Kochavi Reveals: IDF Forces Struck ‘Third Country’ During Gaza Operation

IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi revealed Thursday that the IDF carried out a strike on an unnamed country during the recent round of fighting in the Gaza Strip earlier this month.

“Ten days ago, the IDF hit with great precision Tayseer Jabari, who is an arch-terrorist,” Kochavi said at a Federation of Local Authorities conference, referring to the northern Gaza commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, killed during the opening strikes of Operation Breaking Dawn.

“And at the same time [the IDF] carried out a wave of arrests in Yehudah and Shomron, and at the same time attacked a third country, and carried out defense [maneuvers] along the rest of the country’s borders,” Kochavi said.

“If there is no operation, then there is defense. This is a very complex task that we must not take for granted. You saw the elimination of Jabari in a 14-story building, and we performed the operation with 20 Givati soldiers, who have to be very precise and [operate] at a very high level of risk,” Kochavi added.

Kochavi did not name the third country that was hit.

However, Arabic-language media reports have said that on Aug. 7 at least six Iranian and Lebanese advisers were killed in Yemen at a camp run by the Iran-backed Houthi rebel group. The reports attributed the blast to a Houthi ballistic missile that exploded while being redeployed.

The reports carried by Saudi broadcaster Al Arabiya and Al-Hadath said dozens of Houthi fighters were also killed, and that the blast triggered a second explosion in a nearby factory and weapons dump near Yemen’s capital Sa’ana.

It was not clear from the reports if the Lebanese were linked with Hezbollah, another armed terror group supported by Tehran.