Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander from Gaza nabbed by IDF tells interrogators he was trained in Iran

Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives were trained in Iran, a captured commander in the terror group reveals in an interrogation published by the Shin Bet security agency.

Basel Mahadi, an Islamic Jihad platoon commander, who was nabbed by troops in Gaza on December 20, details how he left Gaza and was sent to Iran for military training.

Mahadi says he was trained with 15-20 other Islamic Jihad operatives, from Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria.

“My commander called me and said that I should go to Iran for a sniper course, I will benefit from it and my salary will increase when I return,” Mahadi recalls, in excerpts of the interrogation provided by the Shin Bet.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives were trained in Iran, a captured commander in the terror group reveals in an interrogation published by the Shin Bet security agency.

Basel Mahadi, an Islamic Jihad platoon commander, who was nabbed by troops in Gaza on December 20, details… pic.twitter.com/8xuOhKxCxB

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“I went from the Gaza Strip to Egypt where I stayed for about two weeks, from there I went to Syria for a few days and then to Lebanon. After two weeks we went from Syria to Iran,” he says.

“In Iran, the course was 15 days. It had physical fitness training and shooting training on different types of weapons,” the Islamic Jihad commander says.

He says that they spent four days training on Kalashnikov rifles up to distances of 100 meters, another five days up to 150 meters, and then six days training on Dragunov sniper rifles up to distances of 300 meters.

He says other Islamic Jihad operatives in Iran also underwent rocket training.