Deputy Defense Forces Chief of Staff Moshe Kaplinsky is to be appointed as the new head of Israel's foreign intelligence agency, Mossad.

According to Debka, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has decided to replace Kaplinsky with Meir Dagan who took the office in 2001.

The appointment reveals a prolonged crisis in Israel's political, military and intelligent affairs which surfaced after the regime attacked Lebanon in the past summer, Debka's sources said.

Military sources reported that two deputies of Mossad have decided to resign to protest the upcoming appointment slated for the mid 2008 when Kaplinsky would start his job.

Kaplinsky was scheduled to leave his post on August 15. The delay is connected with Israel's tension with Syria over Golan Heights and Gaza crisis as well as personal request of Israeli military attaché in Washington, Dan Harel, to have more time for returning his family to Israel.

The sources further said that Harel prefers his personal problems to the army's issues and he pays no attention to the sensitive situation in the Israeli borders.

An Israeli officer says this is not appropriate for the state's deputy chief of staff post.

Kaplinsky is a close friend of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

BS/RA