Peter Lukimson, Israel. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza
Last Tuesday, more than 60 missiles were launched from Gaza to south districts of Israel. Some of them attacked Sderot and several agricultural villages. The terrorist organization of ‘Islamic Jihad’ stated that there were 130 missiles, but the Israeli Army says the number is exaggerated. Nevertheless, the “missile rain” lays foundation of a new stage of tension escalation over Gaza.
On Wednesday, March 13th, Israeli Air Forces attacked 30 facilities on the territory of Gaza (missile launchers, arms depots, Hamas and Islamic Jihad’s headquarter offices). As a response, militants from Gaza outshot south districts of the country, including such cities as Ashdod, Ashkelon, and Yavne.
Israel has already stated that it won’t leave the strikes without a response. Gaza says that in this case it will attack central regions of the Jewish state. The Foreign Minister of Israel Avigdor Lieberman threatened that Israel would start a new anti-terrorist operation in Gaza and take the whole sector under its control. Therefore, the situation becomes tenser hour by hour.
At the same time, experts of the Israeli military intelligence service Aman think that this time it hasn’t been an initiative by the terrorist groups which have to fulfill orders by Tehran. According to them, Hamas is not interested in escalation, and only ‘Islamic Jihad’ stands behind the latest fire.
Israeli analysts believe that Iran ordered to escalate the situation over Gaza for two reasons. First of all, Iran revenges Israel for Klos C interception. Secondly, Iran understands that missile attacks by ‘Islamic Jihad’ will cause a strict response by Israel. If the response leads to human losses, Hamas will have to be involved into Israel’s shooting to maintain its trust in eyes of Gaza’s population. It will be a beginning of a new wide-scale military confrontation between Israel and Islamic groups in Gaza. In its turn, it will lead to a growth of anti-Israeli moods in Egypt. Considering the fact that the current authorities of Egypt constructively cooperate with Israel, while the Defense Minister of Egypt is preparing for presidential elections, the anti-Israeli hysteria may damage his positions in the country.
Thus, stirring up the situation over Gaza, Tehran intends to attack Fattah as Sisi who doesn’t hide that he dislikes Islamic fundamentalists and state that he wants to turn Egypt into a secular tolerant state.
Analysts say that Israel will try to avoid further escalation. At the same time, the Israeli authorities have permanent contacts with Cairo, informing it about the developments and coordinating military and political steps with the Egyptian leadership.
