Hamas gets some lots of US weapons
One of the consequences of Hamas totally overrunning the numerically superior Fatah forces today in Gaza is that Hamas acquired vast quantities of American weaponry that had been provided to 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Hat Tip: Atlas Shrugs
Hamas today seized control of large caches of U.S. weapons, including eight American armored personnel carriers provided to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party, according to Hamas leaders and Fatah sources.Now let's give Hamas a
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Hamas earlier today seized several Fatah positions in Khan Yunis. Elsewhere in the northern Gaza Strip, about 200 Hamas gunmen surrounded a compound where some 500 Fatah fighters were holed up. Hamas fired mortars and rocket-propelled grenades at the building.
"They are attacking from all sides," said one of the officers, Khaled Awad.
One Palestinian security official told WND Fatah fighters today were "crying all day into their radios asking to be evacuated."
Fatah's television network most of the day broadcast images of Fatah forces being overwhelmed by Hamas.
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WND has learned the weapons shipments awaiting Fatah include more than 1,000 American assault rifles and 1 million rounds of ammunition provided by the U.S. and coordinated by Keith Dayton, the U.S. security director for the Gaza Strip and West Bank. [At least they didn't get these! CiJ]
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The last confirmed U.S. weapons transfer to Force 17 took place in May 2006 and consisted of 3,000 assault rifles, but WND reported multiple other transfers later were delivered to Fatah, including a cache of 7,000 rifles in January and about 8,000 assault rifles in February.
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Abu Abdullah, considered one of the most important operational members of Hamas' so-called military wing, told WND Hamas could take complete control of Gaza within two days.
"We haven't been given clear instructions to take all of Gaza yet," Abu Abdullah said.
Abu Abdullah said while Hamas seized a number of Fatah security headquarters, they were holding off "for political reasons" from taking control of several major Fatah bases and Abbas' main Gaza compound.
"But we can take everything if we are told," he said.
He said Hamas imposed closures on all Fatah security buildings in the northern Gaza Strip, limiting Fatah's travel ability to a few city blocks.
Aside from their takeover of Fatah bases, Hamas gunmen also took control of a major European hospital in Khan Yunis, making it the third medical center to come under Hamas control in three days.
Hamas then warned over a mosque loudspeaker it would attack the main headquarters of the Preventive Security Service in Gaza City. The PSS is a major Fatah force.
"The warning which we have given you to surrender has ended, and we will attack this position of Zionist collaborators," the Hamas message said.
Earlier today, in one of the few brazen Fatah displays, Fatah gunmen attacked the home of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas in a refugee camp near Gaza City for the second time the last three days.
Hamas branded the assault with a rocket-propelled grenade an assassination attempt. Haniyeh and his family were in the house but unhurt.
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Three weeks ago, according to Palestinian security sources, Baha Abu Jarad, a Fatah strongman in Gaza, surrendered a large swath of territory to Hamas, nearly completing Hamas' grasp on the northern Gaza Strip.
This weekend, in a sign of Fatah's near collapse in Gaza, Rashid Abu Shabak, head of Fatah's Preventative Security Services and considered the No. 2 Fatah strongman in Gaza, quit his post and evacuated his Gaza offices after they were threatened by Hamas. According to Palestinian security officials, Abu Shabak fled to Egypt, where he is expected to be named Abbas' ambassador to Cairo.
The No. 1 Fatah strongman in Gaza, Mahmoud Dahlan, is under tight protection in the West Bank.
One Hamas leader pointed out if the U.S, provides more weapons to Fatah in Gaza there will be no one to receive them.
"All the senior Fatah defense officials are either in hiding or they fled," the leader told WND.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:59 AM
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