Breaking news
Hamas to negotiate weapons deal with North Korea for the delivery of rockets and missiles 2701141.
| 2014
| a | |||
Defence & Security News - North Korea |
|||
| Sunday, July 27, 2014 11:22 AM | |||
| Hamas to negotiate weapons deal with North Korea for the delivery of rockets and missiles. | |||
According
the "Telegraph" newspaper website, Hamas militants are attempting
to negotiate a new weapons deal with North Korea for missiles and communications
equipment that will allow them to maintain their offensive against Israel. |
|||
 A picture released by the Israeli Defense Forces shows weapons found inside a tunnel near Kibbutz Sufa in the Israeli Gaza border on July 17, 2014. |
|||
Security
officials say the deal between Hamas and North Korea is worth hundreds
of thousands of dollars and is being handled by a Lebanese-based trading
company with close ties to the militant Palestinian organisation based
in east Beirut.
With an already large cash down payment on the weaponry, Hamas is said to be eager to close the deal as quickly as possible with North Korea. Should the two agree, Hamas will be supplied with hundreds of new missiles as well as communication equipment that would allow terrorists to better coordinate their attacks. Following Israel’s latest military offensive against Hamas operatives based in Gaza, Western security officials say Hamas is now trying to persuade North Korea to provide fresh supplies of rockets to replace the thousands of missiles that have been fired at Israel since the commencement of hostilities two weeks ago. The relationship between Hamas and North Korea is not new. The North Korean regime has already established close ties with other radical Islamist groups such as Hezbollah, united in their desire to destroy the West. Hamas and North Korea’s partnership first came to the attention of the world stage in 2009 when 35 tons of arms were intercepted when the plane carrying the arms had to make an emergency landing at Bangkok airport. The shipment, which included surface-to-air missiles and rocket propelled grenades among other weaponry, was later confirmed by investigators to be destined for Iran, where the weapons would later be smuggled to Hezbollah and Hamas. |
|||