Tobin - Hamas-Iran Alliance Still Alive and Well

Jonathan S. Tobin..
Commentary/Contentions..
12 February '12..

Just when some veteran Middle East peace processers and critics of Israel were making some progress trying to persuade the world Hamas was changing its stripes, the terrorist organization torpedoed talk about its new moderation with a gesture of friendship with Iran.

Ismail Haniya, the prime minister of Hamas’s Gaza terror state, arrived in Tehran on Friday for a visit that should disillusion those who assumed there had been a break between the two. The warm welcome given Haniya by the Islamist regime is an indication that the alliance between Iran and one of its terrorist auxiliaries is still very much in place. It also ought to be a reminder that Hamas participation in the Palestinian Authority’s government in the wake of its unity pact with Fatah will provide Iran with an influential ally that will render the prospects for peace with Israel moot.

Iran has been Hamas’s principal supplier of cash and munitions in recent years. But the flow of aid from Iran to Gaza has been affected by Tehran’s financial difficulties as international sanctions slowed its economy. That led some optimists to conclude Hamas had broken with Iran, particularly after its exiled leadership fled their Damascus headquarters as a result of the Assad regime’s difficulties. The perception is that Hamas was dumping Assad while Iran stayed loyal to the tyrant.

Syria exposes Iranian arms shipment to Hezbullah

Carl
Israel Matzav
12 November '10

Things apparently aren't so good anymore among the tall guy, the fat guy and the midget. Syria is distressed enough by Iran's attempts to control Lebanon through Hezbullah that in September, Syria exposed a plastic explosives shipment from Iran to Hezbullah to Italian authorities. The result was that not only was the shipment discovered, but at least as important, Iran's methods of shipping weapons to Hezbullah were exposed.

In a long and detailed article published last week in the Saudi-owned and London-based newspaper Asharq Al Awsat, she explains that not only were senior Syrian officials far from enthusiastic about Hezbollah's grandiose performance for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad when the Iranian president visited Lebanon last month, but Syria also appears to have been responsible for confiscating a large shipment of explosives that Iran was planning to send to Hezbollah via Italy.

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Turkish Opposition Rejects Regime Policy on Gaza Flotilla

Barry Rubin
The Rubin Report
13 August '10

In a sign of its deepening involvement in the Iran-Syria-Hamas-Hizballah alliance, the Turkish regime is now apparently letting Iran ship arms directly through Turkey for the Hizballah forces in Lebanon. That the Ankara government is actively participating in providing aid for an anti-Western terrorist group should be a matter of concern, especially since it furthers Tehran's strategic expansion.

Two Turkish legal experts, in separate articles, have criticized the Mavi Marmara jihad operation over the last few weeks, pointing out that Turkey has no jurisdiction over the issue, that the Gaza flotilla organizers acted wrongly, and Israel had the right to seize the ship.

What's significant over this new development is that people within Turkey are beginning to stand up against the wave of religious and nationalist demagoguery unleashed by the current Islamist regime. Indeed, the opportunity to make such political gains at a time when the regime is increasingly unpopular and faces potentil defeat in next year's elections was one of the main reason why the Turkish government sponsored the operation that it almost certainly knew would end in violence.

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