Amid a spate of Palestinian attacks, Israel’s security forces seek to prevent an explosion of violence

The quick succession of Palestinian attacks on Israeli security forces in the past 24 hours appears to be a chain reaction of unorganized incidents, each one forming the “inspiration” for the next attacker and each attack forming a link in the terrorist chain. Read more

In post-caliphate era, does ISIS still pose a risk to Israel?

In May 2019, ISIS lost its final stronghold in Syria and what was left of its “caliphate”—namely, the territory and population that it had controlled—crumbled. The event was a far cry from its peak in 2012-14, when it controlled entire swaths of Syria and Iraq, and ruled over millions of people. Read more

New Israeli laser system to become latest defence layer against rockets

Israel’s Ministry of Defence announced on Wednesday that its Directorate of Defense Research and Development (DDR&D) has made a dramatic breakthrough in the world of laser weapons technology. Read more

Iran seeks to end direct clash with America and return to an asymmetrical comfort zone

The wave of Iranian ballistic missiles that struck two military bases in Iraq early on Wednesday that house U.S. personnel was a clear Iranian attempt to conclude the current phase of escalation with Washington. Read more

Loss of Soleimani won’t stop Iran’s long-term goal of regional hegemony

Despite the substantial blow absorbed by Iran due to the Jan. 3 assassination of the notorious Quds Force commander, Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, by U.S. military forces, the regime is set to continue its expansion program to dominate the region, Israeli observers have assessed. Read more

Iran crossed red line with Trump administration; US, Israel, region brace for response

The American airstrike assassination of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force commander, Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, in Baghdad early on Friday follows a major miscalculation on the part of Tehran in the decision to up the ante against the United States. Read more

After 50 hours of fire exchanges, Israel waits to see if Gaza Strip stabilizes

A ceasefire that appeared fragile, and which was punctured twice by rocket fire from Gaza, went into effect on Thursday after 50 hours of combat between the Iranian-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror faction and the Israel Defence Forces. Read more

Israel seeks to prevent further escalation on second day of conflict with Islamic Jihad

Israel carefully managed its second day of conflict with Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) on Wednesday, keeping airstrikes focused on the suppression of Gazan rocket-launch squads, as Hamas, despite declarations, continued to sit on the sidelines. Read more

In Gaza Strip, Palestinian Islamic Jihad agitates for violence

Palestinian Islamic Jihad—the second-largest armed terror faction in Gaza after Hamas—is agitating for violence, and is, in fact, the organization that conducted Friday-night’s rocket barrage on the Israeli border city of Sderot. Read more

Palestinian Islamic Jihad, backed by Iran, seeks rocket-launchers in West Bank

Since Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005, Palestinian terror factions have turned Gaza into a major rocket production zone, and they’re trying to replicate some of those activities in the West Bank, so far without success. Read more

‘Entry of radical Islamist forces into northern Syria is disturbing,’ ex-Israeli intelligence official says

Israel has been closely monitoring Turkey’s brutal offensive against the Kurds in northeast Syria in recent days. Read more

Leaving Syria: A blow to US deterrence, a boost to Middle East Islamists

The decision by U.S. President Donald Trump to pull back troops from northern Syria in the face of a likely Turkish offensive against Kurdish forces is a blow to American deterrent power in the Middle East. Read more

Creating options and opportunities for haredi youth to serve in the IDF

A recent political deadlock over the issue of drafting haredi (ultra-Orthodox) youths into the Israel Defence Forces was one of the key reasons that led Israelis to the polls last week for the second time in less than six months. Read more

Blue and White’s focus shifts to unity government option after exit polls

As the clocked counted down the minutes to the initial exit polls at Blue and White Party headquarters, its leaders headed out into the “field,” taking to beaches and shopping centers across central Israel urging potential voters to the ballot box. Read more

IDF foils Hezbollah’s risky attacks and its attempts to secure guided missiles

Hezbollah launched a dangerous attack on an Israel Defense Forces’ base in northern Israel on Sunday—an attack that could have resulted in a rapid deterioration into a larger conflict. Read more

