Hamas says new air defense system kept Israeli helicopters at bay
GAZA CITY — Hamas reports it has deployed an indigenous air
defense system in the Gaza Strip.
The Islamic regime said the air defense system was activated during the
Israeli incursion of the northern Gaza Strip in early March, Middle East Newsline reported. Hamas said the
system's
heavy machine guns drove off Israeli attack helicopters that came to
evacuate injured troops in the Jabalya refugee camp.
"A unique surprise was when the air defense unit in [Hamas's] Al Kassam
Brigades, with only six machine guns and from a different places, launched
intensive fire towards Zionist planes, which arrived half an hour after the
attack," Hamas said in a statement on March 5.
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On Thursday, Hamas radio reported that Islamic regime forces opened fire
toward Israel Air Force planes. There were no reports that any of the
aircraft was
struck.
Hamas has sought to develop anti-aircraft systems to hamper Israeli air
operations over the Gaza Strip. The regime was said to have accumulated at
least 50 SA-7 shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles.
"The Zionist warplanes retreated numerous times," the Hamas statement
said. "The Zionist military analysts admitted that the Zionist air force
arrived only three hours later to evacuate the injured."
