Showdown in Gaza?
On Wednesday, seven rockets were fired from northern Gaza into Israel and two houses were hit in Sderot, but noone was hurt. Also, about forty mortar shells were fired from southern Gaza into Israel, but no damage was caused. Nevertheless, these attacks represent a further escalation of aggression from Gaza, to which Israel retaliated.
The IDF targeted a jeep in northern Gaza, killing five terrorists of the Army of Islam terrorist group who were going out to launch rockets. This shows excellent intelligence to be able to catch them red-handed. In other raids another seven were killed, four of whom were said to be civilians; however it is very difficult to establish this distinction when the terrorists wear civilian clothes.
Defense Minister Barak, who seems to be playing a careful but forceful role, watched IDF maneuvers last week in the sands near Gaza, and stated that soon there will have to be a broad IDF ground attack into Gaza in order to take direct action against the terrorists. It is known that Hamas has built an army of 10,000 men, but now claim to have 50,000. A spokeman issued warnings against Israel that if the IDF attacks they will find a strong defense put up by the Gazans, and the IDF will pay a dear price, particularly since they have trained 200 suicide women to attack Israeli tanks!
Pres. Abbas ofn the Fatah-controlled West Bank criticized Israel for the attacks in Gaza while visiting the UN, but this is considered to be a routine statement for domestic consumption, since he is expected to take no further action and will likely still meet with PM Olmert this coming week. In fact, it might be said that Abbas would be very pleased if the IDF trounced the Hamas army in Gaza, since his only chance of returning to power there is if Hamas is defeated, and he does not have the forces to do this himself. In any case, it appears that there might be a showdown in Gaza between Hamas and the IDF in the not-too-distant future.
Meanwhile the situation between Israel and Syria remains murky, with denials from both sides that the FM's of the two countries, Mouallem and Livni, met at the UN. The northern border remains tense following the IAF raid deep into Syria, that we aren't supposed to know anything about. It seems that the Russians are very perturbed since they sold their best radar systems to Iran for Syria and Israel was able to disable them and attack undetected. This event will no doubt have further repercussions.
The IDF targeted a jeep in northern Gaza, killing five terrorists of the Army of Islam terrorist group who were going out to launch rockets. This shows excellent intelligence to be able to catch them red-handed. In other raids another seven were killed, four of whom were said to be civilians; however it is very difficult to establish this distinction when the terrorists wear civilian clothes.
Defense Minister Barak, who seems to be playing a careful but forceful role, watched IDF maneuvers last week in the sands near Gaza, and stated that soon there will have to be a broad IDF ground attack into Gaza in order to take direct action against the terrorists. It is known that Hamas has built an army of 10,000 men, but now claim to have 50,000. A spokeman issued warnings against Israel that if the IDF attacks they will find a strong defense put up by the Gazans, and the IDF will pay a dear price, particularly since they have trained 200 suicide women to attack Israeli tanks!
Pres. Abbas ofn the Fatah-controlled West Bank criticized Israel for the attacks in Gaza while visiting the UN, but this is considered to be a routine statement for domestic consumption, since he is expected to take no further action and will likely still meet with PM Olmert this coming week. In fact, it might be said that Abbas would be very pleased if the IDF trounced the Hamas army in Gaza, since his only chance of returning to power there is if Hamas is defeated, and he does not have the forces to do this himself. In any case, it appears that there might be a showdown in Gaza between Hamas and the IDF in the not-too-distant future.
Meanwhile the situation between Israel and Syria remains murky, with denials from both sides that the FM's of the two countries, Mouallem and Livni, met at the UN. The northern border remains tense following the IAF raid deep into Syria, that we aren't supposed to know anything about. It seems that the Russians are very perturbed since they sold their best radar systems to Iran for Syria and Israel was able to disable them and attack undetected. This event will no doubt have further repercussions.
posted by Jack Cohen at 9:55 AM
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