Crunch Time For Iran

The terror group Hamas has been launching rockets from Gaza into Israel for months now. The numbers were small at first, but then they grew larger and larger. Israel had been responding with small counter attacks, but that changed two days ago when the Israelis were able to target the military commander of all Hamas forces as he rode in his car. Israel also immediately sent in fighter jets to take out all of the depots for long range missiles held by Hamas (at least the ones Israel knew about). Since then, Hamas has responded with barrage after barrage of short range missiles and a few longer range missiles. Israeli jets have also continued to pound military targets in the Gaza Strip. There have been few casualties. The Israelis have managed to shoot down most of the incoming rockets, but three people died in a village near Gaza when a rocket hit their building. In Gaza, the Israeli air force has been quite successful in hitting only military sites. There are about twelve dead in Gaza, but they are nearly all soldiers for Hamas.

So, what does all this mean? Since this is the Middle East, the first rule of interpretation is to ignore the obvious. This is not just a fight between Israel and Hamas. There had been a truce between those two enemies for years. There was no reason now why Hamas would start launching more and more missiles so as to lead to this confrontation. At least there was no reason that pertained to Hamas for that to happen. The reason for such behavior, however, comes from Iran. Hamas is supported to a great extent by the Iranians. The missiles being launched from Gaza were supplied by Iran. The Hamas forces have been trained by Iran. Hamas' financial needs are met by Iran. In fact, Hamas functions as the local representatives of Iran. There is no way that the missile attacks would have started again without approval from Iran. Indeed, the likely reason for the attacks is a directive coming from Iran.

Why would Iran want to start a fight between Israel and Hamas? The answer is simple: Iran wants to take attention away from its nuclear program. Iran wants to distract the Israeli leadership for the next few months. Iran is close to the point where its nuclear ambitions will be unstoppable. It just needs a few months more for that to happen.

The world cannot be distracted. Either Israel or the USA will have to take out the Iranian nuclear facilities, and that has to happen soon.