 "The military might of Hamas in 2010 is equal to that of Hezbollah's in 2006," an analyst for Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar said. Ibrahim al-Amin, who is affiliated with the Shiite group, wrote "Fighters from Hamas and other (Palestinian) factions have been training for a year on the various uses of anti-aircraft missiles and on how to simultaneously set off a large number of explosives, which would enable it to blow up armored military vehicles the size of a Merkava-type tank." According to the analyst, the Islamist group also practiced firing mid and long-range missiles, as well bombing Israeli communities "located up to 100 kilometers (about 62 miles)" from Gaza. In addition, claimed al-Amin, Hamas has trained special units to expose spy networks and gather intelligence on the "occupation army's deployment and weaponry." "In light of these facts, it is safe to say that the (weapons) in Gaza are equal in their potency to what Hezbollah had on the eve of the ( Second Lebanon War)," he said. "At the time (Hezbollah) did not have the ability to threaten Israel's helicopters, but Israel had admitted that Hamas has been able to acquire anti-helicopter missiles. This will embarrass (Israel) on the battlefield." Al-Amin further claimed that in the past year Hamas fighters "went underground (referring to the construction of bunkers and ditches); this will give it added military capabilities in the face of Israel's aerial superiority." The analyst said Hamas was in possession of Russian-made RPG-29 anti-tank grenade launchers, which were employed by Hezbollah during the war with Israel, in addition to Kornet anti-tank missiles, "which can destroy a tank from five kilometers about three miles) out." Shin Bet Chief Yuval Diskin told the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday that Hamas' current capabilities are "better than they were on the eve of Operation Cast Lead," adding that Hamas, as well as other Palestinian terror groups, "will continue to grow stronger in 2010." "Hamas will continue with its efforts to smuggle rockets with a range exceeding 50 kilometers (31 miles) into Gaza, as well as anti-aircraft missiles, anti-tank missiles and any other type of weapons," he said. In early November, the head of the Military Intelligence Directorate, Major-General Amos Yadlin, told the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Hamas held a successful trial launch of a rocket with a 60 km range. The rocket, which could reach Tel Aviv from Hamas' stronghold in the Gaza Strip, is apparently Iranian-made. 
 So says Danny Ayalon. But no doubt more Israeli concessions will make this problem go away, eh, Mr. President? "Israel Official Says Hamas Rockets Can Reach Tel Aviv (Update2)," by Gwen Ackerman and Calev Ben-David for Bloomberg, November 3 Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) -- The Islamic Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip can now launch rockets capable of reaching the Israeli metropolitan area of Tel Aviv, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said at a Jerusalem briefing. "We know they have tried to, and have obtained missiles that reach 60 kilometers (37 miles)," Ayalon said today. "Tel Aviv and its vicinity are now under the range of Hamas." During Israel's military operation against Hamas in Gaza, which ended in January, the farthest rocket strike was some 40 kilometers into Israel, endangering southern cities such as Ashdod and Beersheba. Since the three-week operation, Hamas has been able to replenish its stock of military equipment and explosives as well as upgrade its rocket capability, Ayalon said.
