ANALYSIS – It's a bizarre turn of events when the former recipients of Soviet and Russian arms are now the providers to both Russia and Hamas. But we are living in bizarre and dangerous times. As I reported in August, Russia has enlisted Iran and North Korea to provide weapons for its ongoing assault on Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin has even built a factory in Russia to build thousands of Iranian-designed drones.
Engineers at Russia's Alabuga Special Economic Zone – an industrial hub deep inside Russia – have been secretly building a production line to manufacture the drones, weapons intended to bombard Ukrainian cities and military targets.
Leaked documents provided by The Washington Post outlined the plan, code-named “Project Boat,” to build a variant of Iran's Shahed-136, a long-range, self-detonating attack drone capable of traveling 1,553 miles. (RELATED: Iranian President Refutes Biden's Claim About Unfrozen Funds)
Since January 2023, an estimated 200 Alabuga engineers have traveled to drone manufacturing centers in Iran to gain expertise. Assembly of the Shahed-136s – Russia calls them the Geran-2 – began in February.
Production of the Russian version will start fully in February 2024.
Meanwhile, according to various news reports and Ukrainian intelligence sources, North Korea has also been supplying Russia with munitions since at least September.
Primarily, North Korea has been supplying Russia with 122 mm and 152 mm artillery rounds and rockets for Grad multiple rocket launchers.
But now things have gotten even more damning and complex for this new Iran-North Korea-Russia-terrorist axis of evil. (RELATED: North Korea's Nuke Torpedo-Drones Can Level Coastal Cities)
South Korea's military has said that the brutal terror attacks on Israeli civilians by the Palestinian terror group Hamas may have used weapons supplied by North Korea.
And disturbingly, South Korean officials said tactics used by Hamas show similarities to the “asymmetric attack pattern” that South Korea anticipates from the North.
“It's all connected.”
As UPI reported:
Hamas began its assault with a large-scale rocket launch to overwhelm Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system and used commercial drones to bomb security positions on the highly fortified border fence.
Hamas also deployed motorized paragliders to infiltrate Israel, a tactic that North Korea has practiced since South Korea deployed an advanced border surveillance system a decade ago, the official said.
The weapons include F-7s, a type of high-explosive fragmentation rocket produced in North Korea based on the Russian RPG-7, Bulsae-2 anti-tank guided missiles based on Soviet 9K111 Fagot, as well as 122 mm artillery shells with markings like North Korean ones.
UPI noted that:
North Korea appears to be supplying arms to Hamas and may be working with the militant faction on training and tactics that could potentially be used in a surprise attack on South Korea, a senior official from Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said Tuesday.
“Hamas is believed to be directly or indirectly linked to North Korea in various areas, such as the weapons trade, tactical guidance and training,” the official told local media on background.
The outlet added: “The official also noted that North Korean-made 122 mm multiple rocket launchers were provided to an armed group related to Hamas, and artillery shells marked ‘Bang-122' – the same as ammunition used by North Korea – were found on the Israel-Gaza border.”
Pyongyang has denied allegations that its weapons were used by Hamas in the savage attack against Israel as “a groundless and false rumor,” saying the claim was part of Washington's bid to divert the blame for the conflict from itself.
But we know how much these evil international actors lie. They are all in this together.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
READ NEXT: Texas Republican Will Not Seek Reelection
