After snubbing Israel, Turkey to hold defense drills with Syria

Syria said on Tuesday it would hold military exercises with Turkey, shortly after Turkey canceled maneuvers with Israel. Ankara's decision, which was commended by Syria, revived fears of cooler relations between Israel and NATO member Turkey. "We held our first joint land military exercise (with Turkey) last spring. And today we have agreed to do a more comprehensive, a bigger one," said Syrian Defense Minister Ali Habib, speaking at a news conference.

Turkey, a secular Muslim country, has been a key ally of Israel, but ties have been strained over Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's harsh criticism of Israel's three-week offensive in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in December and January. Both Turkey and Israel on Monday denied the cancellation of air force exercises scheduled for this week posed any threat to their long-standing bilateral ties and strategic interests.

more...........After snubbing Israel, Turkey to hold defense drills with Syria - Haaretz - Israel News

'Iran pays, Syria smuggles, and Hezbollah receives weapons'

'Iran pays, Syria smuggles, and Hezbollah receives weapons'
By Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff

The Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday released photographs taken by drone aircraft of the southern Lebanon village where a Hezbollah arms depot exploded on Monday. The photos show persons, possibly Hezbollah operatives, removing something resembling a 4-meter-long missile from the depot, loading it onto a truck and moving it to a hiding place in a different village. A senior military source said on Tuesday that Syria has made a clear strategic decision to make available to Hezbollah every type of military hardware in its arsenal. According to the same source, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon is wary of entering Shi'ite villages in the area and generally avoids trying to enforce UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which forbids Hezbollah from having any arms inside the villages south of the Litani River.

The initial reports of the incident on Monday spoke of an explosion at the home of a Hezbollah operative in the village of Tayr Filsi, east of Tyre, in which five persons were killed. However, Hezbollah and the Lebanese Army maintain that only a single person was injured in the blast, and claim that the explosion occurred during an attempt to deal with unexploded Israeli ordnance. The senior IDF source said that weapons are now being smuggled from Syria into Lebanon on a regular, weekly basis. "Iran pays, Syria smuggles and Hezbollah receives," he explained. According to the officer Hezbollah has tens of thousands of rockets, many of which are kept in about 300 storage facilities spread throughout the 160 or so Shi'ite villages in southern Lebanon.

more............'Iran pays, Syria smuggles, and Hezbollah receives weapons' - Haaretz - Israel News

Israel seals deal with the Czech Republic

I find this very interesting in light of the fact that the Czech Republic is the only nation blocking Lisbon at this point:

Israel Seals Military Deal with Czech Republic

by Hana Levi Julian
Excerpt:

(IsraelNN.com) Israel has sealed a military sales deal with the Czech Republic, it was announced Tuesday.

Czech Defense Minister Martin Bartak told the CTK news agency the nation's military will purchase pilotless reconnaissance planes and anti-terrorism computer technologies from the Jewish State.

The announcement of the deal, worth CZK 20 million ($1.14 million) came following talks on Tuesday with Defense Minister Ehud Barak. At the beginning of September, the two ministers signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at strengthening cooperation between the Czech and Israeli defense forces.