The White House on Monday said Iran was in some cases “actively facilitating” rocket and drone attacks by Iranian-backed proxy groups on U.S. military bases in Iraq and Syria, and President Biden has directed the Department of Defense to brace for more and respond appropriately.
White House spokesman John Kirby said there had been an uptick in such attacks over the last week, and especially over the last few days, but the U.S. would not allow its interests in the region to “go unchallenged.”
He said the United States believed these groups were supported by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) and the Iranian government, which was also continuing to support the Hamas and Hezbollah militant groups.
There is some likelihood, however it shouldn’t be understated how well Hamas were prepared. They blew up cell towers in the area using small drones, which was a single point of failure in the early warning system, and sniped the Israeli guards in their towers. Israel was also distracted by an attack in the West Bank immediately prior, and many in the air force had been on strike over Netanyahu’s actions with reservists stating they would refuse to answer if called up. Many of the active forces were on holiday, so everything was left with a skeleton crew.
Equally, Hamas’ preparations were known about well in advance - they trained attacking mock Israeli villages in Gaza, right in sight of Israel. It was also the 50th anniversary of the last time Palestinians attacked Israel on the Yom Kippur holiday. The fact that there wasn’t heightened security is absolutely a failure on Netanyahu’s part.