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NATO to Massively Increase High-readiness Forces to 300,000

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg attends a NATO foreign ministers meeting, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium April 7, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/Pool
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg attends a NATO foreign ministers meeting, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium April 7, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/Pool
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NATO to Massively Increase High-readiness Forces to 300,000

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg attends a NATO foreign ministers meeting, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium April 7, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/Pool
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg attends a NATO foreign ministers meeting, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium April 7, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/Pool

NATO will increase the number of its forces at high readiness massively to over 300,000, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday.

"We will transform the NATO response force and increase the number of our high readiness forces to well over 300,000," he told reporters ahead of a NATO summit in Madrid later this week in Madrid.

NATO's quick reaction force, the NATO response force, so far has some 40,000 troops.

At the Madrid summit, NATO will also change its language on Russia that in the alliance's last strategy from 2010 was still described as a strategic partner.

"That will not be the case in the strategic concept that we will agree in Madrid," Reuters quoted Stoltenberg as saying.

"I expect that allies will state clearly that Russia poses a direct threat to our security, to our values, to the rules-based international order."

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Israel Arrests 2 Citizens on Suspicion of Working for Iran

Iranians walk past an anti-Israel billboard bearing a sentence in Farsi reading "Palestine is victorious", at Tehran's Palestine square on January 22, 2025. (AFP)
Iranians walk past an anti-Israel billboard bearing a sentence in Farsi reading "Palestine is victorious", at Tehran's Palestine square on January 22, 2025. (AFP)
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Israel Arrests 2 Citizens on Suspicion of Working for Iran

Iranians walk past an anti-Israel billboard bearing a sentence in Farsi reading "Palestine is victorious", at Tehran's Palestine square on January 22, 2025. (AFP)
Iranians walk past an anti-Israel billboard bearing a sentence in Farsi reading "Palestine is victorious", at Tehran's Palestine square on January 22, 2025. (AFP)

Israeli authorities say they have arrested two Israeli citizens for allegedly conducting missions on behalf of Iran, the latest in a string of similar cases announced in recent months.

A statement from the Israeli police and the Shin Ben internal security agency on Monday said that Yuri Eliasfov and Georgi Andreev, residents of northern Israel, were in contact with an Iranian agent and carried out various missions under his instruction.

The missions included passing on classified military material obtained during Eliasfov’s military service in an air defense unit. It said the suspects also spray-painted graffiti and hung banners with pro-Iranian messages in various locations across the country, all allegedly in return for financial compensation.

The prosecution is expected to file an indictment against them in the coming days.

In September, an Israeli citizen was indicted for involvement in an Iranian assassination plot against top Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. One month later, authorities arrested another Israeli who was allegedly involved in an Iranian plot to assassinate an Israeli scientist.

The Shin Bet says Iranian agents are known to use social media and promises of cash to try to enlist Israelis to carry out such missions.

Israel and Iran’s long-running shadow war has burst into the open over the past year, with the two countries directly exchanging fire in April and again in October.