Israeli aircraft and/or unmanned drones destroyed a convoy of 23 lorries carrying Iranian arms destined for Hamas in mid-January in north-east Sudan. After some confusion, the Sudanese government admitted that such an attack, “probably” by Israel, had indeed taken place just north of Port Sudan on the Red Sea. Exotic but unverifiable claims in various media aver that Israel’s Mossad intelligence service got a tip that the arms were going to be smuggled into the Gaza Strip via Sudan and Egypt; that Israel’s air force had only a few days to prepare its raid; and that 40 or so people in the convoy, including Iranians, may have been killed.
SHOOT: Why Sudan? If you look at Iran's geographical location (see map below), one logical but arduous route to get arms to Hamas would be via sea, and then land (just off the Egyptian border). These two adversaries will be watching each other like hawks from now on.
SHOOT: Why Sudan? If you look at Iran's geographical location (see map below), one logical but arduous route to get arms to Hamas would be via sea, and then land (just off the Egyptian border). These two adversaries will be watching each other like hawks from now on.
Israel’s aim is said to have been to stop Hamas acquiring Iranian Fajr rockets, designed to be stripped down and carried in parts through the tunnels from Egypt into Gaza, from where their range of at least 40km would have given Hamas a longer reach than its homemade Qassam rockets or the Grad rockets it has already smuggled in and fired at Israel. A secondary aim may have been to remind Iran of Israel’s own “long arm”, and that Israel may one day dare to use it against Iran’s nuclear programme. In September 2007, in another raid Israel confirmed only by nods and winks, it destroyed what America said later was a secret nuclear reactor being built with North Korean help in Syria.
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