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IDF prepares for 'new' Syria

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman is asking for an increased budget for the Israel Defense Forces to prepare itself against new threats developing along its northern border with Syria.
Israeli forces are seen near a border fence between the Israeli-occupied side of the Golan Heights and Syria, November 4, 2017. REUTERS/Ammar Awad - RC19166D7D10

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman surprised everyone by dropping a bomb on the Cabinet table this week. Back in 2015, then-Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon and Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot had agreed to Israel's defense budget as part of a multi-year plan to cover defense costs up until 2020. Liberman now insists that he needs an urgent injection of another 4.8 billion shekels ($1.4 billion).

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