An exercise simulating a response to a biological warfare attack will be carried out in the Dan region next week.

The exercise, which will be the largest of its kind in Israel's history, will be carried out in Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan, and Holon and aims to evaluate the ability of the Home Front, the medical services, rescue teams and the municipal authorities to respond in the conditions created by a biological catastrophe caused either by terrorists or by accident.

JERUSALEM, Jan. 17 (UPI) -- Syria has allowed Lebanese Hezbollah
militants to train with advanced anti-aircraft missiles in its territory, a U.S. source says.
The Kuwaiti daily al-Rai quoted an unnamed U.S. official Sunday as saying Hezbollah operatives trained in Syria on SA2 anti-aircraft missile batteries, and that Israel has warned Damascus
that if such weapons are given to the Shiite Arab militants, Jerusalem would view it as crossing an undeclared "red line," the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.

The "red lines" were defined by both sides after the Second Lebanon War, waged in 2006 between Israel and Hezbollah. Haaretz said al-Rai quoted the U.S. official as saying a war between Israel and Syria could break out if anti-missile batteries are supplied to Hezbollah, but added he didn't believe that a war would start anytime soon.

MOSCOW, July 20 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Navy will expand and modernize its Soviet-era naval maintenance site near Tartus in Syria to support anti-piracy operations off the Somali coast, a high-ranking navy source said on Monday.

About 50 naval personnel and three berthing floats are currently deployed at the Tartus site, which can accommodate up to a dozen warships.

"Two tug boats from the Black Sea Fleet will deliver a new berthing float to Tartus," the source said.

"Following modernization, the Russian naval maintenance site in Tartus will become fully-operational," he added.

The Russian Parliament’s upper house has vested the Russian President with the power to send troops beyond the national boundaries for combat tasks. The Council of the Federation made the decision by way of meeting President Medvedev’s proposal to that end. From now on the Russian leader will not have to seek the Federation Council’s authorization each time the situation calls for a prompt use of Russian troops abroad.

Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah says he is confident that any new conflict with Israel would see the Lebanese resistance movement emerge victorious and change the face of the Middle East region.

Syria has allowed Lebanese Hezbollah militants to train with advanced anti-aircraft missiles in its territory, a U.S. source says.

The Kuwaiti daily al-Rai quoted an unnamed U.S. official Sunday as saying Hezbollah operatives trained in Syria on SA2 anti-aircraft missile batteries, and that Israel has warned Damascus that if such weapons are given to the Shiite Arab militants, Jerusalem would view it as crossing an undeclared "red line," the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.

The "red lines" were defined by both sides after the Second Lebanon War, waged in 2006 between Israel and Hezbollah. Haaretz said al-Rai quoted the U.S. official as saying a war between Israel and Syria could break out if anti-missile batteries are supplied to Hezbollah, but added he didn't believe that a war would start anytime soon.

The Israeli newspaper said intelligence agents have been closely watching arms smuggling from Syria to Hezbollah since the end of the war, but so far have not detected violations of the "red lines."

The U.S. official told al-Rai that Israel's top priority is to prevent Hezbollah from obtaining the SA2 missiles, and wouldn't hesitate to bomb Damascus if the militants got such weapons.