This is in light of the apparent defeat of the forces of Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip, and in the context of the tightening of the military stranglehold around Israel in the multi-arena campaign.

The huge smuggling operation is led by the commander of the "Revolutionary Guards" Hossein Salami, and General Ismail Ka'ani, commander of the "Quds" force.

The weapons and explosive devices are brought from Iran to Syria, to professional smuggling groups that smuggle them from southern Syria to northern Jordan. From there they are smuggled, through the border fence in the Jordan Valley, to northern Samaria: Jenin, Nablus and Tulkarm.

This is one of the weak points that the Shin Bet and the IDF have not been able to block in the last three years, even though the Jordanian army has been intensively fighting the phenomenon of smuggling from southern Syria to Jordan.

The issue came up on the media agenda following the recent incident, in which the late Captain Alon Scaggio was killed and 16 other IDF soldiers were injured, as a result of an IDF force detonating two explosive devices while carrying out an arrest operation in Jenin.

The terrorists are developing new methods and burying the charges very deep in the ground, so that the IDF bulldozer, only shaves off the top layer of soil above the IED. When the IDF force enters after the bulldozer, the terrorists remotely activate the charge that is buried deep in the ground. Because of its size it causes death and injuries.

Military sources said that the new charges prepared by the terrorists in northern Samaria are much larger than before, and consist of standard explosives smuggled from Iran, mixed with agricultural fertilizer. During the second intifada, these charges received the nickname "Umm al-Abd" in Arabic.

The terrorist groups in northern Samaria are perfecting their fighting methods against the IDF, moving from throwing stones and knives to Molotov cocktails and live fire, and are now also increasing the use of large explosive charges. The next step in their planning is the production of mortar bombs and rockets, which they plan to fire at Israeli settlements.

The IDF must develop new protection methods and a new combat doctrine on how to avoid large explosive charges while moving through built-up areas, but the most important thing is to get to the sabotage laboratories and the engineers who build these charges. This is the main role of the Shin Bet. He needs to act quickly to thwart these laboratories and prevent the spread of this dangerous phenomenon to other parts of Judea and Samaria.

Yoni Ben Menachem, NEWSRAEL contributor and Epoch magazine commentator on Middle East affairs, is an expert in the field who has covered significant events in Israeli history, such as the first and second intifadas, military operations and more. He speaks the Arabic language in several different dialects, and has connections with senior figures in the Arab world, as well as in the political and military leadership in Israel. Ben Menachem served as editor-in-chief and CEO of the Israel Broadcasting Authority.