Israel is hosting its largest-ever international air force exercise. The two-week ‚Blue Flag‘ drill features Israeli, American, Greek and Polish troops in a battle against a fictional enemy state.

The Blue Flag drill consists of Israeli and American F-15 squadrons, as well as Israeli, Hellenic, and Polish F-16 squadrons flying through Israeli airspace while firing simulated weapons against fictional enemy missile launchers, convoys, and aircraft, the Israeli Air Force captain in charge of the exercise told the Times of Israel.

Ziele sollen dem Bericht nach Stellungen der Aufständigen im Norden der Halbinsel sein, in den Gebieten der Orte Arish, Rafah und Sheikh Zuwayed.

When I was a kid, three presidents told us we had to fight in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, because if we didn’t fight them over there, we’d have to fight them on the beaches of California. We believed. It was a lie.

I was a teenager during the Cold War, and several presidents told us we needed to create massive stockpiles of nuclear weapons, garrison the world, invade Cuba, fight in odd little places and use the CIA to overthrow democratically elected governments and replace them with dictators, or the Russians would destroy us. We believed. It was a lie.

When I was in college our president told us that we needed to fight in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua or the Sandinistas would come to the United States. He told us Managua was closer to Washington DC than LA was. He told us we needed to fight in Lebanon, Grenada and Libya to protect ourselves. We believed. It was a lie.

When I was a little older our president told us how evil Saddam Hussein was, how his soldiers bayoneted babies in Kuwait. He told us Saddam was a threat to America. He told us we needed to invade Panama to oust a dictator to protect America. We believed. It was a lie.

The next president told us we had to fight terrorists in Somalia, as well as bomb Iraq, to protect ourselves. We believed. It was a lie…

(16.Oktober 2015) Wenn ein Land Flugabwehrraketensysteme an eine der Terrorgruppe in Syrien liefern sollte, so würde das bedeuten, dass sich dieses Land auf die Seite der Terroristen gestellt habe, „und zwar mit allen daraus folgenden Konsequenzen“, sagte der Diplomat. „Ich möchte, dass das als ernsthafte Warnung wahrgenommen wird.“

(15.Oktober 2015) Turkey and Saudi Arabia on Thursday warned Russia over the consequences of its intervention in Syria, with Ankara telling Moscow its bombing campaign in support of the regime was a „big mistake“.

(9.Oktober 2015) President Vladimir Putin has taken a risk by launching air strikes against Islamists in Syria because they could incite militants to seek revenge by attacking targets inside Russia.

The Kremlin has largely contained Islamist violence in Russia by cracking down hard but the bombardment of Syria could prompt global jihadists to put Russia on the list of targets they encourage their followers to attack.

(31.03.2014, aktualisiert 05.10.2015) Zuvor hatte Russland Beunruhigung über die Absicht Saudi-Arabiens geäußert, mobile Fla-Raketensysteme und Panzerabwehrsysteme für die syrische Opposition zu kaufen.

(11.September 1975) New London – Thomas C. „Pete“ Walker of New London, national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, says that under no circumstances should the United States place its military forces in the Sinai.
„The Sinai must never become a Middle East variaton of Southeast Asia,“ Walker said in a statement.

(22.Juni 2013) Reports had been circulating on Thursday on the Washington Times and state-run Al-Ahram websites that United States soldiers were being deployed on Egyptian soil to combat riots.

Major Ahmed Shaaban told Daily News Egypt that such claims are inaccurate. “They are only training as a precautionary measure,” said Shaaban. “However, they were present during 25 January Revolution and other incidents that followed but nothing happened to them.”

(25.6.2013) The U.S. soldiers, who came from the Army’s 1st Cavalry Division, were ordered to remain in Sinai for at least nine months. On June 19, the troops underwent riot control exercises at Fort Hood, Texas that included mock firebomb attacks.

(25.11.2012) On Facebook, Armed Forces spokesman Colonel Ahmed Ali said the Armed Forces would never accept the presence of foreign troops or bases on Egyptian soil.

The only foreign forces present in Egypt are the Multinational Force and Observers, comprising elements from 13 countries, working since the Israeli withdrawal from Sinai in 1982 to ensure that both sides comply with the peace agreement, Ali said.

A militant group affiliated to Islamic State in Egypt, Sinai Province, said in a statement it had brought down the plane „in response to Russian airstrikes that killed hundreds of Muslims on Syrian land“, but Russia‘s Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov told Interfax news agency the claim „can‘t be considered accurate“.