DEBKAfile
The Gaza-based radical Palestinian Jihad and Hamas on Tuesday, Dec. 29 staged a joint rocket exercise out to sea – carefully pointed away from the Israeli border. The two Palestinian terrorist groups openly activated their joint war room for the first time and in, another first, tested a Hamas drone. (See picture.)
This exercise was in keeping with the watchword of muscle-flexing combined-with-prudent caution that a jittery Tehran has circulated to all foreign proxies, lest President Donald Trump or US allies are provoked into a direct attack on Iran before he bows out on Jan. 23.
With Iranian financial and military backing, the Jihad terrorists have often loosed their rockets with deadly effect against Israel. However, these days in the last weeks of the Trump presidency, Tehran is accentuating its Palestinian surrogates’ preparedness for a direct US or allied attack, while holding back from action that may provoke one.