Iran Supplying Weapons to Hamas & Hizbollah

More evidence that Iran is financing and supplying terrorists in the Middle East. Fox News

God forbid that Iran will supply some terrorists with a nuclear weapon or fissile material.

JERUSALEM — Rockets and weapons bearing signs of Iranian paint, lettering and serial numbers are making their way into the Gaza Strip and Lebanon — helping Tehran cement its powerful role within militant movements on Israel's northern and southern flanks, senior Israeli security officials say.

The weapons, including an 18-inch fragment of a Grad-type Katyusha rocket seen by The Associated Press, are believed to be reaching blockaded Gaza through a clandestine network: by sea from Sudan to Egypt's Red Sea ports and then by land through the Sinai desert to tunnels that cross into the coastal strip, according to the officials.

Trucks and airplanes also carry Iranian-made rockets across the Syrian-Lebanese border, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity under military restrictions.

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The Israeli claims — although expressed privately by security authorities — have not been backed up by a public display of evidence, leading some analysts to question the extent of Iranian involvement on Israel's borders. Iran, Hezbollah and Palestinian militants all deny an Iranian arms connection, though some Hezbollah militants privately acknowledge getting arms from Tehran.

But it's clear Iran has sharply increased its regional profile after the fall of archrival Saddam Hussein in Iraq and the rise of a Shiite-led government in Baghdad with close ties to Tehran.

The Israel connection isn't new. Six years ago, Israeli naval commandos captured a ship in the Red Sea, the Karine A, that Israel said was carrying 50 tons of missiles, mortars, rifles and ammunition from Iran to the Palestinians.

Egypt has publicly denounced suspected Iranian involvement in the conflict. Its foreign minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, accused Iran of being behind Hamas' violent takeover of Gaza nearly a year ago.

Experts think Iran's wider aim is to indirectly pressure Israel. Establishing proxies on Israel's borders raises the price of any possible Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities and makes it tougher for Israelis and Palestinians to forge a peace pact, they say.

Israeli military ballistics experts have identified Iranian origins from paint, toolwork and Latin lettering on weapon fragments, senior Israeli security officials said. Similar rockets produced in eastern Europe look different, they said.

The Grad fragments seen by the AP had threading indicating it was made in Iran, a security officer said. Hezbollah fired similar rockets at Israel during the 2006 war, he added.

Longer-range missiles have hit the town of Ashkelon in recent months, strengthening the suspicion that they are being supplied by Iran.

"Iran is, unfortunately, very much involved in supporting the buildup of the Hamas military machine in Gaza, whether it's in training Hamas operatives in different areas of technical know-how, whether it's in just funding them, whether it's supplying them with munitions, whether it's giving them capabilities to upgrade indigenous defense capabilities," government spokesman Mark Regev said.

The arsenal of Iranian-made weapons improved after Hamas militants blew open the border fence between Gaza and Egypt in January, allowing more arms to enter. Some of the new rockets can travel 25 miles — just 12 miles short of Tel Aviv, the Israelis say.

One rocket that recently slammed into Israel carried a 170mm warhead, officials said. Previous rockets carried 120mm warheads.

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