As the IDF continues its thrashing of Hamas terrorists throughout the Gaza Strip, and now including close quarter battle (CQB) in Gaza City itself in the third phase of Operation Cast Lead, there are new and disturbing developments to the north. To date only a few hundred of the estimated 20,000-some odd man military force of Hamas have been KIA. With at least 95% of the Hamas fighting force still combat capable, the IDF has much work yet to do to accomplish this mission.
For the second time in a week it appears that the Syrian terrorist proxy PFLP-GC has launched more 122mm Grad (Hail) artillery rockets into northern Israel. At least one of the rockets fell short in the village of el-Meri, Lebanon, seen in the image above being inspected by Lebanese troops. Other impacts are reported to be in the vicinity of Kiryat Shmona with the rocket fire having come from the vicinity of Kfar Hamame and al-Habbariyeh in southeastern Lebanon. No damge or injuries are being reported by the IDF which responded immedaitely with a retaliatory counter-fire artillery barrage against the Lebanese launch sites. Kfar Hamame lies approximately 12 mi/19km northeast of Kiryat Shmona which is approximately the maximum range for the basic 122mm Grad-type rocket.
And in a slightly surprising, albeit a who-really-cares development, Al Qa'ida's As-Sahab media terrorists posted a new encrypted audio statement purportedly from Usama bin Laden entitled "The Call for Jihad to Stop Aggression On/Against Gaza" to dozens of Islamist websites this morning. As-Sahab was kind enough to supply the encryption password. This new release is composed of an Arabic-language audio statement purportedly made by bin Laden (sans English-language subtitles). The release was distributed in three files sizes (9.1, 15.9 and 56.4MB) accompanied by a still image of bin Laden. I assess this release to be more propaganda having the equivilence of Usama sqeaking "Hey, remember me? I am still relevant, ain't I?" Maybe, Usama, maybe. However, at this point, who really cares? You still sound like Ayatollah Khamenei's second rate sock-puppet.
