TEL AVIV — Last week’s mortar fire from the Al Quds Brigades, Iran-backed Islamic Jihad’s so-called military wing, was part of a larger attack that the organization had planned, a member of the Palestinian terrorist organization told Breitbart Jerusalem.
According to the source, the mortar fire was meant to be a cover for the fire of a Kornet-type rocket aimed at an Israeli jeep, but the rocket exploded before being fired. “Our brothers’ plans in the Al Quds Brigades were to destroy an Israeli jeep that was near the border but the attempt went wrong,” said the source.
The early explosion of the rocket caused great frustration among the jihadists, which led to the firing of more mortars than originally intended, with the goal of making up for the failed Kornet strike, the source claimed.
The source noted that Islamic Jihad members prepared for the operation a week prior to the incident itself and that hundreds of the organization’s fighters were briefed to be on high alert to respond to Israel’s inevitable retaliation after the Kornet fire, which was likely to cause damage and even kill Israeli soldiers.
An Israeli force of engineers on duty Thursday near the security fence that separates Gaza and Israel was surprised when no less than 12 mortars were fired at them with no warning. The mortars didn’t cause any injuries among the Israeli troops. The Israeli air force and artillery units fired at the source of the mortar attacks as well as at Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets across the border.
The mortar fire from Islamic Jihad was itself purportedly in retaliation for the Israeli army’s recent destruction of a terror tunnel built by the organization that passed under Israeli towns. Twelve armed Islamic Jihad terrorists were reportedly killed as the tunnel was destroyed and the organization swore to respond and take revenge.