Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Hamas averages 8.2 missiles a day in 2007, steps up Iran-Syrian-backed preparations for full-scale war. Israel improves terror-preventive performance

The annual report of Israel’s domestic intelligence service, Shin Bet, paints a troubling picture of a Hamas-ruled government in Gaza expanding its efforts to build a war machine capable of taking on Israel in full-scale military combat, with active input from Iran and Syria.

In the outgoing year, Hamas and its allies fired more than 1.300 Qassam missiles and 1,700 mortar shells from Gaza, subjecting Israeli communities in an expanding radius to a daily average of 8.2 projectiles. . At the same time, the Shin Bet and IDF were strikingly successful in their preventive campaign. They thwarted 29 major attacks inside Israel originating in Gaza, and the number of Israelis killed by terrorists declined from 50 in 2005 and 24 in 2006 to 13 in 2007.

Nonetheless, the Palestinians mounted a total of 2,946 Palestinian terrorist attacks, 9 less than 2006, including a single suicide bombing in Eilat and another three that were intercepted in time.

No let-up is expected next year. In 2007, Hamas smuggled into Gaza more than 80 tons of explosives for use in the fabrication of missiles and bombs, including roadside devices laid down against an Israeli military incursion. Al Qaeda and its Palestinian affiliates recently stepped up their participation in attacks, more conspicuously since Fatah al Islam set up operations in Gaza after being thrown out of its northern haven in Lebanon four months ago. Israeli officials said that Osama bin Laden’s threat to “liberate every inch of Palestine” is being taken seriously.

The Shin Bet reports that hundreds of Hamas operatives were smuggled through the Sinai tunnels out to Iran and Syria and back for special 2-6 month courses at facilities near Tehran and Damascus in commando combat and the manufacture and launching of missiles. Among them were officers and naval commandos.

The Shin Bet report notes that Hamas’ smuggling projects spread out from Gaza to the West Bank, where a new terror machine is taking shape. Local terrorist elements are being taught to manufacture and use Qassam missiles and high-trajectory weapons, thereby bringing Israel’s central coastal cities, including Tel Aviv, within range. Scores of West Bank Hamas activitists were also sent to Iran and Syria to study missile manufacture.

During most of 2007, Iran’s Lebanese surrogate, Hizballah, funded the West Bank project at the rate of the equivalent of $10 million per month. The transfers slowed in recent months. The Shin Bet reports that Hizballah is diverting more funds to building its own substantial new infrastructures in South Lebanon and north of the Litani River.

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