Warning: Undefined array key "rbname" in /data/rantburg.com/www/pgrecentorg.php on line 14
Hello !

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Hamas claims to have hit major Israeli airbase

2009-01-10

(AKI) - Rockets fired by Hamas militants on Friday struck Tel Nof, a major Israeli airbase near Tel Aviv, the group's military wing the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades claimed on its Al-Aqsa TV channel. The alleged rocket strike came after Israeli firepower continued to pound the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on the 14th day of Operation Cast Lead. "With the help of Allah, we at 8 a.m. this morning managed to penetrate the furthest north into Israel that our rockets have yet reached," said the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades. Tel Nof airbase is located just 27 kilometres from Tel Aviv and houses a number of Israeli fighter and helicopter squadrons. Israel allegedly stores its nuclear weapons around the base.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Hundreds of boomers ready says Hamas armed wing

2009-01-07

(AKI) - The military wing of Gaza's ruling Hamas, the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades, has hundreds of suicide bombers ready to blow them selves up in the current military conflict with Israel, spokesman Abu Obeida said on Tuesday. He was speaking after a suicide bomber struck early in the day in the northern town of Beit Lahiya. Hamas militants lured a group of Israeli soldiers into a building in Beit Lahiya and while they clashed another Hamas fighter climbed into an Israeli tank and blew himself up, Obeida said. Obeida also said fierce clashes between Hamas fighters and Israeli security forces had erupted in elevated areas captured by Israeli forces such as Ar-Rayis hill, Al-Kashif hill and Al-Atra near Gaza City, Palestinian news agency Maan reported. Obeidi warned on Monday it had "thousands of fighters" ready to fight and would eventually be victorious in the conflict. A violent battle raged on Tuesday between Palestinian militants and Israeli soldiers in Khan Yunes in the southern Gaza Strip, Arabic satellite TV network Al-Arabiya reported. The Israeli military is reportedly seeking to isolate the key Rafah crossing point from Khan Yunes. Israeli forces resumed bombing of eastern Gaza on Tuesday, Al-Arabiya said. In the ground offensive it began on Saturday, Israel is trying to surround and seal off all Gaza's main cities, especially Gaza City in the north. Israel is seeking a cessation of Palestinian cross-border rocket fire and the destruction of Hamas' weapons infrastructure. Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert told the Israeli daily, Haaretz, on Tuesday that Israel had no interest in a prolonged offensive in Gaza. "The sooner, the better," he said when asked when the army planned to end its operation. "We did not set out to occupy Gaza or kill every terrorist. We set out to bring change to the south."

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Israeli air force strikes 20 Hamas targets

2009-01-03

(AKI) - The Israeli Air Force attacked 20 Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip early Friday, on the seventh day of Israel's offensive in the coastal territory. The latest attacks occurred as Hamas leaders urged Palestinians to observe a "day of wrath" and pledged revenge for the assassination of senior Hamas leader, Nizar Rayyan, killed by an Israeli air strike in his home. Medical officials in Gaza said more than 400 people have now been killed there and the United Nations said at least 100 of them are civilians. Among the sites targeted by the Israeli Defense Forces in the latest attacks were the headquarters of the military wing of Hamas, a tunnel used to smuggle weaponry, rocket launchers, and weapons manufacturing and storage facilities. The IDF said it would continue its attacks on Hamas and what it called "terror" groups in Gaza. Two Palestinians were killed and 12 people were wounded in the latest attacks, hospital officials said. "The IDF will continue to target the Hamas infrastructure and the infrastructure of other terror organisations in Gaza," the IDF said in a statement on its website. "The IDF will not hesitate to strike those involved both directly and indirectly in attacks against the citizens of the state of Israel." Meanwhile, Hamas spokesman Ismayl Radwan said Palestinians would seek every opportunity to avenge the death of Nizar Rayyan. "After the death of Nizar Rayyan before the Palestinian resistance every opportunity will be used to strike the enemy, including suicide attacks to strike Zionist interests wherever they are around the world," Radwan said, in a statement broadcast on Gaza TV station, al-Aqsa. "They will be sorry for the crimes that they are committing against our people," he said. "I am calling for all Palestinians, and in particular the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades (Hamas' military wing) to vindicate the death of Rayyan and his family." He also criticised Arab foreign ministers for failing to take any initiatives at the Arab League meeting held in Cairo in the past few days and called on Egypt to open the Rafah border crossing.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Big time Hamas orc arrested by Palestinian forces

