The IDF's daring raid in Nablus, in which the Lion's Den terror group's leader was eliminated and its explosives lab destroyed, shows that the military has a new strategy. Or to be more precise, it has returned to a strategy that has not been used in Judea and Samaria for some time: targeted raids. With the rising Palestinian terrorism, the IDF is expected to increase such activities in Jenin and Nablus.
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So far, Israel has operated in the Palestinian territories either through countermeasure operations or arrests, the latter of which got complicated sometimes and led to the killing of the wanted. The majority of the IDF's operations were of the second kind, mainly to arrest suspects for interrogation and intelligence gathering about perpetrated or planned attacks. But some were assassination operations, such as Sunday's elimination of Lion's Den member Tamer Kilani in an explosion attributed to the Shin Bet security agency.
Israel has now decided to go back to targeted raids. Tuesday's raid on the Lion's Den infrastructure in Nablus, in which its leader Wadie Houh was killed, was carried out with utmost determination and means. It included fighters from the Yamam counter-terrorism unit, the elite Sayeret Matkal special forces unit, and the Givati Brigade, who were armed with missiles and sniper rifles and also had armed drones at the ready in case things got complicated (which were not needed in the end).
Another significant element of the raid was the technology: a combination of cyber and electronic warfare helped the military not only obtain intelligence and track the terrorists, but make them oblivious to the fact that the Israeli military was approaching.
The terror group has, of course, vowed revenge, and the assumption in Israel is that the surviving members will try to carry out an attack in Israel in the near future. There were also threats from the Gaza Strip, but security officials say Hamas has no interest in an escalation and might only launch a rocket for the sake of appearances.
Judea and Samaria is the greater concern, especially northern Samaria, where terrorism has been on the increase for months. It is likely that the security establishment will seek to continue the current series of military activities in order to maintain the pressure on the terror groups, but will also execute targeted raids, rather than extensive operations, in an attempt to allow civilians to go about their daily lives and keep them out of the conflict.
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