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Israeli Official: Foreign Sources Arming Hizbullah, Hamas at Alarming Rate

[FOX News] James Rosen - Hizbullah is presently receiving a "constant stream of armaments" from Syria, Iran and other foreign sources, senior Israeli officials said Tuesday. "They are getting all kinds of rockets, advanced anti-tank missiles, command-and-control systems, training, finance," an Israeli official said. The official said Hizbullah maintains an "operational" presence along the Lebanese-Israeli border. Enabling Hizbullah's rearmament is the "open border" Lebanon shares with Syria, and the lack of "real teeth for enforcement" in UN Security Council Resolution 1718, which established a ceasefire in the Israeli-Hizbullah war last August. At the same time, and in a similar way, foreign sources are providing Hamas with anti-tank missiles, high-trajectory rockets, rocket-propelled grenades and their launchers, explosive devices and automatic rifles. The armament of the Hamas commanders is "intensive" and "incessant," and intended for use against both their Fatah rivals and the Israelis. The official said the IDF has had "no operational activity whatsoever" in Gaza for the last three months, but that in the same time Hamas has launched more than 100 Kassam rockets at Israeli civilian targets. The official was skeptical about Western plans to shore up the Fatah security forces loyal to Mahmoud Abbas. "Every meeting we have on this subject always ends in the conclusion, 'Bolster Abbas,' as if that will solve all the problems. He was in power two years ago [before Hamas came to power], wasn't he? What did he do then?" The official said the Israelis provided Abbas with weapons and some have wound up in the hands of Hamas.
2007-02-07 01:00:00
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