Israel is the first country in the world to have flown the U.S.-made F-35 stealth fighter jet in combat, the commander of the Israeli air force said on Tuesday in remarks carried by the IDF’s official Twitter account.
Israeli jets have continued to strike targets in Syria following the recent Iranian missile barrage against IDF posts in the Golan Heights, a senior Israel Air Force officer said on Tuesday.
Israeli Air Force jets targeted underground terror infrastructure in the northern Gaza Strip early Wednesday morning, the IDF said. Two further targets belonging to Hamas naval forces in Gaza were also targeted.
Israeli police were gearing up for another possible day of mass Palestinian protests Friday, with officials saying that the points of friction may move from the Gaza border to the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday hosts for the second time in half a year a summit of the world’s main pan-Islamic group seeking to show solidarity with the Palestinians and condemn Israel after deadly clashes at the Gaza border Monday in which some 60 Palestinians were killed by IDF fire.
Fifty of the Palestinians killed in a protest in the border region between the Gaza Strip and Israel earlier this week were Hamas members, Hamas Politburo member Salah Bardaweil said on Wednesday.
The Israeli military published pictures Friday that it said showed Iranian intelligence installations in Syria that it attacked during a massive bombardment a day earlier. The attack was in response to a volley of rockets shot toward northern Israel.
Iran still has long-range capabilities to strike Israel, a senior officer in the Israel Air Force said on Thursday, even though ‘every target we wanted to hit was struck and destroyed.’
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said Thursday morning that the IDF had destroyed ‘nearly all’ of Iran’s military infrastructure sites in Syria overnight in response to a rocket barrage on Israel’s north, and warned Tehran that attacks on Israeli territory will be met with ‘the strongest possible force.’
Some 20 rockets were fired at Israeli military bases by Iranian forces in southern Syria just after midnight on Thursday, with some of the incoming missiles being intercepted by the Iron Dome defense system, the army said, amid sky high tensions on the northern border.
The Israeli army sounded alarms Tuesday night over irregular Iranian movements in Syria, advising Golan residents to ready bomb shelters and putting its air defenses on high alert.
The Israeli military was in a state of high alert in the country’s north Monday, in readiness for possible retaliation by Iran over alleged Israeli strikes on its sites in Syria. Security forces are preparing for the possibility of attempted infiltrations of military bases and communities in the north, Hadashot TV news reported.
Israel fired at a Syrian artillery position on Monday after a mortar round fell close to the Israeli-occupied sector of the Golan Heights, the army said.
The Israel Air Force has decided to scale back its participation in the Red Flag exercise amid increasing tensions on Israel’s northern border.
In a video published by Islamic Jihad on Thursday, the Islamic militant group threatens Israel’s Defence Forces ahead of Friday’s ‘March of Return in Gaza.’
In preparation for the expected protests and riots along the border between Israel and Gaza, the IDF dropped leaflets in Gaza on Friday morning warning residents of the Gaza Strip against trying to use violence against Israeli civilians and soldiers, as well as to damage, cross or even come near the border fence.
Israel is preparing for a crossborder attack by the Revolutionary Guard Corps, in response to a strike allegedly carried out by the Jewish state against an Iranian-operated air base in Syria that killed seven of its soldiers.
An Israeli military official confirmed Monday that Israel carried out last week’s strike on Iranian forces in a Syrian airbase, the New York Times reported.
Palestinian protesters in Gaza on Friday hurled an explosive device and firebombs at Israeli troops deployed at the border, during what the Israel Defense Forces described as ‘several attempts’ to damage the fence between Israel and the Gaza Strip and cross over into Israeli territory.
The hashtags #RaisingFlag, referring to the Palestinian flag, and #BurningFlag, referring to the Israeli flag, have been prevalent in recent days among Palestinians on social media as they prepare for protests Friday near the Gaza border fence. Mass burning of Israeli flags is planned for Friday as the “Great March of Return” enters its third weekend.