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Deputy COS Moshe Kaplinsky (Flash 90)
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| By Israel Insider staff July 11, 2007 |
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"We believe, as I personally believe, we needn't expect a war with Syria this summer," said Deputy Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Moshe Kaplinsky Wednesday on the first anniversary of the Second Lebanon War. He added, however, that a miscalculation on the part of the Israeli or Syrian governments could escalate the tension into war.
"We are all concerned over the [possibility of] a miscalculation that could bring about escalation, that is why we are doing everything possible to make our intentions very clear to the Syrians, and to correctly decipher the Syrian moves," he said.
Kaplinsky also warned that Israel must not make light of the current regional situation.
"We cannot ignore what we are seeing: a growing Iranian involvement in promoting regional instability, Syrian involvement in the rearming of the Hezbollah following the war in Lebanon, and the preparatory measures being taken by the Syrian army," he stated, referring to IDF observations that Syria is buying arms and preparing for a possible war with Israel.
"As far as we know, these measures are being taken by the Syrian army defensively. However, the IDF is also stepping up its vigilance and preparedness," said Kaplinsky.
According to Kaplinsky, one of the IDF's top priorities should be preparing and training troops. The deputy IDF chief said that the IDF's main failure in the Second Lebanon War was deficient training of its soldiers.
The IDF is currently trying to remedy the situation by training its reserve and compulsory soldiers. Already this year, around half of all reserve units have gone through training, and Kaplinsky said that by the end of 2007, the IDF would be regularly training some 70 percent of all reserve forces. He also said that the IDF was upgrading old equipment, which had been a problem during last summer's war.
"I took part in general staff operations before the [Second Lebanon] war, and I even led some of them. I have no doubt mistakes were made, but they came alongside successes and achievement. Since [the war] we have undergone an unprecedented process of drawing conclusions which has raised the IDF up several levels in many respects," he said. |
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