IDF Chief of the General Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi issued a holiday greeting for the Rosh Hashana New Year, according to the Hebrew Calendar.
The military head asserted the IDF’s unrelenting resolve to protect the national security interests of State of Israel in the videotaped statement, which provided a brief recap of events that transpired over the course of the past year.
“We thwarted the infiltration of terrorists and rocket fire from the north and south; we thwarted terror attacks and related infrastructure in the center; we impeded Iran’s entrenchment throughout the Middle East and we struck all of our enemies in the northern arena,” said the top Israeli military officer. He added that the army also “caused substantial harm to our enemy” during two missions concerning the Gaza Strip, and disclosed that “we conducted dozens of operations – both overt and covert – from the air, sea and land.”
In analysis of the wording used by Gen. Kochavi regarding Israel’s efforts to prevent Iranian military entrenchment in the Middle East, a senior defense official pointed out to TV7 that, rather than successfully thwarting the Islamic Republic’s malign activities throughout the volatile region, the IDF merely manages to impede its efforts.
The official stressed that unless the international community mobilizes to hold Iran accountable for its actions, it will continue to foment instability and conflict across the Middle East.