Thus, the rocket fired from one of the numerous, and vast, inventories of explosive missiles stored in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip about an hour ago will achieve trivial media coverage tonight.
Here in Israel, it's of course being reported in the news bulletins because tens of thousands of Israeli homes heard - and acted upon - the awful tones of the incoming-rocket alert - the famed Tzeva Adom (Color Red) warning system that has sounded thousands of times in the decade since Israel handed the Gaza Strip over to the Palestinian Authority in 2005. (Hamas grabbed control shortly afterwards,)
Tonight's rocket firing, at about 7:05 pm this evening (Monday) is believed - reports Times of Israel - to have landed and exploded in southern Israel in an open area within the Sha’ar Hanegev region. The report, barely touching on the impact this instantly forgettable matter will have had on thousands of families, says
Local residents reported hearing an explosion outside one of the Israeli communities adjacent to the border fence." According to Israel National News, "A Salafist organization, the Sheikh Omar Hadid Brigades - which is affiliated with Islamic State (ISIS) - claimed responsibility for the rocket fire.In June, Aljazeera, which seems to have good connections with parts of the Islamist terror industry, attributed a rocket attack from Gaza to the same Omar Hadid/ISIS terror group, explaining that
Salafists are Sunni Muslims who promote a strict lifestyle based on that of early "pious ancestors". In Gaza they have made no secret of their disdain for Hamas over its observance of a tacit ceasefire with Israel and what they see as Hamas' failure to implement Islamic law.The Hadid entity (some background here) appears to be relatively new to the lobbing-rockets-over-the-Israel-fence business. On June 11, 2015, one of their attacks produced yet another "Fell Short" [see this Algemeiner report] meaning they fired a rocket in the vague direction of Israel but succeeded only in having it crash-land and explode inside the Gaza Strip, with unknown consequences. We posted about that at the time: see "13-Jun-15: Gazan evidence that Gazan rocket attack Thursday night struck Gaza".
Then a little over a month ago, they struck again [see "19-Sep-15: Gaza rockets: Another Friday night attack"]. We wrote at the time that
"Credit" was rapidly claimed by one of the proliferating Gaza Strip terror industry groups, the so-called Sheikh Omar Hadid Brigade, also known as Ahfad Ashaba, which first emerged (and was probably created) in the last few months.The terror-by-rocketry business in Gaza is getting crowded. Meanwhile the role of the dominant and ruthless Hamas regime is currently less overt and somewhat less destructive than it might have been. An interesting piece in today's Wall Street Journal ["Why Hamas Has Not Unleashed Violence From Gaza", Jonathan Schanzer] proposes a theory as to why this is.
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