FOREIGN SOURCES ARMING HEZBOLLAH, HAMAS

Israeli Official: Foreign Sources Arming Hezbollah, Hamas at Alarming Rate (FOXNEWS)
Hezbollah is presently receiving a "constant stream of armaments" from Syria, Iran and other foreign sources, senior Israeli officials said Tuesday, and the terror group is "preparing for violence" in an increasingly radicalized Middle East.

"They are getting all kinds of rockets, advanced anti-tank missiles, command-and-control systems, training, finance," an Israeli official said. Asked if the group has fully reconstituted back to where it was before the war in terms of military capability, the official said: "They are certainly on their way."

The official, a top-ranked officer in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and an accompanying aide briefed a handful of reporters on the condition the officials' names not be used.

While Hezbollah has been unable to return to, or rebuild, bunkers and other fortifications it was using before the start of last summer's Israeli-Hezbollah war, the Israeli official said the group maintains an "operational" presence along the Lebanese-Israeli border, and cited as evidence the IDF's discovery Monday of a "cluster of explosives" near the border on the Lebanese side.

Enabling Hezbollah's rearmament, the official said, is the "open border" Lebanon shares with Syria, and the lack of "real teeth for enforcement" in U.N. Security Council Resolution 1718, which established a ceasefire in the Israeli-Hezbollah war last August.

At the same time, and in a similar way, the Israeli military officer said, foreign sources are providing Hamas with anti-tank missiles, high-trajectory rockets and missiles, rocket-propelled grenades and their launchers, explosive devices and automatic rifles. The armament of the Hamas commanders is "intensive" and "incessant," the officer said, and intended for use against both their Fatah rivals and the Israelis.

Since the Israelis disengaged from Gaza, "tons" of weapons and fighters have been, and continue to be, smuggled through Rafah and other points along Gaza's border with Egypt, the IDF officer said. Israel believes the smuggling has only "intensified" since the end of the war last summer. .....

The official was skeptical about Western plans to shore up the Fatah security forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen. "Every meeting we have on this subject always ends in the conclusion, 'Bolster Abu Mazen, bolster Abu Mazen' as if that will solve all the problems," the IDF official said. "He was in power two years ago [before Hamas came to power], wasn't he?" the official asked. "What did he do then?" The official said the Israelis themselves provide Abbas with weapons and money, and that some of the weapons have wound up in the hands of Hamas fighters.

The officials looked with concern on the internecine warfare between Hamas and Fatah, which killed more than thirty people and wounded more than 200 others in clashes over the past week. "They are killing each other like hell," the official said, "in a very brutal manner."

Even as Hamas and Fatah leaders met in Saudi Arabia for mediation talks, the official foresaw no immediate breakthrough in their efforts to reach a truce and establish a national unity government. Hamas remains "strong," the officer said, adding "they are far from giving up the power" and equally unwilling to change their ideology, which is sworn to Israel's destruction.

SEE ALSO: Hamas Digging Tunnels for Next Battle with Israel - Ron Ben-Yishai (Ynet News)
Hamas is setting up a new military infrastructure for a serious confrontation with Israel. It is digging combat tunnels, improving rocket performance and quantity, and collecting weapons, mainly antitank and antiaircraft missiles through smuggling. The tunnels will allow mobility underground to the expected points of battle with IDF forces entering Gaza. The fighters will be able to surface quickly, launch missiles or rockets, and disappear, only to surprise IDF forces at another spot. The tunnels are also meant to hold explosive devices that would be detonated when IDF forces try to enter Gaza. Tunnels could also be used to infiltrate Israeli territory.

SEE ALSO: Shin Bet: Gaza Weapons Smuggling Increases Six-Fold, Iran Training Palestinian Terrorists - Amos Harel
The director of the Shin Bet security service, Yuval Diskin, said Monday the central problem facing Israel in the West Bank and Gaza is the crumbling of the PA's governmental control. Gaza in particular has seen "disintegration and a return to the clan stage. There is more clan loyalty today than organizational loyalty." He said the fact that senior Fatah figures in Gaza understand their situation as a war of survival has instilled a spirit of fighting among their members.

Diskin said the Philadelphi Route along the Gaza-Egypt border has become "one big rabbit tunnel." Hamas in 2006 smuggled more than 30 tons of explosive materials from Sinai to Gaza, compared to five tons in 2005 and less than a ton in 2004. He said that since Israel's disengagement from Gaza, terror organizations there have gained significant capability. He also warned that the number of Palestinians traveling abroad and undergoing paramilitary training, especially in Iran, is troubling. (Ha'aretz)