Israeli gov't 'sending army into multi-front war without strategy,' says opposition leader

ISTANBUL

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has warned that the Israeli government "is sending the army into a multi-front war without a strategy, without sufficient resources, and with too few soldiers," according to local media.

“The chief of staff laid out before the cabinet a whole series of threats, most of which cannot be detailed on camera, but the bottom line is this: the government is sending the army into a multi-front war without a strategy, without sufficient resources, and with too few soldiers,” Lapid said in a news conference.

“This time, the government will not be able to say, ‘I didn’t know,'" he argued, the Times of Israel reported on Thursday.

"This is the chief of staff they appointed, and they will not be able to politicize him and shift the blame onto him," Lapid said, noting that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not be able to deny responsibility either.

Israel could be heading toward another serious security crisis, he noted. His remarks came after Israeli army chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, in a Wednesday Cabinet meeting, raised "10 red flags before the IDF (army) collapses into itself."

Lapid urged the government to "stop its cowardice," and called for an immediate end to "all funding to ultra-Orthodox draft evaders, send the military police after deserters, and draft the ultra-Orthodox without hesitation.”

Hostilities in the region have escalated since the US and Israel launched a joint offensive on Iran on Feb. 28, killing more than 1,340 people, including then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Tehran has retaliated with waves of drone and missile strikes targeting Israel, Jordan, Iraq, and Gulf countries hosting US military assets, inflicting casualties and infrastructure damage while disrupting global markets and aviation.