Israel’s chief of staff Lt.-Gen Dan Halutz finally admits Palestinians have smuggled shoulder-launched anti-air Strela missiles from Sinai to Gaza – confirming DEBKAfile’s reporting from mid-September. He was briefing the Knesset foreign affairs and security committee.
DEBKAfile’s military sources add that Palestinian terrorists were recently sighted testing the positions of these missiles for targeting Israeli aircraft. According to our counter-terror sources, the al Qaeda cells barricaded in the caves of central Sinai mountain peaks have managed to shoot down more than one Egyptian helicopter trying to chase them out of their hideouts. They used missiles from their substantial supply of Strelas. In one of these attacks, 30 Egyptian commandos lost their lives.
Today, Palestinian and al Qaeda terrorists are jointly capable of downing both Israeli air force planes flying over Gaza and Egyptian helicopters supposed to police the Philadelphi border route. Monday, Nov. 7, AMAN’s research chief Big.-Gen Yossi Kupwasser again affirmed a massive Al Qaeda’s presence in Sinai when he briefed a Knesset committee. |