Showing posts with label border. Show all posts
Showing posts with label border. Show all posts

Friday, July 12, 2013

Egyptian army kills dozens of Hamas gunmen

Egyptian army kills dozens of Hamas gunmen

Thursday, July 11, 2013 |  Israel Today Staff  
The Egyptian army's new offensive against terror organizations operating in the Sinai Peninsula is well under way, and one of the groups paying a heavy price is Hamas.
Many expected Hamas to suffer as a result of the recent ouster of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood, which is the parent organization of Hamas.
Over the past several days, Egyptian military officials told Arab media that some 200 gunmen had been killed during battles in Sinai, including at least 32 members of Hamas. The Palestinian group uses the peninsula to smuggle arms and other goods into the Gaza Strip, from where it wages war on southern Israel.
However, the situation remains volatile, and the Egyptian army has asked Israel for a green light to increase its forces in the Sinai. Under the terms of the Camp David Accords, Egypt is permitted to maintain only a very small force in Sinai so as to not threaten Israel's southern border.
Israel is expected to respond positively to the request, as it considers today's Egyptian military leadership to be a partner in the fight against radical Islamists.
There were hints that the Egyptian army could even strike Gaza itself. One official told an Arab newspaper that the Egyptian army had been frustrated by Hamas fighters who use tunnels running under the border to quickly attack Egyptian forces and then retreat to the safety of Gaza.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Israel 'has had enough' of Syrian fire on Golan


Israel 'has had enough' of Syrian fire on Golan

Wednesday, May 22, 2013 |  Israel Today Staff  
Israeli and Syrian forces clashed in the Golan Heights on Tuesday in the most intense border incident since the start of Syria's civil war.
Syrian forces, both those belonging to the regime of Bashar Assad and rebel groups, have fired into the Israeli Golan Heights on a number of occasions over the past year. But until Tuesday, nearly all of those cross-border violations were classified as accidental.
For the first time in decades, Syrian officials on Tuesday confirmed that the Syrian army had purposely engaged Israeli troops on the border. The Syrians claimed to have destroyed an Israeli patrol vehicle, though Israel denied that it had suffered any casualties in the firefight.
Images published by the Hebrew press showed a Syrian force firing into Israel, and then being destroyed by an Israeli missile.
Shortly after the battle, Israeli army chief General Benny Gantz visited the area and stated that Israel "has had enough" of the cross-border attacks, and will make Assad pay.
It is still widely believed that Assad has no desire to provoke a full-scale war with Israel, knowing full well that he cannot fight both the Jewish state and the mounting rebel threat inside his own country. However, Gantz and other Israeli officials expect isolated cross-border incidents to increase significantly in the coming weeks.
PHOTO: IDF chief Gen. Benny Gantz surveys the Golan border region.