’s former leader Osama Bin Laden.
"As long as your crimes continue, the events of 9/11 will be repeated thousands of times, by the will of Allah. And we will follow you – if you don't cease your aggression [against us] – until the Day of Judgment..., " he says.
Referring to the events of 9/11 as the “blessed raids,” Zawahiri boasts at both the economic and human toll the attacks had on the U.S. which are still felt by Americans today.
The fourth hijacked plane, United Flight 93, he reminds viewers, was headed towards "the biggest criminals in the White House or the Congress."
"We inform every weakened [person] in the world: America is the source of calamity and the head of evil in this world, and it is the thief of nations' ailment, and it is the one who humiliate the Africans [i.e. African Americans] until this day, and no matter how much they try to reform and obtain their rights according to the law and the [U.S.] constitution, they will not attain it, for the law is in the hands of the white majority, [who] control it as they wish. And they [i.e. African Americans] will not be saved but by Islam," Zawahiri says.
He urges Muslims around the world to rebel against their leaders and to strengthen their attacks on the U.S., arguing that with the fall of the U.S. many of her allies will fall too.
The military exercise proceeds as tensions continue to mount over the contested waters with the Obama administration demanding that China submit to the ruling of The Hague international tribunal invalidating Beijing’s historical claim.
China and Russia will hold an eight day series of war games in the South China Sea near Guangdong province starting on Monday according to a statement by the People’s Liberation Army Navy.
The massive military exercise code-named "Joint Sea-2016" will feature destroyers, submarines, fighter jets, shipborne helicopters and marines according to the Chinese Navy’s official website. The countries will join forces in practicing defense, rescue and anti-submarine operations in addition to "island seizing" demonstrations.
Additionally marines will participate in live-fire exercises, defense and landing maneuvers in what is billed to be the single largest joint military operation between the two countries’ naval forces. The plan comes after China announced in July, before the situation in the South China Sea had fully escalated, that Beijing and Moscow planned to join forces in a “routine” naval exercise.
In recent weeks, China has signaled that they plan to reclaim the Scarborough Shoal and recommence island building operations to which Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte warned that his country was willing to engage in "bloody conflict" if Beijing didn’t back off while also signaling that he hoped to work to China to come to some sort of diplomatic agreement.
Leading American think tanks, including the notorious RAND Corporation have also begun laying out the template for a war with China even taking to the pages of major publications to openly lobby for preemptive military action against Beijing substantially raising the stakes over the disputed waters.
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