Israel Matzav

Gaza's new source of arms

Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe (Boogie) Yaalon said on Thursday that Hamas is exploiting the unstable situation in Libya to purchase arms for Gaza.

"Weapons are available in Libya as a result of the unstable situation there, and Hamas has exploited it to buy weapons from Libyan smugglers," the former IDF chief of staff told foreign journalists in a briefing, without elaborating on the kind of munitions involved.

With eastern Libya largely held by rebels who rose up against Muammar Gaddafi in February, arms were being brought across the border, through neighboring Egypt, to the Hamas-ruled territory, Yaalon added.

Hamas officials had no immediate comment on Ya'alon's charge.

In May, a Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) report said smugglers of arms into Gaza are operating almost freely after a change of leadership in Egypt.

The Shin Bet said with Egypt's new leaders preoccupied with stabilizing their country, "governance in Sinai is not high and this allows smugglers to operate almost without hindrance.

"Today the Egyptian regime's attention is focused on stabilizing the new government and this eases the Sinai smugglers' task," the report explained.

The Beduin people of the Sinai, for whom smuggling is a major source of income, were mostly involved in getting weapons into Gaza to supply Hamas, it continued.

Aren't you glad that President Obama has been so decisive on Libya? What could go wrong?

Labels: Egypt, Hamas, Libya, weapons smuggling

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:42 AM