ISIS is not only to Israel's north, in Syria, and east, in Iraq; it is also just across the border to the south. In fact, the terror group has taken over a large swath of the Sinai peninsula. From its stronghold there, it launched four rockets into Israel last night. But this is not the only military activity that occurred during the evening. There were two more.✡✡✡✡✡✡✡✡✡✡✡✡✡✡✡✡✡✡
Last night four rockets were launched from desert hills of Sinai into Israel. Aiming for the nation's resort city of Eilat, three of the rockets were intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome defensive missile system. The fourth missile landed in an open area.
Today ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack. According to a statement by the group...
"...a number of rockets were launched at Jewish centers in Eilat, known as Umm Rashrash. The Jews and Crusaders should know that the war of the apostles will not save them in any way.”
In fact, the rocket attack on Israel's southernmost city was not the only military action in the Jewish state last night.
There were two more.
The first of three engagements began in Israel's north on Wednesday evening. An apparently "errant" mortar fired by a tank in Syria exploded in Israel's Golan Heights. Israel's military, the IDF, immediately responded by hitting a Syrian army post.
Then, at about 11pm Israeli time, Code Red sirens were sounded in the southern resort city of Eilat. Four rockets fired from across the border in the Sinai Peninsula blasted in the skies above the city. Three of the four missiles were intercepted and destroyed by Israel's Iron Dome system, made famous during the country's war with Hamas in Gaza in 2014.
The fourth rocket landed in an open area.
A third engagement came to the West in Gaza. In the early hours of Thursday morning, Hamas announced that the IDF had struck southern Gaza, killing two and injuring five.
There might have been an attack, but Israel denied involvement. Jerusalem's suggested the agent might have been Egypt. Only hours before the attack in Gaza, Egyptian President Sisi announced that, in recent months, his forces had discovered and destroyed six tunnels from Gaza to the Sinai.
In fact, it was a collapsed tunnel that killed two in Gaza. According to today's reports, both men were members of ISIS.
If the tunnel was not another Egyptian strike in its campaign against the structures, another possibility is that it was destroyed by an accidental explosion of illegal munitions that were either stored inside, or in-transit through, the underground passage.
In spite of these incidents, the general sense is that none of them indicate the start of another war. At least, not today.
✡✡✡✡✡✡✡✡✡✡✡✡✡✡✡✡✡✡
Brian Schrauger is Editor-in-Chief of the Jerusalem Journal. He can be contacted at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
