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Egypt Not Blocking Gaza Arms Smuggling

[Washington Institute for Near East Policy] Yoram Cohen and Matthew Levitt - Given Hamas' ongoing weapons smuggling into Gaza, Israel's mid-January unilateral ceasefire may be short-lived. Over the past year, Hamas has acquired a formidable collection of imported 122 mm rockets known as Grads, brought in piecemeal through tunnels and reassembled in Gaza. These Grads, an Iranian-produced version of the Chinese-designed rocket, increase the reach of Hamas into Israel. The arms-smuggling network is directed by Hamas offices in Damascus and aided by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards, which provides the majority of the weaponry. Despite recent improvements to the countersmuggling effort in Sinai, Egypt is averse to recognizing the severity of the issue. In most cases, following the exposure of a tunnel, Egyptian forces have either placed a guard at the mouth of the tunnel or blocked the tunnel entrance, rather than taking steps to demolish the tunnel completely. As such, smugglers have been able to employ these tunnels again after a short interval. When a tunnel entrance has been blocked, diggers typically cut a new access channel nearby and connect with the existing tunnel. There is no evidence that Egyptian forces are taking steps to arrest and punish smugglers.
2009-03-04 06:00:00
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