'A massive deception:' Israel bluffs Hamas, but now other Mideast forces threaten Jewish state
Rockets fired at Israel from southern Lebanon cause fears to grow that Hezbollah may be set to enter the current conflict
Tunnels in Gaza collapsed under a missile and artillery barrage fired from Israel Thursday night. (Photo: Tev Gantz/The Jerusalem Post)
Israel played poker Thursday and took the pot. But a new player may be ready to enter the game.
On Thursday night, the Israel Defense Forces started gathering ground forces near the Israeli border with the Gaza Strip, preparing for what looked like a ground assault into the area from where Hamas has launched myriad rockets attacking the Jewish state during the last five days.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated the campaign against Hamas was far from over, adding that Israel “would exact a very heavy price from Hamas and the other terrorist organizations. We are doing so and we will continue to do so with great force. The last word has not been said and this operation will continue as long as necessary in order to restore the quiet and security to the State of Israel.”
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz called up 9,000 reserve soldiers and Israel Defense Forces issued a tweet stating, “IDF air and ground troops are currently attacking in the Gaza Strip.”
Some armored and infantry battalions were said to had joined the artillery batteries that had been deployed days earlier to pound Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets, The Jerusalem Post reported, adding, “The foreign media jumped at the tweet, interpreting it to mean that Israel was sending ground forces into Gaza, a major escalation in the current operation and a sign that [the Israeli response] was far from over.”
For example:
Voice of America reported that Hamas military spokesman Abu Obeida responded to the reports, saying the group was not afraid of a ground invasion and adding that any invasion would be a chance “to increase our catch” of dead or captive Israeli soldiers.
All the bombast from Israeli officials touting the build-up of ground forces and an imminent assault on Gaza was a tactical deception.
Information that Israel was commencing a ground assault apparently provoked Hamas to withdraw its anti-tank missile teams and mortar squads that were positioned to attack Israeli forces and send them into what the IDF refers to as “Hamas Metro.” That is a network of underground tunnels built by Hamas after the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas where Hamas moved its terrorists and stored weapons.
Israeli artillery was part of a three-pronged strike on Hamas tunnels under Gaza Thursday after the Jewish state faked an imminent ground assault on Palestinian territory. (Photo: ACV File)
After the ruse had been set up, Israel targeted the tunnels with artillery, missiles and armed air assault.
In a 40-minute long air campaign that began around midnight IDT (Israel Daylight Time), some 160 aircraft dropped over 450 missiles on 150 targets belonging to a network of tunnels dug by the terror group known as “Hamas Metro” under Gaza city.
Over the previou9s five days, Hamas had fired roughly 2,000 rockets and mortars into Israel. An estimated 220 more were fired between Thursday night and Friday morning. Thirty landed in Gaza itself.
Power was cut off to move than a quarter-million people in Gaza because the errant missiles took out three electric booster stations. The stations were among 10 built by Israel to help increase Gaza’s electricity supply.
Hamas has openly admitted the rockets being fired on Israel — a major upgrade of the weapons used in the 2014 conflict and some brief hostilities since — were delivered to the terrorist group by Iran. The tensions between Tehran and Jerusalem have been drawn taught by the all-out onslaught this week. It is a scenario that Israeli and U.S. officials have long feared.
Late Thursday, at least three rockets were fired from southern Lebanon, which may be an indication Hezbollah may be ready to enter the conflict. Iran is a major ally of Hezbollah in the war in Syria.
IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, noting that Israel must deal with the terrorist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza as well as Lebanon-based Hezbollah, said in 2020, “We face various terror armies … We may face a two- or three-front war — active areas or theaters simultaneously against different enemies and capabilities. We must address that.
“We want to shorten the time of combat for higher achievement on [the] battlefield at smaller cost for IDF and civilians. Think of a triangle, with sides of time and achievement and cost. Imagine we want that to be small with achievement being high. … The environment is changing. We have a necessity to understand changes and address it in training, equipment, doctrine, manpower and material.”
Those worries are precisely why Israel feigned a ground assault on Gaza rather than actually invading the Palestinian territory. An invasion of what the Palestinians claim as a homeland would likely be the catalyst for full-blown war with Iran.
Israeli-Iranian tensions have become more strained since the Syrian Civil War began, and now threaten to boil over into a regional war. (Photo Illustration: America’s Conservative Voice Imagery)
Israel and Iran, with two of the most powerful militaries in the Middle East, have been on a collision course for years. Some experts fear such a conflict would ignite a regional war that ultimately could drag in the United States, Russia and China.
While Hamas and the Gaza Strip represent the immediate threat to Israel, the tensions are actually centered in Israel’s northern neighbor Syria, where both Russia and Iran have been emboldened by their success in shoring up the government of President Bashar al-Assad. The war has occasionally spilled across Israel’s borders, causing alarm in the Jewish state.
“If a Hezbollah missile or mortar shell hits a kindergarten or a school bus — a terror attack that causes major damage in terms of Israeli lives — this would be a tactical incident that entails a strategic price,” predicts Lior Weintraub, a former Israeli diplomat and now a lecturer at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya.
Now missiles have been fired from what is considered a Hezbollah stronghold.
That could result in a significant Israeli retaliation that becomes an international “slippery slope,” according to experts across the international spectrum.
Given the rockets fired into northern Israel, the immediate question remains whether Hezbollah was responsible, and if the Shia paramilitary organization supported closely by Iran will initiate its own aggression. This would constitute a monumental escalation for Israel, assuring a major regional war.
So far international reports are saying it's "unclear" who was responsible for the attack from Lebanon.
The rockets were believed launched from near the border with Israel, in Lebanon's Qlayleh area, near Naqoura. There are also Palestinian militant factions in the area, with Lebanon's Daily Star quickly in the aftermath pointing to these Palestinian groups operating in Lebanon — and not Hezbollah.
Russia has an effective coalition with all Arab factions in the Mideast, as well as with Iran. Yet it is also interested in managing its relationship with Israel. That has allowed Moscow generally to turn a blind eye to Israeli actions against Iran inside Syria. If Russia has to choose between Jerusalem and Tehran, however, it almost certainly would side with Iran.
Israelis express confidence they would not need American forces to help fight Iran, but they also do not expect the Biden administration to try to restrain them. The question would be, should Israel appear to be losing to all the armies aligned against it, would Biden send military help?
The ultimate answer will be the key to preserving not only Israel, but world peace. It now hangs in the balance.