IAF VIDEO : attack on mosque full of rockets. 31-12-08
Profile of Elite IDF Unit Operating in Gaza
Hamas Rockets Made in China
The Grad-model Katyusha rockets that were fired into Beersheba on Wednesday were manufactured in China and smuggled into Gaza after the Sinai border wall was blown up by Hamas in January, Israeli defense officials say.
The Chinese rockets have a range of 40 kilometers. They are similar to the 122 mm Soviet-made Katyusha that was used extensively by Hizbullah during the Second Lebanon War and are slightly more sophisticated than an Iranian-made Grad-model Katyusha that is also in Hamas's arsenal.
The four rockets that hit Beersheba this week were filled with metal balls that can scatter up to 100 meters from the impact site, These rockets have also been fired into Ashkelon and Ashdod.
In addition to China, Russia and Bulgaria also manufacture Grad-model Katyushas.Slain Terrorist Leader Was Muslim Cleric
The Jerusalem Post provides important background information on Nizar Rayan, the senior Hamas leader who was killed today in an Israel Air Force attack on his home. Rayyan [also spelled Rayan] was not only the religious leader of Hamas's military wing, Izzadin Kassam, but also one of their military commanders. He was often seen in uniform, and participated in military exercises. He was considered one of the most fanatical Hamas commanders, and was close to Hamas terrorist Salah Shehadeh, who was killed by the IAF in 2002.
He was both the director and the financier of the 2004 terrorist attack at Ashdod's port which killed ten Israelis.
In October 2001, he sent his son to perpetrate a suicide attack in the Gush Katif settlement Elei Sinai, in which two young Israelis were killed.
Channel 10 reported that Rayyan had replaced Sheikh Ahmed Yassin as the organization's top clerical authority after Yassin's assassination in 2004.
According to Palestinian sources, his family was warned before the attack but did not leave the building, Army Radio reported.Israel Kills Senior Hamas Leader
Foreign Confidential....
Israel killed a senior Hamas leader in an air attack on his home on Thursday, striking its first deadly blow against the top ranks of the Islamist group in a Gaza offensive that has claimed more than 400 Palestinian lives.
Nizar Rayan, widely regarded as one of Hamas's most hardline political leaders, had advocated renewing suicide bombings inside Israel. Hamas police said another six Palestinians, including members of Rayan's family, were killed in the bombing.
Many Hamas leaders are in hiding, anticipating assassination attempts by Israel, whose military confirmed the air strike. Hamas Radio said Rayan rejected Hamas advice to leave his house.
A lecturer at Gaza's Islamist University, Rayan, 49, had mentored suicide bombers and would sometimes go on patrol with Hamas fighters. Hamas said Israel would pay a "heavy price" for his death, which was confirmed by medical officials.
Iron Fist
Hours before the killing, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel was fighting Hamas with an "iron fist," his words backed by a series of air strikes in the Gaza Strip but challenged by rockets that have killed four people in southern Israel.
Hamas and its militant allies fired more than 10 rockets Thursday, some hitting deep within Israeli territory, without causing injuries, the Israeli military said.
One rocket slammed into an apartment block in the port of Ashdod more than 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Gaza border, the army said, adding that a warplane attacked the squad that launched the missile.
Two rockets fell without causing damage around the desert city of Beersheva, 40 kilometres (24 miles) from the border -- the deepest strike inside Israel.
Hamas's armed wing said it fired three rockets at the Hatzerim air force base west of Beersheva. The Israeli army did not comment.
Since Saturday, Hamas and its allies have fired more than 270 rockets and mortars into Israel, killing three civilians and one soldier and wounding several dozen people.
- Reuters, AFP
Thursday, 1 January 2009
Foreign Confidential....
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