Iran trying to flood the West Bank with weapons, open new front in Israel’s war – report

Iran is attempting to flood the West Bank with weapons and drag it into Israel’s conflicts with its proxies Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, the New York Times reports after the Shin Bet said last month that it had foiled attempts by Tehran to smuggle large shipments of advanced weapons to terror operatives in the West Bank.

According to the report, Iran operates smuggling routes across Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and even Israel, with large weapons shipments being transported from country to country via terror operatives, soldiers or criminal gangs before they arrive in the West Bank with the help of Bedouin smugglers who transport them to the Palestinian territory from the Jordanian border.

Citing Iranian, US and Israeli security and intelligence officials, the New York Times states that the majority of the smuggled weapons are handguns and assault rifles, but that anti-tank missiles and rocket-propelled grenades are also frequently transferred.

The smuggling operation has been ongoing for around two years, and analysts say that they don’t know how many weapons have been transferred in that time.