Israel Matzav

Iran financing Gaza tunnel reconstruction

Moadim l'Simcha, a happy holiday to all of you, and a reminder that because I am in Israel, today is an intermediate day of the holiday, on which being on the computer is allowed.

Iran is certainly acting in the spirit of its newly-inked deal with Barack Hussein Obama, who declined to deter Iran's support of terror worldwide: Iran is financing the reconstruction of Hamas terror tunnels destroyed by Israel during last summer's war.

It is also funding new missile supplies to replenish stocks used to bombard residential neighbourhoods in Israel during the war, code-named Operation Protective Edge by Israel.

The renewed funding is a sign that the two old allies are putting behind them a rift caused by the conflict in Syria, where Shia Iran is backing President Bashar al-Assad against Hamas’s mainly Sunni allies.

Iran has sponsored Hamas’s military operations for years, despite the contradiction that Hamas is part of the worldwide, Sunni-supremacist Muslim Brotherhood, while Iran is Shia.

Hamas’s leader, Khaled Meshaal, who left Damascus for Qatar after falling out with the Assad regime, has often fought with Hamas’s military wing over the strength of the Iranian connection.

However, with the Sunni Arab world joining forces against Iran, led by Saudi Arabia and President Abdelfattah el-Sisi of Egypt, who are both hostile to Hamas, the Palestinian militant group has been left little option but to accept the Iranian largesse.

At the same time, Iran’s overseas operations arm, the Al-Quds force, led by its charismatic general Qassem Suleimani, has been consolidating a broad hold over the Middle East.

It is backing the Shia Houthi rebels fighting the internationally recognised government in Yemen, and actively supporting the Shia-dominated Iraqi government’s attempts to recapture the northern city of Tikrit, the former stronghold of Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein, from Islamic State (Isil) fighters.

However, Iran may have been forced to pull back, at least in the latter case, senior diplomats say, adding there is growing evidence that the Iranians are overplaying their hand.

No one should be surprised at this: The Obama administration has essentially given Iran a green light to become the dominant force in the Middle East. Israel will have to act alone (possibly with behind the scenes support from the Gulf States) to stop Iran. 

What could go wrong?

Labels: Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, al-Qaeda, Barack Hussein Obama, Egypt, Gaza, Hamas, Iran, Iranian nuclear threat, Khaled Meshaal, Saudi Arabia, terror tunnels, Yemen

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:10 AM