2008-12-23

(AKI) - Palestinian Authority forces on Monday arrested a prominent leader from the Islamist Hamas movement who was thought to have been killed in 2002. Rajab Awni Tawfiq Al-Sharif was arrested in the Palestinian city of Nablus, considered a Hamas stronghold in the West Bank. PA forces said they had been hunting al-Sharif since 2004, said Palestinian news agency Maan. In 2002, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades claimed Al-Sharif was killed by the Israeli Army during an incursion in Nablus' Old City. However, his body was never found. Meanwhile in Gaza, Palestinian factions have decided to observe a 24-hour ceasefire and refrain from launching Qassam rockets against Israel at Egypt's request. However, a senior Hamas official said the movement might consider a longer truce if Israel were to reciprocate and refrain from military attacks in Gaza and the lifting of the economic blockade. There was heightened tension in the region after Hamas declared an end to the ceasefire with Israel in the Gaza Strip last Thursday. The intense exchanges of fire between Israeli Forces and Gaza militants began last Monday with the assassination of one of the leaders of the al-Quds Brigades, allegedly by Israeli undercover forces in the West Bank.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Checks hung up at banks

2006-06-04

GAZA CITY (AFP) - The armed wing of Hamas and three other groups have threatened Palestinian banks if they do not transfer salaries to civil servants, who remain unpaid since late February. "The national banks were created to serve the interests of the Palestinian people. If their mission has changed and they become an instrument of the siege we will treat them as those who besiege the Palestinians," the statement signed by Hamas's Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades said Sunday. Why don't you just rob them -- it'd be easier and more in your character. The other signatories were the Popular Resistance Committees and two cells that operate under the umbrella of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. "It is not normal for some of our institutions to become instruments of coercion against our people and apply the policy of deprivation plotted by our enemies," said the text. "We will not remain silent in face of those who starve our children," the joint statement added. The thought of changing course and backing off the jihad apparently hasn't yet occurred to them. The Palestinian Authority vowed on Saturday that civil servants will finally receive their salaries early next week amid growing discontent after months without pay and successive delays. It was the fourth time in a week that the Hamas-led government, grappling with a financial crisis after Western countries cut off direct aid, has promised the government's 160,000 civil servants imminent paychecks. And if it isn't the evils Joooos, 'Merkins and bankers, it will be someone else to blame. Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya has himself blamed US pressure for the reason why banks have not transferred money for Palestinian salaries. Maybe the bankers know something you don't?

Link

Terror Networks

Al-Qaeda TV suggests Hamas military wing now under Binny's aegis?

2005-10-12

A fresh edition, the third to date, of a 'news bulletin' purporting to be al-Qaeda's appeared Tuesday on the Internet including an item suggesting that the military wing of the Palestinian Hamas group has joined the international Jihadist cause. "The information network of the Palestinian Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigade (Hamas' military wing) has created a video, 'the resistance will prevail' in which it exalts a great Jihad to free Jerusalem" said the bulletin's announcer, adding "may Allah help them stay firm on the road to the truth." The first edition of the newscast 'Sout al-Khalifa' (Voice of the Caliphate) appeared on the Internet on 21 September. The choice of opening item gives the impression that the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigade, the military arm of Hamas, is entering the Jihadi galaxy alongside groups such as al-Qaeda in Iraq and Ansar al-Sunna, though to date there has been no proof of any link between al-Qaeda and Hamas. In a marked change, the presenter - whose face is covered by a red Kefiya, (traditional Arab headgear) - appears without the rifle or the copy of the Koran which were alongside the newsreader in the previous editions. The latest bulletin is dedicated to Ramadan and the presenter offering his greetings to Muslims for the start of the holy month. Items include statements of the Islamic groups active in Jihad; al-Qaeda in Iraq, the Islamic Army in Iraq, Ansar al-Sunna and the Ezzeddin al-Qassam Brigades - the military arm of Palestinian Hamas. The news broadcast focuses on the latest video by Ansar al-Sunna, entitled "the difference between the followers of the Merciful and those of Satan", which is accompanied by several minutes of footage showing Islamic mujahadeen and Iraqis fighting alongside American forces. There is space too for a video by al-Qaeda in Iraq to commemorate the first anniversary of the death of Omar Hadid, head of the organisation in Fallujah. Also included is a list of the attacks carried out by Iraqi armed groups over the past week. Regarding the announcement by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's group that it had killed two American marines, the presenter reads the comments published in a statement by an Iraqi Al-Qaeda leader, Omar al-Baghdadi. He justifies the fact that a video proving the death of the two servicement had not yet been issued, saying this is not possible because the town of Ramadi is surrounded by US troops. The presenter recalls that for the first time - reporting the alleged death of the two marines - the Qatari television Al Jazeera had defined Abu Maysira al-Iraqi as official spokesman of al-Qaeda in Iraq. He also criticises the fact that "the statement was read in only six news bulletins". The newscast continues with the presenter reading the latest information of the situation in Gaza, informing the audience of the attempt by the Palestinian police to arrest the son of a Hamas leader, Abdelaziz Rantisi. In its description of the gunbattle that followed, it describes the Hamas militia as 'mujahadeen' on a par with those of other groups within the al-Qaeda galaxy. The latest edition of "Voice of the Caliphate" concludes with brief news items about Afghanistan Egypt and Algeria. On Afghanistan there is news of the Taliban's actions against American troops and the arrest in Pakistan last week of the Taliban's spokesman, Abdelatif Hakimi in Pakistan.

