Israel Stages Largest Snap Exercise In Years, During Jewish Holiday Season

The Telegraph reports:

Thousands of soldiers were summoned from their homes during the night after the Jewish new year holiday and flown to the territory, which Israel captured from Syria during the Six-Day War of 1967. The unannounced manoeuvres come a week before Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, addresses the United Nations General Assembly in New York where he is expected to give warning that time is running out to prevent Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon. Mr Netanyahu has engaged in increasingly bellicose rhetoric towards Iran in the past few weeks, raising fears that Israel could strike against its nuclear facilities unless the United States explicitly threatens military action of its own. With many in the United States and Israel believing that military action cannot be delayed beyond next year, Israeli generals are visibly escalating efforts to ready the armed forces for conflict. But speculation of an Israel attack over the next few weeks has faded in recent days and a military officials were quick to insist that the exercise was "part of a routine inspection" that "does not indicate any changes" in the country's alert levels.

Tweet