[Ynet News] Alex Fishman - Senior Israeli defense officials are extremely concerned by the fact that Hamas has recently seized large quantities of anti-aircraft missiles, anti-tank rockets and Katyusha rockets. In the course of Hamas' takeover of Gaza, it took control over Fatah and PA security forces' depots containing vast amounts of weapons. An IDF Southern Command official explained that some of the weapons were smuggled into Gaza in violation of agreements with Israel, and may pose substantial risk to the IDF, including Sagger anti-tank rockets and outdated Strela anti-aircraft missiles that could be used against Israeli planes. Hamas also got hold of several dozen Grad B rockets (Katyushas), which were apparently brought into Gaza by Islamic Jihad and seized by Fatah. Hamas captured heavy anti-aircraft DShk machine guns, large quantities of explosives, thousands of guns, a few thousand RPG rockets and millions of bullets of various types, as well as radio equipment, night vision systems and telescopes. A senior military source said that following its acquisition of such massive quantities of arms, Hamas plans to increase the size of its security forces.
2007-07-06 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive