(NEWS) Israel To Deploy Its Electronic Systems On F-35 Fighter Jets

"Israel and the United States signed a Letter of Offer and Acceptance for the procurement of the F-35 aircraft, manufactured by Lockheed Martin.

The agreement meant that Israel, which is not a partner in the project, has become the first country to order the troubled fifth-generation fighter.



'The F-35 will enhance Israel's ability to defend itself, by itself, against any threat or combination of threats, from anywhere within the Middle East,' Israel's ambassador to Washington, Michael Oren, said.

The U.S. magazine Aviation Week asserted that Israel's F-35 would include a detachable fuel tank and interfaces for Israeli avionics on the aircraft's mission computer.

'It's not for nothing that we have options for additional aircraft,' Israeli Defense Ministry director-general Ud Shani said.

The LOA was signed by representatives of Israel and the United States in New York on Oct. 7. Under the agreement, Israel would procure up to 20 JSF platforms in the first stage of a deal estimated at up to $2.75 billion.

'The Lightning-2 [JSF] will strengthen Israel's national security posture both militarily and industrially,' L-M executive vice president Tom Burbage said.

Under the agreement, Israel would receive JSF from 2015 through 2017. The first batch of aircraft would be similar to those being developed for the U.S. Air Force and not include Israeli subsystems." (source)

(NEWS) Israel Organizing For Multi-Front Regional War

"Israel's military has been preparing for a sustained regional war.

The Military has been restructuring its forces to augment combat units along the borders with Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. Military sources said the units were being reassigned from the West Bank, where they had been conducting police operations.



'One of the most important things is to prepare the Army for the possibility of war in a number of fronts, including the northern front,' Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi said.

The sources said the Army wanted to add at least another 5,000 combat troops over the next year. They said the Army has already reassigned the Kfir Brigade, with about 2,500 troops, from the West Bank to the northern border.

In 2011, the sources said, Kfir would serve alongside more prominent combat brigades such as Givati and Golani. They said Kfir would serve along the Lebanese border and be trained to quickly respond to any hostility from Lebanon and Syria.

The sources said the military has envisioned that the next regional war could last weeks or even months. They cited the prospect that Iran and Syria, with huge arsenals, would be capable of sustaining missile and rocket attacks on the Jewish state.



'The Syrian Army has developed attack capabilities, by combining a number of different threats,' Deputy Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Benny Gantz said on Sept. 20. 'The threats of the past have not changed, but have been added to new, different threats. The scope has grown and the strength is much more significant. This is the trend that the IDF is preparing for, while coping with challenges of mobility and camouflage.'

The sources said the military has intensified efforts to coordinate the Army and Air Force for strike operations. They said infantry units have been coordinating with attack helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles and other platforms.

Israel has assessed that war with Hizbullah and Syria could erupt even before 2011. The sources said this could rapidly spread to a multi-front war that would include the Hamas regime in the neighboring Gaza Strip.

Air-ground cooperation was said to have been a key element in an exercise on Sept. 21 in the Golan Heights along the front with Syria. The sources said the exercise demonstrated an infantry advance accompanied by close-air support.

'In this exercise there has been exceptional cooperation between air and ground forces, where pilots have learned the complexities that the ground forces must deal with, so that they can support them from the air,' Ashkenazi said." (source)

(NEWS) 800 Arrested In Massive Palestinian Crackdown On Hamas, Islamists Throughout West Bank

"The Palestinian Authority has intensified its crackdown on the Islamic opposition.

PA security forces, in what was termed an unprecedented crackdown, have rounded up nearly 800 alleged Hamas supporters over the last two weeks. In the latest security operations, Hamas reported the PA arrest of 35 political operatives throughout the West Bank.



'It has renewed its campaign against [Hamas] leaders and affiliates,' Hamas said on Sept. 13.

The crackdown was also said to have included the Hizb Tahrir movement, which has opposed Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Over the last few weeks, PA forces have raided West Bank mosques during gatherings by Hizb followers as well as sermons by clerics linked to the pan-Islamist movement.

Hamas reported resistance to the PA crackdown against the Islamic opposition. The statement said PA forces were met by stone-throwing Palestinians during a raid in the northern city of Nablus. Hamas said PA units opened fire.

'It will not keep silent for long in the face of the continued arrest campaign and the pursuit of party leaders by security departments in the West Bank,' Hamas said. 'Our patience has begun to run out.'



The crackdown on Hamas was regarded as the worst under the administration of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. The PA arrests were prompted by the Hamas killing of four Israeli civilians south of Hebron on Aug. 31.

Hamas said the PA crackdown took place in virtually every city in the West Bank as well as Jerusalem. Several leading Hamas figures in detention were identified as Palestinian Legislative Council member Hamad Bitawi and political leader Majid Hamami.

