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The Alliance between Hamas and Islamic State

(Times of Israel) Avi Issacharoff - When a Hamas drone crashed on Israel's side of the Gaza border fence two weeks ago, IDF officials discovered that the drone, in addition to monitoring events inside Israel, was also photographing Gaza's border with Egypt. Four months ago, the Egyptian news outlet Al Usbu reported that Egyptian radar had identified three spy drones that had infiltrated repeatedly from southern Gaza to a distance of 50 km. into Sinai. What are Hamas drones doing deep inside Egyptian territory? They are spying on Egypt, gathering intelligence about Egyptian troop movements. Knowing the location of army deployments allows Hamas to keep smuggling routes open between Sinai and Gaza. The smuggling route between Gaza and Sinai gives both sides a constant supply of arms, combat forces, instructors and advisers, while raking in huge profits from the smuggling industry in Gaza. When Egypt began its offensive against the tunnels in June 2013, the Islamic State and Hamas were forced to cooperate to hold on to even a fraction of the ability to smuggle arms and personnel into Gaza. Moreover, members of the same Bedouin tribe are active on both sides of the border. Over the past year, Abd al-Hila Kishteh, a former high-ranking member of the Hamas military wing who was dispatched by Hamas to Sinai, has been training Islamic State fighters in the use of advanced anti-tank weapons. IS leaders have undergone training and military studies with Hamas in Gaza, gaining the military doctrines they have been imparting to their operatives in Sinai. Hamas also pointedly takes wounded members of IS to hospitals in Gaza where they are treated under Hamas supervision. The July 1 attack by IS in northern Sinai that killed scores of Egyptian soldiers was a success only in psychological terms. Roughly 250 IS operatives were killed during the raid, a huge number in proportion to the count of combat troops (1,000) the group has.
2015-07-13 00:00:00
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