Israel: Jihad Missile Offensive in Second Day, Ceasefire Ignored

10-30-11, Sunday morning, the second day of a massive assault on Israel, Jihad Islami denied knowledge of an Egyptian called truce. By 0700 hours Gaza Islamic militants had launched eleven Grad missiles and two mortar rounds at Ashdod and 7 other Israeli communities near Hanegev.

Saturday night, after more than 35 Palestinian missiles, most heavy Grads, had battered Israeli towns causing substantial damage. Israel and the Palestinian organizations of the Gaza Strip had accepted a truce starting 0600 Sunday morning.

Israeli Air Force retaliated with air strikes hitting six Palestinian terrorist targets - a tunnel and three missile launch pads in northern Gaza and two more in the south. There was no discernible deterrent effect on the missile assault. Schools were ordered to stay closed Sunday in eight southern Israeli towns.

Israel with two major concerns:

1. The Jihad Islami, which takes its orders and funding from Iran, will ignore the ceasefire and redouble its missile offensive against Israel to show Cairo and Jerusalem who has the whip hand. A sharp Israeli response would place the truce breakdown at Israel's door.

2. Jihad will decide whether or not to continue its attacks depending on its orders from Damascus and Tehran rather than Cairo. They will decide if it is worth their while for Egypt's rulers to walk off with the success of damping down a major escalation.

Syrian ruler Bashar Assad hardly signaled a pacific intent when, in an interview to the Sunday Telegraph of October 30, he warned the West against intervening in the popular uprising raging against his regime:

"Syria is the hub now in this region. It is the fault line, and if you play with the ground you will cause an earthquake ... Do you want to see another Afghanistan, or tens of Afghanistans? Any problem in Syria will burn the whole region."

Apparently Jihad Islami is acting on orders from Tehran and Damascus to make trouble and provoke a fresh Hamas-Israel confrontation for the purpose of derailing the deal behind the Shalit prisoner swap which provides for the transfer of Hamas' political headquarters out of the Syrian capital to Cairo and Amman.

The top-level Hamas desertion of Damascus would seriously undermine Bashar Assad at a time when he needs all the help he can get against the popular uprising against him. It would also deprive Iran of a strong Palestinian asset under its control.

The Israeli-Egyptian border north of Eilat is also on terror alert against the large Jihad Islami cell standing by in Sinai for some weeks waiting for the chance for a multiple-casualty-cum-

abduction attack.

Isa 17:1 ¶ "The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken
away from [being] a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap."

http://virtualjerusalem.com/news.php?Itemid=5155