Naveh: We must ready on multiple fronts

Deputy IDF chief of staff warns that for the first time in years, IDF must be alert and prepared on a number of fronts simultaneously.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
yair naveh 311 (photo credit: Courtesy)
yair naveh 311
(photo credit: Courtesy)
For the first time in years, Israel must be ready for unexpected security developments on multiple fronts, Deputy Chief of Staff Maj.-Gen. Yair Naveh warned this week.
Speaking to 375 new officers at a ceremony in Mitzpe Ramon, Naveh said on Wednesday, “The IDF...must be alert and prepared on a number of fronts simultaneously. We will have to be flexible and responsible in following the changes in the entire area.”
He added, “From tomorrow, you are there against all the challenges; you are the commanders of the ambush on the Lebanon border, you are the commanders of the armored patrols on the Sinai border, and the commanders [maintaining] an open road on the Gaza border.”
Addressing the Iranian threat, Naveh said, “far off in the East, leaders are making threats without shame on every stage, expressing their desire to destroy Israel. On the Gaza border, we are in a continuous combat situation with terror organizations.”
He added that southern residents come under fire on occasion as part of the same conflict, “due to hatred of Israel alone.”
Naveh described the border with Egypt’s Sinai as one of “active terrorism” that is costing lives, while the border with Syria is transforming from a ceasefire front to a frontier with “jihad and terrorism elements from the whole world.”
The new officers were promoted to the rank of second- lieutenant, and will serve in the IDF Ground Forces.
OC Ground Forces Maj.- Gen. Shlomo “Sami” Turgeman said during his speech that in “ground fighting, the human fighter is the most important element. He is the key to gaining victory and he is the cause of defeat and failure. Therefore, treat your people well. They are your main source of power.”
US Ambassador Daniel Shapiro on Thursday condemned this week’s “outrageous” barrage of rocket fire from Gaza into Israel.
In a posting on his Facebook page, Shapiro said that the US “support[s] Israel’s right to defend itself” against attacks emanating from the Hamas-ruled Strip and conveyed that the US’s “thoughts are with the residents of the South.”
Eighty rockets and mortar shells hit the western Negev on Wednesday, one of the most severe rocket barrages on southern Israel in recent years.
Jerusalem Post staff contributed to this report.