Egypt recalls envoy over IAF air strikes. Iron Dome hits 17 out of 50 missiles
DEBKAfile Special Report November 14, 2012, 10:24 PM (GMT+02:00)
Ahmed Jabari's car hit by IAF
The Palestinians fired 50 rockets from Gaza Wednesday night, Nov. 14, after an Israeli air assault killed the Hamas military chief Ahmed Jabari and destroyed a long list of missile sites. Iron Dome intercepted 17 of the incoming rockets against Beersheba (three salvoes), Ashdod and Eshkol. None caused casualties. Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, after some hesitation, decided not to issue a statement on the Israeli operation. Instead, he recalled his ambassador from Tel Aviv and decided to call a UN Security Council session to stop “Israeli aggression.” The Israeli ambassador was summoned to hear Egypt's foreign ministry. So far, Cairo has not acted to sever relations.
After confirming the death of the master-terrorist Ahmed Jabari, commander of Hamas’s military arm, Ezz e-din al-Qassam, Hamas announced: We are now at war with Israel. Jabari, 52, was killed by a targeted Israeli air attack in Gaza City. A key figure in the radical Palestinian Hamas movement, he was caught driving in a black Mercedes in Gaza City.
Hamas has announced a general call-up and threatened to respond not just with rockets but suicide attacks inside Israel. Its leaders warned that their Fajr-5 rockets had a range of 75 kilometers and could reach locations north of Tel Aviv.
Israeli sources say the air operation called Pillar of Cloud aimed at targeting more Hamas leaders, degrading its military infrastructure and demolishing its rocket stocks, especially the long-range Fajrs.
The Israeli Navy joined the air force in striking Palestinian missile sites in southern Gaza from the sea.
Hamas has announced a general call-up and threatened to respond not just with rockets but suicide attacks inside Israel. Its leaders warned that their Fajr-5 rockets had a range of 75 kilometers and could reach locations north of Tel Aviv.
Israeli sources say the air operation called Pillar of Cloud aimed at targeting more Hamas leaders, degrading its military infrastructure and demolishing its rocket stocks, especially the long-range Fajrs.
The Israeli Navy joined the air force in striking Palestinian missile sites in southern Gaza from the sea.
In their first report on progress, Wednesday night, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu reported that the wave of Israeli air strikes over Gaza had seriously degraded the Hamas terrorists’ ability to conduct missile attacks on central Israel, despite a major effort to avoid harming civilians. “We are set to expand out counter-terror operation if necessary.” He said.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that most of Hamas’s Fajr rockets and their silos had been hit as well as many other strategic sites. Operation Pillar of Cloud had four objectives, said Barak: restoring Israel’s deterrence; seriously reducing the terrorists’ rocket arsenal; harming their high-profile leaders and restoring peace to southern Israel.The IDF spokesman reported that reserve units are standing by in case a ground operation is called for by a Palestininan escalation. Special police units are on the ready in all parts of Israel for possible terrorist attacks. Locations within 40 kilometers range of the Gaza Strip were advised to stand ready to take rocket attacks from Gaza until the Operation Pillar of Cloud was over. All schools within rocket range of the Gaza Strip will remain closed Thursday and emergency services are on high alert. The million Israeli civilians suffering perennial Palestinian rocket assaults are advised to stay close to shelters for the duration of the operation.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that most of Hamas’s Fajr rockets and their silos had been hit as well as many other strategic sites. Operation Pillar of Cloud had four objectives, said Barak: restoring Israel’s deterrence; seriously reducing the terrorists’ rocket arsenal; harming their high-profile leaders and restoring peace to southern Israel.The IDF spokesman reported that reserve units are standing by in case a ground operation is called for by a Palestininan escalation. Special police units are on the ready in all parts of Israel for possible terrorist attacks. Locations within 40 kilometers range of the Gaza Strip were advised to stand ready to take rocket attacks from Gaza until the Operation Pillar of Cloud was over. All schools within rocket range of the Gaza Strip will remain closed Thursday and emergency services are on high alert. The million Israeli civilians suffering perennial Palestinian rocket assaults are advised to stay close to shelters for the duration of the operation.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-11-14/complication-pro-us-egypt-gets-involved-says-will-no-longer-tolerate-israels-gaza-at
Complication: US Ally Egypt Gets Involved, Says Will No Longer Tolerate Israel's Gaza Attacks
it was only a matter of time before today's Israeli offensive ran into a snag. The complication: Egypt, which has long been treading the fence being both a pro-US regional power (someone has to provide those joint guarantees on Egyptian bonds, and to supply the local tear gas canisters in exchange for a friendly Suez Canal administrator), as well as a pro-Muslim presence. Today, the government was taken to task by the ruling Islamist Muslim Brotherhood which felt the need to be true to its name and express disgust at the Israeli action in Gaza. From AFP: "Egypt’s Islamist Freedom and Justice Party, formerly headed by President Mohammed Mursi, said on Wednesday Egypt would no longer stand by as Israel attacked Palestinians after air strikes killed a Hamas leader. The FJP, the political arm of the powerful Muslim Brotherhood movement, said Israeli air strikes that killed top militant Ahmed al-Jaabari in Gaza earlier on Wednesday required “swift Arab and international action to stop the massacres.” The party, which fielded Mursi in a June election to replace toppled president Hosni Mubarak, said Israel “must take into account the changes in the Arab region and especially Egypt.” Egypt “will not allow the Palestinians to be subjected to Israeli aggression, as in the past,” the party statement said."
