(Ynet News) Ron Ben-Yishai - The dignity and reputation of Islamic Jihad have suffered a heavy blow. Their poor military capabilities and infrastructure have been exposed. Almost a quarter of their rockets launched at Israel fell within Gaza. Their long-range launches toward Tel Aviv were weak and inaccurate. Hamas chose to stay out of the fighting for a reason. Its leaders know that if they were to join Islamic Jihad, they would also suffer significant damage to their military capabilities and face major setbacks in their efforts to strengthen themselves, on top of Hamas' concerns about losing economic benefits it enjoys during periods of calm with Israel. Hence, Israel has managed to create a high level of deterrence. What is new in this round is the advancement in intelligence and operational capabilities that Israel has demonstrated. It is clear that Israel has intimate familiarity with Jihad's organizational structure, down to its last rocket launching unit. This enables the security services to know the exact location of a commander in a given area at any given moment, as well as the specific vehicle carrying a missile about to be launched, including its designated firing position and the route it will take. Despite these successes, the IDF has yet to solve the continued rocket launches into Israel. Both Islamic Jihad and Hamas hide missile launchers underground or in residential buildings and operate them remotely from far away.
2023-05-15 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive