American media: Iran trained more than 500 Palestinian fighters before the October 7 attack

Middle East

The secrets of the major attack carried out by Hamas that led to the killing of 1,400 civilians in Israel on October 7 are gradually being revealed. In this context, US intelligence sources revealed that in the weeks preceding the Hamas attack on Israel, hundreds of Hamas fighters received specialized combat training in Iran, according to people familiar with intelligence information relating to the attack which they reported to the American newspaper “The Wall Street”. Magazine.”

The sources said nearly 500 militants from Hamas and an allied group, the Islamic Jihad Movement, participated in training exercises in September, led by officers from the Quds Force, the foreign operations arm of the Guards Corps. Iranian Islamic Revolution.

A Palestinian girl terrified by the bombing of Gaza – France Press

More than 1,400 people were killed on October 7 as Hamas fighters poured across the border from the Gaza Strip and also kidnapped dozens of Israelis while attacking settlements surrounding the Gaza Strip.

U.S. officials said Iran regularly trained Palestinian militants in Iran and elsewhere, but they had no indication of collective training immediately before the attack.

American officials and people familiar with the intelligence said they had no information indicating that Iran conducted exercises specifically to prepare for the events of October 7.

The Israeli military on Wednesday spoke about Iran’s role in helping Hamas and other armed groups.

“Before the war, Iran directly helped Hamas with money, training, weapons and technological know-how,” said General Daniel Hagari, the IDF’s chief spokesman. “Even now, Iran helps Hamas with intelligence.”

After the Hamas attack, Israel launched a major air campaign, hitting thousands of targets in Gaza, with the risk that the conflict will spread into a regional clash with Iran and the network of armed groups supported by it, which it extends from Yemen and Iraq to Iran. Syria and Lebanon. In exchange, the United States transferred its forces, including two carrier battle groups, to the region.

Israel and the United States have sought to highlight Iran’s role in supporting Hamas and other anti-Israel groups, including the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, which is engaged in sporadic exchanges of fire with Israeli forces on Israel’s northern border .

But with the specter of a wider war looming, the United States said it had no evidence that Iran was directly involved in planning or approving the Oct. 7 attack.

The Wall Street Journal, citing senior Hamas and Hezbollah officials, reported that the Quds Force helped plan the attack and agreed it could go ahead at a meeting in Beirut on Oct. 2 with Hamas and Hezbollah leaders. A Syrian government advisor and a European official also gave the same account of Iran’s involvement.

Senior U.S. officials and others familiar with intelligence on the attacks have disputed these accounts of the Oct. 2 meeting. Several U.S. officials said Washington had “compelling” intelligence information indicating that Iranian leaders were surprised by the Hamas attack.

After the October 7 attacks, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, Hezbollah, Hamas and other militias in the region confirmed they were in close contact to coordinate their activities. Armed leaders and an adviser to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said Quds Force commander Ismail Qaani visited Lebanon in recent days to consult with Hamas and Hezbollah officials.

Norman Rolle, who was the top U.S. intelligence official in Iran from 2008 to 2017, said Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has long been involved in training, funding and supporting groups in the region, but said that This does not mean that Iran directed the October attack. 7 attacks.

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