Ashkenazi convenes General Staff at Tel Aviv HQ

Newly-appointed IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, convened his first formal meeting with the General Staff at IDF Headquarters in Tel Aviv. At the meeting, which Defense Minister Amir Peretz also attended, Ashkenazi was expected to present his goals for the future management of the IDF. Earlier, Ashkenazi formally replaced Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz as IDF chief in a ceremony in Jerusalem, at which he vowed to implement the lessons learned from the summer's war in Lebanon.