Iranian Advisors in Gaza

Revealed: Israel Killed Iranian Operatives In Gaza

By David Bedein, Middle East Correspondent
Published: Friday, January 23, 2009
Tel Aviv  Documentation obtained from the Middle East Newsline reveals a 
direct connection between Iran and the Islamic militants Israel fought 
during its recent Gaza offensive.

It reveals that Iranian military advisers from Irans elite Islamic 
Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) were killed during the 22-day war with 
Hamas, which ended with a self-imposed Israeli cease-fire on Sunday.

IRGC officers helped the Hamas regime and Islamic Jihad fire BM-21 Grad 
rockets from urban areas.?

We believe there were dozens of IRGC personnel in Gaza during the war, an 
Israeli source said. Some were killed; others went into hiding; and others 
escaped.?

Israeli intelligence sources IRGC sent officers to the Gaza Strip to help 
Hamas?improve the range and accuracy of its rockets.

IRGC was also authorized to help establish facilities to produce the Grad 
and other extended-range Katyusha-class rockets in the Gaza Strip.

Israel expects Iran to expand the IRGC presence in the Gaza Strip amid the 
cease-fire. Iran is expected to build a Hamas arsenal of rockets with 
ranges of up to 50 miles, which would include the Fajr-3 and Fajr-4 
rockets.

The IRGC presence was arranged in 2008 by the late Hamas Interior Minister 
Said Siyam, the sources said. Siyam was killed in an Israeli air strike on 
Gaza City on Saturday, hours before the unilateral cease-fire began.

Siyams death removes Hamas key liasion with Iran, an Israeli source said. 
But there are others who could fill his shoes.

David Bedein can be reached at bedein-W/[email protected]
http://www.thebulletin.us/articles/2009/01/23/news/world/doc49781e786aa94306071998.txt