(Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) Lenny Ben-David - Palestinians in Gaza have fired 2,600 rockets and mortars into Israel over the last two years. These are no longer crude Qassam rockets. Hamas has home-grown rocket production lines in Gaza. They continually test new models, firing them into the Mediterranean, to improve their accuracy and distance. Hamas also has a drone workshop to produce copies of Iranian weapons-bearing, kamikaze UAVs. In December 2016, Hamas aviation engineer Mohammad al-Zawahri was targeted in Tunisia. An aerial drone developer, al-Zawahri was also developing unmanned underwater vehicles that could be used to attack Israel's offshore gas platforms off the coast of Haifa. For items it is unable to manufacture, Hamas receives them via barrels dropped into the sea off the coast of Gaza which are then picked up by Gazan operatives. Hamas has also built up its naval commando unit. Their bases have been struck repeatedly by the Israel Defense Forces. The writer served 25 years in senior posts in AIPAC in Washington and Jerusalem, and served as Deputy Chief of Mission at Israel's Embassy in Washington. He participated in a multi-year conventional arms reduction program investigating weapons in abandoned and unguarded USSR stockpiles.
2019-12-11 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive