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Hamas Using North Korean Weapons Against Israel, South Korea Confirms
North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un speaks at the 5th National Meeting of Mothers in Pyongyang in this picture released by the Korean Central News Agency on Dec. 5, 2023. Photo: KCNA via REUTERS
Hamas terrorists have been using weapons made in North Korea in their war on Israel, South Korea’s spy agency confirmed on Monday.
The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) released a photo showing a disassembled F-7 rocket-propelled grenade launcher manufactured in North Korea.
“The fuse with the Korean characters is located in the mid-section of the North Korean-made F-7 rocket,” the agency told South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, adding that it was “collecting and accumulating” evidence of North Korea’s suspected supply of weapons to Hamas.
“But it is currently difficult to provide such evidence due to the need to protect information sources and in consideration of diplomatic ties,” the agency added.
(LEAD) S. Korea’s spy agency confirms Hamas’ suspected use of N. Korean weapons https://t.co/k7dAojmp9z
— Yonhap News Agency (@YonhapNews) January 8, 2024
The news came after Voice of America (VOA) reported last week that Hamas, the Palestinian terror group that rules Gaza, was using North Korean weapons. In addition to the F-7 grenade launcher, Hamas propaganda videos and photos have reportedly shown its terrorists with North Korea’s Bulsae guided anti-tank missile.
The VOA report detailed a looming lawsuit brought by families of Americans killed by Hamas terrorists during their rampage across southern Israel on Oct. 7 — when they killed 1,200 people (including at least 31 Americans) and kidnapped 240 others as hostages — against the North Korean regime for allegedly supplying Hamas with weapons.
The attorney for the group, Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, told VOA that North Korea “knows its weapons go to Iran, and Iran gives the weapons to Hamas,” making North Korea “liable.” Iran is the main international sponsor of Hamas, providing the terror group with arms, funds, and training.
Darshan-Leitner pointed to mounting evidence, including rocket launchers discovered by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), that use parts from North Korea.
Asked about the report, the NIS said its “assessment is the same as the VOA report.”
Early in the Israel-Hamas war, which began with the Oct. 7 massacre, Akiva Tor, who serves as the Israeli ambassador to South Korea, charged that Hamas was using North Korean weapons. “In Gaza, as it is the one which attacks us, they use North Korean weapons. It could be that these North Korean weapons have been in Iran for quite a long time,” Tor said.
Pyongyang, which voiced support for Hamas after the Oct. 7 attack, pushed back on these claims, saying they are “groundless and false rumors to shift the blame for the Middle East crisis caused by its wrong hegemonic policy onto a third country.”
However, South Korea’s military has said that Hamas and North Korea appear to be linked in the global arms trade and that the latter could use military tactics similar to those used against Israel on Oct. 7 for a surprise attack on South Korea.
Yonhap also noted that the NIS reported during a parliamentary intelligence committee meeting in November that it obtained intelligence that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered officials to come up with measures to provide comprehensive assistance to the Palestinians.
North Korea has maintained diplomatic relations with Palestinian leaders since the 1960s.
Hamas is not the only foreign entity said to receive North Korean arms. US officials have said, for example that Russia is using weapons from North Korea in its war against Ukraine.
The post Hamas Using North Korean Weapons Against Israel, South Korea Confirms first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Report: IDF Probes Whether Houthis Used Iranian Cluster Bomb-Bearing Missile
Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi addresses followers via a video link at the al-Shaab Mosque, formerly al-Saleh Mosque, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
i24 News – The Israeli military said Saturday it launched a probe into the failure of its defenses to fully intercept a missile launched by Yemen’s Houthi jihadists, parts of which struck not far from the Ben Gurion airport on Friday night.
According to the Ynet website, one of the hypotheses being examined is that the projectile contained cluster munitions, similar to those used by Iran to fire at Israeli cities during the 12-day war in June. Cluster munitions pose a challenge to interceptors as they disperse smaller explosives over a wide area.
In June, Iran fired several missiles carrying scattered small bombs with the aim of increasing civilian casualties.
The IDF said on Saturday that its initial review suggests the ballistic missile from Yemen likely fragmented in mid-air. Five interceptors from various systems engaged with the missile, including THAAD, Arrow, David Sling & Iron Dome.
Authorities said that shrapnel impacted a house in the central Israeli moshav of Ginaton, yet no one was hurt, with the fragment landing in the house’s backyard.
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Iran Forces Kill Six Militants, IRNA Reports, Israel Link Seen
The Iranian flag is seen flying over a street in Tehran, Iran, Feb. 3, 2023. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Iranian security forces shot dead six militants in a clash in southeastern Iran on Saturday, a day after armed rebels killed five police officers in the restive region, the official news agency IRNA reported.
IRNA said evidence showed the group was linked to Israel and may have been trained by Israel‘s Mossad spy agency. There was no immediate Israeli reaction to the allegation.
Another two members of the militant group were arrested, the report said. All but one of the militants were foreign, it added, without giving their nationality.
Iranian police said this month they had arrested as many as 21,000 suspects during the 12-day war with Israel in June.
Iran’s southeast has been the scene of sporadic clashes between security forces and armed groups, including Sunni militants and separatists who say they are fighting for greater rights and autonomy.
Tehran says some of them have ties to foreign powers and are involved in cross-border smuggling and insurgency.
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Benny Gantz Urges Time-Limited National Unity Government to Further Chances of Hostage Deal
Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz attends his party’s meeting at the Knesset, Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, June 27, 2022. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – Blue and White Party leader Benny Gantz on Saturday called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition politicians to form a temporary national unity government to further the chances of bringing home the hostages held in Gaza.
Addressing Netanyahu, Yair Lapid and Avigdor Liberman, Gantz said that the proposed government’s two supreme priorities would be the release of Israeli hostages held by the jihadists of Hamas and instituting universal conscription in Israel by ending the exemption from military service enjoyed by the ultra-Orthodox.
Upon attainment of the goals, the government would dissolve and call an election.
“The government’s term will begin with a hostage deal that brings everyone home,” Gantz said in a video address. “Within weeks, we will formulate an enlistment outline that would see our ultra-Orthodox brethren drafted to the military and ease the burden on those already serving. Finally, we will announce an agreed-upon election date in the spring of 2026 and pass a law to dissolve the Knesset [Israeli parliament] accordingly. This is what’s right for Israel.”