TEL AVIV, Israel, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- Iran is financing Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel through Lebanon's Hezbollah, Israeli intelligence officials say.
Ha'artez, quoting sources with Shin Bet, the Israeli security agency, reported Thursday the money is being smuggled to Palestinian groups through Lebanon and Syria in a cash-for-attack scheme.
"We know Hezbollah is involved in funding terrorist activity in the Gaza Strip and West Bank," an unidentified Sin Bet official was quoted as saying.
"Palestinian terrorists get thousands of dollars per attack. Sometimes they are paid before the attack and sometimes they submit a bill to Lebanon and the money gets transferred a short while later."
According to intelligence officials, Islamic Jihad receives the money from Hezbollah through its headquarters in the Syrian capital. Fatha's Tanzim group and the so-called Popular Resistance Committees get payments through Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The money, the report said, all originates from Iran, which is the major financial backer of Hezbollah, which in addition to its military wing that fought Israel last summer has a number of legislators in the Lebanese parliament.
Hezbollah is based in southern Lebanon, which borders Israel.
The report quoted officials as saying Hamas, which dominates the Palestinian Authority legislature, is not involved in the rocket attacks on Israel from the Palestinian territories but is doing nothing to stop them.
