(Washington Times) Guy Taylor and Maggie Ybarra - Sources in both Washington and Jerusalem say long-time Iranian assistance is what ultimately helped Hamas build the thousands of rockets it fired at Israeli targets from Gaza starting in July. While Israeli sources agreed that the majority of the rockets fired from Gaza during the latest round of violence were actually homemade by Hamas, at least a small number were actually long-range M302 rockets believed to have been made in Syria but provided to the Palestinians by Iran. Israeli officials have asserted that Iran has attempted to ship long-range M302 rockets to Hamas over the past two years. Israel intercepted a clandestine naval shipment of M302 rockets in March that was en route to Gaza courtesy of Iran. In June, an investigation into the incident by a UN panel of experts concluded that the weapons shipment represented a violation of an existing UN arms embargo on Tehran.
2014-08-20 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive