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| This jihadi sleazeball is history |
The IAF fired a missile at a car in Gaza, killing the commander of Hamas's "military" terror wing, Ahmed Jaabari [pictured]. Israel's TV Channel 2 says his son was also killed.
Hamas responded by saying that it was now in a state of "open war" with Israel with no date set for its end.
The IAF reportedly also struck targets in Khan Younes and Rafiah. Channel 2 said that the IAF has been striking launch silos for Hamas's longer-range Fajr rockets, which can hit central Israel, in order to preclude their use.
The IDF has begun a wide scale operation, which has been named "Amud Anan," a phrase that refers to the column-shaped cloud that led the Israelites in Sinai during the Exodus from Egypt. The official English name is Pillar of Defense.
Cairo denounced what it said was "Israeli aggression in Gaza" and Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi held consultations with senior officials to decide on his course of action. Hamas has been calling upon Morsi to show that he is not like his predecessor, Hosni Mubarak. Hamas is saying that the "new Egypt" under Morsi must withdraw from the Camp David accords with Israel and expel Israel's ambassador in Cairo.
Among other exploits, Ahmed Jaabari, 52, was personally responsible for the abduction and holding of IDF Sgt. Gilad Shalit. Raed al-Atar was in charge of Hamas's smuggling tunnels. He was released from jail in Israeli in 1995.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak appear to have purposely diverted attention away from Gaza by visiting northern Israel and publicly discussing the Syrian threat Wednesday, in order to make it easier to catch the Hamas off guard.
The IDF Spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, announced on his Facebook page that "A harsh blow has landed upon Hamas's command and control array, as the IDF hit Ahmed Jaabari, the head of the military wing of Hamas in Gaza, who headed the organization and dealt directly with carrying out terror attacks against Israel.
"We are at the beginning of a wide scale attack, in view of the unbearable situation of the residents of the South," he added.
[Arutz Sheva]
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Israel Launches Major Military Offensive -Barry Rubin, PhD
For the first time in four years, Israel carried out a targeted assassination, killing Ahmad Jabari.
Israeli officials said other Hamas leaders involved in terrorism will also be targeted. The other top priority is to destroy the launching sites for Hamas’s longer-range missiles, with a 25 mile range, that can reach cities in southern Israel.
The Israeli military command has not ruled out the possibility of a ground attack as well.
[T]he installation of its ally, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, in power next door has given Hamas much more confidence. Hamas openly came out [recently] as a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and openly initiated attacks on Israel rather than merely permitting smaller groups--Islamic JIhad, Salafist groups, and al-Qaida affiliates--to do so.
The Egyptian regime tried but apparently failed to organize a ceasefire. The timing of a confrontation now is inconvenient for the new government which is seeking to consolidate power...
In future, though, [Egypt] is more likely to back up Hamas either indirectly--letting money, weapons, terrorists, and Egyptian volunteer fighters- cross from Egypt into Gaza--or even through direct military intervention.
Neither side takes U.S. policy very seriously. The Egyptians and Hamas know that President Barack Obama will not take Israel's side to the same extent as previous presidents while Israel knows it cannot depend on an energetic U.S. pressure on Egypt to tamp down on the terrorists.
[The Rubin Report]
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Israel Launches Major Military Offensive -Barry Rubin, PhD
For the first time in four years, Israel carried out a targeted assassination, killing Ahmad Jabari.
Israeli officials said other Hamas leaders involved in terrorism will also be targeted. The other top priority is to destroy the launching sites for Hamas’s longer-range missiles, with a 25 mile range, that can reach cities in southern Israel.
The Israeli military command has not ruled out the possibility of a ground attack as well.
[T]he installation of its ally, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, in power next door has given Hamas much more confidence. Hamas openly came out [recently] as a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and openly initiated attacks on Israel rather than merely permitting smaller groups--Islamic JIhad, Salafist groups, and al-Qaida affiliates--to do so.
The Egyptian regime tried but apparently failed to organize a ceasefire. The timing of a confrontation now is inconvenient for the new government which is seeking to consolidate power...
In future, though, [Egypt] is more likely to back up Hamas either indirectly--letting money, weapons, terrorists, and Egyptian volunteer fighters- cross from Egypt into Gaza--or even through direct military intervention.
Neither side takes U.S. policy very seriously. The Egyptians and Hamas know that President Barack Obama will not take Israel's side to the same extent as previous presidents while Israel knows it cannot depend on an energetic U.S. pressure on Egypt to tamp down on the terrorists.
[The Rubin Report]
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