Daily Alert Archives

IDF Kills Top Hamas Terror Sheikh

[Jerusalem Post] Yaakov Katz - Israel dropped a one-ton bomb on the home of senior Hamas commander Sheikh Nizar Rayyan on Thursday, killing him and a reported 18 others. The IDF said it called the house before the strike and warned the family to leave. Rayyan's house served as a weapons warehouse and Hamas communications center. He served not only as the religious leader for Hamas' military wing, Izzadin Kassam, but also as one of its military commanders. He was often seen in uniform and participated in military exercises. Rayyan was the director and financier of the 2004 terror attack at Ashdod port which killed 10 Israelis, and in October 2001 he sent his son to perpetrate a suicide attack in the Gush Katif settlement Elei Sinai, where two Israelis were killed. Rayyan also reportedly replaced Sheikh Ahmed Yassin as Hamas' top clerical authority. Earlier Thursday, the Israel Air Force bombed the home of Muhammad Barahoud, a top Popular Resistance Committees operative who was the head of all rocket cells in northern Gaza. There were anti-tank missiles, rockets and bombs in the home. Another home destroyed belonged to Hasim Drili, who had a manufacturing plant in his home for rockets, mortar shells and missiles. A third home belonged to Tafik Abu Raf, a Hamas terror operative who had a weapons laboratory in his house. A fourth home belonged to Nabil Amrin, the commander of a Hamas battalion. The IDF reported a series of secondary explosions, confirming that the house contained a large weapons and ammunition cache.
2009-01-02 06:00:00
Full Article