Submitted by: M Mulukin
Israel and Greece sign record defence deal.
The Agreement includes a $1.65bn contract for the establishment and operation of a training centre for the Greek air force.
Israel and Greece have signed their biggest ever defence procurement deal, which Israel said would strengthen political and economic ties between the countries as the two countries’ air forces launched a joint exercise.
The agreement includes a $1.65bn contract for the establishment and operation of a training centre for the Hellenic Air Force by Israeli defence contractor Elbit Systems over a 22-year period, Israel’s defence ministry said on Sunday.
The training centre will be modelled on Israel’s own flight academy and will be equipped with 10 M-346 training aircraft produced by Italy’s Leonardo, the ministry said.
Elbit will supply kits to upgrade and operate Greece’s T-6 aircraft and also provide training, simulators and logistical support.
“I am certain that (this programme) will upgrade the capabilities and strengthen the economies of Israel and Greece and thus the partnership between our two countries will deepen on the defence, economic and political levels,” said Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz.
The announcement follows a meeting in Cyprus on Friday between the United Arab Emirates, Greek, Cypriot and Israeli foreign ministers, who agreed to deepen cooperation.
The Israeli and Greek air forces on Sunday launched a joint exercise in Greece, the Israeli military said.
‘Total American collapse’ before Iran in negotiations, say Israeli official.
20 April 2021
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (L) and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov exchanged signed cooperation documents in Tehran, Iran, April 13, 2021.
The Americans have allegedly even accepted the idea of paying Iran compensation for the economic sanctions slapped on the country.
Israeli sources reports a “total American collapse” before the Islamic Republic’s demands during negotiations in Vienna over returning to the 2015 nuclear deal, Israel Hayom reported Sunday.
According to information reaching Israel, the two sides are close to signing a deal to return to the 2015 nuclear agreement.
Russian nuke bombers and fighter jets ‘blitz Ukraine’ in massive military drills as war fears grow.
20 April 2021
RUSSIA has deployed nuclear bombers and fighters in a show of strength as fears of war with Ukraine mount.
Video of exercises ordered by Vladimir Putin show aerial strike training on a “mock enemy” as Russian troops continue to mass on the border. Satellite pictures show thousands of Russian troops massing on the border with Ukraine ready to invade if the Kremlin strongman gives the order.
The concentration of forces has been described as the biggest since the Russian seizure of Ukrainian territory sparked war between them seven years ago.
Pilots practised carrying out air combat, interception and striking air targets at speeds of up to 1,550 mph, at a potential altitude of 12.5 miles. "Tactical techniques were performed at high, low and extremely low altitudes,” said the Russian defence ministry.
More footage shows heavyweight Tu-160 ‘White Swan’ and Tu-95MS strategic bombers as they take off to launch cruise missiles in exercises. The planes are normally based in Saratov in southern Russia, but the exercises were conducted from Komi in the country’s north, with the flights lasting seven hours, according to reports.
The Tu-160 can carry up to a dozen nuclear missiles and unleash them from a distance of 2,175 miles from their target. Il-78 refuelling aircraft were also involved in the drills.
Russia has insisted that its current spate of military exercises across the country pose no threat to its neighbour. The show of strength comes as Russian state TV claimed the takeover of Ukraine's border region was "inevitable".
In the past month, Vladimir Putin has amassed tens of thousands of troops and weaponry to the disputed Donbass area, a Russian speaking area which broke away from Ukraine in 2014.
Kiev has called for NATO membership to protect it from a new war it believes is a real possibility.
Ukraine has threatened to rebuild its nuclear arsenal - which it gave up after the collapse of the USSR a generation ago - if the West refuses to grant it membership of the alliance.
Developing....
Russian Forces Destroyed Terrorists' Shelters Northeast of Syria's Palmyra, Up to 200 Militants Dead.
20 April 2021
MOSCOW Militants created a camouflaged base northeast of Syria's Palmyra, where groups were formed for terrorist attacks and explosive devices were made. Russian Aerospace Forces planes have hit these targets, Rear Admiral Alexander Karpov, deputy head of the Russian Centre for Reconciliation of Warring Parties in Syria, said on Monday.
During a press briefing, he noted that Russian forces received information that "militants set up a camouflaged base northeast of Palmyra, where combat groups were formed to send and carry out terrorist attacks in various regions of the country, as well as the manufacture of improvised explosive devices was set up."