The problem is what happens when outgoing regional presence Hillary Clinton makes a phone call to Mursi and reminds him just who runs the country. Should Egypt even then continue pretending it is willing to risk its US alliance and push for solidarity with Palestine then all bets are off, including bets that Suez Canal access to key Israel ally - the US - will remain uninhibited.
More:
Mubarak, overthrown in early 2011, was criticized by his opponents for his response to an Israeli invasion of Gaza in 2008-2009 following rocket fire by Palestinian militants.Mursi, a vociferous supporter of the Palestinians before his election, had been expected to open up to the blockaded Gaza Strip bordering Egypt, but his government has backed off from his pledges.And then this:Not surprisingly, Enduring America's "snap analysis" agrees:This campaign against Gaza puts the Middle East in an awkward spot. Clearly, "Arab Spring" was, if nothing else, a referendum on human rights. If leaders like Egypt's Morsi, or others in the region, see that their populous views today's events similarly to events in, say, Syria or Libya, then this could force regional leaders to put significant pressure on Israel.It's too early to speculate, but to say that the region is highly susceptible to instability at the current moment is an understatement.The ball is now in Israel's court. Because while the small country may be willing to engage three regional powers at the same time, one wonders if going full retard and adding Egypt to the countries provoked will be something even Israel is willing to do.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-11-14/hamas-announces-it-now-open-war-israel
Hamas Announces It Is Now In "Open War" With Israel
As expected, the escalation out of Gaza has been fast and furious with Al Arabiya reporting that the Hamas response to the operation that Israel has code named "Operation Pillar Of Cloud", which an IDF spokesperson has clarified Israel is ready to escalate into a ground operation into Gaza if needed, is that "Hamas is now in open war" with Israel. Moments later the organization Islamic Jihad has unsurprisingly, chimed in: "Israel has declared war on Gaza and they will bear the responsibility for the consequences." Stay tuned folks cause this may get very messy quickly. Now if only the US military wasn't currently the functional equivalent of a grotesque reality gong show.
A picture of Gaza:
Straight from the IDF, which may be engaged in live tweeting a war for the first time in history:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-11-14/israel-assassinates-hamas-armys-chief-staff-precision-airstrike-hamas-vows-infernal-
Israel Assassinates Hamas Army's "Chief Of Staff" In Precision Airstrike, Hamas Vows "Infernal" Response
Update: Israel CDS 145/155, +6 bps
In a move that is certain to aggravate the already frayed relations between Israel and the Palestine, not to mention send Brent spiking, moments ago the IAF, in a precision airstrike, assassinated Ahmed Jaabari, the head of Hamas' armed wing - a position that is equivalent to Chief of Staff - together with his son, who were travelling in a car at the moment of the strike. And, as expected, the furious Hamas response has already been logged and promises much more death and escalation in the near term.
From Times of Israel:
The IDF confirmed the airstrike on Jaabari and said that it had launched a “widespread campaign on terror sites and operatives in the Gaza Strip, chief among them Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets.”“By nature of his position, Jaabari has been responsible over the past decade for all anti-Israel terror activity emanating from the [Gaza] Strip, the Shin Bet security agency said in a statement.Palestinians reported that there had been additional IAF airstrikes in Khan Yunis and Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.Jaabari was credited with being one of the leaders of Hamas’s violent putsch to take control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, and masterminded the professionalization of the Hamas military.Israel attempted to kill Jaabari in an airstrike in 2004, but ended up killing his eldest son, his brother, and several cousins instead.Israel's official stance, is that the assassination is in retaliation to a recent surge in shelling out of Gaza:On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would not abide the ongoing rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.“The IDF is operating, and will operate forcefully against the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip, which are sustaining heavy blows from the IDF,” the prime minister said. “The world needs to understand that Israel will not sit idly by in the face of attempts to attack us. We are prepared to intensify the response.”Although the prime minister didn’t mention any specific avenues of action, Minister of Strategic Affairs Moshe Ya’alon was more specific. “There’s no doubt that in the past two weeks we’ve been witnessing an escalation, which Hamas is responsible for,” Ya’alon told Israel Radio on Sunday. “We aren’t going to let this stand.”Of course, Hamas has its own reasons to escalate the shelling, which in its view is justified due to ongoing killings by Israel, and so on, and so on, since the beginning of time. And as was to be expected, moments ago:
- HAMAS SAYS ISRAELI STRIKE HAS "OPENED THE GATES OF HELL"
In other words, Israel is now waging three potential offensive campaigns: Syria, Iran and Gaza. This too, shall end well. If not for everyone, then certainly for Brent bulls.And from the IDF's blog:In the past hour, the IDF targeted Ahmed Jabri, the head of Hamas’ military wing, in the Gaza Strip. Jabri was a senior Hamas operative who served in the upper echelon of the Hamas’ command and was directly responsible for executing terror attacks against the State of Israel in the past number of years.The purpose of this operation was to severely impair the command and control chain of the Hamas leadership, as well as its terrorist infrastructure. This was a surgical operation in cooperation with the Israeli Security Agency, that was implemented on the basis of concrete intelligence and using advanced capabilities.Ahmed Jabari (far right)The IDF will continue to target sites that are used for carrying out terror attacks against the citizens of Israel while improving their daily security.
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