ANALYSIS: From North to South, Israel Hurriedly Puts Out Iranian Fires

ANALYSIS: From North to South, Israel Hurriedly Puts Out Iranian Fires

israel today

Monday, May 14, 2018 | Yochanan Visser

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/Newsheadlineslist.aspx

“Never a dull moment” has been Israel’s motto since the founding of the state in 1948.

Last week, Israelis woke up to the realization that Iran is indeed an existential threat after the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps lobbed between 20 and 30 rockets at northern Israel.

It later became clear the IDF had baited the Quds Force and it’s shrewd commander Qassem Soleimani, who has overseen virtually every major battle in Syria and Iraq over the past few years.

Brig. Gen. Ronen Manlis, an IDF spokesman, revealed after the devastating Israeli response to the Iranian attacks that the Israeli army had plundered Iran’s capabilities in Syria over the last month.

“They were dragged back because of the activity we carried out for over these past weeks,” Manlis told reporters on Friday.

“We laid out correct defensive preparations, and we took a number of aggressive actions in recent weeks,” Manlis said, while adding that “Qassem Soleimani and the Quds Force paid a heavy price.”

The IDF dubbed the pre-emptive operation against  the Iranians in Syria “Operation Chess”, with the goal being to prevent a further Iranian military build-up in the war-torn country.

The Quds Force of the IRGC recently started to transfer anti-aircraft defenses to Syria, systems meant to provide cover for Shiite forces in the country while they prepare to attack Israel in the near future.

This happened after Israel destroyed almost all Syrian anti-aircraft defences in a number of IAF attacks since Feb. 10, when Iran confronted the IDF directly for the first time by sending a large attack drone into Israeli airspace near the city of Bet Shean in the northern Jordan Valley.

For now, the Israeli security forces think the situation in the north will not deteriorate further since Iran has to rebuild much of its military infrastructure in Syria after the 50 devastating IAF strikes last Thursday.

The IDF is now preparing for a major confrontation with Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups in southern Israel and probably in Judea and Samaria.

The escalation in the south started ahead of the inauguration of the US Embassy in Jerusalem on Monday and the so-called Nakba day on Tuesday, when Hamas and other Palestinian factions commemorate the flight of roughly 550,000  Palestinian Arabs before and during the 1948 War of Independence in Israel.

Thousands of Palestinian Arabs in Gaza are gathering near the Israeli border as part of Hamas’ "Great March of Return” and are trying to infiltrate Israel.

They are again using piles of used tires to create black smoke to make it harder for IDF soldiers to spot terrorists who approach the security fence on the Gazan border.

IAF planes again distributed leaflets warning the Arabs that Hamas is exploiting  the deteriorating situation in Gaza and is using them as human shields in its attempts to carry out new terrorist attacks against Israeli Jews.

Hamas is also increasingly using a new weapon dubbed “kite bombs” or “assault kites” by pro-Israel activists.

Fitted with makeshift incendiary devices, the kites are flow into southern Israel in order to set alight fields and town near the Gaza border. But, the IDF has already found an answer to this tactic.

IDF volunteers are using small drones to down the kite bombs by ramming them before they can cross the Gaza frontier.

The IDF has deployed 11 battalions in the area adjacent to the Gaza border, and foreign diplomats have been invited to monitor the use of live fire in the case of the expected 100,000 Palestinian rioters attempting to breach the border with Israel.

By noon Monday, nine Palestinian Arabs had been reportedly killed during infiltration attempts, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Demonstrations were expected to spread to Judea and Samaria following the late afternoon opening of the new US Embassy in Jerusalem, while more lone-wolf attacks were expected in Israel’s biblical heartland.

The Israel Security Agency (also known as the Shin Bet) revealed on Monday that Iran is transferring funds to Hamas in order to keep the violent protests going. This information was been obtained from Hamas members who were arrested during infiltration attempts, the a Shin Bet statement read.