Link

Israel-Palestine

Israel threatens ground assault

2005-07-18

The Paleos seem not to have passed up their chance to miss an opportunity... GAZA: An Islamist militant from Hamas was assassinated by an Israeli sniper on Sunday, as Israel threatened a wide-scale ground offensive in the occupied Gaza Strip unless Palestinians stopped rocket attacks. Within hours, four Israeli settlers were wounded, two of them seriously, in a Palestinian mortar attack on Neve Dekalim, the largest Jewish settlement in Gaza. The Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the movement Hamas, said it fired two mortar shells at Neve Dekalim in the early afternoon to avenge the killing of one of its militants in the central Gaza town of Khan Yunis. A Palestinian gunman was killed by Israeli troops on Sunday as he tried to infiltrate a Jewish settlement in the occupied Gaza Strip, an army spokesman said. The victim was shot dead as he moved towards the isolated settlement of Netzarim, just south of Gaza City, with an accomplice, the spokesman said. The duo refused to identify themselves. One militant pointed a gun at soldiers, who returned fire killing him. The second Palestinian managed to escape, the army said. Said Saeam, 32, a wanted local leader in Hamas’s armed wing which claimed a torrent of anti-Israeli rocket attacks on Sunday, was shot dead as he left home in the Gaza town of Khan Yunis. Escalating violence, which has killed 12 Palestinians and six Israelis in five days, has flung a spluttering truce into crisis and is to bring US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the region at the end of the week to press for calm. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Israel’s defence establishment had been given carte blanche to stop all rocket attacks. “I met defence officials and I repeated to them that there was no restriction on operations to stop attacks on (Israeli) towns,” he said. “We will absolutely not tolerate the continuation of attacks against our towns, be they inside the Gaza Strip or on the border,” he added. “If the Palestinian Authority does not stop the attacks, we will have to take action in its place,” Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz was quoted as saying. He recommended that Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas be given 24 hours to restore calm before an Israeli ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, public radio said. Sharon reiterated that Palestinian attacks will not hinder the pullout from the Gaza Strip set to begin next month. Speaking at the weekly cabinet meeting, Sharon reiterated that he had charged police and soldiers with ensuring demonstrators did not force their way into the main Jewish settlement bloc of Gush Katif during the march. On Monday, thousands of opponents of Israel’s historic Gaza pullout are expected to march on the border crossing between Israel and Gush Katif in a last-ditch bid to impede the withdrawal. The military has assassinated eight Hamas militants since Friday – the first targeted killings in seven months. Overnight, the Israeli army deployed thousands of extra soldiers and armoured vehicles on top of those already massed across the border with the Gaza Strip, military sources said. Deputy Defence Minister Zeev Boim threatened a large-scale land offensive in Gaza “within the next few hours” unless militants stopped rocket attacks. But other officials said any such operation was unlikely ahead of Rice’s expected arrival and before Mahmud Abbas had been given a chance to act against militants.

