With a barrage of rockets from Lebanon hitting northern Israel on Thursday, it is apparent that an Iran-backed front is intent on escalating aggression. The largest such attack since 2006 followed a smaller salvo from Gaza a day earlier, and occurred as Hamas leaders were at Beirut. 

The pretext for the Passover day 34-rocket attack from Lebanon was retaliation over two consecutive nights of clashes at al Aqsa, where Israeli police forcefully evicted Palestinian men armed with rocks and firecrackers who barricaded themselves inside the mosque.

The Temple Mount events were inspired by Hamas agitators urging supporters to “defend” Islam’s third-holiest site from the Jews. Video clips of the violent clashes went viral, inflaming religious passions across the Mideast during the Ramadan month. 

A more likely reason for the attack from Lebanon, though, was a “response to Israel strikes on Iran targets in Syria,” a Hezbollah-connected Al Jazeera correspondent at Beirut reported.

The Israeli air force is routinely hitting bases that Iran and Hezbollah are establishing in Syria for future attacks on Israel. Funerals of top Iranian commanders killed in Syria have led Iranian newscasts in recent days. 

As the Israeli security cabinet convened late Thursday to consider a response, Prime Minister Netanyahu declared that when attacked the country is united. Several opposition leaders said they would back any forceful reaction.  

“Hamas was behind the rocket attack,” a spokesman for the Israeli Defense Forces, Daniel Hagari, told reporters. The Lebanese government is responsible for any attack from its territory, and the IDF is checking “any Iranian involvement,” he added. Hezbollah conspicuously was unmentioned in his comments. 

Hezbollah controls southern Lebanon, and no military activity there can proceed without its knowledge. “These were Palestinian operatives, with some cooperation from Hezbollah, although to what extent Hezbollah was involved is unclear,” the president of a northern Israel-based think tank, Alma, Sarit Zehavi, told the Sun. 

The brazen Thursday attack was launched one day after the Hamas chief, Ismail Haniyeh, arrived at Beirut. A Hamas deputy commander who coordinates terror activities abroad, Saleh Arouri, spends much of his time between Turkey and Lebanon. Significantly, Hamas increasingly gets most of its financial and logistical support from Tehran. 

WIth the aid of Hezbollah, Hamas has been building factories in Lebanon, where rockets and drones are manufactured for use in Gaza and Lebanon. The IDF is now likely to target these facilities, adding to attacks against similar targets in Syria and elsewhere. 

Coordinated attacks on Israel from Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, and the West Bank has long been the goal of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Using Jerusalem religiosity as a pretext, the Iranians now seem to succeed in uniting their various cat paws, emboldening “the resistance” to hit Israel from all sides.  

“The strength of the Palestinian groups has increased,” the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, tweeted on Tuesday. “Their strength has increased by tens of times compared to the past. We’ve received a report showing that the Palestinians carried out 27 operations in the Occupied Lands in 24 hours.”

The Tehran-inspired Hamas operation, though, was the provocation at Jerusalem’s al Aqsa, which motivated terrorists and provided justification for violence. Video footage of Israeli police forcefully dispersing youths who barricaded themselves inside the mosque was widely circulated around the Arab and Muslim world. 

Iran is becoming more powerful in the wider region as well, even as Washington eases sanctions targeting that country. Communist China is stepping into the void left by America, which further emboldens the mullahs.

The foreign ministers of Iran and America’s former top Arab ally, Saudi Arabia, met at Beijing Thursday in a display of solidarity that followed last month’s China-brokered agreement to renew diplomatic ties. 

Meanwhile, America stresses Israel’s right of self defense even as it dutifully urges “all sides” to refrain from escalation. “We condemn the launch of rockets at Israel,” a spokeswoman for the National Security Council told reporters. “Using Lebanon as a launchpad for rocket attacks against Israel only puts the Lebanese people at risk and increases the potential for further instability in the country.”

Republicans refrained from attempting such a balanced approach. “The next week will present among the most tense & dangerous moments in the history of modern day #Israel,” Senator Rubio of Florida tweeted. “It is important for our leaders to leave no doubt in anyone’s mind that we will support the right of the Jewish state to defend & protect itself.”

While President Biden is pressuring Mr. Netanyahu over an internal Israeli debate on judiciary overhaul, the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, a likely presidential candidate, is scheduled to visit Israel on its 75th Independence Day on April 25. 

An uptick in Iran-instigated violence has a potential to erupt into a major regional war, especially if Israel’s internal strife continues and encourages enemies to attack. The Jewish state’s perceived vulnerability and Washington’s seeming indifference to the region exacerbate the danger. For America, fence sitting is no longer an option.