As Turkey works to repair relations with Israel, it is not yet willing to stop supporting Hamas. Turkey continues to host Hamas operatives in its territory and refuses to recognize it as a terrorist organization.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

Three Arab Israelis from northern Israel were indicted in late October for helping create a considerable cyber threat against the communications infrastructure used by the IDF. They are also accused of providing sensitive Israeli security information to Hamas terrorists in Turkey. In essence, the three were capable of disrupting IDF and Israel Police communications by taking down the cellular system in a time of tension or war.

The main suspect, identified only by his initials R.A., is a software engineer at Israeli telecommunications company Cellcom, which provides services to both the IDF and the Israel Police. He enjoyed a broad access privilege to Cellcom's database and information systems. In 2017, Israeli investigators say, he met with Hamas operatives in Turkey.

The meeting was arranged by Ashraf Hassan, a former Israeli citizen and a Hamas operative. Hassan is a dangerous terrorist. In 2004, he was sentenced to nine years in prison for plotting to kidnap and kill an Israeli soldier. Hassan left Israel in 2016 and moved to Turkey. In 2021, the Israeli Interior Ministry revoked his Israeli citizenship in an attempt to keep him from returning to the country.

R.A. also met with another Hamas military official in Turkey, Azzam Akra. Both Hassan and Akra report to Saleh al-Arouri, a senior Hamas official in charge of terrorist operations in Judea and Samaria. Al-Arouri, a founding commander of Hamas' Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, is a US-designated terrorist with a $5 million bounty on his head under the Rewards for Justice Program.

Al-Arouri was based in Istanbul, Turkey at least until 2016, using the city as his headquarters to direct Hamas' terrorist operations in Judea and Samaria. He drifted between Lebanon and Qatar, but in 2020 Hamas members reported that he had returned to Turkey.

R.A. allegedly gave Hamas sensitive information about Israeli communications infrastructure, which could help the terrorist organization disrupt systems during a conflict.

"Cellcom strongly condemns the serious incident and worked closely with the security authorities to thwart any potential damage and help the investigation," a company statement said. "The employee accused of the serious acts as well as the outside consultant were dismissed from Cellcom immediately."

R.A. recruited a Cellcom colleague, known by his initials S.A., to identify ways to circumvent Cellcom's information security systems. S.A. acted "with full knowledge that R.A. intended to pass the relevant information to the Hamas members in Turkey," the indictment said.

The third defendant, Z.A., is R.A.'s brother. He met with Ashraf at least three times in Turkey.

The three Arab Israelis had been cooperating with Hamas since 2015 "out of their desire to help the Palestinian military struggle against Israel by harming a central communication infrastructure in Israel [Cellcom] and its users, and harming the security of the state," the indictment said.

Hamas established a headquarters in Istanbul in 2012, directing hundreds of terror attacks in Israel, Judea and Samaria, and laundering millions of dollars. Hamas continues to use Turkey as a major financial hub to avoid international sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union.

On Nov. 8, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Turkey rejected an Israeli request to deport Hamas leaders. "We didn't satisfy any [Israeli] request on Hamas, because we don't perceive Hamas as a terror group," he stated.

"We are always leading efforts to unify them with Fatah," he added, referring to the Palestinian political party that controls the Palestinian Authority.

The Turkish government seems to be continuing an ambivalent policy. On the one hand, it recently helped thwart an Iranian plot to kill Israeli citizens in Turkey. But it refuses to renounce Hamas, even after numerous deadly attacks were orchestrated by operatives in Turkey. Turkey also continues to support and provide refuge to members of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

Over the last dozen years, Israeli-Turkish relations have been fraught, but recently there has been an attempt to ameliorate relations between the two countries due to the volatile geopolitical environment in the larger region.

In August, the two countries restored full diplomatic relations by mutually assigning ambassadors after a long period of tension. However, the Israeli side has been asking for specific initiatives by the Turkish side, such as ending the presence of the Hamas leadership in Turkey, before engaging in serious bilateral talks. Turkey has refused to expel the Hamas operatives.

It seems that Turkey is not yet willing to give up on the Islamist card in its approach to the Middle East. Turkey is hoping to project its influence in the region, as it did in the past through Islamists in Syria and the Morsi regime in Egypt. It is in this context that Turkey allows Hamas' activities on its territory.

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

The post Turkey cannot eat its cake and have it too appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

With his invasion of Ukraine stalled and the Ukrainian military liberating as much as half the territory seized by Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin is turning to Iran to procure missiles to continue his campaign.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

Russia reportedly wants powerful Iranian Fateh-110 and Zolfaghar short-range ballistic missiles. The Fateh-110 can travel up to 300 kilometers. Its guidance system and movable fins help steer it towards a target. The Zolfaghar carries a smaller warhead but can travel up to 700 kilometers.

