WarSclerotic

‘IDF must be vigilant on northern front amid S… JPost – Defense.

    The situation in Syria is unstable and the IDF needs to keep a watchful eye on daily developments along its northern front, Commander of the Israel Air Force Maj.-Gen. Ido Nehushtan said Wednesday.

“We are following events in Syria all the time because what happens there could impact the region,” Nehushtan said during a briefing at the Palmachim Air Force Base in central Israel.

Nehushtan’s comments came as Israel is increasingly concerned about the possibility that Syria will transfer advanced weaponry, such as long-range missiles and sophisticated surface-to-air missile systems to Hezbollah in Lebanon. Hezbollah has been reported to be making efforts to transfer such weapons from Syria over concern that they could potentially be lost if Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime is toppled.

Summing up 2011, Nehushtan said that the IAF carried out hundreds of air strikes, thousands of sorties, tens of thousands of flight hours and around 30 interceptions of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip by the Iron Dome counter-rocket defense system.

Asked about recent comments made by US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and US Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey regarding the nuclear threat posed by Iran, Nehushtan refused to comment.

“The IAF will continue over the coming year to monitor the challenges that Israel faces and to provide security for the people of Israel,” he said.

This entry was posted on December 21, 2011 at 8:25 PM and is filed under Uncategorized. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.