Tags: CH-53 helicopter Six Israeli soldiers and one Romanian are missing in a crash of the Israeli Air Force CH-53 transport Yasur helicopter to Monday, July 26, during a joint Israel-Romanian-US military drill, Blue Sky 2010, in high mountains near the central Romanian town of Zarnesti, 120 kilometers northwest of Bucharest. An Israeli Hercules transport took off Monday night to join the rescue operation. A Romanian medical evacuation helicopter and two Israeli helicopters trying to reach the crash site were hampered for hours by the rugged, precipitous terrain. They called in local mountaineers for aid and resume the search early Tuesday. Tags: Bashar Assad Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri Monday, July 26, consigned another 1,500 troops to the country's southern border with Israel to beef up the two brigades posted there. French ambassador Denis Pietton, after an urgent meeting with the Lebanese prime mister said the Lebanese reinforcement would be there to defend French UNIFIL peacemakers who have been under Hizballah attack. Nasrallah knows what is at stake and is determined to sabotage the move by igniting the border, holding Israel responsible, and applying all his resources in the region to hitting out at Saudi interests. He was quoted as confiding to his aides in the last few hours that he will never lie down for any Saudi plot to weaken Damascus' ties with his movement, calling Abdullah's bid an American-Israeli conspiracy which must be nipped sharply in the bud. It was in the hope of averting this threatened face-off that Hariri urgently beefed up Lebanese military strength on the border with Israel.
DEBKAfile Special Report July 26, 2010, 10:56 PM (GMT+02:00)
Israel-Romanian exercise 
Four of the Israeli soldiers are pilots, two flight technicians. Their families have been informed.
Lt.-Col.(Res.) Avner Goldman, 48, from Modi'in.
Lt.-Col, (Res.) Daniel Shiffenbauer, 43, from Moshav Kidron.
Major Yahel Keshet, 33, from Hatezerim.
Major Lior Shay, 28, from Tel Nof.
Lieut. Nir Lakrif, 25, from Tel Nof.
Sgt. Maj. Oren Cohen, 24, from Rehovoth.
The high ranks of the participants in the exercise indicate the special nature of the training they carried out and imparted to the Romanian Air force. Also aboard the CH-53 was a captain of the Romanian Air Force flying school.
Israeli Air Force commander Maj. Gen. Nehushtan and Romanian defense minister Gabriel Obrea have launched a joint investigation into the disaster.
Israeli and Romanian defense sources noted that on July 18, when the exercise began, a CH-53 made a crash landing after "sensing a failure aboard."
DEBKAfile's military sources report: Israel was revealed for the first time to be conducting joint air force exercises with NATO members Romania, as well as Bulgaria and Greece. Big American Air Force bases serve Israeli air drills in Bulgaria and Romania. They have replaced the facilities Turkey closed to Israel. They also serve the Israeli Air Force for practicing long-distance flights, an essential element in a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report July 26, 2010, 8:03 PM (GMT+02:00) Hizballah Saudi King 
However, DEBKAfile's military sources report that Hariri acted to fend off Hizballah's threats of a military provocation for disrupting Saudi King Abdullah's grand new venture. It will be ushered in by the visit to Beirut Friday, July 30 of a group of four Arab rulers: Saudi King Abdullah, Syrian president Bashar Assad, Emir Khaled bin Khlaif al-Thani of Qatar and Sheikh Hamad bin Issa al Khalifa of Bahrain. This is the most distinguished a group of Arab leaders ever to visit the Lebanese capital.
It will be presented formally as a gesture of support for the Lebanese national unity government in which Hizballah is a member, but its real purpose is to tempt Syrian president Bashar Assad to phase out his support for Hizballah in return for Saudi and Gulf recognition of his dominant role in Beirut.
And indeed, Monday, a suicide car bomber demolished the Saudi-financed Al Arabiya television network's Baghdad offices, killing four people. DEBKAfile's counter-terror sources credit an Iraqi Shiite terrorist group linked to the Lebanese Hizballah, acting out Nasrallah's ultimatum to the Saudi monarch that he can look forward to more mayhem to his interests in the region if he goes through with the landmark visit to Beirut Friday.
Aware of the Hizballah leader's plans and the danger to Israel, defense minister Ehud Barak, now in Washington, issued one of the sternest warnings ever heard from Israel Sunday, July 25: "If Hizballah fires a rocket into Tel Aviv, we will not run after each Hizballah terrorist or launcher… We will see it as legitimate to hit any target that belongs to the Lebanese state, not just Hizballah."
Tuesday, 27 July 2010
Six Israeli soldiers, one Romanian missing in mlitary helicopter crash
Israeli Air Force CH-53 helicopter
Hizballah raises Mideast tension to sabotage four Arab rulers' Beirut visit Friday
Hizballah warning at Saudi-backed TV bureau in Baghdad
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