Early yesterday morning, two rockets were launched into Israel from southern Lebanon, causing no damage. The IDF returned fire. According to most Israeli security experts, the rockets were fired by Hamas operatives—likely working with the imprimatur of Hizballah, which controls the area. The attack appears intended as retaliation for Sunday’s unrest on the Temple Mount, when Muslims responded violently to Jews praying at the site. Yaakov Lappin explains why the terrorist group chose to attack from Lebanon rather than from its normal base of operations in Gaza:
The first [reason] is that it has not been able to recover from the May conflict with Israel and did not want to draw Israeli fire towards Gaza. Hamas correctly assessed that Israel’s retaliation in Lebanon would be significantly smaller in scale that in Gaza. . . . A broader strategic consideration is Hamas’s desire to implement, albeit symbolically, a new “equation,” announced by Hizballah, according to which any perceived Israeli offensive activity near the Temple Mount will be answered with attacks.
Tal Beeri, [a retired Israeli intelligence officer and current security analyst], noted that, in recent weeks, Iranian-backed Iraqi militias and the Houthis in Yemen have pledged their allegiance to this same equation. The Iraqi Kataib Hizballah militia announced that it had joined the “regional equation” in June in the latest sign of a coordinated Iranian-led axis of radical entities operating against Israel.
Hamas in Gaza and Hamas in Lebanon tightly coordinate their activities, mainly through the terror organization’s headquarters in Turkey, according to Beeri.
It appears as if Hamas’s gamble was well-calculated, judging by Israel’s restrained reaction. Israel also seems reluctant to respond more forcefully in Lebanon at a time when the country is experiencing severe economic and humanitarian crises.
Read more on JNS: https://www.jns.org/why-is-hamas-now-firing-rockets-from-lebanon/