Alwaght- Since its foundation living fear from the Palestinians and the Axis of Resistance, the Israeli regime has seen its concerns even increasing in the past few weeks, to an extent that it held military drills to show itself ready for any possibility. As part of the arrangements, hundreds of Israeli forces were deployed to Cyprus for the last week of their month-long drills simulating attacks on Lebanese Hezbollah positions and Iranian nuclear sites.
The Israeli army said the exercises are held jointly with Cyprus and their aim is to boost the troop readiness to "conduct operations in the enemy's depth." The presence of Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Chief of General Staff of Israeli Defense Forces Aviv Kochavi in Cyprus show special significance of the drills for the Israelis.
The Israeli army has also announced that participants in the exercises will train in urban and rural areas in the mountains. The air force would simulate an air strike on Iran's nuclear facilities in the final stage, dubbed Chariots of Fire" military exercise.
Concerning choosing Cyprus as the site of the exercises, the Israeli officials claimed that the mountainous areas of the country are very similar to southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah operates. The exercise, said to be the largest in decades, comes after Iranian military officials said they would retaliate strongly against Tel Aviv in response to recent Israeli moves against the Resistance camp and the assassination of an Iranian commander last week in Tehran. Therefore, Tel Aviv is trying to increase the combat capability of its forces for fear of Iran's retaliation.
Now, having in mind that the Israeli army is still incapable of resolving security challenges on the borders with Lebanon, Syria and Gaza Strip, how can it claim to defend itself?
Therefore, picking Cyprus as the exercise site is because the northern parts of small island state is similar to southern Lebanon and by the drills the Israeli military wants to send a message to Hezbollah telling it it is ready for any threats.
Countering Turkey's excesses in the Mediterranean
In addition to the Axis of Resistance— a regional bloc consisting of Iran and its allies— others are targeted by these exercises. It irked the Turkish officials, with Israeli officials responding that this is not the first time their forces are deployed to the island country. But given Ankara's closeness to Tel Aviv in recent months and the Turkish sensitivity to the issue, Israeli officials reportedly sent messages to senior Turkish officials that drills are purely for military training and carry no messages for Ankara.
Although Tel Aviv claims that the exercises are purely for military readiness, given the tensions between Southern Cyprus and Turkey, staging them in such circumstances are meaningful. As Turkish-Israeli relations have been strained over the past decade, Israeli officials have sought to establish strategic relations with Ankara's enemies in the Mediterranean to counter Turkish policies, and southern Cyprus has been one of Tel Aviv's areas of concentration.
To draw red lines for Turkey, the Israeli regime held many military maneuvers with Cyprus and even Tel Aviv has a military attaché in Cyprus actively coordinating their security policies. Military cooperation is an important part of Tel Aviv-Cyprus relations. As the Israeli chief of staff said during a meeting with the Cypriot chief of staff on Wednesday the drills allow forces to practice a series of operations that demonstrate the Israeli army's readiness for a variety of threatening scenarios on the battlefield. There is also a training center where Israelis train Cypriot forces to prepare for threats. The fact that Israeli defense minister says the exercise "illustrates the depth of a strategic alliance" between Tel Aviv and Cyprus is a good indication that the Israelis have envisioned long-term strategic interests in Cyprus, the hidden dimensions of which will come to surface in the future.
In addition to military cooperation, economic goals have also been instrumental in enhancing Israeli-Cypriot relations. The Israeli regime and Cyprus have taken many steps in recent years to ratchet up their cooperation. These include the development of a 2,000-megawatt underwater power grid, as well as the construction of a 1,900-kilometer gas pipeline.
As a member of the European Union, Cyprus has had many tensions with Turkey over Turkish exploration ships in the Mediterranean Sea off the Cypriot coast. But Turkey asserts its right to explore and extract oil and gas in the Mediterranean Sea and in the waters it claims its own, stirring Cyprus concerns. However, enhancement of economic and military cooperation between the Israelis and Cyprus shows that tackling Turkish ambitions in the Mediterranean is on top of their agenda. Over the past years, disputes over gas and pipeline exploration in the region erupted between Tel Aviv and Ankara.
In recent months, Turkey made efforts to defuse tensions with the Israeli regime but Tel Aviv partnership with Cyprus seems unbreakable, as remarks by Israeli officials confirm this issue. Reacting to Israeli media reports that Northern Cyprus was included in Israel-Turkey gas pipeline, the Israeli ambassador to Southern Cyprus Oren Anolik said this idea was not on the agenda. "The relationship between Israel, Greece and Southern Cyprus is unique and completely different from other countries. Anything that happens to Turkish-Israeli relations, even if they improve, will not affect Israel's relations with Southern Cyprus and Greece." These remarks considered, it can be concluded that military drills are partly aimed at Turkey.
The Israeli-Cypriot alliance in the Mediterranean to a large extent neutralizes the Turkish policies as Tel Aviv has many interests in this region. Construction of EastMed gas pipeline that transfers the Israeli gas to Europe through Cyprus and Greece is of great importance to the Israelis who try to minimize threat posed by Turkey to export their energy more comfortably. As Europe's energy needs increased after eruption of Ukraine crisis, Israeli presence in Cyprus and the development of military and economic cooperation will be further strengthened. Israeli gas is viewed as an alternative to the Russian gas for Europe and would see significance increase in the future.
Despite bragging about their military power in the region, the Israelis are too incapable to secure their territories with cross-border military drills. Actually the experience of their defeat from Palestinian resistance groups whose arms are incomparable to those of the Israeli forces shows that even the well-equipped Israeli military cannot beat the Resistance camp and the Israeli regime would constantly live a fear until its collapse.
