Israeli forces foil massive Iranian smuggling into West Bank
A joint statement called the smuggling 'part of an ongoing Iranian campaign to destabilize the region's security by arming terrorist cells'
Israeli forces thwarted a massive smuggling operation to supply West Bank terrorists with weapons from Iran, according to a joint army and Shin Bet security agency statement on Wednesday.
The IDF and Shin Bet identified Iranian efforts to bring the weapons into the West Bank under the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' 4000th Division, an intelligence unit headed by Jawad Ghafari, and the Quds Force special operations unit in Syria un the command of Etsar Bakri.
After an initial raid that found weapons, an additional location was searched that held the majority of the weapons seized.
The seized weapons comprised of 33 improvised Claymore explosives, wireless activation systems for Claymore explosives, six RPG-7 launchers, three 107mm rockets, 24 RPG-18 and RPG-22 rockets, 40 standard large Claymore explosives (including detonators), two 60mm mortar barrels, 20 60mm mortar shells, six long M16 rifles, one M4 rifle, ammunition, seven Hunter sniper rifles, and 37 pistols (Glock and XD-9).
The statement called this "part of an ongoing Iranian campaign to destabilize the region's security by arming terrorist cells in Judea and Samaria {West Bank], to carry out attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops.
"The ISA and the IDF will continue to monitor and thwart in advance any Iranian activity aimed at smuggling weapons into Israel and the Judea and Samaria area."