Strategic Assessment

Over the past year and especially in recent months, senior members of the Israeli defense establishment have charged that there has been a significant escalation of the threat posed by al-Qaeda towards Israel. For example, according to the head of IDF Intelligence in comments made at the Knesset’s Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee in January 2007, between dozens and hundreds of trained al-Qaeda members with explosives expertise were sent to the region by the order of Ayman Zawahiri, Bin Laden’s deputy, as part of the organization’s deployment in the states bordering Israel, namely, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria. In March this year, there were reports of a new organization called Fatah al-Islam, numbering several dozen members from Arab states and aligned with al-Qaeda, which had already been involved in violent confrontations with the Lebanese army and was preparing for terrorist activity.