Is Iran's Proxy War Against Israel Beginning?

Passover terror continues: Two women murdered after first IDF reprisals

DEBKA

Two sisters in their 20s were killed and their mother, 40, critically injured by gunfire on their car on the Jordan Valley highway, on Friday, April 7, shortly after the IDF hit three Hamas launch sites in Lebanon and 11 on the Gaza Strip, in reprisal for more than 100 rockets fired into Israel from Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. Rocket fire from Gaza continued overnight with another 44 projectiles. Most were intercepted by Iron Dome; One demolished a home in Sderot. Friday noon, the chief of staff ordered full mobilization of air defense units

The events of Thursday night and Friday morning put paid to the Israeli government’s hope to gain a pause for the eight-day Passover festival in the ongoing multifront terror campaign.

Israel held back for eight hours before calling the security cabinet session into session Thursday night to determine the scale of Israel’s retaliation to the twin Palestinian barrages. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu then made this statement: “Israel’s domestic debate will not prevent us from striking our enemies,” he said. “We have no interest in changing the status quo on Temple Mount. As to the aggression coming from various fronts, we shall strike our enemies and they will pay the price for their aggression.”

Netanyahu omitted to specify what price was in store and which enemies would pay it. These omissions – more than the words spoken – reflected the current security dilemmas facing Israel as of late February. 

It was then, DEBKAfile reports, that intelligence reached Jerusalem of an Iranian masterplan to launch a campaign of terror during the month of Ramadan, using the various proxy terrorist arms at its disposal. Hizballah’s Hassan Nasrallah was assigned the task of chief of staff. What did the Netanyahu government do with this intelligence? Then, too, no substantial payback was ordered, only warnings posted on clandestine social media.

Those warnings had their answer on Thursday, with the 35 rockets launched from South Lebanon, preceded and followed by dozens more from the Gaza Striip.

DEBKAfile’s sources outline the five stages of Iran’s plan of operation for the second half of Ramadan which coincides with he Jewish Passover Festival:

1. Staging clashes at Al Aqsa on Temple Mount to procure live imagery for inflaming the West Bank and raising a massive wave of anti-Israel terror.
2. Multiple rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.
3. Massive rocket fire on northern Israel from Lebanon.
4. Igniting the Syria front
5. Sending packs of suicide drones against Israeli targets from Syria.

Three out of the five stages of Iran’s masterplan have been accomplished thus far.

First, masked men hurling rocks, fireworks and iron bars from Al Aqsa Mosque were detained in violent clashes with Israeli police. However, even the flood of inflammatory video obtained then failed to bring about the Iranian-Hizballah mission of raising an all-out Palestinian uprising on the West Bank. It must be said, however, that the Jerusalem police also failed to quell the outbreaks on Temple Mount and they continue.

Second, Nasrallah, acting on orders from Tehran, succeeded in getting Hamas to shoot dozens of rockets from the Gaza Strip into southeastern Israel.

Third, The Hizballah chief also orchestrated multiple Hamas rocket fire from South Lebanon into northern Israel.

Fourth & Fifth stages are still pending:

Igniting Syria ran into the obstacle of President Bashar Assad’s latest moves for reconciliation with the Gulf emirates, starting with Saudia Arabia. Assad reckons that opening an active front against Israel would put paid to his effort.

Loosing a cluster of deadly drones on strategic and military targets inside Israel may be still to come. Israel’s leaders find themselves on the horns of a dilemma. They are not in a hurry to embark on a comprehensive war – only enough punishment to uphold Israel’s deterrence against its enemies. Israel’s armed forces therefore remain on the highest levels of military and intelligence alert on all fronts. Friday at noon, this level was scaled up by the chief of staff’s order to mobilize all air defense units for immediate duty.