(Investigative Project on Terrorism) Yaakov Lappin - Hamas is busy building a second front against Israel in Lebanon. Maj. (res.) Tal Beeri, director of research at the Alma Research and Education Center, who served for 20 years in IDF Military Intelligence, said Hamas recruits from the 200,000 Palestinians in Lebanon who have never received Lebanese citizenship. Hamas' military-terrorist program in Lebanon is led by Salah Al-Arouri, deputy head of Hamas' political bureau. Arouri is also responsible for orchestrating Hamas terrorist activities in the West Bank. After the IDF conducted a series of counter-terrorism raids last week in the West Bank to disrupt a major Hamas terrorist plot for Jerusalem, it would be safe to bet that Al-Arouri had a hand in the plot, Beeri said. Al-Arouri currently resides in Lebanon, where he has set up a significant Hamas headquarters. Beeri said Hamas is also shaping an offensive force in Lebanon itself. Hamas has two Lebanese units that can be activated: The El-Shimali Unit and the Khaled Ali Unit. "Each one has hundreds of operatives. They both deal in recruitment, training, and specialized qualification courses, such as sniping, operating anti-tank missile launchers, drone operators, urban warfare, and tactical intelligence collection." Both of these units develop and manufacture weapons in Lebanon, particularly rockets and drones, as well as small unmanned submarines. "These two units also create operational cells, and formulate operational attack plans," said Beeri. "For around a decade, Hamas has been building a very serious military infrastructure in Lebanon, which will provide them with back-up operational options against Israel in addition to Gaza," Beeri warned. There were five rocket attacks out of Lebanon against Israel between May and August. "The likelihood that Hamas was behind all of these attacks is very high," said Beeri. "All of Hamas' activities in Lebanon are occurring with the assistance of the Palestine Branch of the Quds Force, a part of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps of Iran."
2021-10-07 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive