Terrorists in West Bank may be able to fire rockets at Israel in a year

Terrorists in West Bank may be able to fire rockets at Israel in a year

At the current rate of smuggling from Jordan, Palestinian terror groups in the West Bank will be able to launch rockets into Israel within a year, according to a Wednesday evening report citing senior officials in the Palestinian Authority security forces.

Speaking to the Kan broadcaster, the sources said that these rockets would be similar in quality to the tens of thousands of projectiles fired from Gaza in recent years — far more sophisticated than the primitive projectiles launched from Jenin at the Afula and Bat Hefer areas on several occasions in the past year.

Both the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror groups are believed to be involved in the smuggling operation, Kan reported, adding that explosives, money and knowledge on bomb-making were being transferred from Lebanon to the West Bank via Jordan, with Iranian guidance.

Israel Defense Forces operations in Tulkarem and Qalqilya, in the West Bank, are related to the effort to smuggle more sophisticated rockets via Jordan, the report added.

In 2023, a Palestinian group in the northern West Bank calling itself the al-Ayyash Battalion — apparently named for a notorious Hamas bomb-maker killed by Israel — attempted a series of mostly unsuccessful rocket launches at Israeli towns and West Bank settlements.

The IDF said at the time that the homemade projectiles did not contain explosive payloads, though one managed to fly some 100 meters (330 feet).

Fabian Hinz, a researcher at the International Institute for Strategic Studies who specializes in missiles and drones, told The Times of Israel in mid-2023 that the West Bank rockets were not comparable even to early versions of projectiles launched from the Gaza Strip at Israel from 2001.

“I would imagine it would be possible to build something less crude than that, especially if you have some sort of experience, technology… knowledge and assistance from the Gaza Strip,” he said. “It looks like something a guy made in his backyard.”

On Wednesday, Kan also cited a senior Jordanian source as saying that Amman had discovered two explosives storage sites near the capital in the past few days, and suspects Iran and its proxies are behind them.

One was said to be located near an airport in southeastern Amman that is used by the United States military, and another was in the same area.

A Jordanian investigation into the sites was still underway, Kan reported, citing a senior official in Amman.

Over the past year, Jordan has said it has foiled many attempts to smuggle weapons by infiltrators linked to pro-Iranian groups in Syria, who Amman says have crossed into the Hashemite Kingdom with rocket launchers and explosives. Jordan says some of the weapons have gone through undetected.

Iran has denied being behind such attempts.

Jordanian officials say that most of the clandestine flow of arms into the country has been bound for the neighboring West Bank, and that several citizens with links to Hamas have been detained on suspicion of smuggling arms to Palestinians.

Source » msn