The "Mujahideen Brigades" in Gaza announced this week the launch of a new domestically-developed ATM (Anti-Tank Missile) launcher. Video released by the terror group shows a terrorist holding the new weapon and firing a missile.
The launcher, which is over a meter (3.3 feet) in length, sports basic sights for aiming.
Its name "Sair," meaning "burning flame," is taken from verse 97 of the Koran's Sura al-Isra ("the night journey"), which reads: "he (Allah) will gather them on the Day of Resurrection [fallen] on their faces - blind, dumb and deaf. Their refuge is Hell; every time it subsides we increase them in blazing fire (sair)."
The video can be seen here:
The news of Gaza's growing local terrorist military industry comes on the heels of reports Sunday that Israel is allowing more building materials to enter Gaza.
The Mujahideen Brigades are the military arm of the Palestinian Mujahideen Movement (PMM), a group which broke off from Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement, which itself just recently renewed calls for an "armed uprising" and for the bombing of Tel Aviv, even as it continues peace talks with Israel.
PMM pursues an extremist Islamic ideology, based on Sharia (Islamic law), and are responsible for numerous terror attacks against Israel. Not long ago Shabak (Internal Security) foiled a planned attempt by the group to have security prisoners kidnap soldiers to be used as bargaining chips in freeing more terrorists.
Meanwhile Hamas, the terrorist organization that rules Gaza, announced Sunday that the "third intifada is just a matter of time." The Islamist group opposes the current negotiations between Israel and the PA, and some analysts have suggested it could seek an escalation with the Jewish state as a means of foiling the talks. For the meantime however, despite the rhetoric, Hamas has refrained from launching major attacks from Gaza, preferring instead to direct attacks by cells in Judea and Samaria.