Israel is pointing a finger at Iran for being behind the most serious escalation on it’s southern front in four years. Less than a month after Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps fired 32 rockets toward Israel’s northern Golan Heights, the Iranian-funded Islamic Jihad along with Hamas fired some 180 Iranian-made 120-mm. mortar shells and 107-mm. rockets toward communities in southern Israel. It was the largest salvo fired from the Gaza Strip since the end of Operation Protective Edge in 2014.

In response, Israel carried out the most extensive retaliation since 2014, striking 65 Hamas targets across the entire Gaza Strip, including a dual-purpose tunnel dug one kilometer into Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and then 900 meters into Israeli territory.  According to IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Ronen Manelis, the tunnel was meant not only to carry out attacks against Israel but also to smuggle weaponry into the blockaded coastal enclave.  READ MORE