Israel Strikes Hamas, Turkey Bombs Iraq // FAI ONLINE

Militants in the Gaza Strip ignite an explosive device attached to balloons near the security fence with Southern Israel (via @manniefabian on Twitter).

Israel struck back against Islamic militants in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip on Tuesday night after a daily barrage of incendiary balloons since last Thursday has caused 100 wildfires burning over 2000 dunams (500 acres, 200 hectares) of Israeli land. Several smaller Gaza militant groups took credit for launching balloons over the Gaza security fence into Israel with flaming objects attached, including a drone-propelled balloon that carried an improvised explosive device. The daily barrages have begun each evening at 11:00 PM Israeli time, setting residents of Southern Israel on edge each night. In response, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have deployed Lahav Or —“Light Blade” —the new anti-drone LASER defense system.

Although the balloon attacks have caused no known casualties so far, the IDF has gradually lost patience with the persistent threat. A shooting incident that occurred last Sunday as a section of the security fence was being repaired was met with an Israeli airstrike against a Hamas observation post. The barrage of balloons yesterday prompted a series of missile strikes against a Hamas facility in Rafah, followed by multiple Israeli drone and artillery strikes against the positions of those suspected of launching the balloons. The IDF enforces a policy to hold Hamas accountable for all attacks originating from Gazan territory, whether the group is directly responsible or not.

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Also yesterday, the Iraqi government summoned the Turkish envoy in Baghdad and cancelled an upcoming visit from the Turkish defense minister after an airstrike along the border with Iraqi Kurdistan killed three members of the Iraqi Border Guard, including Brigadier General Muhammad Rashid. Another one of those killed had previously been trained as a combat medic by FAI staff. It was the latest in a string of Turkish attacks in Kurdistan since August 8th, after a series of strikes in the farmland areas of Deralok, Batifa and Shildaze in western Dohok Province terrorized local residents. Turkish warplanes also set fire to agricultural land in an airstrike that targeted Qamish villiage in Sulaimani Province near the border with Iran last Saturday. No casualties were reported in either attack, although the persistent Turkish shelling and bombing near civilian areas has kept residents of Kurdistan’s remote border villages in a constant state of fear.

Whether bombs from Turkish jets or incendiary balloons from Gazan terrorists, the people of both Kurdistan and Israel find themselves under constant threat from their Islamist neighbors. We ask the global FAI family to join us in prayer for a divine hedge of protection around those in the Middle East who are harassed and oppressed for their very existence in their ancestral homeland, and that the violence of those who seek to steal, kill and destroy would come to nothing.

Maranatha.