In Jenin Battle, Israel Employs Helicopters for First Time in Two Decades

JERUSALEM, Israel – Palestinians attacked an Israeli armored vehicle in Jenin Monday, escalating a battle that wounded 7 Israeli soldiers and border police and left at least 5 Palestinians dead, according to Palestinian health authorities. Dozens more Palestinians were reported to be wounded in the clashes, and Israel used attack helicopters in the fighting for the first time in 21 years, firing at least one missile.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad members planted bombs near Israeli vehicles, wounding 5 border policemen, after Israeli security teams attempted to conduct a raid in the city to arrest terrorist leaders. 

By late afternoon Israel time, the incident had ended.

The Jerusalem Post reported that wounded officers at Haifa's Rambam Medical Center told police, "Heavy fire was fired at us and explosives were thrown at us from several locations. "Together with the soldiers we managed to arrest the wanted suspects and hit a large number of terrorists. As soon as the force was hit, I and another medic in the force began to treat the soldiers and in a short time paramedics and other forces arrived. We are determined to recover and return to our friends and to operation soon."

Both Israeli officials and Middle East analysts suspect Iran is behind the escalating violence in Judea and Samaria.

In today's edition of The Jerusalem Post, defense expert Seth Frantzman wrote, "Iran’s regime and its media routinely publish articles suggesting Israel is weak internally and that threats from Hezbollah and PIJ can now be used to destabilize Israel."

Frantzman added Iran will be watching the aftermath of this clash closely. It has sought to destabilize Jenin and create a power vacuum to then exploit and funnel weapons into that vacuum. Reports over the last several months have indicated how Iran seeks to not only move weapons to the West Bank but also create conditions to threaten Israel from multiple areas. 

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