As the year 2022 comes to an end, the Israel Defense Forces summarized all different recorded activities and published the data it has found. According to the summary, throughout 2022, approximately 9,000 terrorist attacks in the form of stone and Molotov cocktails took place, along with 285 shooting attacks, and 14 stabbing attacks. The numbers recorded by the IDF show a clear pattern in Palestinian activists' turn to terrorism as a means of resistance to Israeli sovereignty.
Also during the year, the Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet confiscated 2,789,514 million Shekels of arms and other equipment from terrorist organizations. Over 493 weapons were confiscated in Judea and Samaria and 14 makeshift weapon factories were closed. Additionally, 3216 arrests were made during which 2672 known terrorist operatives were arrested.
1. Iran’s weapons sales to the war in Ukraine is the main influence on the way the Western world and the U.S. looks at Iran and the entire region.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) December 28, 2022
In the Gaza Strip, 257 Hamas and Jihad targets were targeted by IDF forces, most of them part of the summer operation in which over 700 missions were carried out by Israeli jets, and 14 senior terrorist group officials were killed.
Interestingly, another arena the IDF has collected data for their annual report concerns the United States, China, Russia, and Ukraine. According to the IDF, there is a very large impact on what is happening in Ukraine in the Middle East. These are most evident through observing broad processes that affect the prices of military equipment. The fact the Iranians sell weapons to the Russians affects the American response and other superpowers such as China.
Looking to the coming year 2023, the IDF is waiting for the policy of designated Defense Minister Yoav Galant, along with the various policy changes already in action regarding units such as the Israeli border patrol. The IDF, however, stated they have yet to implement any policy changes or receive any instructions to do so.
Some IDF stats comparing to the previous years. As you can see there has been a huge increase in stoning and shooting attacks in Judea and Samaria since the Bennet / Lapid government took over. Almost 5 times more shooting attacks compared to 2021 and 15 times more than in 2019. pic.twitter.com/3rjgGkNbhk
— Documenting Israel (@israelmuse) December 29, 2022
According to the military’s summaries, this past year has marked an accelerated operational activity in Syria and operational duties both within and outside of Syria with a variety of methods in order to keep the Iranians at safe distance from any nuclear weapons. Throughout 2022, Syrian and Lebanese organizations would report on what they called “Israeli attacks” within their territories; for obvious reasons, the IDF rarely confirms their presence in any operational scenario outside of Israel.
The IDF added they define 2022 as a "successful year" and admit while it was not perfect, the Iranian establishment in Syria has been fatally damaged. The IDF concluded that the effect of the sanctions on Iran is working and hope new sanctions will come after the potential expulsion of any international Nuclear agreement with Iran.
