Reports About Iranian Plan to Invade Israel

Hezbollah fighters during the funeral of a member killed in an Israeli airstrike in the southern town of Aita al-Shaab on August 23 (AFP)
Hezbollah fighters during the funeral of a member killed in an Israeli airstrike in the southern town of Aita al-Shaab on August 23 (AFP)
TT

Reports About Iranian Plan to Invade Israel

Hezbollah fighters during the funeral of a member killed in an Israeli airstrike in the southern town of Aita al-Shaab on August 23 (AFP)
Hezbollah fighters during the funeral of a member killed in an Israeli airstrike in the southern town of Aita al-Shaab on August 23 (AFP)

Security circles in Tel Aviv warned on Friday of an Iranian plot to “invade” Israel and shower it with a belt of fire from all fronts, from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank, and from Lebanon and Syria to Iraq and Yemen.

The circles criticize Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying that he recently revealed the plan by Tehran, but is doing nothing to confront it except giving speeches.

Ben Caspit, the political correspondent for the Maariv newspaper, who conveyed the warnings of the security circles, said that Iran and Hezbollah have taken control of the CERS Institute, the center of the Syrian military industry, which produces chemical weapons and accurate missiles.

The Israeli Alma Center for Defense Research stated in a study last year that the real purpose of CERS is to develop weapons for the regime in Syria, and that it operates under the cover of a civilian scientific research center. The study claims that the institute includes secret military facilities that serve the Syrian and Iranian armies and Hezbollah.

The Maariv correspondent, Ben Caspit, quotes a military official as saying that a tunnel network is being dug from Damascus International Airport, leading to various storage and concealment sites in Syria, in order to “circumvent” the Israeli Air Force’s bombing operations.

The tunnel network will allow Hezbollah to evade Israeli strikes and accelerate the movement’s expansion, he says.

A reserve brigadier general confirmed, according to Maariv, that Iran and Hezbollah have been using the drug smuggling route in the border triangle between Jordan, Syria and Israel, for the purpose of transporting weapons and combat equipment.

Caspit slammed the Israeli prime minister for “doing nothing” except for giving speeches.

He added that when there was a need to launch a preemptive strike on Hezbollah on Sunday morning, Netanyahu chose the easiest option he received from the army, but later instructed to water down the response, to prevent any potential escalation on the northern front.



Chinese Navy Survey Ship Entered Japanese Waters, Japan's Defense Ministry Says

A Chinese naval Z-9 helicopter prepares to land aboard the People's Liberation Army (Navy) frigate CNS Huangshan (FFG-570) as the ship conducts a series of maneuvers and exchanges with the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Sterett (DDG 104) in the South China Sea June 16, 2017/Reuters
A Chinese naval Z-9 helicopter prepares to land aboard the People's Liberation Army (Navy) frigate CNS Huangshan (FFG-570) as the ship conducts a series of maneuvers and exchanges with the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Sterett (DDG 104) in the South China Sea June 16, 2017/Reuters
TT

Chinese Navy Survey Ship Entered Japanese Waters, Japan's Defense Ministry Says

A Chinese naval Z-9 helicopter prepares to land aboard the People's Liberation Army (Navy) frigate CNS Huangshan (FFG-570) as the ship conducts a series of maneuvers and exchanges with the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Sterett (DDG 104) in the South China Sea June 16, 2017/Reuters
A Chinese naval Z-9 helicopter prepares to land aboard the People's Liberation Army (Navy) frigate CNS Huangshan (FFG-570) as the ship conducts a series of maneuvers and exchanges with the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Sterett (DDG 104) in the South China Sea June 16, 2017/Reuters

A Chinese Navy survey vessel briefly entered Japanese territorial waters on Saturday, Japan's defence ministry said.

The ship was detected in Japanese territory off the coast of Kagoshima Prefecture, in the southwest of the country, at around 6 a.m. local time (2100 GMT Friday), and had departed by 7:53 a.m., the ministry said on its website, Reuters reported.

This is the tenth time over the past year that a Chinese Navy survey ship has sailed through Japan's territorial waters, and the 13th time if submarines and intelligence-gathering vessels are included, according to national broadcaster NHK.