Since 2012, Israel has started launching air strikes in Syria (and in subsequent years in Iraq). Objective: convoys of weapons that the Pasdaran passed to the Shiite militias that Iran had first mobilized to shore up the Assadist regime, then transformed (with a political-communicative make-up) into the military organization that gave support to the Iraqi and Syrian government in facing the expansion of the Islamic State.
Israeli attacks have always been targeted, with very high precision and punctuality. The intelligence of the Jewish state is perfectly clear on what happens: every suspicious cargo they track hits it (and it will hit it). The reason is clear: Israel is aware that sooner or later those weapons will be directed against her territory. Whether they are the Lebanese militiamen of Hezbollah or other groups. Also because among those armaments – especially missiles of various kinds – some flow, semi-hidden by the chaos of the Syrian war, towards the Palestinian jihadist groups. Who are Sunni, but pragmatically share hatred for an existential enemy: the Jewish state with the Shiite militias and the Pasdaran.
The (military) financing of Palestinian groups – which have also been employed in a pro-Assad form – is part of the strategy with which the Islamic Republic intends to move influence at the regional level. Militias / party or parties / militia that are triggered within the country-system of Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, but also Afghanistan and Pakistan although to a lesser extent; at the same time the Pasdaran supply weapons to Yemen and to the armed groups of the Gaza Strip. The aim is to create spheres of influence, even by altering those of the enemy (in Gaza, Israel; in the case of Yemen, Saudi Arabia).
The military actions of these days testify how Palestinian forces have grown in capacity: both tactical and technical. The missile salvo that was fired at Jewish territory is evidently not a response of spontaneous outrage at the Israeli police violence in al Aqsa. There is coordination and there is a plan of attack.
Basically everything is based on what is called “saturation”: many, many rockets are fired at the same time because in that way the Israeli Iron Dome aero shield (whose operation Stefano Pioppi described on these columns) is unable to carry out interceptions. The targets become too many, and this allows the attack to be made more efficient, despite the very high effectiveness of the Israeli shield which has intercepted about 80 percent of the attacks called dangerous by the system.
Al-Qassam Brigades published video of rocket fire against Tel-Aviv and other cities in #Israel. #Gaza pic.twitter.com/PafAHdsmVC
– Joe Truzman (@Jtruzmah) May 12, 2021
Over a thousand rockets were launched from the Strip in 38 hours. All against civilian targets on Israeli territory: the sky saturated with missiles, Iron Dome cannot cover them all, the carriers fall on an entire city-wide target (as happened in Lod, a few tens of kilometers south of Tel Aviv, iron and fire in less than an hour). Missiles are not only many, however: they are also more effective. Combined disposition that characterizes this current situation compared to what has been seen in the last major clashes, such as that of 2014. Many (practically all) of the missiles used by Hamas and other groups in the Strip have a common denominator: they are manufactured – at most derivation – Iranian.
“The martyr Qassem Soleimani sent weapons to the mujahideen in Palestine”, “Glory to the Resistance. Glory to Iran ”: Palestinian activists are clear on social networks. For the symbolic link, Soleimani, general of the Pasdaran who conceived and managed the strategy of the militias and who ended up under a Hellfire of an American drone just outside the Baghdad airport, is used. It was January 2020, the Mossad had also participated in the operation, Iran had reacted to the killing of that mythological officer with a barrage of missiles against Iraqi bases hosting American soldiers (the same bases that are constantly targeted with Katyusha rockets and similar fired by Iraqi Shiite militias).
Since last year, Hamas has begun to propagate the connection with Iran more intensively. Soleimani’s death and the memory of the general were the narrative proxy used by the group; and perhaps the element that prompted the Pasdaran to increase support to take revenge against Israel, accused of having conducted a series of operations and sabotage within the Islamic Republic. The Pasdaran have also intensified relations with Saraya al-Quds, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, which yesterday, Tuesday 11 May, claimed to have used a barrage of “Badr 3” type missiles in its attack on Israel. They were used to hit Ashkelon – on the Mediterranean coast, just north of the Strip – and were able to breach Iron Dome.
The Badr 3 is an Iranian-made missile that was first used in May 2019, when the military arm of the Houthi rebel movement, “Ansar Allah”, used it in Yemen. The Houthis are militarily linked to the Pasdaran, and have a clear slogan: “Death to Israel and the Jews be cursed”. Islamic Jihad from the Gaza Strip was the second armed group to use this missile.
The Badr 3 carries an explosive warhead weighing 250 kg and has a range of over 160 km. It has another important advantage: it does not explode when it hits the target, but when it is about 20 meters above the target and thus maximizes the effect. Fires 1,400 shrapnel, which expands its ability to destroy installations and houses near the blast point where it falls. Saraya al-Quds modified it to carry a 350kg warhead.
Another analogy with the war in Yemen concerns the use of the Russian-made “Kornet” anti-tank missile. Saraya al-Quds also claimed responsibility for an attack on an Israeli military vehicle on the border of Gaza with a guided missile, explicitly stating that it used this type of missile. An Israeli officer was killed. Previously, another Korner had hit a civilian jeep. Modalities similar to those used by the Houthis of Yemen against Saudi armored vehicles as demonstrated by a video published by the rebel formation in 2016 – the Yemenis use the Kornet in a version modified by the Iranians which they call “Dehlavieh”. Israel last night bombed a depot of this type of missile.
The IDF, the Israeli Armed Forces, heavily hit the Palestinians. There were 500 air raids, tactical military targets were hit and there were collateral victims (including children). Several people were injured as less sophisticated rockets fell shortly after taking off. Among the targets hit by the Israeli bombing there are also high commanders of the groups: one of the aspects that is exacerbating the Palestinian reaction. In various situations, operational cells of Hamas and Jihad were centered that were in the open to launch kamikaze drones, at times the drones intercepted them from the Iron Dome: another element that connects the attacks from the Strip with what was seen in Yemen and with the most modern tactics of the Pasdaran.
