Israeli army to thin ranks as budget cuts loom

The Israel army is planning to lay off about 2,000 career soldiers in the next two years in the face of expected budget cuts.

The adjustment would return the army back to its 2006 size during its war in southern Lebanon.

A report in the newspaper Haaretz, stated that since the war in 2006, Israel's army had increased the number of professional officers by 700 each year.

Yet in the past two years, about 2,000 soldiers were discharged from their units.

The military would save $50m annually if it lays off 1,000 regular soldiers and officers a year.

Israel's army is operating on an old budget due to early elections and the dissolution of the government last December before a budget for 2015 could be approved.

The army budget amounts to $7.6bn out of $12.7bn allocated to the ministry of public security in Israel.

Israel's army is operating on an old budget due to the dissolution of the previous government.

A cut of 2,000 soldiers is not a huge blow to Israel's forces - there are currently about 160,000 Israelis on active service.

However, the new chief of staff, lieutenant general Gadi Eisenkot, plans to take the opportunity to prioritise military training.

Eisenkot is considering structural alterations, according to Israeli media, which will include the formation of new military units.

This would include the formation of an independent corps to take part in cyber warfare.

This article is an edited translation from our Arabic edition.