Link

Israel-Palestine

Abu Annas threatens the Zionists with ‘special’ revenge for killings

2004-05-14

Oh, no! Not... special revenge! For Abu Annas, a young military leader of the Islamic resistance movement Hamas, revenge against the Zionist criminals for assassinating its top two chiefs within weeks is only a matter of time. But Abu Annas, insists that a "suitable" response is brewing. "The more delayed the response, the more special it will be," he says. "As soon as Hamas is ready, you will hear the news and it will shock the world." Abu Annas appears relaxed. Dressed in casual civilian gear, his face is free of the trademark black mask of a Hamas fighter. Born and raised in Gaza, the 27-year-old has risen through the ranks to become a leader of the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades within Gaza City. Although he denies the Zionists targeted killings have damaged Hamas, Abu Annas concedes the frequent lockdowns by the Zionists in Gaza have hurt attempts to develop a more sophisticated model of the Qassam rocket, a device designed by the Brigades. "The closure we have these days has negatively affected developments," he admits, "but we are working day and night to develop new things to liberate our land." "There are around 1,400 Ezzedin al-Qassam members in Gaza City alone," says Abu Annas, explaining that each leader commands a network of 120 members, and each network is made up of cells which have at least five to seven members. Abu Annas's involvement with Hamas began during the first Palestinian uprising (1987-1993) at the age of 14, finding in the group what he describes as a kind of acceptance akin to "a child being held closely by its mother". Eight years on, outraged by the ongoing Zionist occupation and deeply affected by the death of a close friend, he decided to join the Brigades. "I realised that blood is the only thing which can get me my rights as a Palestinian," he says. For Hamas, this means only one thing: "liberating" by force all the territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean, in other words the destruction of the evil Zionist entity.

Link

Middle East

All Out War

2003-06-12

Via Islam On Line - Israel and the radical Palestinian group Hamas declared all-out war on each other today, promising more bloodshed after a Jerusalem bus bombing and retaliatory strikes on Gaza plunged the conflict into one of its most violent phases. The deadly exchange yesterday left 27 people dead and shattered hopes for implementing the US-sponsored peace plan that was launched last week at a summit in Aqaba, Jordan, convened by US President George W Bush. Israeli radio said the army had been ordered to "completely wipe out" Hamas, which claimed responsibility for the suicide bomber who killed 16 other people on a bus in central Jerusalem. The order was given after Israeli defence minister Shaul Mofaz met his generals, the radio said. It said everyone "from the lowliest member to Sheikh Ahmad Yassin", a Hamas founder and its spiritual guide, was a target. 'bout time Two days after the army tried and failed to assassinate the group's top political leader Abdul Aziz al-Rantissi, Hamas was undeterred and returned Israel's declaration of war. As Gaza prepared to bury 10 Palestinians killed in helicopter strikes on Hamas militants, members of the group's armed wing toured the city calling on the population to attend the funerals and promising bloody revenge. "We will strike with martyrdom operations as soon as possible," shouted members of the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades. "Grr! Don't I look fierce with this mask? Wanna see my gun? — Nope, nope! Can't touch it!" Among the victims of last night's helicopter raids were two senior military figures of Hamas. One was said to have supervised the firing of rockets on Israel, while the other was one of the leading bombmakers. But senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniya said that "every Palestinian was a target" for Israel and charged that Israel's order to wipe out his movement was evidence that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had failed his people. "This threat reveals the security and political crisis Sharon is facing because he has failed to crush the Palestinian intifada and bring security to his citizens," Haniya told AFP. With the international peace "road map" moribund, despite unprecedented condemnations of the violence and ceasefire calls by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Prime Minister Mahmud Abbas, Washington looked like the only force capable of stopping the rot. Bush harshly condemned the bus bombing in Jerusalem, but he sparked an uproar in Congress with a milder scolding of Sharon over the timing of the strike on Rantissi. Sharon declared last night after the bus bombing on Jaffa street that he would "continue to fight relentlessly against terrorism", but insisted that the strikes were not a breach of the road map. "We are going to continue the political process to ensure peace and security," he added. The Israeli cabinet was due to meet today to consider how to respond to the Jerusalem bombing. "It is Israel's duty to respond following the horrific attack in Jerusalem, but we have to avoid antagonising the Americans; we have to react in an intelligent way," justice minister Tommy Lapid said. Arafat went live on Palestinian television to call for a ceasefire. "I call on all Palestinian factions to stop all military operations and shooting attacks against Israelis," he said, describing the Jerusalem bombing as a "terrorist act". After the strike on Rantissi, Hamas announced that truce talks were not on the agenda and appeared determined to step up suicide bombings. The wounded leader himself vowed "not to leave one Jew in Palestine". FoxNews says there were 4 more IDF strikes in Gaza this AM, sounds like they've been saving intel for just a sweep like this. Hope they hit the right people

