By William Tucker
A tour bus carrying Israeli tourists was struck by a terrorist bombing today killing 7 and wounding another 32. According to eyewitness accounts, the explosion took place shortly after the passengers began boarding the bus. This suggests that the bomb was the work of a suicide bomber, or the device was detonated remotely by someone in the vicinity. As it is still early, there isn’t much evidence to go on for a proper tactical assessment of the attack. What can be discussed, however, is the assertion by Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu that Iran was behind the attack. Considering the environment and the fight between the U.S., Israel, and a few of the Arab states with Iran over the latter’s nuclear program, this is an expected response. That being said, recent attempts by Iran, and their Lebanese proxy Hezbollah, to strike at U.S./Israeli targets worldwide lend credence to this claim. Attempts by Iran to hit Israeli targets over the last year have occurred in Thailand, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and most recently Kenya. An operation to assassinate an Israeli embassy employee in Delhi, India also occurred during this timeframe. Although the bomb detonated in the Delhi attack, the target survived. Despite the string of failures we can expect that Iran will continue to use aggressive tactics to target their foes internationally. With continuing sanctions and the possibility that Iran will lose its foothold in Syria, Tehran really has nothing to lose in pursuing these types of operations.
Aside: Shortly after this writing, Yemeni authorities dismantled an Iranian spy network in their country. Details are limited at the moment.
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