Iranian military assets located along Israel’s northern border have more than doubled in size since 2018, a new report claims.
The research was compiled by the Istanbul-based Jusoor for Studies, which is linked to Syrian fighters opposed to President Bashar al-Assad.
The report states that from 2018, the number of military bases and outposts used by Iranian terror proxy Hezbollah and Shiite militia groups supported by the Islamic Republic increased from 40 to 88. It claims this is in preparation for a potential future confrontation with Israel.
The proliferation comes after Russia, the United States, Jordan and Israel signed a 2018 agreement seeking to decrease Iran’s presence on the Syrian Golan Heights.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Sunday said he would use his first meeting with President Joe Biden to make the case that the US should not re-join the Iran nuclear deal.
Bennett and Biden are set to hold talks on Thursday during the Israeli leader’s first official visit to Washington, D.C. since assuming office in June.
Incendiary balloons were launched at Israel from the Gaza Strip on Sunday night, it has been reported.
IDF soldiers stationed in the area are said to have heard explosions when the crude devices exploded and a number of fires in southern Israel were reported, although it has not been confirmed these were linked to the balloons.
The latest apparent attacks came after violent riots on the Israel-Gaza border on Saturday that resulted in an Israeli soldier sustaining critical injuries after being shot in the head at point-blank range by a Palestinian.
The escalation prompted Egypt to close its Rafah crossing to the Hamas-ruled coastal enclave in a move that was announced on Monday.
Dani Dayan, the former Israeli consul-general to New York, has been appointed the new chairman of the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum.
Thanking Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton for tapping him, Dayan promised to use his tenure to “reject all forms of distortion” about the Holocaust.
He explained: “On our shoulders rests the responsibility to research and educate, to document and disseminate, to validate fact-based historical truths about the Holocaust and reject all forms of distortion, in order to safeguard the memory of the Shoah and to ensure that the Jewish people and humanity will forever continue to remember this event.”
Dayan’s succeeds Avner Shalev, who resigned as chairman last June after nearly 30 years in the role.
Most Israeli children will return to school as scheduled on September 1, with Defense Minister Benny Gantz announcing that vaccinations will be offered for youth aged 12 and older, subject to parental approval, in a bid to curb coronavirus cases.
At least 6,000 reservists will be called up to carry out mass serological testing, which shows whether a person has built up antibodies from a previous infection.
However lessons will only resume in places where at least 70 percent of students are vaccinated or have antibodies, while the remaining schools will offer online classes.
According to plans released on Sunday, parents will also be given at-home testing kits and will have to sign a note stating their child is negative for COVID-19.
Israel’s Health Ministry reported 6,467 new infections on Monday. The total number of cases since the start of the pandemic is set to top 1 million by Tuesday.
Recommended Reading
- A ‘Nervous’ Abbas Steps up Crackdown on Critics (Khaled Abu Toameh, Jerusalem Post)
- CAIR Lectures Media About Accurately Quoting Jihadists (Steven Emerson, Algemeiner)
- Will Polish Anti-Restitution Law Permanently Harm Ties With Israel, Jewish Community? (Dmitriy Shapiro, Jewish News Syndicate and Israel Hayom)
- Entebbe in Person: A New Oral History Challenges Official Account of 1976 Rescue (Judah Ari Gross, Times of Israel)
- Bahrain’s Jewish Community Celebrates Its First Bar Mitzvah in 16 Years (Ben Sales, Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