Link

Middle East

Israel Retaliates After Homicide Bus Bomber Kills 16 in Jerusalem

2003-06-11

EFL, and to limit to breaking news. Israeli helicopters retaliated [for the bus bombing] with two missile strikes spaced hours apart — against Hamas and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade — killing seven Palestinians in the first and at least two in the later attack. Less than six hours [after the strike that accounted for Tito Massoud], Israeli helicopters fired more missiles in Gaza City, killing at least two people and wounding one seriously, residents said. The two Palestinians killed were members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Fox News has learned — the Israeli military had no comment. Guess they achieved martyrdom. More detail, from Middle East On-Line... GAZA CITY - Six Palestinians were killed Wednesday when an Israeli helicopter fired a missile on a car in the Shajayah neighbourhood in Gaza City. The strike came about an hour after a suicide bomb ripped through a bus in central west Jerusalem, killing 13 people and wounding scores. Hmmm... Think the two might have been connected? According to witnesses, the target was Massud Titi, a senior member of the hardline Islamic Hamas movement's armed wing, the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades. Mahmoud Titi, presumably a close relative, was blown away by a tank shell about a year ago. He was the regional commander of Al-Aqsa Martyrs at Balata, near Nablus. Medical sources said some 20 people were wounded in the raid and added that two women were among the dead. "Two missiles hit the car. I stopped my car to help them but the Israeli helicopters fired four more missiles at us," said Mohammad, in his forties, who was wounded in the attack said at a nearby hospital.

Link

Middle East

Death toll rises to seven in Israeli air strike on Gaza City

2003-04-08

At least seven Palestinians were killed and more than 20 wounded as Israeli F16 fighters and Apache helicopters attacked a residential area in Gaza City, Palestinian medical sources told AFP. One of the dead was named as Saadi al-Arabit, a local leader of the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic radical movement Hamas, security sources said. An aide was also killed, while women and children were among the 27 injured, six of whom were in critical condition, the sources said. Witnesses said the Israeli warplanes appeared to be targeting a car but they hit the house instead. It was not immediately clear to whom the house belonged, they said. Security sources said the car belonged to members of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, armed wing of the Islamic radical movement Hamas. It was unclear if anyone inside the car was hurt in the attack.

Link

Middle East

IDF helis toast Gaza weapons factory, cop shop...

2002-09-06

Israeli assault helicopters fired missiles at a Palestinian police station and a factory in the southern Gaza Strip overnight, while two Palestinians were killed in a firefight with Israeli soldiers in the West Bank town of Jenin. Another day in the Middle East meat grinder... In the overnight attack, three Apache helicopters fired five missiles at a metal foundry in Khan Yunis. A police station near the factory was damaged in the attack, in which one person was wounded. An Israeli military spokesman confirmed the raid, which he said was aimed at a "factory making weapons." Maybe they should try producing toasters... Oh. There's not a market for toasters in Paleostine; there is a market for weapons. Gotcha. Several hours later in the northern tip of the West Bank, two Palestinians were shot dead in clashes that erupted when Israeli forces raided the town of Jenin, Palestinian security sources said. Kamel Silawi, 25, was a member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, witnesses said. Samir Kandil, 30, was a member of the Palestinian security services. However, the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades, claimed Silawi as one of theirs and vowed to avenge his death, which the group called an "assassination". Sounds like one of those guys who's a "joiner." He was probably a member of the local PFLP bunch, too. And the DFLP. And the Rotary Club of Ain el-Hilweh...

Link

Warning: Undefined property: stdClass::$T in /data/rantburg.com/www/pgrecentorg.php on line 132
-12 More