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Israel’s Army Kicks Off Drills on Borders with Lebanon, Gaza

Part of the Israeli army’s military drills conducted in the northern region. (AFP)
Part of the Israeli army’s military drills conducted in the northern region. (AFP)
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Israel’s Army Kicks Off Drills on Borders with Lebanon, Gaza

Part of the Israeli army’s military drills conducted in the northern region. (AFP)
Part of the Israeli army’s military drills conducted in the northern region. (AFP)

The Israeli army launched military drills on Saturday on the borders with Gaza Strip and the northern borders with Lebanon.

According to the army spokesman, dubbed “Hot Winter 2,” the drills on Gaza borders were carried out by the Gaza Division, during which explosions were heard and the army forces and military vehicles were observed.

He affirmed that the drills were planned in advance and aimed at “raising the efficiency and readiness of the army forces and sending a message to the armed Palestinian organizations that Israel is prepared to launch strikes in case of any missile escalation.”

However, the drills on the northern borders with Lebanon were carried out without any prior preparations and will continue until Tuesday.

They are aimed at “strengthening the readiness of fighting units and the army’s logistics for sudden events and various scenarios in the northern arena,” the army noted.

The department of technology, information and intelligence took part in the drills.

Some 8,000 conscripts and 5,000 reservist troops are participating in the drill, the army said, adding that the reservist troops were called up specifically for the drill.

Earlier this month, the Israeli Air Force conducted a series of joint aerial exercises with the US and French military simulating strikes against Iran’s nuclear reactors.

According to the army classifications, the upcoming war “could be partial on one front or could take place on several fronts simultaneously.”

It also divides threats three circles, the first includes border countries and regions such as Lebanon, Syria and the Gaza Strip, while the second includes more distant countries, including Yemen and Iraq, the third includes Iran.

Observers linked the sudden drills on Lebanon's borders and the threats announced by Israeli leaders in the weekend to bombing Beirut airport if it were to be used for smuggling Iranian weapons, as it did with Syria.

Sources in Tel Aviv said Israel is determined to prevent Iran from transferring arms shipments at any cost to Syria or Lebanon.

They pointed out the the visit made by Secretary-General of Lebanon’s Hezbollah Hassan Nasarallah to Damascus and his meeting with President Bashar al-Assad in late November tackled the challenges facing Iran and its Lebanese proxy in Syria due to Israel’s strikes and alternative ways to transfer weapons.

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Tensions Rise between Militias in Western Libya

Members of the security forces deployed in Tripoli, Libya. (EPA)
Members of the security forces deployed in Tripoli, Libya. (EPA)
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Tensions Rise between Militias in Western Libya

Members of the security forces deployed in Tripoli, Libya. (EPA)
Members of the security forces deployed in Tripoli, Libya. (EPA)

Tensions are rising between rival militias in western Libya, with fears that the country could be dragged into an “imminent civil war.”

Armed factions were amassing forces in the western city of Misrata towards the capital Tripoli, while an armed convoy was seen headed towards the Salaheddine area in Tripoli.

Residents of Tripoli's Arba and Souq al-Jumaa districts met with the leaders of armed factions to urge them to bolster their security presence and take preemptive measures to confront the military mobilization.

They stressed the need to counter any threats and block attempts to undermine security.

The Tripoli Protection Force strongly warned members of rival armed factions, including those loyal to the Government of National Unity (GNU), such as Defense Ministry Undersecretary Abdulsalam al-Zoubi, against dragging the capital into a “futile war”.

It accused them of seeking to achieve their “corrupt agendas and seizing power over the blood of the innocents,” vowing that it “won’t allow anyone to meddle with the stability of the capital and threaten the lives of its people.”

It vowed a “violent and unprecedented retaliation to any military advance on Tripoli,” pledging to protect the people “until the last bullet.” It held the GNU and other parties involved “fully responsible for an escalation because of their open or implicit support of these gangs.”

Leaders of revolutionaries brigades in Misrata declared on Saturday their categorical rejection of the Misrata Joint Force towards Tripoli. It accused head of the GNU, Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah, of ordering the mobilization.

They described the mobilization as a “stab in the back to the nation and an attempt to spark a civil war that only serves the enemies of the Libyan people.”

Dbeibah’s “suspicious silence is evidence of treason being plotted” in Tripoli, they added in a statement.

“Any attempt to undermine the security of the capital will be met with fire,” it went on to say, accusing Dbeibah of “selling out the nation” to foreign powers and of working with “suspicious alliances to control the capital and extend his rule by force.”