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Defense minister hints at cooperation with Gulf states

Moshe Ya'alon says Iran is building an international terror network that includes 'sleeper cells' to strike in Europe and US, adding that any country seeking to stabilize the region has a partner in Israel.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon on Wednesday accused Iran of building an international terror network that includes "sleeper cells" that are stockpiling arms, intelligence and operatives in order to strike on command in places including Europe and the US.

 

 

Ya’alon added that any element in the Mideast that is willing to help stabilize the region will find a partner in Israel, including nations that do not have relations with Israel – possibly a tacit gesture towards Gulf states, many of which are strongly oppposed to, and are threatened by, Iran's goals for geopolitical expansion and its support for terrorism.

 

Moshe Ya'alon with his Cypriot counterpart (Photo: AP)
Moshe Ya'alon with his Cypriot counterpart (Photo: AP)

 

The minister said that Iran aims to destabilize the Middle East and other parts of the world and is training, funding and arming "emissaries" to spread a revolution. He said Tehran is the anchor of a "dangerous axis" that includes Baghdad, Damascus, Beirut, Sana’a and other cities in the region.

 

"The Iranian regime through the Iranian Revolutionary Guard corps is building a complex terror infrastructure including sleeping cells that are stockpiling arms, intelligence and operatives and are ready to act on order including in Europe and America," Ya’alon said after talks with his Cypriot counterpart. He stated that there is an ongoing war of civilizations, which is in certain ways a Third World War unlike any we have previously known.

 

The defense minister offered no direct evidence of such sleeper cells existing in the US or Europe, but referred indirectly to the case of a Hezbollah member who wasjailed in Cyprus last June following the seizure of nine tons of a chemical compound that can be converted into an explosive.

 

A Cypriot court sentenced Lebanese Canadian Hussein Massam Abdallah to six years in prison after prosecutors said he admitted that Hezbollah aimed to mount terrorist attacks against Israeli interests in Cyprus using the ammonium nitrate that he had been ordered to guard at the Larnaca home of another official of the Iranian-backed group.

 

Ya’alon said Cypriot authorities had "defeated attempts by Hezbollah and Iran to establish a terror infrastructure" on the island that aimed to expand "throughout Europe."

 

He said that apart from the refugee crisis, the war in Syria has resulted in "widespread infiltration by murderous, merciless terror organizations" that belong to global jihad and are partly funded by Iran. He added that this requires western nations to counter attempts to carry out "massive terror attacks."

 

Ya’alon also addressed reports that Hamas has rebuilt its attack tunnel capabilities, saying that when Israel finds a tunnel that crosses the border, everyone will know – including the Palestinians.

 

Yaalon's trip to Cyprus was the first official visit by an Israeli defense minister to the east Mediterranean island.

 


פרסום ראשון: 02.24.16, 22:20
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