Many of those arrested were brought to Jneid prison in Nablus because of overcrowding in other PA facilities. The crackdown was said to have been directed by the PA's Preventive Security Apparatus.

'This is a desperate attempt to quell the resistance,' Hamas said.

The PA has denied Hamas arrest figures. But a senior security source said hundreds of Hamas supporters have been detained and interrogated in the aftermath of two Hamas attacks on Israelis." (source)

(NEWS) Elite US Forces In Israel To Train For Afghanistan

"The U.S. military has been using Israel as a training ground for the war in Afghanistan.

The U.S. military has been sending elite forces to Israel for training in counter-insurgency missions in Afghanistan. The training has been with the Israel Army in such areas as urban warfare, hand-to-hand combat and medical evacuation.



'All cooperation that has to do with imparting shared knowledge is accepted as a blessing,' Israel Army Lt. Col. Tal Lazros said.

In July 2010, Israel and the U.S. military held one of their largest ground force exercises. The Marine Corps sent more than 200 soldiers for three weeks of training to prepare for CI operations in Afghanistan. Much of the training took place at the Army's CI center at Tse'elim. Tse'elim hosts the Mala Urban Warfare Training Center.

'They are really disciplined,' Israeli Cpl. Oren Gordan, who participated in the Marine exercise, said.

Officials said the U.S. military has concluded that Israel served as a suitable training ground for the mission in Afghanistan. They cited topography and climate similar to Afghanistan as well as modern infrastructure and a comfortable environment for Westerners.

'This facility is excellently built,' Marine Brig. Gen. Paul Brier, commander of the force in Europe, said. 'We are used to using the facilities in California and it's great to try new facilities. Our techniques are similar, but we are learning new ways to do things.'

During the Marine training exercise, Israeli and U.S. ground forces marched nine kilometers for most of the night. The two battalions reached the outskirts of a mock village and staged an attack that included mortars and light weapons fire.



'It was my decision, as well as the decision of the American platoon commander, to complicate the training and be able to see if we could successfully work together,' Lt. Oren Gil, commander of the Israeli battalion, said.

The assault highlighted Israeli CI methods as well as the difficulties in joint ground operations. One difficulty was bridging the language gap; another was the differing methods of battle.

'The biggest fear we had was that the Marines wouldn't be able to understand us,' a senior Israeli officer said. 'So from this perspective, it was a very big success.'

Officials said other Western militaries have also sought to use Israel as a training ground for the NATO mission in Afghanistan. In July, the German Air Force spent three weeks learning how to use their new Heron-1 unmanned aerial vehicle acquired for its contingent in Afghanistan.

'Once you were the only country fighting in urban environments and the rest of the world generally did not,' Lazros said 'But today there are the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for example, and there are a lot of lessons we can learn from each other.'" (source)

(NEWS) Israeli Intel Confirms Iran Backing Shi'ite Rebels In Northern Yemen

"Israel has determined that Iran is acting to destabilize Yemen.

The Israeli intelligence community was said to have confirmed reports that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was helping Shi'ite rebels in their war against the regime of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Officials said IRGC was relaying weapons and training to the Believing Youth, which operates in northern Yemen near the border with Saudi Arabia.



'Even now it [Iran] controls bodies that function as a state within a state, in Lebanon, Yemen, the Palestinian Authority, and other places,' Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Ayalon said.

In a broadcast on the state-owned Israel Radio's Persian service, Ayalon said the Iranian regime has sought to dominate the Middle East and other areas. Ayalon also answered questions from Farsi-speaking callers during the Aug. 23 broadcast.

'The Iranian regime spreads instability, supports terror, and oppresses its own people,' Ayalon said. 'It is impossible to accept atomic weapons in the hands of such a regime.'

Officials said Ayalon was reflecting the assessment of the Israeli intelligence community that IRGC has established a presence in Yemen as well as in neighboring Eritrea. They said IRGC was using the Believing Youth to infiltrate neighboring Saudi Arabia, 10 percent of whose population is Shi'ite.

'There's also a possibility that Iran will make a military move against the Arab Gulf states and harm the flow of oil to the world, in which case the entire situation will degrade into widespread confrontations,' Ayalon said.

Officials said Ayalon's address was meant to assure Iranians that Israel was a friend and that the Teheran regime marked a regional threat. They said Ayalon's broadcast was widely heard in Iran and the rest of the Gulf region.

'Israel bears no animosity towards the Iranian people,' Ayalon said. 'We have deep respect and aspire to cooperate with them to bring about a better reality in the region. The problem is intrinsic to the Iranian regime and its conduct, particularly regarding the nuclear issue.'" (source)