The Chief of Staff Lt. Col. Aviv Kochavi Speaking tonight (Tuesday) at the opening of the annual international conference of the Institute for National Security Studies at the Tel Aviv University. In addition to the stars, during the three days of the conference, political and security officials from Israel and around the world will take part.
In his opening remarks he said: “The year 2020 is a year of tremendous activity, we have attacked about 500 targets this year“But there are other operations that do not attack targets.” But we intend to abide by international law“.
Kochavi presented the institute’s work: “The INSS is a leading institute in Israel and in the world. In an era of a battlefield populated in an urban environment as well as over Iran. “The IDF operates in at least five arenas and faces six challenges: Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, the Central Iran Command and more.”
He referred to the recent attacks by Israel: “In December, we attacked very extensively in a country called State A, we attacked a production and weapons site there. The next day, the Iron Dome system intercepted two rockets that were on their way to Ashkelon. “South, in response, attacked three targets in the Gaza Strip, one of which is a very significant production target that took away important capabilities for them.”
“We carried out a commando operation in another country and then again attacked the transfer of weapons that was supposed to threaten the State of Israel. In addition, we worked in Judea and Samaria and thwarted terrorist attacks, and thwarted cyber attacks with the GSS, all the actions I described require accurate intelligence, require operational capability and operational capabilities in all circles, and there are risks. Ours in the Middle East, “he added.
He claimed, “Except for Iran, there is no full governance in all arenas, or governance at all. Syria is an example of this and so is Lebanon, where it is not only the government but also Hezbollah. “These arenas take part in the freedom of action we would exercise against sovereign states.”
As for Iran, he clarified that A return to the 2015 nuclear deal, or a similar deal, is a wrong move. “Iran is a global problem, aspiring to be a military nuclear state and possibly make use of it.” However, he explained that “the fact that Iran is unable to control its territory and hold itself sovereign, allows it to move ammunition through it, towards Syria and Lebanon. The chaos that takes place there also affects us. But they perceive us as having the highest intelligence capability and themselves as intrusive. Israel is perceived as carrying out high-level activity throughout the Middle East. “As for Syria, he argued that there is a slowdown in the establishment of the axis,” thanks to the vigorous activity we are carrying out. “
“The overall strategic situation is improving,” Kochavi clarified. “When they decide to perform, they run into difficulties and often decide to abandon, And the important thing we recognize is that none of our enemies and the countries that surround us and are defined as such, do not want to start an operation and a war“.
“Security is not just a use of force. We have set a ceiling in the field of civil policy, a red line, and if the task of returning prisoners and missing persons is not solved – we will not rise from this line. The Gaza Strip may be different than it is, residents of the Strip. “Life, but we will not move beyond this line until the prisoners and the missing return to their homes. We will insist on this more clearly,” he stressed.
As mentioned, the chief of staff’s remarks come a few hours after thwarting an attempted attack near Ariel. Also during the month, a number of attacks were attributed to Israel in Syria, the last of which was last week, in which four Syrian people were reportedly killed. The attack in question took place in a hot city, but during the month similar incidents were also recorded in Deir a-Zor and al-Buchmal.