debkafile Exclusive: The first missiles and rocket of Iranian manufacture in Palestinian hands struck targets in Ashkelon Tuesday morning

Two missiles and a 122mm Katyusha rocket struck the military installation at the Ashkelon oil port and terminal of the Ashkelon-Eilat pipeline, causing damage but no casualties. debkafile‘s military sources report the weapons were smuggled into the Gaza Strip through Egyptian Sinai following Israel’s pullout from the territory last year. Israel’s security authorities kept the attack under close wraps in the course of the day’s polling for the Knesset.
It was the second time the Palestinians hit a strategic target near Ashkelon after a missile damaged the big power station compound last month.
January 3, 2006, debkafile‘s exclusive sources revealed that a shipment of Grad missiles supplied by Iran had been secreted into the Gaza Strip through Sinai to substantially upgrade the Palestinian terrorist armory. Their range is 30 km, three times that of the homemade Qassams. It enables them to hit the big Israeli port of Ashdod north of Ashkelon and Kiryat Gath in southern Israel.
The new hardware was delivered to the Fatah-al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.