IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi leaves Sunday for an official five-day visit to Poland and France, where he will meet with senior military officials and discuss Iran and the tensions along Israel’s northern border.
Kohavi, who recently hosted delegations from both countries for the military’s innovation conference, will be accompanied by his wife, Yael Kochavi, as well as Head of the International Cooperation Division Brig.-Gen. Effie Defrin, the head of Military Intelligence’s Research Division, Brig.-Gen. Amit Sa'ar, and IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Ron Kochav.
Kohavi will first visit Poland for three days and meet with the country’s Chief of Staff Gen. Rajmund T. Andrzejczak and hold working meetings with other senior officials.
He will tour the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp along with a delegation of IDF officers, including combat brigade and battalion commanders, who hold workshops on the topic of heroism during the Holocaust, and hold professional meetings with the Polish army officers as part of the growing relationship between the armies.
The IDF delegation will visit Warsaw where they will tour the Jewish cemetery, the Jewish Museum and lay a wreath at the Warsaw Ghetto Memorial and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
He will then take off for France where he will meet with Gen.Thierry Burkhard, Chief of Staff of the French armed forces. He will hold professional meetings with the Chief of the Military Staff of President Emmanuel Macron, Admiral Jean-Philippe Rolland and other senior officials.
Kohavi will also visit France’s Innovation Agency
“The visit is taking place as part of the strengthening of military relations and cooperation between the IDF and the Polish and French armies,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said in a statement, adding that “during the visit, they will discuss regional challenges, including the Iranian threat and by Iran's proxies in the Middle East, the arming of Hezbollah as well as the security challenges on the Lebanese border.”
“The visit is taking place as part of the strengthening of military relations and cooperation between the IDF and the Polish and French armies.”
IDF Spokesperson’s Unit
On Saturday evening Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah warned that any gas extraction from the Karish gas field by Israel would be a “red line” for the group who would need to respond.
“We are following up on the negotiations and all our eyes are on Karish and our missiles are locked on Karish,” he warned. “As long as extraction has not started, there is a chance for solutions.”
“We've been calm over the past weeks because we were giving a real chance to negotiations… Our objective is to enable Lebanon to extract oil and gas and we are not seeking a problem,” he was quoted by Lebanon’s Naharnet News as saying in a televised address marking Arba'een, an annual Shiite religious holiday that marks 40 days after the death of Imam al-Hussein in the Battle of Karbala.
“Lebanon is before a golden chance that might not be repeated.”
Jerusalem and Beirut tensions
There has been cautious optimism that Jerusalem and Beirut are close to signing an agreement on the maritime border dispute after back-and-forth diplomacy by the United States. According to reports, the deal would see the Karish gas field remain in Israel while the Kana field will be owned by Lebanon.
Despite continued threats by Nasrallah, the Greek and French-owned company that drills in Karish said that gas extraction is expected to start within weeks.
On Friday Israel’s Energy Ministry said it would be conducting tests ahead of connecting it to the country’s gas network.
“As part of the next stage of the project, planned for the upcoming days, the rig and natural transmission system from the rig to the national network will be tested,” the statement said, adding that systems will be tested by natural gas flowing in the opposite direction, from the shore to the rig.
“The Zionist officials have said that extraction from Karish would happen in September, but they later announced postponing extraction from Karish and this is good, and we don't care about the reason, be it technical or not,” Nasrallah added.“The red line to us is that there should not be extraction from Karish.”
The IDF hopes that the maritime agreement will be signed soon, but a senior military official has warned that the military is always prepared for a scenario where there could be a deterioration in the situation along the northern front.
“Things are calm now… but if a confrontation is imposed (on us), it will be totally inevitable,” Nasrallah warned.