No Script

Please Wait...

Ramadan Kareem...

«Israel» Has Always Been Frightened of Hamas’ Vast Arsenal!

«Israel» Has Always Been Frightened of Hamas’ Vast Arsenal!
folder_openZionist Entity access_time5 years ago
starAdd to favorites

By Staff, Agencies

Hamas has acquired an impressive array of weapons including Qassam rockets, homemade R-160 (km range), Iranian Fajr-5 rockets, drones, mortars and attack tunnels.

“Israeli” media reported that the rocket fired from the Gaza Strip on Monday was one of the most powerful launched ever by Gaza militants, flying nearly 120 kilometers (70 miles) before it slammed into a house in central territories of the “Israeli” entity, wounding seven people.

Over more than a decade, Hamas resistance group has built up a large arsenal of rockets and missiles. It started with crude short-range projectiles and now possesses rockets that can strike virtually anywhere in the “Israeli” entity.

In 2018, Gaza's Hamas chief Yahiya Sinwar boasted that the group had not only replenished the rockets it fired during the 50-day war in 2014, but had many more at its disposal. He said that what had been fired in 50 days "would be fired within five minutes" of any future “Israeli” offensive.

Monday's rocket strike was the furthest a Gaza rocket has landed since 2014, when Hamas struck the northern city of Haifa, about 150 kilometers (90 miles) away.

Hamas doesn't release details about its military capabilities.

Gabi Siboni, an “Israeli” military analyst, said Hamas "has a variety of advanced, precise, and effective weaponry." He said this includes guided anti-tank missiles and shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles, both produced by Russia, as well as some drones.

Rockets

Qassams: In 2001, a year after the outbreak of the second Palestinian uprising against the “Israeli” entity [Intifada], Hamas first fired a cross-border rocket toward the entity, calling it "Qassam" after the group's military wing. The homemade rockets, aimed at “Israeli” entity border towns, had an irregular trajectory and sometimes landed inside Gaza.

«Israel» Has Always Been Frightened of Hamas’ Vast Arsenal!
Photo by Reuters

 

R-160: Hamas calls this its longest-range home-grown rocket. It was first fired in the 2014 war and at one point hit Haifa. The "R'' in the name refers to Abdel-Aziz Rantissi, a senior Hamas official who was martyred in an “Israeli” airstrike in 2004. The number refers to the range, in kilometers.

J-80: This rocket, also produced locally, is named after Hamas military wing commander Ahmed Jabari, who was martyred in an “Israeli” airstrike on his car in 2012, setting off an eight-day war.

M-75: Hamas unveiled this rocket in 2014, saying it was homemade. But experts believe it is a version of the Iranian Fajr 5 rocket, which Iran acquired in the 1990s and is based on Chinese technology.

«Israel» Has Always Been Frightened of Hamas’ Vast Arsenal!

Hamas also possess a variety of Russian Grad rockets. These projectiles, with a range of about 20 kilometers (12 miles).

«Israel» Has Always Been Frightened of Hamas’ Vast Arsenal!

Tunnels

In recent years, Hamas has built a sophisticated network of tunnels. These include attack tunnels that run under the Gaza-“Israel” entity perimeter fence, for use by revolutionaries to infiltrate the “Israeli” entity. Defensive tunnels, located away from the border, are used to store weapons and serve as hideouts.

Hamas first used tunnels in a 2006 cross-border operation in which it killed two “Israeli” soldiers and captured a third. The soldier, Gilad Shalit, was swapped for more than 1,000 prisoners in 2011.

Hamas also used the tunnels in the 2014 war, killing five soldiers in one cross-border raid.

During the fighting, the entity said it discovered and destroyed 32 tunnels. Since then, it says it has discovered and destroyed several additional tunnels.

To combat the tunnel threat, the “Israeli” entity has begun building an underground barrier running the length of the Gaza Strip, and this year it said it was reinforcing the Gaza fence with 20-foot-high galvanized steel.

«Israel» Has Always Been Frightened of Hamas’ Vast Arsenal!

Imported weapons

Mortars: Hamas has fired hundreds of mortars at short-range targets just across the border. The mortars are believed to have been smuggled from Libya through Egypt.

Laser-guided anti-tank missiles made by Russia. Last November, Hamas fired such a missile, known as Kornet, at a bus from which “Israeli” soldiers had just exited. One soldier was seriously wounded. In a 2006 war, the Lebanese Hezbollah killed dozens of “Israeli” tank soldiers using these weapons.

Drones: Hamas has developed an early-stage drone program, displaying images of “Israeli” fields filmed by these aircraft. It's not known whether they have been used for operations.

Comments