A large explosive device that targeted IDF soldiers near Nablus on Wednesday night has the hallmarks of the Iran-backed terror campaign that has continued to percolate and grow this year. Over the past year, Iran has increasingly sought to expand the number of fronts against Israel. This means inflaming the West Bank as well as encouraging Hezbollah to increase tensions.
This week, there has been focus on Lebanon and Hezbollah’s increasing provocations, as well as an Iranian focus on Syria where it wants US forces to leave the country. All this comes during a rising wave of terror attacks against Israel this week.
The explosion in Nablus appears similar to other attempts by Palestinian Islamic Jihad to use explosives against the IDF and Israel. For instance during the operations in Jenin earlier this summer PIJ attempted to festoon the city with IEDs and other weapons. The goal is to ambush the IDF and destroy vehicles and get soldiers bogged down. In this regard, Iran’s backing of terror groups in the region by providing technical know-how on IEDs and other weapons has been a key factor in backing groups like PIJ, Hezbollah and also threats to US forces in Syria and US forces in Iraq in the past.
The context of Iran’s threats also extends into other areas of Israel. Hezbollah enabled an infiltration that targeted a junction near Megiddo earlier this year, while Palestinian groups worked on simple designs for missiles in the West Bank.
Constant threats to Israel
In recent weeks, Hezbollah head Hassan Nasrallah threatened Israel several times. There is a significant change that is taking place on the ground in the West Bank, Jerusalem has said recently. It is related to Iranian funding, and to the proliferation of weapons under the Iranian directive. “Iran seeks every means to harm the citizens of Israel,” said Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Last week, reports indicated that criminals in Lod and Kafr Kassem were accused of trying to bring explosives into Israel and this was linked to Hezbollah. In addition, it was revealed that Iran was linked to the smuggling attempt at Ashdot Yaakov in July. Walla also had a recent article claiming that IDF jeeps are vulnerable to Iranian-IEDs. This is all linked to the recent explosion in Nablus and the attempts by terror groups linked to Iran to set the West Bank alight before the High Holy Days in Israel.