BICOM

Israel’s military announced yesterday that Israeli Air Force (IAF) squadrons carried out a series of exercises designed to test their capability to conduct missions at a long-range from base. The drills appeared to be a reminder that Israel is prepared to act alone in order to combat Iran’s nuclear threat.

Greek television reported that a joint exercise had been conducted between the IAF and Greece’s Hellenic Air Force. Unusually, the manoeuvres were openly publicised on the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and IAF websites including video clips of the drill. Most IAF squadrons reportedly participated in the exercise, which featured dogfights and both F-15 and F-16 jets refuelling in mid-air.

The Israel military websites stated that “The Israel Air Force, known as the IDF’s ‘long arm,’ plays a central role in carrying out Israel’s military option if necessary,” adding that “All options on the table implies military options as well.” The official IDF blog said that similar drills have been carried out in recent years and that the aim is to rehearse “all aspects of a given situation, from its planning stages to the flight itself. This includes mid-flight refuelling and the management of the air force control centre.”

The openness with which the exercises were publicised was duly noted. In advance of talks scheduled next week in Geneva between Iranian officials and representatives of the P5+1 forum (United States, UK, China, Russia, France and Germany), Channel Ten commented “The Israeli message was clear… Here is an attempt to show the world that, a moment before the talks, Israel is not giving up its military option.” In this morning’s Maariv, Likud MK Tzachi Hanegbi, who is considered a close ally of Prime Minister Netanyahu said that Israel is capable of dealing with Iran’s nuclear threat on its own and should not rely solely on assurances given by US President Obama.