Friday, January 4, 2013

Egypt intercepts US missiles bound for Gaza

It's long been obvious to all who have eyes to see that if those enterprising folks who run the Gaza tunnels can squeeze a full size Mercedes sedan through there, they can certainly accommodate much else besides.

Agence France-Presse is reporting the seizure of a cache of US made surface-to-air and anti-tank missiles in the Sinai just on the Egyptian side of the Gaza border. The weapons are most likely residual fall-out from the the collapse of the security infrastructure in Libya over a year ago.

This story raises a number of questions. According to AFP the discovery was the result of a "tip," which would immediately raise the question of who provided the tip and why.

It should also raise the question of how much US and NATO ordinance has already found its way into Gaza. It was evident during the recent Operation Pillar of Cloud  that IAF helicopters were being held back from the skies over Gaza. Was this a silent acknowledgement that the IAF Apaches are sitting ducks for the Stinger missiles that have found their way into the territory?

The presence of significant stock-piles of advanced weaponry in the coastal territory would also explain Netanyahu's haste to wind down hostilities, and the cockiness of the Hamas administration afterwards.

Could it be that the presence or presumed presence of those American missiles allowed Hamas to bluff the IDF into a stand-down?

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