Israel waged counterstrikes on Tuesday in southern Syria and the Gaza Strip following aggression from Hamas, Hezbollah, and Syrian military forces, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Israel Defense Forces deployed a contingent of helicopters, fighter jets, and drones against Syrian military installations purposed for observation, intelligence gathering, and communication. This attack came a day following a thwarted Hezbollah attack in a contested area in the Golan Heights, in which four terrorists were killed by IDF responders.
Former Israeli military intelligence chief Amos Yadlin said Hezbollah planned the attack as revenge for previous skirmishes. "It seems [Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah tried his luck from the Syrian front," Yadlin wrote on Twitter.
Iranian-backed Hezbollah has a storied relationship with Syria and the Assad regime, along with a documented history of cooperation during the Syrian Civil War. Both Syria and Hezbollah harbor resentment towards Israel and have had few qualms about the use of violence.
"Hezbollah needs to know that it’s playing with fire," Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week. "Any attack against us will be answered with great force."
Meanwhile, Israel acted with dispatch on its southern border against terror group Hamas on Monday. IDF forces bombed Hamas sites on the Gaza Strip hours after a rocket was launched towards southern Israel.
Tit-for-tat operations in Gaza are nothing new. Israel’s "Iron Dome" missile defense system intercepted more than 470 shells last year from Gaza-based terrorist rockets—an 85 percent success rate, according to the IDF. On Monday, American defense firm Raytheon announced its partnership with Israeli contractor Rafael Advanced Defense Systems to build a similar missile defense system in the United States.
With such strong defenses, Israel hopes to nudge Gaza towards a less militaristic posture.
"[Hamas] must stop manufacturing rockets and use pipes to build proper water and sewage infrastructure for their children," said Brigadier General Eliezer Toledano. "They must stop sowing launchers and harvest rockets and sow wheat and harvest grain."