Iran Is Making Gaza Part of Its Regional Network of Missile Factories

Although it is unclear whether Hamas’s recent decision to launch a war against Israel was due to encouragement from Tehran or its own political calculations, there is little doubt that the Islamic Republic is the terrorist group’s major patron. The arsenal Hamas deployed in the recent conflict included Iranian-made rockets and anti-tank missiles, as well as suicide drones that resemble those Iran has given to its other proxy forces. Moreover, the extensive use of rockets has been a pillar of Iranian military doctrine since the 1980s, and the Islamist regime has exported both the tactic and the technology to its proxies in Lebanon, Yemen, and Iraq. Israel has naturally spent decades trying to cut off smuggling routes, but, Behnam Ben Taleblu explains, that won’t be enough: