Poor Palis, Not Enough or Good Enough Weapons?

[Kathianne]

They have enough to give Israel pause before a ground invasion:

http://hughhewitt.townhall.com/blog/g/4f057caf-9782-45ae-a566-1eddd96ad54b


Friday, January 02, 2009
What Is In The Hamas Arsenal?
Posted by: Hugh Hewitt at 1:45 PM
Threats Watch's Steve Schippert sent along the following info, while noting that the Iranian weapons could also have been purchased on the black market as well as via direct sale from Iran::

Here goes on my compiled list of Hamas weapons.

Qassam rockets
Gaza-manufactured from smuggled & made explosives, materials.
Hundreds, replenished on demand.
Range: ~17 km

Katyusha rockets (Iran and indigenous copies)
Hundreds, fewer than Qassams
Range: ~24 km

Fajr-3 variant Katyushas (Iranian)
Unknown numbers
Range: ~45km
Being reported tonight as if it's new development. Actually, about a year or so. Like other weapons and Hizballah-like tactics, this development coincides with being well inside the Iranian orbit - which is to say, largely since Hamas took Gaza by force in '07.

SA-7 (Russian design, Iranian manufacture, training) Sapper
Anti-aircraft, shoulder-fired (MANPAD)
Impact: Can't take out IAF jets, but are assault helo killers.
This is a big, big deal.

Note: We had a rash of SA-7 shots being taken and downing our choppers in one corridor in Iraq (Sea Stallions, CH-46's , Appache/cobras) - and Britain lost a Lynx helo to one in Basra. We started whacking Iranians shortly after and the SA-7 supply stopped. As an old anti-aircraft Marine, I noted to Pentagon sophisticated tactics being employed by terrorist crews (Thanks to their penchant for publishing propaganda videos of their snuffs), suggesting advanced training in/by Iran. Not a simple weapon. Got a quiet nod in response. FYI.

Note II: In all the news video of the Israeli raids, you don't see Israeli attack helicopters hovering over Gaza City this time, do you? Well...
...


Additional Standard Lot Weapons:
Thousands of AK's smuggled in since '06
Millions, perhaps tens of millions, of rounds for them
Sniper rifles & scopes
Night-vision goggles and scopes (not standard lot, but not many suspected)
Various small arms (pistols)
Tons of explosives (military grade) & raw materials for making explosives

Additional notes:

Tunnels: Hamas is adopting Hizballah's (Iranian) tactics. Of course, they ahve always been quite gifted at employing human shields, but their use of tunnels is important to understand. They had long been using them under the Philidephi line and into Egypt's side for smuggling. But they learned from Hizballah in the '06 summer war that tunnels are invaluable in an urban defense. They are not quite up to Hizballah's level of labyrinth yet, but they have been digging like rabbits for two years under Gaza. You don't see this, obviously. But it is keenly known by the IDF. In the past, hamas' prize operation was a sucide bomber in a cafe or bus. Now, it is to lure the IDF in on an incursion and kill them from a defensive position (far better position) instead, and let the rockets do the terrorizing of the civ population. Parts of iran, it should be noted, are labyrinthed with tunnels, especially after being spooked about a US invasion circa 05/06.

Iranian Training: Iran has been bringing in Hamas terrorists for training (in Iran, Syria and Lebanon) since it became the prime benefactor for Hamas after the West cut the group off when they launched in effect a civil war against Fatah in Gaza and took the strip by force. This is important for several reasons:


Training on the implementation, layout etc of an effective tunnel system of urban defense.

Training on advanced weapons Hamas has never had (SA-7 anti-aircraft, AT-14 Kornet anti-tank missile, Fajr-3 long(er) range Katyusha missiles, etc.

Advanced explosives manufacture (think EFP's [Explosively Formed

Penetrators, the Iranian molten copper raodside bomb] here too, the top killer of our boys in Iraq). Did you know that over 10% of our total combat fatailities in Iraq were from the Iranian EFP?

I'll mercifully cut this long note off here. Sorry for length - but then, the list you asked for is long, longl, long. Whats more impartant than any list is using it to define a context.

[B]Overall point, therefor, is that much of the above should make it clear why Israel is so hesitant to go in on the ground. They will not lose there, but the cost will be higher than the Israeli population has ever considered for a Gaza operation before. And with their small population and small - though potent - armed force, each casualty is a deeper tragedy than for other forces/societies.

This high-cost defense is the benefit for Hamas of doing business with Iran, and Hamas is acting at the pleasure of the Iranian regime. It is an unprecidented deterent for the Palestinian terrorists. Iran holds the pur$e $tring$ and they and Hamas share a common hated enemy, which makes following Iranian strategic direction palatable for Hamas leadership. Said in discussion this week that Hamas, in embracing Iran, has exchanged strategic 'sovreignty' for tactical lethality. Iran, quite simply, can't be extracted from the Hamas equation or the current escalation.

[moon]

More 'Bomb Iran' rhetoric. The sooner that Russia or China provides adequate anti-aircraft missile systems to the Zionists' neighbors the sooner that such crap will be consigned to the dustbins of debate.

[5stringJeff]

More 'Bomb Iran' rhetoric. The sooner that Russia or China provides adequate anti-aircraft missile systems to the Zionists' neighbors the sooner that such crap will be consigned to the dustbins of debate.

Interesting. Do you also support the arming of Israel by foreign powers?

[moon]

As the Zionists have already been armed by American industrialist billionaires there is nothing that my protests in that area could achieve. The correct measure, now that the Zionists are heavily armed , is to arm their enemies. Otherwise Zionism would win by default, and human nature, worldwide, would never allow such a pack of bloodsuckers to do that unopposed.

Of course, if sanity were ever to take root, and the Zionists were disarmed, then I would oppose their rearming as well as oppose arming the neighbors. The arms industry is responsible for most human suffering. Arms dealers are scum. Anybody believing otherwise is probably profiting from human misery. You ?

[Mr. P]

As the Zionists have already been armed by American industrialist billionaires there is nothing that my protests in that area could achieve. The correct measure, now that the Zionists are heavily armed , is to arm their enemies. Otherwise Zionism would win by default, and human nature, worldwide, would never allow such a pack of bloodsuckers to do that unopposed.

Of course, if sanity were ever to take root, and the Zionists were disarmed, then I would oppose their rearming as well as oppose arming the neighbors. The arms industry is responsible for most human suffering. Arms dealers are scum. Anybody believing otherwise is probably profiting from human misery. You ?

I have a few weapons, just bought a glock, come on by between 12 am and 5 am and I'll show it to you. :thumb:

[5stringJeff]

As the Zionists have already been armed by American industrialist billionaires there is nothing that my protests in that area could achieve. The correct measure, now that the Zionists are heavily armed , is to arm their enemies. Otherwise Zionism would win by default, and human nature, worldwide, would never allow such a pack of bloodsuckers to do that unopposed.

Of course, if sanity were ever to take root, and the Zionists were disarmed, then I would oppose their rearming as well as oppose arming the neighbors.

Apparently, both sides are already armed, albeit to different extents. I personally advocate not spending any US tax money to send arms to any other country.


The arms industry is responsible for most human suffering. Arms dealers are scum. Anybody believing otherwise is probably profiting from human misery. You ?

The arms industry, like any other industry, is subject to the laws of supply and demand. Thus, if nations and individuals did not demand arms, no one would supply them. But, since there is a demand, there is a supply.

The ones that are responsible for human suffering are the ones who attempt to impose their will upon others. More often than not, this is the State, attempting to encroach upon the lives of its citizens in order to enrich its political leaders.