TEL AVIV: As the Middle Eastern kettle boils hotter, Israel is striving to improve the readiness and efficiency of its forces with regional exercises aimed, in part, at building de facto regional alliances. Syrian news agencies are reporting another air attack on the Russian-aligned country on June 12. According to Syrian news agencies, the… Keep reading →

The United States can reduce its Middle Eastern footprint and secure its vital regional interests.

Until the roll-out ceremony of the first Turkish F-35 last week, many in the Israeli defense establishment were sure that Washington would stop the sale.

Now that it’s unclear if the US will act, official Israeli sources are speaking out: “Turkey is a member of NATO on paper only, and now cooperates with countries that are against the U.S., not only in words. This delivery is something that Israel cannot understand.”

For a while, Turkey and Israel were the unexpected couple, the increasingly Muslim state buying the Jewish state’s weapons and Israel offering Turkey a potentially strategic gas and oil pipeline. Today, Israel is reaching out to NATO and Turkish-Israeli relations are increasingly tense.

When the British Parliament voted to strike Daesh (or ISIL as we used to call them) in Syria, the Royal Air Force was “unleashed,” to use the words of a senior British government official. British planes launched from Cyprus and struck against Daesh oil facilities in Syria. They struck against what the Defense Minister called the pocketbook… Keep reading →

President Francois Hollande of France arrives Tuesday in Washington for talks with President Obama. Top of the list will be how much America is willing to commit to destroying Daesh, the terrorist group we used to call ISIL. Robbin Laird, Ed Timperlake and Harald Malmgren explore in detail what America’s options are, what France wants and… Keep reading →