Israel Matzav

Good news: Hamas missiles can reach Tel Aviv

Military intelligence chief Amos Yadlin said on Tuesday that Hamas has upgraded its missile capability and is now capable of shooting a rocket 60 kilometers from Gaza, enough to reach the outskirts of Tel Aviv.

In recent days, several successful tests of Iranian-made rockets have been carried out, he said, adding that the rockets have a range of up to 60 kilometers.

As a result, the Tel Aviv area is under threat of rocket fire from the Strip.

During Operation Cast Lead last winter, Grad-type rockets, Kassam rockets, and mortar shells were fired into Israeli territory, with projectiles hitting Beersheba, some 40 kilometers from the Strip.

Though rocket fire from the Strip has decreased since the three-week offensive, weapons are continually smuggled through tunnels along the Philadelphi Corridor, on Gaza's southern border with Egypt.

DEBKA fills in details about the missiles.

Israel's military intelligence chief Brig. Amos Yadlin revealed Tuesday, Nov. 3, that the Palestinian Hamas had successfully tested a new 60-km range Iranian shore-to-sea missile firing it west from the Gaza coast. When fired north overland the missile could reach Tel Aviv.

Brig. Yadlin's report to the Knesset foreign affairs and security committee confirmed DEBKAfile's Oct. 25 disclosure of intensive Iranian efforts to arm Hizballan and Hamas with extended-range missiles and rockets capable of reaching Israel's strategic heartland. He revealed that Iranian arms were reaching Hizballah and Hamas through Syria and, for the first, time via Turkey.

The intelligence chief did not specify the source of the missiles delivered to Hamas or disclose who their instructors were. DEBKAfile's military sources report that the Hizballah on orders from Tehran apparently took charge of smuggling the new missiles to their Palestinian allies and its officers instructed them in their use.

Our military sources identify the new missile in Hamas' arsenal as a C-802 of the Silkworm series (of Chinese origin), of the type Hizballah fired to cripple the Israeli missile ship Hanit on July 15 2006 during the second Lebanon war.

Tehran has since showered thousands of these missiles on Hizballah. They are positioned along the Lebanese Mediterranean in closer formation than almost any coastal defense array in the world.

Yes, that's a picture of a C-802 Silkworm at the top of this post.

There are two pieces of bad news here. One is that Hamas has the missiles - let's see whether Israel will retaliate immediately and powerfully (without worrying about human shield casualties) if Hamas fires one. The second piece of bad news is that Turkey is apparently helping smuggle them, further moving Turkey into Iran's Islamic orbit.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:54 PM