Hezbollah offers pay-per-slay

Israeli intelligence sources say Hezbollah is not only funneling Iranian money into Israel, but the group has marketized its terror aid by linking funding to the successful targeting of Qassam rockets from Gaza into Israel, with the payments linked to the number of Israelis killed or wounded.

The Jerusalem Post reported that Hezbollah is paying "thousands of dollars" for each Qassam rocket fired at the western Negev, with most of the money going to Palestinian splinter groups. Sources within Shin Bet, the Israeli Security Agency, said the cash, originating in Iran, is smuggled into Gaza and paid out on an attack-by -attack basis.

"We know that Hezbollah is involved in funding terrorist activity in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank," a security official told the Post. "Palestinian terrorists get thousands of dollars per attack. Sometimes they are paid before the attack and sometimes they submit a bill to Lebanon afterward and the money gets transferred a short while later."

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As WND reported earlier this week, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert decided to allow the army to carry out select anti-rocket operations aimed at militants in Gaza, discovered in the process of launching projectiles, after two 14-year old Jewish boys were seriously injured last night by Palestinian rocket fire.

Since a cease-fire was agreed to nearly 40 days ago days ago, Olmert had been restraining the IDF from taking any measures to stop the regular firing of Palestinian Qassam rockets into Israeli communities, even in cases where the army had the ability to take out launching cells before rockets were fired.

According to Israeli officials, Islamic Jihad has been responsible for the most recent Qassam attacks, but Hezbollah is not limiting its funding to the better-known terror organizations. It is funneling money to splinter cells based on a "pay-for-slay" incentive.

Under Olmert's new orders, the IDF is allowed to fire at Qassam cells before and after a launch, but is not permitted to operate inside the territory of the Palestinian Authority without precise intelligence about a specific group preparing to launch. Targeting Qassam launchers when no people are present is allowed but in all cases, the IDF's rules of engagement impose limits if Palestinian civilians could be harmed.

It is a common tactic of the terror cells to launch their rockets from urban and residential areas.

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