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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| 'Hamas army' established in Gaza, intelligence source says |
| 2007-07-10 |
| Southern Command intelligence officer tells Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi that Hamas' military industry is being run in organized manner and developing in many areas. 'Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are controlled in Strip by Hamas army,' he say Hamas' military industry is giving serial production numbers to the roadside charges and Qassam rockets it manufactures, a senior intelligence officer in the Southern Command told Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi during his visit to the rocket-battered town of Sderot on Monday. According to the officer, intelligence sources believe that a real 'Hamas army' exists in the Gaza Strip and includes between 7,000 and 10,000 soldiers, who are being armed continuously with weapons smuggled through the Philadelphi route. The officer told Prodi that Hamas and radical Islam organizations have completely taken over the Fatah headquarters in the Strip. "Six kilometers (3.7 miles) away from here, some 800,000 people are concentrated in the Gaza Strip, where they are controlled by the Hamas army. This army's goal is to hurt innocent Israeli citizens living around the Gaza Strip," the officer said. According to the report given to the Italian premier, about 30 tons of explosives have been smuggled over the past year into the Strip to Hamas and radical Islam organizations. Thousands of rifles and antitank missiles were also smuggled. "As if this smuggling, which comes from Egypt, is not enough, Hamas has developed a real military industry, which operates inside buildings and private houses. The weapons manufactured there already have serial numbers, which testify to the development of this military industry," the intelligence officer said. My take on this, is Hamas will attempt a Hizbollah type war against Israel by the end of the year, with the understanding Syria will use it as an opportunity to attack the Golan. Syria will then back out of its 'commitment. The UN/Euros might send in peacekeepers but I doubt it and Gaza ends up starving in the dark as international aid dissapears. |
| Posted by:phil_b |
| #2 Unfortunately, the NYT's Sunday Mag had a front cover story about Zippy. Much like SI covers, this is a bad omen. She may have been the best hope outside Benny [damaged goods] to take the offense and QB the IDF response to anything Syria, Hizbollah, Hamas or the Euro/UN throw at them. Who is ready to lead Israel? Not much to choose from these days. |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2007-07-10 10:11 |
| #1 They may well be worried more about internal dissent than Israel. |
| Posted by: gorb 2007-07-10 08:33 |