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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Times (UK): Israel plans attack on Gaza |
| 2007-06-17 |
| According to senior Israeli military sources, Israel’s new defence minister Ehud Barak is planning an attack on Gaza within weeks to crush the Hamas militants who have seized power there. The plan calls for 20,000 troops to destroy much of Hamas’s military capability in days. The raid would be triggered by Hamas rocket attacks against Israel or a resumption of suicide bombings. Barak, who is expected to become defence minister tomorrow, has already demanded detailed plans to deploy two armoured divisions and an infantry division, accompanied by assault drones and F-16 jets, against Hamas. The Israeli forces would expect to be confronted by about 12,000 Hamas fighters with arms confiscated from the Fatah faction that they defeated in last week’s three-day civil war in Gaza. Israeli officials believe their forces would face even tougher resistance in Gaza than they encountered during last summer’s war against Hezbollah in south Lebanon. A source close to Barak said that Israel could not tolerate an aggressive “Hamastan” on its border and an attack seemed unavoidable. “The question is not if but how and when,” he said. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #8 that is soooooo stupid............Now the hamas=muslim brotherhood is in charge they should let Egypt take care of Gaza............and do a " a la hamma=hafez al assad" |
| Posted by: Tiny Phereck5654 2007-06-17 19:43 |
| #7 Yeah, AP, could you send them some tips on having water systems fail from poor maintenance? Pumps fail, valves stick, flocculators ... well... I'm not even an amateur... Maybre Fatah would blow up the water plant for Dire Revenge™. The Joos must have soe explosives they've confiscated with Fatah "fingerprints". |
| Posted by: Bobby 2007-06-17 16:29 |
| #6 Got to start limiting water and power to Gaza. Soften up Hamas fighters. Let em get their water from Egypt. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2007-06-17 14:37 |
| #5 A dangerous amount of arms have fallen into the hands of Hamas. The IDF should have our support. As for operations, the IDF will hold strategic positions while starving out Hamas. Wholesale building to building fighting wouldn't be necessary, or desirable. |
| Posted by: McZoid 2007-06-17 03:51 |
| #4 Fatah was given guns and ammo by the US and Israel for the same reason as the Allies joined with Stalin against Hitler : take out the most aggressive psycho first. Sometimes that works out well and sometimes it doesn't; this time, it seems to be a bad deal but it could actually work out in our favor. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2007-06-17 03:18 |
| #3 Israel: take no prisoners. If they're Hamas, kill them quickly. |
| Posted by: Mac 2007-06-17 03:14 |
| #2 Barak, who is expected to become defence minister tomorrow, has already demanded detailed plans to deploy two armoured divisions and an infantry division, accompanied by assault drones and F-16 jets, against Hamas. My kinda guy! The Israeli forces would expect to be confronted by about 12,000 Hamas fighters with arms confiscated from the Fatah faction that they defeated in last weekÂ’s three-day civil war in Gaza. Which beggars the question of why Fatah was ever sent any Western weapons to begin with but I remain confident that Israel has an adequate response. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-06-17 01:46 |
| #1 I hope Barak will give time to average Gaza Paleo to steam under Hamas pressure cooker. As long as it does not threaten Israel's security directly. But yes, once there is a substantial Hamas offensive against Israel, just carpet-bomb any suspected Hamas facilities and positions. |
| Posted by: twobyfour 2007-06-17 01:29 |