Last update - 00:00 16/09/2007
MI Chief: Israel has restored its capabilities of deterrence
By Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz Correspondent
Military Intelligence Chief Amos Yadlin on Sunday told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Israel has restored its deterrence capabilities since the Second Lebanon War last summer.
Addressing the panel on the issue of the Iranian nuclear threat, Yadlin added that the rehabilitation of Israel's power of deterrence would have an effect on the entire region, including Syria and Iran.
According to the MI Chief, senior Iranian officials have begun overtly hinting at their state's strategic and military significance and are counting themselves among the world's nuclear states.
"Iran apparently has no basic intention to change the objective of its nuclear project, but has begun to speak overtly on the matter," Yadlin told the committee.
"Iran has a few messages to the world, and the first is that it has crossed the threshold and knows how to make nuclear devices. The second message is that the West won't be able to halt its project with sanctions. The third is that the price of confrontation with Iran is very high and that it has means of deterrence - both military and terror," said Yadlin.
According to Yadlin, the Iran file is being transferred from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to the United Nations Security Council. However, he said, "The Iranians want the matter returned to the agency, because if it were, they would be able to control the timetable of the issue. It would be able to supply partial answers and delay the proceedings," said Yadlin.
He added that the West's sanctions were imposed on Iran due to international demand - not due to a decision of the Security Council. "These are mainly economic sanctions and are not having much of an effect on Iran," Yadlin said.
On the issue of the Palestinians, the MI Chief said that Hamas was planning to carry out a large demonstrative attack in an attempt to thwart an international peace conference scheduled for November.
Ahead of his address to the committee, Yadlin was ordered to keep mum on reports of an Israel Air Force infiltration of Syrian air space earlier this month.
Panel chairman Tzachi Hanegbi opened Sunday's meeting by announcing that he had instructed Yadlin to avoid any mention of Syria at the committee meeting. Israel has been keeping a low profile on the issue since it was first reported nearly two weeks ago.
In the past, Israel often has been swift to announce such operations. This time, it was Syria that announced the incident, declaring that its air space had been entered and that Israel had dropped munitions.