Hamas gunmen ambushed a convoy guarded by the Fatah presidential guard and hijacked two trucks filled with tents, medical kits and toilets, security officials said. The United States and some Arab countries had pledged to give equipment and training to the security forces loyal to Abbas.
[...]
In the raid on the Islamic University, a security official affiliated with Fatah said seven Iranian citizens were arrested and an eighth committed suicide. The security official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
No juice there, though. Don't worry. Aaron Klein (where have you gone John Batchelor?) dishes:
Security forces associated with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party today captured seven Iranian military trainers – including a general of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards – at a purported Hamas training facility in the Gaza Strip, Fatah security officials told WND.
The Fatah officials said a raid of the Hamas dominated Islamic University in Gaza yielded the Iranian agents, 1,000 Qassam rockets and equipment to manufacture the Qassams. According to the Fatah officials, one of the Iranian agents attempted suicide prior to his capture.
The officials said initial interrogation of the Iranian agents revealed one is a Revolutionary Guard general.
The grounds of Islamic University are routinely used by Hamas for military training, Palestinian and Israeli sources said.
Gun battles between Fatah and Hamas erupted today after Hamas ambushed a Fatah convoy it said was carrying American weapons. The two factions have engaged in nearly two months of deadly clashes after Abbas called for new Palestinian elections in a move widely seen as an attempt to dismantle the Hamas-led PA.
If confirmed, Fatah's claim of capturing Iranian military agents in Gaza would mark the first time that Iranians were caught operating in the Gaza Strip since Israel's withdrawal from the territory in August, 2005.
Earlier this month, WND quoted Fatah and Israeli intelligence officials stating Hamas members have been flying to Iran for advanced military training with Iranian Revolutionary guard units and Hezbollah militants.
The Israeli officials said they fear the training will greatly improve Hamas' military capability in any future battle with Israeli troops in Gaza. They said Hamas was seeking to learn from Hezbollah military tactics used against Israel during this summer's war in Lebanon.
Read the whole thing. The short version from Abu Ahmed, northern Gaza leader for the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades: "It is only a matter of a small period before Gaza is ready for war." And he's not talking about Fatah.
Update: Hamas says Israel colluding with Abbas against it. The Fatah convoy Hamas attacked was a supply run (tents, portable bathrooms, weapons?) for Abbas' security forces. Three trucks entered Gaza on Wednesday night via the Kerem Shalom crossing and unloaded their cargo in a facility belonging to Abbas' Presidential Guards.
The raid on the Hamas-linked university in Gaza was carried out by national security forces affiliated with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Hundreds of weapons and a lathe for the production of Qassam rockets were seized in the raid.
A Hamas official denied the claim and said there were no Iranian citizens at the university.
The security official also said that during the raid a Hamas commander believed to have orchestrated the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier near the Gaza Strip in June last year suffered serious-to-moderate wounds.
Ahmad Jaabri is believed to have planned the cross-border raid carried out by gunmen of Hamas and two other Palestinian groups on June 12 during which Corp. Gilad Shalit was kidnapped.
Earlier Thursday, Hamas gunmen ambushed a Presidential Guards convoy, seizing weapons and explosives transferred by the United States and Arab countries to Abbas. Fatah denied the claim, saying that two boxes seized by Hamas contained medicines.
Hamas denies Iranians were captured by Fatah. Fatah denies it was transporting weapons supplied by the US and the Saudis and allowed to pass through an Israeli Sanai checkpoint.
More:Haaretz: Fatah claims "at least some of the Iranians were chemical experts."
However, neither the names nor photographs of the Iranians have been released, and Israel Radio reported Friday that the Arab-language media has been cautious in reporting the Fatah charge out of concern that it could be part of a Fatah-Hamas propaganda war.
I wonder how Jazeera is reporting the Hamas claim that Fatah was transporting American supplied weapons?
(IsraelNN.com) Dozens of Fatah terrorists were injured Friday when Hamas forces shelled their outposts with mortar fire, according to reports from Gaza. One report says the outpost attacked belonged to Fatah’s elite “Force 17”.
Battles are raging in several places simultaneously in Gaza, as Hamas seems to be mounting a coordinated attack on Fatah outposts. In some places they have captured the Fatah men and are holding them captive, and in others they have cleared the outposts and blown them up.
AP at Yahoo has recap of the fighting up 'til now. Money-quote:
The mufti of Gaza called for a truce, saying Muslims shedding Muslim blood is "taboo."
No Jew bashing in the mosques today, folks.
More to come, if not from me, then others I'm sure.
Show me the Persians!
Final Update:86 million dollars gets you lots of weapons, er, I mean tents and portable toilets.
Hamas on Wednesday accused the US of promoting civil war among the Palestinians by transferring $86 million to strengthen forces loyal to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
