Defiant Hamas hits Israel with dozens of rockets

[bemildred]

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip —

Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip sent a deadly barrage of missiles flying deep into Israel on Monday, demonstrating that Hamas still has firepower three days into Israel’s punishing offensive against Gaza. Three Israelis were killed and two seriously wounded.

Israel, meanwhile, turned the force of its air assault toward Hamas field operatives in Gaza, sending warplanes to bomb their houses in a sweep meant to tear at the roots of the militant organization.

A tough-talking Israeli defense minister promised them a “war to the bitter end,” as the three-day death toll in Israel’s shock-and-awe offensive rose to 364, according to Gaza health officials.

The intensified rocket strikes by militants, which triggered the Israeli offensive, have revealed the expanding range of missiles in their stockpiles. Larger cities farther inside Israel are now vulnerable.

http://www.japantoday.com/category/world/view/defiant-hamas-hits-israel-with-dozens-of-rockets

[StudsT]

1. didn't Hezbollah continue to fire rockets all during Israel's Bombing of Lebanon?

i think Israel's leaders are as crazy as our neo-cons.

and so it goes...

StudsT

[Sebastian Doyle]

3. Well of course they are

considering they're all pretty much the same group. PNAC began as, and remains, a subdivision of the Likud party.

[soulcore]

2. locking in 3, 2, 1....

That or it'll just get moved so you can never find the thread again.

Censorship is alive and well on DU, just wait and watch.

[bemildred]

4. It's already in I/P. It's perfectly OK here. nt

[soulcore]

5. Good to know.

I've been trying to get educated on the EXTREMELY intricate history of this conflict and have seen threads disappear, get moved and be locked left and right.

And now I have an entire sub-forum to read through and catch up on.

[bemildred]

6. Read the rules at the top.

And welcome to the I/P forum.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

7. Dumb tactically, but maybe it made them feel good.

Scenario:
- The IAF is patrolling extensively in northern Gaza.
- The fire finder radars are all up, and tracks launch locations
- HE inbound on the launch sites, regardless of there they are located
- Decimation of launch sites and anything nearby.
- No one hurt in Israel

It was dumb to do before the IAF attacked. Its just plain stupid now. No gain, lots of pain.

[bemildred]

8. Well, OK.

Tactically Hamas is nowhere anyhow. This is all show biz, "theatrical micro-militarism" I think the phrase was. Militarily speaking Hamas is not a significant threat to the IDF. Although I haven't seen anything to indicate whether counterfire has been effective one way or another, other than that so far there are still rockets being fired.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

9. Its called shoot and scoot

The problem is that Hamas is launching from civilian occupied areas so when the counter strike arrives, the shooters are gone and the civilians get hurt. Hezbollah did this superbly in 2006. The Israeli response in Lebanon was cluster munitions which mean that the shooters (and no one else) can use that area until it was cleared. We all saw how "popular" and idea that was. Have not heard of cluster munitions being used in Gaza yet.

I believe one of the latest salvos reached Ashdod for the first time. That is a big deal. Killed one person, wounded another, but its the range that mattered. If that continues, Israel will become a lot more of a hard ass than it is now.

YouTube has cockpit video of an Israeli strike showing what they claim are underground launch sites located between houses. I should be able to find it again if you haven't seen it.

[bemildred]

10. It's not new.

Same issues been chewed over ad nauseum in Iraq. Much discussion or how many rounds to fire off before you have to split, the virtues of good mortar teams that can do it faster, hence fire more rounds, etc. If you have "unconventional forces" in a populated theater, with mortars or rockets or the like, it's going to come up. Gaza is like the worst place in the world for it.

I don't believe cluster munitions would be a good idea in Gaza.

You are correct about Ashdod, we'll see what comes of it.

I generally don't do Youtube, not a matter of principle, just prefer text.

[IndianaGreen]

11. Here is Rachel Maddow's show tonight on the war in Gaza

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#28427276