The Russian military has not withdrawn from Syria and it is still bombing Islamic State positions, head of the Institute for National Security Studies and former head of military intelligence Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin said Saturday. Speaking at a weekend cultural event in Beersheba, Yadlin said that "the battles in Syria comprise a real threat to Israel. However, I'm optimistic about Israel's security situation." "There is no existential threat to the state of Israel," Yadlin continued. When asked if the Israeli Air Force was capable of stopping Iran from developing a nuclear weapon (presumably by attacking research facilities), Yadlin responded that "the Israeli Air Force is one of the best in the world, one of the most creative in the world, and there is no mission in the Middle East it can't carry out." Addressing the Paris terrorist attacks in November 2015, Yadlin noted that those events had not caused the Europeans to change their approach toward terrorist organizations, and added that Israeli intelligence shared with intelligence apparatuses throughout the West had prevented terrorist attacks and bloodshed.
