Contents tagged with Israel

  • Netanyahu: Friendship with Putin is important for Israel’s safety

    A friendly relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin is important for Israel’s safety, stated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reports the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.

    He noted that he supports “frequent friendly contact” with Putin which is marked with “mutual respect.”

    “This relationship is important for the safety of Israel,” stated the prime minister.

    It was also reported that earlier Putin and Netanyahu scheduled their first meeting since the incident on September 17th, …

  • Israel resumes flights for F-35I after inspection

    Israeli Air Force fully resumed flights for its F-35I fighters after completing technical inspections following the crash of an American F-35B aircraft at the end of September in South Carolina, reported the press service for the Israel Defence Force.

    “Israeli Air Force Commander Amikam Norkin ordered the return of the F- 35I to full activity in the Air Force after a professional inspection of all aircraft,” states a military communique. “Checks were done after the incident in the US, we …

  • Media: Russian S-300 systems in Syria to be operated by Iranian specialists

    The S-300 anti-air missile systems which Russia has sent to Syria will be operated by Iranian specialists, a source connected to US and Israeli intelligence told DEBKAfile.

    The Israeli military intelligence website notes that Russia was clearly planning to let Iranians operate the anti-air defense system all along, since it sent Syria S-300PMU-2 systems, exactly the same model which Iran received from Russia in 2016. Iranian operators are currently being transferred to Syria.

    Russia chose to …

  • Israeli Air Force resumes flights near Syrian borders

    On Monday, October 8th, four Israeli F-16 fighter jets flew near the borders of Syria through the airspace of Lebanon, reported by Interfax with reference to the data provided by Western aviation resources.

    It is noted that the Israeli fighter jets were seen near the Lebanese city of Tripoli.

     After approaching the borders of Syria in the sky over Lebanon, they made a U-turn and left in the opposite direction, towards Israel.

    At the same time, as indicated by Interfax, the air traffic …

  • Russia deploys troops and S-300 missile systems to Syrian Deir ez-Zor as Iran leaves the area

    After the forces of Bashar Al-Assad and his allies took control of several areas in Deir ez-Zor province, Iran has attempted to strengthen its military and religious presence in the area.

    However, according to the Euphrates Post which reports on the developments in the area, pro-Iranian militias withdrew from their bases in the cities of Mayadin and Abu Kamal while Russian troops have moved in these areas.  Euphrates Post reports that the Russian military arrived on Saturday along with their …

  • Netanyahu and Putin agree to meet

    For the first time since the Israeli air raid on Syria and the incident with the Russian IL-20 reconnaissance aircraft, erroneously shot down by Syrian air defense, the leaders of Russia and Israel have managed to agree on a meeting.

    Haaretz reports that the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu informed the Israeli government about the forthcoming meeting with Putin. Speaking at the meeting of Israeli government in Jerusalem, Netanyahu expressed condolences to the families of Israelis …

  • Israel: Russian S-300 missile systems are not capable of defeating F-35 fighter jets

    The Israeli Minister for Regional Cooperation, Tzachi Hanegbi said on the army radio that Russian S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems, which Moscow supplied to Damascus, will not be able to detect F-35 fighters, reports Haaretz.

    “You know, we have stealth-fighters, the best planes in the world. These batteries (S-300) are not even able to detect them,“ he said. As the newspaper notes, the first F-35 arrived in Israel in 2017.

    Russia decided to transfer the S-300 to Syria, after the Syrian …

  • Media: Israel provides evidence that it was not involved in Russian Il-20 crash

    “Images showing the locations of the air targets from the radar screen", which the Russian Defense Ministry used as a proof of Israel’s responsibility in the Il-20 crash, were fabricated, writes the Haaretz newspaper referring to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) sources.

    The IDF said that on September 17, four Israeli F-16 fighters fired missiles at the target in the Syrian province of Latakia from the airspace east of Cyprus at 21:42. Four minutes before that, at 21:38, the Israelis warned the …

  • Israel claims that Hezbollah with the help of Iran is creating missile factories in Lebanon

    The Israeli military claims that the Hezbollah is attempting to build infrastructure in Beirut to improve surface-to-surface missiles and develop them into guided missiles. The Israel Defense Force press service published photos on Thursday, taken from the air over several districts in the Lebanese capital and provided commentary to the photos.

    “For over a year the Hezbollah is trying to build infrastructure to convert surface-to-surface missiles into precision-guided missiles in the area of …

  • Israel promises to destroy Russian S-300 missile systems in Syria if they are used against Israeli aircraft

    Defense Minister of Israel Avigdor Lieberman said that any anti-aircraft systems that fire at Israel’s aircraft will be destroyed. “If someone starts shooting at our aircraft, we will destroy them. And we don’t care if it was S-300 or S-700,” he said.

    Meanwhile, according to Lieberman, Israel is not very worried about the presence of Russian S-300 missile systems in Syria. “The most important thing is that the defense systems supplied by Russia to Syria are not  used against us,” the minister …