Clashes in Jenin on Monday illustrate the increasing threat that illegal weapons, particularly rifles, and more sophisticated threats pose on the West Bank. In the last months Iran has sought to threaten Israel from multiple fronts and Iran’s leadership recently met with members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Iran’s regime and its media routinely publish articles suggesting Israel is weak internally and that threats from Hezbollah and PIJ can now be used to destabilize Israel.
The IDF and Israel Border Police said forces operated to apprehend two wanted suspects in the city of Jenin. However, this escalated and became a major clash on Monday. Time will tell whether this escalates further. However, it is clear that reports from the IDF of a “massive exchange of fire took place between the forces and armed gunmen in the area” represent a serious problem.
A military vehicle was hit by an explosive device, damaging the vehicle. IDF helicopters opened fire toward Palestinian gunmen, the IDF said. This illustrates the seriousness of the incident.
Iran’s watchful eye on Israel’s clashes in Jenin
Iran will be watching the aftermath of this clash closely. It has sought to destabilize Jenin and create a power vacuum to then exploit and funnel weapons into that vacuum. Reports over the last several months have indicated how Iran seeks to not only move weapons to the West Bank but also create conditions to threaten Israel from multiple areas.
Iran recently hosted Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister and its president traveled to South America. Iran believes it is on a winning streak in the region and it views Israel as the main adversary and obstacle to that winning streak. For this reason, it will seek to benefit and profit from any instability or fallout from Jenin. It will use proxies such as PIJ to achieve this.
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