Israel’s campaign to disrupt the Iranian war machine in Syria continues

Israeli Minister Tzachi Hanegbi: There is a “deep struggle” underway in Iran over the country’s ongoing efforts to entrench itself in Syria, and Israel publicized the latest strike to strengthen these voices. Read more

Power struggles over ‘day after Abbas’ rage largely under the surface, for now

In the West Bank, a number of factions, militias and armed terror organizations have been thinking for a while now about the day after the leadership of Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas comes to an end. Read more

Iran is dragging the Middle East into a dangerous standoff

In recent weeks, Iran and its proxies have begun operating under a new directive best described as a policy of controlled escalation. Still, the potential for miscalculation and regionwide conflict has grown considerably. Read more

Nurses on the front line: IDF pilot program aimed at improving battlefield medicine

The Israel Defense Forces’ Medical Corps is in the midst of a pilot program that places nurses and male nurses in combat battalions, as part a series of changes designed to improve the military’s medical services. Read more

Gaza remains highly flammable, despite reports of Israel’s ‘new understanding with Hamas’

According to a report by Israel’s Channel 12 that was aired on Tuesday evening, Israel and Hamas have reached informal new understandings, designed to allow calm to prevail in the next six months. Read more

Gaza and Israel enter shaky ceasefire; many predict it to be short-lived

An ultra-violent yet brief conflict that erupted between Gazan terror factions and Israel came to an abrupt end early on Monday morning, as an unstable ceasefire took hold. Read more

Gantz’s plan for Gaza: After creating deterrence, a regional push to rehabilitate the Strip

Blue and White Party leader and former Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Benny Gantz laid out his own alternative plan for dealing with the Gazan threat during a visit to Israel’s rocket-stricken south on Sunday. Read more

Palestinian Islamic Jihad started a fire in Gaza

The Iranian-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terror organization – the second largest armed faction in Gaza – is responsible for the latest escalation in Gaza and Israel. Read more

‘Your opportunities are limitless,’ NASA astronaut tells Israel Air Force personnel

As NASA astronaut Richard R. (“Ricky”) Arnold projected slides showing images of his time on board the International Space Station, a lecture hall filled with young Israel Air Force personnel sat spellbound, absorbing his every word. Read more

Hamas ‘war of attrition’ against Israel’s south could resume on ‘Land Day’

Hamas is set to hold a mass march this Saturday to the Gazan-Israeli border to mark “Land Day,” an event that has the potential to transform into mass disturbances, which, in turn, could reignite Gazan rocket fire and Israeli military strikes. Read more

IDF pummels Hamas after one rocket attack too many

The Hamas rocket that shattered a village home in the Sharon district of central Israel, north of Tel Aviv early on Monday morning, is an attack that for Israeli leadership represents a step too far. Read more

Rockets on Tel Aviv an escalation that could cost Hamas dearly

Thursday night’s twin rocket attack on greater Tel Aviv from the Gaza Strip marks a dramatic escalation of the security situation that could prove to be highly costly for Hamas. Read more

Can Israel defeat Hamas without toppling it?

So far, Israel’s objectives in armed conflicts with Hamas have been limited so as to avoid the need to reoccupy Gaza or to send it down the “Somalia model” path of chaos. But there might be a third option. Read more

As its popularity is challenged, Hamas keeps watchful eye over its Palestinian rival in Gaza

Tensions between Israel and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip have sparked a number of armed conflicts and smaller scale flare-ups in the last decade. Yet within Gaza there is a web of internal tensions and simmering rivalries between Palestinian factions. So far, these have not posed a threat to Hamas’s iron grip on its enclave, but as its popularity is questioned, that might change one day. Read more

Six years after completion, Israel’s border fence with Egypt has transformed the south

This time six years ago, Israel completed its high-tech border fence with Egypt, marking the start of a transformation in the situation along this restive frontier…writes Yaakov Lappin/JNS. Read more

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