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IDF Chief: Israel operating in enemy territory almost every week

Kochavi says Israel is constantly seeking and destroying weapons intended to target Israel.

By Paul Shindman, World Israel News

IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi admitted Monday that Israel’s military has been operating “almost every week” in enemy territory.

“In the past year, almost every week, we have worked in the depths of enemy territory to destroy weapons that were intended or planned to attack the State of Israel and its citizens,” Kochavi said in a speech, Channel 12 News reported.

Speaking at the annual ceremony of the 1997 helicopter disaster that claimed 73 lives, Kochavi noted that in the past year Israel has had a time of “security and protection” with “the lowest death toll and quiet at the borders.”

“This is the result of hard work in all branches, in all commands and in all dimensions, 360 degrees around us 24/7,” Kochavi said. “We prevented intrusions in the north and south, prevented rocket fire, exposed many tunnels under the Gaza border, [and] prevented attacks in Judea and Samaria on a daily and weekly basis.”

Defense Minister Benny Gantz addressed the ceremony as well, also emphasizing that IDF’s ongoing operations take place beyond Israel’s borders.

“Even today, the IDF operates and will continue to operate on the border line and far beyond it,” Gantz said.

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“We do not hesitate” to prevent the “establishment of Iran beyond our borders, and Nasrallah [head of the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group] knows full well that his decision to build ammunition and missile bunkers, and to perfect Hezbollah’s capabilities, endangers it and endangers the citizens of Lebanon,” Gantz said.

Gantz warned the Lebanese government that they “should also know this and take responsibility,” adding that if Hezbollah starts hostilities on Israel’s northern border, “the state of Lebanon will be the one to pay the heaviest price for the weapons dispersed amidst civilian concentrations.”

Israel has carried out numerous air strikes against Iranian targets in Syria with a focus on its transfers of advanced weaponry to Hezbollah and attempts by Iran to establish its military proxies close to the Israeli border.