Gone are the days when Mahmoud A-Zahar, Gaza’s Hamas strongman, received a royal welcome in Tehran. When he arrived in the Iranian capital Sunday, Sept. 9 he found a chilly reception, although he brought with him in secret a large Hamas military delegation to persuade Iran’s leaders that Hamas could be trusted to pull its weight in reprisals for a potential Israeli strike against Iran’s nuclear program.  Tehran is nonetheless diverting support, arms and funding away from Hamas to the Jihad Islami.

Iran is setting up Jihad Islami, its Palestinian arm in the Gaza Strip, as its spearhead for attacking Israel in place of Hamas which Tehran no long trusts, debkafile’s reports exclusively. The radical group is receiving a new range of shore-to-ship radar-guided missiles and a new military industry is being set up in Gaza for the high-speed production of dozens of Qassam missiles in series capable of doubling the intensity and range of attacks on Israel to 200 per day up to Tel Aviv.
 

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood secretly turned to mending its fences with Iran on the back of the Israeli-Palestinian clash over the Gaza Strip using Hamas as go-between. The Sunni Brotherhood, the dominant political force in post-Mubarak Egypt, decided two weeks ago to forge ties with Shiite Iran, causing a major upset for United States and Israeli ...

Netanyahu did not intend the targeted assassination of a high-profile terrorist to ignite a four-day missile barrage from the Gaza Strip against southwestern Israel. But since it did, he took advantage of the opportunity for practicing defensive procedures for the expected major showdown with Iran.

Tehran is capitalizing on its allies’ two perceived victories: Bashar Assad’s success in seizing Idlib from rebel hands and the Palestinian Jihad Islami’s triumphal missile assault from Gaza on southern Israel. The Iranians are moving forward with plans to match that assault with a Hizballah offensive on northern Israel from Lebanon. This was the object of a rendezvous opposite Metulah Wednesday, March 14, between a high-ranking Iranian delegation headed by Ahmadinejad’s spokesman Ali Akbar Javanfekr and Hizballah intelligence officers.

Fifty Libyan Muslim Brotherhood mercenaries arrived in the Gaza Strip from Tripoli last month - in time to take part in the Jihad Islami's last missile offensive against Israel starting Oct. 29, debkafile's military sources report. They arrived at the wheels of minivans on which were mounted the new Grad multiple rocket-launchers which Palestinian terrorists fired for the first time last month. These mobile rocket-launchers were last seen on the Libyan battlefield in use against Muammar Qaddafi's army.

Libyan Islamists go to Gaza to fight with the Palestinian Jihad Islami, bringing with them advanced Grad multiple missile launchers supplied by Qatar and the UAE and sold to Palestinian extremists. A thriving new weapons market with a price list rises in the W. Libyan town of Zintan.

Sunday morning, Oct. 30, Jihad Islami denied knowledge of a truce Egypt called for 0600 Sunday morning. By 0700 hours it had launched eleven Grad missiles and two mortar rounds from the Gaza Strip at Ashdod, Gan Yavne, Lahavim, Ashkelon and Shear Hanegev. This was the second day of its massive assault. Saturday, more than 35 missiles, most heavy Grads, battered eight towns, killed an Israel and injured seven. Schools there are closed Sunday amid a high security alert.

The Israeli air strikes in Gaza early Monday, Jan. 10, officially described as aimed at "terrorist targets" and "smuggling tunnels", were in fact missions for destroying the new Hamas underground command centers which Iranian Revolutionary Guards engineers are building across the enclave, debkafile's exclusive sources report. Israel is about to change its Gaza strategy and move away from predictable operations that serve Iran's goals, one of which is punishment for the attacks on its nuclear facilities and personnel.