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IDF assessing plans to counter possible Cairo threat
A debate is raging within the IDF regarding the so-called inflection point when it will need to begin establishing new formations and procuring new platforms to counter a future threat from Egypt.The current assessment within the IDF is that Egypt will, for the coming years, retain the peace treaty with Israel due to its need for continued financial and military assistance from the United States. Nevertheless, there is concern within the military over two different scenarios involving the deployment of Egyptian military forces into the Sinai Peninsula, which is supposed to be demilitarized under the 1979 peace treaty. The first scenario involves an Egyptian decision to deploy troops there for training. The second scenario sees the movement of an Egyptian division into the peninsula, on the sidelines of a future Israeli war with Hezbollah or Syria, as a demonstration of unity with the Arab countries. In both cases, Israel will be in a quandary regarding what to do, a senior defense official explained recently. On the one hand, no Israeli prime minister will go to war with Egypt over such violations but on the other hand, if we dont respond then we are turning a blind eye to the violation. As a result, the IDF Planning Directorate has recommended that a Muslim Brotherhood victory in the ongoing Egyptian elections serve as the cutoff line for when the military should begin establishing long-lead items such as new divisions and combat squadrons. These are formations that take a number of years to create, and that is why we will need to begin working on them sooner rather than later, a senior IDF officer explained. Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2011-12-28 |
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