Earlier today, General David Petraeus gave an interview to CNN in which he said that Iran continues to arm anti-American forces in Iraq:

Petraeus added, there was "no question" that Iranian arms were ending up in the hands of the Iraqi militias and there was "no debate" that six Iranians detained by the U.S. military in northern Iraq are Iranian Quds force members, the Iranian unit accused by the United States of training and arming insurgents.

"There's no question, absolutely no question that Iran is providing advanced RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades], RPG 29s," Petraeus said.

"It has provided some shoulder-fired, Stinger-like air-defense missiles. It has provided the explosively formed projectiles and it has provided 244 mm rockets, in addition to mortars, mortar rounds and other small-arms ammunition."

Petraeus also said the Iranians "are implicated in the assassination of some governors in the southern provinces."

He said one indication the Quds force controls Iranian policy is that Iran's ambassador to Iraq, Hassan Kazzem Qomi, is a member of the the group. Qomi, who has diplomatic immunity, could not immediately be reached for a reaction.

Petraeus says that Iran has assured Iraq that it will stop arming and training insurgents.

In a closely related story, terrorists in the Gaza Strip fired a Grad-type Katyusha rocket, which has approximately a three times longer range than the ones normally fired from Gaza, deep into Israeli territory:

[An Israeli army spokesman] said that use of longer range rockets meant that they could be fired from deep inside Gaza, including from within heavily populated areas.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has said Israel is considering a sweeping military operation in the Gaza Strip to counter the almost daily rocket salvos. Israel also has threatened to cut power it supplies to the territory unless the attacks ceased.

This last fact is quite remarkable: Israelis supply power to the people who are trying to kill them.

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Posted by John at 12:38 PM  |    |