Monday, February 3, 2014

For Israel Is This The 'Calm Before The Storm'?

Israeli soldiers leave after an operation near the West Bank village of Bilin, near Ramallah October 22, 2013. Credit: REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman

Israel Wages 'War Between Wars' As Mideast Threats Simmer -- Reuters

(Reuters) - Watching old Arab enemies reel with sectarian insurgencies and international diplomacy capping the Iranian nuclear drive, Israel's military is confounded by a new challenge: quiet.

The relative tranquility, for Israel at least, poses its own dilemma for commanders tasked with preparing for an array of potentially unpredictable future adversaries while trying to stave off steep cuts to their budget.

With no hostile armies massing nearby, Israel's strategic position is "one of the best it has ever been", military chief Lieutenant-General Benny Gantz told the IDC Herzliya college, venue for one of several security conferences held this week.

But Islamist guerrillas abound on its borders and the internal strife in neighboring Syria and Lebanon often spills over, raising tinderbox incidents every few days, Gantz said.

Read more ....

My Comment: War and conflict has been in the Middle East since the beginning of time .... this "quiet period" for Israel will probably last only a short time.

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