Israel Braces For July War With Up To Five Enemies

[FighterFromAfar]

Israel braces for July war with up to five enemies

Monday, June 25, 2007

Israel braces for July war with up to five enemies
JERUSALEM — Israel is preparing for an imminent war with Iran, Syria and/or their non-state clients.

Israeli military intelligence has projected that a major attack could come from any of five adversaries in the Middle East. Officials said such a strike could spark a war as early as July 2007.

On Sunday, Israeli military intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin told the Cabinet that the Jewish state faces five adversaries in what could result in an imminent confrontation. Yadlin cited Iran, Syria, Hizbullah, Hamas and Al Qaida.

"Each of these adversaries is capable of sparking a war in the summer," Yadlin was quoted as saying.

[On Monday, Al Qaida's No. 2 Ayman Zawahiri endorsed the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip, Middle East Newsline reported. The Al Qaida statement came after Zawahiri repeatedly criticized Hamas for tolerating Palestinian Authority cooperation with the United States.]

Yadlin said Hamas could be planning a major attack to divert attention away from efforts by the Palestinian Authority to isolate the Gaza Strip. He said Syria might be promoting such an attack.

Officials said Iran has direct influence over Syria, Hizbullah and Hamas. He said Al Qaida has increasingly come under Iranian influence and was being used by Iran and Syria in such countries as Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon.

Already, military intelligence has assessed that Hamas acquired more than 50 missiles with a range of 22 kilometers. Officials said this would allow Palestinian missile strikes on any part of Ashkelon, the largest city in southeastern Israel and which contains strategic sites.

Hamas has also deployed at least 20 SA-7 anti-aircraft systems, officials said. They said the missiles threaten Israeli combat helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft that conduct missions over the Gaza Strip.

On Monday, Palestinian gunners continued missile fire into Israel. Hours earlier, the Israel Air Force struck an Islamic Jihad squad said to have been driving toward the northern Gaza Strip to launch missiles toward Israel. One Jihad operative was killed and two others were injured.

Israeli military intelligence has assessed that Hamas was being quietly supported by neighboring Egypt. Officials said that despite Egypt's announced ban, Cairo has continued to allow Hamas leaders to enter the Sinai Peninsula from the Gaza Strip.

Over the weekend, officials said, a Hamas delegation led by former PA Interior Minister Said Siyyam entered Sinai. They said the 15-member delegation was escorted by Egyptian security forces to Cairo for a flight to Damascus, where they were scheduled to meet Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Masha'al.

On Monday, Egypt was scheduled to host a regional summit meant to support PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. Israel, Jordan and Abbas were expected to attend the meeting in the Sinai resort town of Sharm e-Sheik.

Copyright © 2007 East West Services, Inc. All rights reserved.
World Tribune.com is a publication of East West Services, Inc.

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Quote:East West Services, Inc. is a privately-owned company which publishes:

* World Tribune.com, a daily Internet newspaper focusing on international news and commentary;

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Owned by Robert Morton:

Quote:Robert J. Morton is Managing Editor of The Washington Times National Weekly Edition and President of East West Services, Inc. which publishes World Tribune.com, Geostrategy-Direct.com and East-Asia-Intel.com. He also organized the re-launch of Insight on the News in November 2005. A former newspaper correspondent based in Tokyo, he obtained a Masters in Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin. He is a Media Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Previous posts include Editor in Chief of the New York City Tribune, Managing Editor of the Global Affairs quarterly and publisher of the Free Press International Report, a bi-weekly newsletter dedicated to geostrategic affairs.

Quote:Robert Morton, the editor of The Washington Times National Weekly Edition and president of East West Services, Inc., which publishes WorldTribune.com, the weekly intelligence digest Geostrategy-Direct.com and WorldTechTribune.com, says he believes U.S. intelligence agencies are too bureaucratic and top-heavy.

But he says private intelligence firms don't necessarily have better performance records than government agencies, because the private firms "don't have the access."

"Their analysis based on open-source intel can be better if they filter the politics out of their estimates," he told WorldNetDaily. "But analysis has become the easy way out for all intelligence operations, public and private. There can be no substitute for hard information from human sources on the ground."

What may help to fix CIA's problems, the <span style="color:#FF0000">former analyst told WND, is "a good critical look by an independent 'red team'" – an outside-the-agency critique.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article....RTICLE_ID=27781


NOTE: From now on, many of my news postings will be accompanied by a Source Check. I couldn't find anything more on this Robert Morton guy. Anyone else heard of him?