In 2021, as of mid-December, Arab terrorists carried out 6,633 terrorist attacks in Judea and Samaria alone, of which 61 were shootings, 18 were stabbings, 1,022 were fire bombings, 5,532 were rock-throwing attacks, a sharp increase over the numbers in recent years.
The data published Tuesday evening by the IDF show that in the past year there has been a 38% increase in stone-throwing incidents, a 36% increase in the number of Molotov cocktail attacks, and twice as many stabbing incidents as in the previous year, with an average of 18 attacks every day.
These numbers do not include attacks from the Gaza Strip, including the 11-day Operation Guardian of the Walls in May, or attacks in other parts of Israel. The number of rock-throwing and firebombing attacks was probably higher than what the IDF registered as many of them go unreported.
Focusing on other arenas, Chief of Staff Lt. General Aviv Kochavi said at the end of the year summary that “operations in the past year have led to a significant disruption of all axes of the introduction of weapons into the various arenas by our enemies.”
The Israeli Air Force has conducted at least 30 strikes against Iranian targets in Syria in the past year, in many cases targeting weapons shipments meant for the Hezbollah terror organization. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, about 130 combatants were killed in these strikes.
At 70% of the time of the past year, the land, sea, and air routes used for weapons transferring were blocked, said Kochavi. Thanks to the IDF’s continued operations, there is a downward trend in the amount of “strategic weapons” in Syria, and the number is expected to continue its decline.
A security source stated that “our opponents are deterred from a war with Israel, when many times they choose to restrain themselves and not respond” to Israeli strikes and operations.
He further noted that, unlike other armies, the IDF is required to contend with six arenas at any given moment, in six dimensions, “there is no other army in the world that is currently dealing with six active arenas.”
The main threats to the State of Israel are foremost the Iranian nuclear threat, then the threat of rocket fire, and the threat of penetrating forces such as Hezbollah’s Radwan force, he explained.