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Defense minister: Hamas establishing terror infrastructure in Lebanon

Hamas is seeking to establish another front against Israel out of Lebanon, Liberman said. 

By: JNS.org and World Israel News Staff

Hamas is investing considerable resources into establishing terrorist infrastructure in Lebanon, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said Friday.

Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, “is currently trying to carry out terrorist attacks across Judea and Samaria, as well as develop new fronts, primarily in southern Lebanon. It wants to use that [area] to threaten Israel,” Liberman said.

“[Hamas] is struggling to carry out terrorist attacks from Gaza, because it faces a very difficult reality there,” Liberman said, warning that Israel “will not tolerate a situation in which, on the one hand, Hamas talks about a humanitarian crisis and the need for aid, while on the other hand it orders terrorist attacks in Judea and Samaria and tries to establish a terrorist infrastructure in Lebanon…

“The newfound friendship between top Hamas officials and [Hezbollah leader] Hassan Nasrallah is another thing we’re monitoring closely. Every development will meet the proper response,” he stated.

The defense minister on Friday visited the two Israeli Special Forces officers who were wounded in a Jenin raid targeting the terrorist cell that recently murdered Rabbi Raziel Shevach near his home in Samaria.

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Commenting on reports that Ahmed Jarrar, head of the terrorist cell, had managed to escape the raid, Liberman said that Jarrar “needs to know he’s living on borrowed time. We will find him. We know everything—who the terrorists are, who their collaborators are, the identity of other people involved in the attack. We will bring all of them to justice, and they will pay the full price.”

Hamas officials recently held meetings with Hezbollah’s leadership in Lebanon. Similarly, Hamas has recently grown close with Iran, currently its main benefactor. Iran may be behind Hamas’ move to establish itself in Lebanon.

Time running out for Hamas in Gaza

In the meantime, Israel’s latest tunnel demolition poses a major dilemma for its leadership as they come to understand that Israel is depriving them of a major offensive asset.

The combination of technology, intelligence and a physical underground barrier is convincing Hamas that time is running out for its tunnel enterprise.

Security expert Yoni Ben Menachem told World Israel News (WIN) that Hamas may become desperate to use the tunnels while they still can.

“I think they will decide to use the tunnels before they are destroyed by the Israeli army. This is very dangerous because they could enter Israel, kidnap soldiers and launch attacks. They still have more tunnels. We know where some of them are,” Ben Menachem said.

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He estimates that Israel will speed up its efforts to destroy the tunnels quickly, while Hamas will rush to make the tunnels operational so that they can use them to enter Israel and capture soldiers to use in a future prisoner exchange.

“They are under pressure and are that much more dangerous in the short term,” Ben Menachem said.