On September 8, three Israelis were killed by a terrorist at the Allenby Bridge Border Crossing. The next day, thirteen suspects were detained on Israel’s central Route 6 highway in a security incident.
Twelve of those arrested were in Israel illegally, while another man was detained on suspicion of planning an imminent terror attack. Then, on the evening of September 9, there was another security incident on the Egyptian border. In addition, Israel busted an attempt to smuggle handguns via the border crossing with Jordan near Eilat.
The four incidents are not particularly unique if taken one at a time. There has been smuggling along the Egyptian border for many years. This has led to threats to Israel and several incidents in which the IDF has had to respond to smugglers who operate along the border.
In addition, the smuggling of weapons from Jordan has increased in recent years. Finding dozens of handguns is vital, but it is not unique. The fact that a terrorist was apprehended on Route 6 is rare, but terror threats to Israel have existed for years.
However, when we zoom out and look at all these incidents, and then add them up with the daily attacks by Hezbollah, the rocket fire targeting Ashkelon by Hamas in Gaza, and the ongoing operations against terrorists in the West Bank, it’s clear that Israel continues to confront an unprecedented series of security challenges.
These challenges do not come in a vacuum. The Iranian Axis wants to exploit them. For instance, Hezbollah is seeking to escalate its attacks. A drone slammed into a residential building in Nahariya on September 9. Hezbollah has carried out a large number of attacks on Northern Israel in recent days. In addition, Israel faces threats from Syria. Syrian media accused Israel of carrying out airstrikes in Masyaf this week.
Rising complexity of threats
According to Iran’s state media, IRNA is of interest because Oman has condemned the incidents in Syria. Oman is usually not a significant player in these affairs. The story is part of a broader aspect of the Iranian use of Syria to threaten Israel.
Iran and other countries are paying attention. The Egyptian border incident was covered by Al-Ain media in the UAE. This shows that there is an increased focus on how the war in Gaza is also potentially fueling or leading to chaos and threats on many other fronts.
Most of these fronts were well known. Israeli officials have spoken of a seven-front war. However, it’s one thing to confront the Houthi threat using complex air defenses. It’s another to confront more minor daily attacks like the one on the Jordanian border and the Route 6 incident.
The overall issue is that Israel is now confronting multiple types of threats that are more complex than in the past. The smuggling threat, for instance, should be seen as a significant threat now. It is bringing weapons into the West Bank that has fueled a much larger conflict with terror groups. These are not just a few rifles and handguns. This is a considerable amount. For many years, there was a sense that smuggling of arms was “criminal” and was similar to the drug smuggling on the Egyptian border.
So long as weapons smuggling and theft were seen as “criminal,” it was not seen as a major threat. This is a mistaken view. Hamas has thrived because of the chaos of the “criminal” threats. The criminal threats have fueled the terror threat. Arms and drug smuggling is fueling the same chaos that terrorist groups exploit. The smuggling attempts on the Jordanian border fuel the complacency that leads to terrorist groups exploiting the chaos to carry out attacks such as the one on the Allenby crossing.
The challenge to Israel is not ballistic missiles and drones or rockets fired by Hamas. Those are one type of challenge. However, the threat is changing.
The threat is shifting to the West Bank and other areas. It is part of a more significant attempt by the Iraq Axis to erode Israel’s capabilities by presenting Israel with numerous threats on numerous fronts. By doing this, Iran can keep the battle within or close to Israel’s borders and, therefore, far from Iran.
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