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he Israel Air Force has not struck Beirut in the last four days, at the direction of the political echelon. Kan 11 News reported on Monday evening that the instruction was delivered in writing on Friday morning, after the unusual strike in western Beirut, in which dozens of people were killed and injured. The report also said that the ministers of the Security Cabinet were excluded from the decision to avoid attacks in Beirut. Cabinet sources said that the decision was not brought up for approval in recent discussions, and they heard about it for the first time in the...

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his War Cabinet are leaning towards ordering the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to launch a retaliatory strike against Iran in the coming days, according to Israel’s Channel 12 news. A final decision has apparently not been made. The War Cabinet is expected to convene again tomorrow. But as war clouds form over the region, the stakes could not be higher. This is a big deal. I think that the War Cabinet is signaling that they will probably order a strike on Iran, but leaking word of their deliberations so the Israeli...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has criticised plans announced by the military on Sunday to hold daily tactical pauses in fighting along one of the main roads into Gaza to facilitate aid delivery into the Palestinian enclave.The military had announced the daily pauses from 8am local time (3pm AEST) until 7pm in the area from the Kerem Shalom Crossing to the Salah al-Din Road and then northwards."When the prime minister heard the reports of an 11-hour humanitarian pause in the morning, he turned to his military secretary and made it clear that this was unacceptable to him," an Israeli official...

Minister Benny Gantz (National Unity) announced on Sunday that he, together with his party, would be leaving the emergency government which he joined at the onset of the war. "Months after the October tragedy, the situation in the country and in the room of the decision-makers has changed. Netanyahu and his partners have turned unity into a moving call, without real-world action. Fateful strategic decisions are met with hesitancy and procrastination due to political considerations," Gantz stated in an address announcing his decision. He claimed that "Netanyahu prevents us from proceeding to true victory. Therefore, today, we are leaving the...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama will meet with his war cabinet Monday for "possibly" the last time before deciding whether to dispatch tens of thousands more US troops to Afghanistan, an official said. The meeting comes as Obama weighs a request from his top commander in Afghanistan for up to 40,000 more US troops to support the war effort there. Among the top administration officials expected to attend the meeting at 8:00 pm local time (0100 GMT) are Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The meeting will be the ninth...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama huddled with his war council for the fifth time, debating whether to send thousands more troops to Afghanistan to quell a growing conflict. Obama is to unveil a new strategy within weeks to contain an insurgency fueled by Al-Qaeda militants and the Taliban, which is resurgent eight years after being ousted from power. During Wednesday's three hour meeting Obama was briefed by key aides on efforts to strengthen the civilian mission in Afghanistan and train Afghan security forces, with the vexed question of resources permeating the debate, the White House said. The discussion...

The names floated for Barack Obama's national security team "are drawn exclusively from conservative, centrist and pro-military circles without even a single -- yes, not one! -- chosen to represent the antiwar wing of the Democratic party." In his plaintive post this week on the Nation magazine's Web site, Robert Dreyfuss indulges in the political left's wonderful talent for overstatement. But who are we to interfere with his despair? If reports are correct, on Monday the President-elect will ask Robert Gates to stay on as Secretary of Defense and name retired Marine General James Jones as National Security Adviser. These...