Iran boosts Hamas rocket capacity

al Monitor

Ali Hashem writes that since 2006, Iran has helped Hamas develop an indigenous rocket capability.

“According to information acquired by Al-Monitor from sources in Tehran, Gaza and Beirut, a new strategy was adopted after the July/August 2006 war in Lebanon with respect to military support. The main goal was protecting the fighting groups from the danger of a military siege by making them capable of producing as many rockets as they need on the spot,” Hashem reports.

A senior Hamas official told Palestine Pulse’s Adnan Abu Amer, “Another motive that led [the Izz ad-Din] al-Qassam [Brigades] to start local production of rockets is the closure of tunnels by Egypt. This restricted the entry of raw materials needed for the manufacturing of rockets. However, despite the cut-off of the main source of supply of al-Qassam with rockets of multiple ranges from different origins, this did not prevent it from producing local rockets reaching targets deeper inside Israel.”

“The Iranians essentially smuggled in rockets via the brains of Palestinians, keeping rocket-making knowledge intact despite wars and attacks. It’s the same strategy the Iranians adopted in their nuclear program, under the philosophy that knowledge can’t be bombed,” Hashem adds.

On July 14, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei praised his country’s “appropriate stands” against the “Zionist regime” during the Gaza conflict. A confidential June report by the UN Security Council’s Panel of Experts on Iran noted that an Iranian ship detained by the Israel Defense Forces on March 4 contained M-302 rockets and fuses, along with other arms.