Hamas is receiving support from Iran, which is using the Islamic movement to increase its influence in the region, he said. Hamas recently successfully tested a rocket with a 60- kilometer range, Major General Amos Yadlin, chief of military intelligence, told a parliamentary committee in Jerusalem today, according to the YNet news Web site. When reached for comment, Abu Obaida, spokesman for Hamas's military wing, said: "We are not interested in responding to the Zionist intelligence reports. They can say whatever they want."... Source: JihadWatch
By Richard Beeston on the Israel-Lebanese border and Nicholas Blanford in Beirut Three years after Israel fought a bloody war in Lebanon against Hezbollah, there are fears that hostilities could erupt again — this time with the militant group better armed than ever. According to Israeli, United Nations and Hezbollah officials, the Shia Muslim militia is stronger than it was in 2006 when it took on the Israeli army in a war that killed 1,191 Lebanese and 43 Israeli civilians. Hezbollah has up to 40,000 rockets and is training its forces to use ground-to-ground missiles capable of hitting Tel Aviv, and anti-aircraft missiles that could challenge Israel’s dominance of the skies over Lebanon. Brigadier-General Alon Friedman, the deputy head of the Israeli Northern Command, told The Times from his headquarters overlooking the Israeli-Lebanese border that the peace of the past three years could “explode at any minute”. “We have changed the equation that had existed previously,” he said. “Now the southern suburbs versus Tel Aviv, and not Beirut versus Tel Aviv.” Hezbollah’s rearming is in the name of resistance against Israel. The real reason, however, probably has more to do with its ally Iran. If Israel carries out its threat to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, the main retaliation is likely to come from Hezbollah in Lebanon. All sides agreed that the threat was not a bluff. Last month the scale of the Hezbollah build-up was revealed after an explosion at an ammunition bunker in the village of Khirbet Slim, 12 miles from the Israeli border. Read more,,,, Source: Times Online
By YAAKOV KATZ A day after an explosion uncovered a hidden Hizbullah arms cache in southern Lebanon, the IDF's Northern Command estimated that the group had turned hundreds of homes in the area into warehouses to store short- and medium-range Katyusha rockets.
 UN peacekeeper monitors the Israeli-Lebanese border
The IDF released video footage taken from an Israeli aircraft, showing a home that had exploded on Tuesday in the village of Hirbet Selm - located some 20 kilometers north of the Lebanese border. The roof is seen in the footage with dozens of holes, which IDF ballistic experts said were the size of 122-mm. Katyusha rockets.
UNIFIL said that storing the ammunition was a "serious violation" of the UN-brokered ceasefire that ended the Second Lebanon War in 2006. The peace keeping force said that it considered the incident a "serious violation" of the UN resolution that ended the conflict, which specifies that there should be no presence of unauthorized assets or weapons in the area of operations. Israeli defense officials had also accused Lebanon of violating United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701. "This is a major violation of resolution 1701," one Israeli official said. "The weaponry was stored inside a village and is proof of our longstanding claim that Hizbullah uses civilian infrastructure to hide its weaponry." Contrary to Lebanese media reports which claimed that the cache was hidden in the village before the Second Lebanon War in 2006, Israeli defense officials said that the weaponry was recently placed inside the storehouse. According to the officials, the cache was hidden in a storehouse inside the village and contained dozens of 122mm Katyusha rockets as well as high-powered machine guns. Some of the rockets reportedly flew into the sky. The blast took place at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, and for the first few hours, Hizbullah sealed off the area and refused to grant UNIFIL or the Lebanese army access. IDF sources said that the clearing of the home and the unexploded ordinance had taken over 24 hours. The sources said the IDF had been aware prior to the explosion that the home was being used as a storehouse for weapons. Several months before the explosion, an IDF aircraft captured footage of several senior Hizbullah operatives entering an underground tunnel near the house and reappearing from an exit 700 m. away. "This house was connected to an entire underground network that was built right under the noses of UNIFIL and the Lebanese army," one IDF officer said. "This is a major violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701." The Katyusha rockets that went off in Hirbet Selm were being stored in a two-story home. It was unclear on which floor they were being stored, but the home was shown on Lebanese television in close proximity to other village buildings. In addition to the 122-mm. rockets, IDF ballistic experts said it was likely that the home also contained mortar shells and additional types of ammunition. Source: Jerusalem Post H/T JihadWatch
 Correspondents in Jerusalem | January 28, 2009
AN Iranian freighter carrying weaponry for Hamas has been blocked by Egypt from entering the Suez Canal, amid concerns that Tehran is trying to supply the Palestinian militant group with missiles capable of striking Tel Aviv.