Karpov added that after the location of these objects had been confirmed, air strikes had been inflicted on them by Russian Aerospace Forces.
"As a result ... two shelters, up to 200 militants, 24 pickup trucks with heavy machine guns, as well as about 500 kilograms of ammunition and components for making improvised explosive devices were destroyed," Karpov said.
According to him, "illegal armed groups have planned terrorist attacks and attacks on government agencies in large cities in order to destabilize the situation in the country ahead of the presidential election," scheduled for 26 May.
The terrorists are trained in the camps of the militants, which are located "in the territories not controlled by the Syrian authorities, including in the At-Tanf zone, which is controlled by the US armed forces."
The Russian Defence Ministry's Centre for Reconciliation of Opposing Sides and Control over the Movement of Refugees in the Syrian Arab Republic was created in February 2016. The centre's tasks include the signing of agreements on illegal armed groups and individual settlements joining the regime of cessation of hostilities, as well as coordinating the delivery of humanitarian aid.
Russia's Aerospace Forces has been playing a key role in the military campaign in Syria since its start in 2015, including the defeat of the Islamic State (terrorist group, banned in Russia). At the moment, Russia, Turkey, and Iran are the ceasefire guarantors in war-torn Syria.
Saudis, UAE asked Israel to hit Iranian spy ship, but concealed talks with Iran.
April 19, 2021
Three days after Israel’s alleged April 9 commando raid on the IRGC’s Saviz forward spy ship on the Red Sea, Saudi and Iranian officials were quietly holding their first talks in five years to patch up their quarrel, without Israel’s knowledge.
Reliable military and intelligence sources disclose that Israel agreed to target the ship following a request from Saudi crown Prince Muhammed Bin Salman and UAE ruler Sheikh Muhammed Bin Ziyad [pictured above] to remove this threat to their oil shipping on the Red Sea. After considering the request, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu decided to accede, since safe shipping on the Red Sea was also in Israel’s own interest.
However, the prime minister was not told that Saudi officials were about to launch secret talks with Tehran in Baghdad three days later.
He was taken aback to discover that the Saudi crown prince had sought the Israeli commando raid as a tool for strengthening his hand in the secret talks with Tehran.
Had Netanyahu been apprised of this ploy, he would never have sent the IDF to sabotage the Iranian vessel. The Saviz operation though successful was unfortunate on another score: It got the Israeli government in hot water in Washington.
This episode, along with other pressing Iran-related issues were undoubtedly addressed in the Israeli security cabinet on Sunday, April 18 in its first session since February
The Financial Times disclosure of the new Gulf diplomatic track cited unidentified officials as reporting that the Baghdad talks were positive. “The process is being facilitated by Iraqi prime minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, who held talks with Prince Mohammed in Riyadh last month,” the officials said. “It’s moving faster because the US talks [related to the nuclear deal] are moving faster and [because of] the Houthi attacks.”
A senior Saudi official denied that any talks with Iran had taken place. The Iraqi and Iranian governments did not comment. But a senior Iraqi official and a foreign diplomat confirmed the talks. The first round took place in Baghdad on April 9 and will continue next week.
It appears that the indirect US-Iranian track is also on the move, despite Tehran’s claim to have raised uranium enrichment to 60% purity on the heels of repeated violations of the 2015 nuclear accord.
Israel seems to have been outplayed on two diplomatic tracks, both of which have the purpose of restoring Iran, its arch-foe, to a respectable role in international affairs.
It is no good therefore for Israel to rely on new friends in the Gulf or on its foremost ally, the US under the Biden administration, to rein in Iran’s avowed enmity.
The Jewish State has only itself to depend on. Oh, and the God of Israel too of course!!
Prophetic Milestone - Majority of Jews to Live in Israel by 2030 .
20 April 2021
At independence, Israel was little more than a spark of light--a tiny spark--in the Jewish world. Out of 11.5 million Jews alive on the 5th of the month of Iyyar in the Jewish year 5708, (May 14, 1948), only 650,000, or 6% lived in Israel.
In contrast, the day Israel was founded, some five million, or 43% of world Jewry, were living in the United States.
Fast forward 73 years and that little spark of light is now the sun in the Jewish solar system.
With 6.9 million Jews out of a total of 14.9 million, not only is Israel the largest Jewish community in the world by far, with 47% of world Jewry living within its boundaries, by 2030, the majority of world Jewry will be living in the Jewish state.
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