"The Iranian missiles are important to the Russian war effort," military analyst Savvas Vlassis of Greek international security website Doureios Ippos told the Investigative Project on Terrorism.

This, he said, is "because the Russian Air Force has not affected substantially the course of the war. Iran appears willing to support the Russian war effort with a considerable number of [short range ballistic missiles], especially the Fateh-110 third- or fourth-generation missiles carrying a 500 kilogram warhead. Russia has depleted the greater part of its stockpile of ballistic and cruise missiles; therefore, they need the Iranian missiles to keep the pressure on Ukraine."

"Iranians have to find a working balance between helping their Russian allies and preserving their own military capabilities against their rivals," Vlassis added.

The Russian army has already used Iranian drones extensively in its attacks, causing havoc with a series of strikes on densely-populated Ukrainian cities and critical infrastructure.

On Nov. 8, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, a confidante of Putin, met in Tehran with Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council. In addition, Patrushev reportedly met with other high-ranking Iranians, including hardline President Ebrahim Raisi, to discuss cooperation between Tehran and Moscow. The two sides stressed the need to further enhance strategic relations.

"The most decisive response to U.S. sanctions … is the cooperation of independent countries," Raisi said. The meetings also covered cybersecurity and "measures countering the interference of Western security services in the internal affairs of both countries," according to an Iranian press communique.

The Iranian missiles are expected to be delivered to Russia before the end of the year. According to reports by Ukrainian intelligence agencies, Iran will also supply drones, including more than 200 Shahed-136 and Arash-2 kamikaze drones and Mohajer-6 reconnaissance and combat UAVs.

Iran initially denied its involvement in the Ukraine war in both official statements and contacts with the E.U., despite the fact that the use of its drones, notably the one-way attack Shahed-136 model, was undeniably confirmed. As the evidence grew too substantial to credibly deny, Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian finally admitted on Nov. 5 that Iran has provided drones to Russia.

Iranian officials tried to downplay Iran's involvement, claiming that the drones were sent to Russia months before the Ukrainian war and therefore the Iranians were unaware of Russian intentions to use them. However, evidence from Ukrainian military intelligence suggests otherwise, as many drones were dispatched after the start of the invasion in late February.

Interestingly enough, conservative circles in Iran criticized the change in official rhetoric. They worry about the possible repercussions of Iran's active support for the Russian invasion. "The Iranian government should have not allowed Moscow to use the Iranian drones against Ukraine in the first place," argued Massih Mohajeri, editor of the Jomhouri-e Eslami newspaper.

In reality, not only was Iran aware of Russia's intention to use the drones in Ukraine, it has also dispatched personnel to Ukraine to train Russian troops, according to an Oct. 12 report by the Institute for the Study of War and reports in Ukrainian media.

In addition to helping an ally, Iran's supply of drones and rockets targeting population centers provides it with a testing ground for weapons that could be used in a future attack against Israel.

On this point, Iran is menacingly candid. The Sobh-e-Sadegh newspaper, affiliated with Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – designated by the United States as a foreign terrorist organization – on Monday published an open threat in Hebrew on its front page. It warned that a new hypersonic missile reportedly developed by Iran could reach Israel in "400 seconds."

Hypersonic missiles can evade defense systems with their great speed and maneuverability. Such a weapon could dismantle Israel's aerial defense system, laying the ground bare for massive drone attacks.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

"The new missile can pass through all missile defense systems, and I don't think that the technology capable of intercepting it will be achieved in the decades to come," declared General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the IRGC's Aerospace Force. "It can target the enemy's anti-missile systems, and its production marks a huge generational leap in the development of a new generation of missiles."

Hajizadeh's bloody record includes the downing of an Ukrainian airliner in 2020, killing all 176 passengers and crew.

Russia is losing the Ukraine war due to superior Western military technology provided to the Ukrainians. After almost nine months of a conflict that the Russian side thought would only last a week, Russia is running out of high-precision weapons. Russian frontline units suffer up to 500 casualties daily and morale among the troops is collapsing, while 400,000 conscription-aged men have fled the country.

The Putin regime is in clear danger and its ability to hold on to power is inextricably connected to some kind of success in Ukraine. As the once unbelievable prospect of a Russian tactical defeat in Ukraine becomes more likely, Iran is coming to the aid of Russia with its deadly missiles.

 Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

The post Iran and its weapons are what keep the Ukraine war going appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.