On Wednesday, it was announced that the IDF wants to establish a new regional division along most of the Jordanian border, which will be subordinate to the Central Command, which will increase the number of regional divisions under the command to 2, and the IDF in general to 6: Division 91 (the Galilee, along the Lebanese border), Division 210 (the Golan, along the Syrian border), Division 877 (Judea and Samaria area, and until now the Jordan border in the Jordan Valley), Division 80 (the borders of peace with Jordan in the Arava and Egypt in the Negev), and Division 143 (the Gaza Division). This, of course, coincides with 3 regular divisions (98, 162, and 36), 3 reserve divisions (252, 146, 99), and another reserve division in the process of establishment (96). Increasing the IDF’s standard is one of the lessons of the war, whose implementation begins to take place even before it is finished.
Until today, the border of the Jordan Valley was subject to the 417th Brigade (the Jordan Valley Brigade), which was under to the Aiosh Division (Judea and Samaria), which included 6 additional regional brigades (Etzion, Yehuda, Binyamin, Ephraim, Menashe, Shomron), which demanded a lot of attention and ongoing activity, and made it difficult to give necessary attention to the Jordan Valley Brigade. The Jordan Valley is distinct from the rest of Judea and Samaria, both in its demographic nature (it has a relatively small number of Palestinians), geographic (not mountainous), and in the nature of the challenges that the forces must face – not the PA and the detentions, but infiltration, smuggling and persecutions. In recent times, the challenges at the Jordan Valley border have been increasing, with significant arms smuggling that provide the terrorist networks in the cities of Samaria, as well as attacks carried out by infiltrators (as has been done in recent months at the Allenby crossing, as well as in Naot Hakikar).
The establishment of the new division reflects not only tactical thinking, but also strategic thinking: In recent years, and especially during the war, there have been Iranian efforts to stir up Jordanian politics and raise the tide against Israel – in order to bring about actions of individual terrorists against it, and even with a strategic goal of weakening the Hashemite monarchy and deposing it, In a way that will bring about a new border of terror in Jordan, a problem that Israel had to deal with between 1967 and 1970. The new division will make it possible to devote more effort to stopping terrorism, as well as to creating more meaningful cooperation with the Jordanian army.
Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi spoke about the establishment of the new division at the border of the Jordan Valley: “Strengthening the defense of borders in general and the eastern border in particular, was marked as a pre-war goal, and in the shadow of the 7/10 and recent events, it is becoming increasingly valid. In addition, there is an urgent need to establish additional regular and reserve frameworks in order to ease the burden of reserve personnel. In light of this, we decided to establish a division to strengthen the defense on the eastern border. This is a necessary decision in light of the anticipated challenges and in accordance with the process of building the force in the IDF.”
