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Israel: Rocket Attack on Ashkelon a "Strategic Threat"

[Jerusalem Post] Yaakov Katz, Khaled Abu Toameh, and Herb Keinon - The IDF stepped up its offensive against Islamic Jihad rocket squads in Gaza on Thursday, killing nine Palestinians in a series of ground and air strikes after a long-range Katyusha rocket struck northern Ashkelon for the first time. A senior PA representative said, "The instructions for firing the Katyusha rocket came from Damascus and Teheran....The timing of the rocket attack is no coincidence and is mainly aimed at disrupting Bush's visit." Also Thursday, three Kassam rockets and 10 mortar shells were fired by Palestinians in Gaza at Israel, including one rocket that hit the backyard of a home in Sderot. A senior official in the Prime Minister's Office characterized the rocket attack on Ashkelon as "a strategic threat," and said it showed once again the urgency of stopping the arms smuggling from Sinai into Gaza. "We are concerned that the types of weapons coming into Gaza are giving them new strategic potential," the official said. "This was not the first rocket of this type to be fired on Israel, but we are concerned that unless decisive action is taken there could be more of this." "If we see ongoing smuggling into Gaza of munitions and weaponry, then this is a strategic threat for a quarter of a million people in the South who are within the range of the rockets," he said. The official said it was clear that the current level of weapons smuggling cannot go on, and that "actions have to be taken."
2008-01-04 01:00:00
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