Special to WorldTribune.com

CAIRO — Hamas has overseen a significant expansion of weapons smuggling tunnels in Egypt.

Security sources said Hamas and its Palestinian militia allies have sought to smuggle weapons and fighters through enhanced tunnels from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. They said the tunnels were extended from one to more than three kilometers in an effort to bypass Egyptian security forces.

“The real weapons tunnels no longer go through Rafah, but to small towns and communities in Sinai,” a security source said.

The sources said some of the new tunnels reached the Sinai town of Sheik Zweid. They said Sheik Zweid was believed to be the headquarters of Islamic rebels in Sinai, coordinated with the Gaza Strip.

On Jan. 17, the Egyptian Army destroyed a 1.2 kilometer tunnel that went under the divided town of Rafah. The sources said the tunnel contained a large amount of weapons and munitions as well as a communications system.

The sources said the Egyptian Army assessed that more than 90 percent of an estimated 1,300 Gaza tunnels were destroyed. But they said Bedouin allies of Hamas and Gaza militias were building longer and deeper tunnels to facilitate the smuggling of missiles and fuel.

“We believe we have a better understanding of the new tunnels, but they will be difficult to discover,” the source said.

  Despite crackdown, Hamas continues smuggling through new, longer Sinai tunnels, WorldTribune.com