Reports yesterday said Israel was closely tracking the ship, which is docked in the Red Sea outside the Suez Canal after Cairo refused to permit it to cross the waterway to the Mediterranean.
The stand-off comes after a report to the Israeli Defence Ministry from the Pentagon said the US Navy had boarded another Iranian vessel and said it was carrying artillery shells and other weapons.
"This is a big test for the Egyptians," a senior Israeli defence official told The Jerusalem Post. "So far the Egyptians have prevented the ship from crossing the Suez and we hope it will stay that way."
Israeli defence officials told the paper Iran was trying to supply Hamas with new Grad-model Katyusha rockets and to replace high-grade explosives that were exhausted or destroyed by the Israeli Defence Force during this month's war in Gaza.
The IDF is concerned Iran will supply Hamas with long-range Fajr missiles capable of reaching Tel Aviv.
A US Navy task force fighting pirates in the Gulf of Aden has been instructed to track Iranian arms shipments to Gaza.
Reports last week said troops from the USS San Antonio boarded a former Russian cargo vessel that was flying a Cypriot flag and was reportedly carrying weaponry destined for Hamas.
The French have also dispatched a frigate to the Mediterranean to participate in the clampdown on the Gaza Strip and to prevent weapons shipments from reaching Hamas, the Post said.
Israeli defence officials told the paper that since the conclusion of Operation Cast Lead, large quantities of explosives, machine guns and other weaponry had arrived in the Sinai peninsula, but the Egyptians were taking measures to prevent them from being smuggled into Gaza.
The reports came as US President Barack Obama yesterday sent envoy George Mitchell to the Middle East with a brief to "engage vigorously" to achieve real progress.
Mr Mitchell is due to visit Israel, the Palestinian West Bank and Arab states. During his trip, which lasts until Tuesday, Mr Mitchell will also travel to Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Europe.
In the short run, the trip is aimed at bolstering a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip following the three-week Israeli military offensive, and tackling the humanitarian crisis there.
State Department spokesman Robert Wood said Mr Mitchell, who will report to Mr Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, would "not have contact with Hamas", which has been labelled a terrorist group since George W. Bush was in office.
Mr Mitchell, a Maronite Catholic whose mother was Lebanese, managed to bring together the leaders of Northern Ireland's religious communities with a mixture of compromise and talks to sign the historic Good Friday agreement in 1998.
But his efforts to help end the Israeli-Palestinian violence that erupted in 2000, after the collapse of the peace process brokered by former president Bill Clinton, proved fruitless.
He set off for the region as reports yesterday said Hamas had launched an internal probe into the failures of its military wing during the Gaza offensive.
Citing an unnamed top Hamas military commander, Jane's Defence Weekly magazine said a full report by the militant organisation would be critical of almost every decision taken by Hamas battlefield commanders during the 22-day assault, which ended last week.
The source quoted by Jane's said exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal and his followers had effectively pushed for a conflict the military wing was not ready for. The report would highlight the losses of Hamas interior minister Said Siam and about 50 of Hamas's top explosives experts. Source: The Australian
By Aaron Klein JAFFA, Israel – The Israeli media is reporting today a Jew was arrested in conjunction with an attempted rocket attack aimed at a Palestinian village. If the report turns out to be accurate, the arrest would be the first-ever for a Jew implicated in a rocket attack against a Palestinian population center. The Palestinians have fired thousands of rockets from Gaza into Jewish cities, devastating communities outside the Gaza Strip and killing 13 Israelis. Hundreds more Jews were injuring in Palestinian rocket and mortar attacks. Read more ...Source: WND
 |
|
|
Copyright Muslims Against Sharia 2008. All rights reserved.
E-mail: info AT ReformIslam.org
|
|
|
"The military might of Hamas in 2010 is equal to that of Hezbollah's in 2006," an analyst for Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar said. 
Israeli planners have no doubt that, should they make the fateful decision to attack Iran, they will provoke massive retaliation on an unprecedented scale 
Posts
