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| Billboards in Gaza City thank Iran for its support in last month's flare-up with Israel |
“Tehran opens weapons
highway to Hamas,” reads a screamer on Lebanese Hezbollah’s al-Manar portal
this morning.
Significantly, the article
bylined Qassem Qassem says Tehran has opened an artery of “weapons and
cash” to the Hamas Islamic Movement in Gaza “despite the Movement’s break with
Syria.”
Qassem says Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has communicated
Iran’s decision to his senior aides. He told them Tehran would be supplying a “substantial
stockpile of quality weapons” to Hamas and ignoring the latter’s fallout with Syria.
Iran, Syria and Hezbollah make up the so-called “Axis
of Resistance.”
Nasrallah briefed his top lieutenants in the wake of a
recent visit to Tehran by Hamas politburo member Imad el-Alami.
Qassem says Alami and Iranian leaders agreed during
the visit “to sidestep all political discourse” concerning Syria.
Lebanese Hezbollah has since issued a circular
banning all members from criticizing Hamas in the print, audio or social media
over its Syria stance.
Alami
was born in the Gaza Strip in 1956. He holds a Bachelor's degree in civil
engineering from Egypt’s Alexandria University. He was held by Israel for two
years before his deportation to Lebanon in January 1991 with three other Hamas
members. He then settled in Damascus before moving back to Gaza.
In a
statement published November 7 on its official website Hamas reported that Syrian
security forces raided the office and apartment of Hamas political chief Khaled
Meshaal on November 5, emptying them of their contents. The forces then
proceeded to confiscate Meshaal’s cars and lock the offices.
On November
6, Syrian regime forces repeated that raid on Alami’s office.
Hamas
leaders abandoned the Damascus headquarters in January 2012, citing the
regime’s brutal crackdown on the Syrian people.
Meshaal
is now visiting Gaza for the first time after crossing the border
from Egypt on Friday to celebrate Hamas’
25th anniversary.
He was the target of a
botched Israeli assassination attempt in Amman 15 years ago during Benjamin
Netanyahu's first term as Israel’s prime minister.
Meshaal’s
visit to Gaza comes two weeks after Hamas reached a cease-fire with Israel
brokered by Egypt.
Six
Israelis and more than 160 Gazans were killed during the flare-up in which Gaza
militants fired about 1,300 Iranian-made rockets and missiles at Israeli
targets, while Israeli warplanes launched approximately the same number of air
strikes on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
Gaza
watchers believe Iran proved to be a key player in the Gaza battle. “Her Fajr-5
missile was the star of the face-off.”
The
Fajr-5, developed by Iran and also supplied to Hezbollah, has a range of up to
75 kilometers, which means it can hit central Israel from Gaza.
Iranian
missile components are reportedly smuggled via Lebanon and Sudan to Egypt’s
Sinai and on to the Gaza Strip, where the missiles are assembled locally.
