An Iranian news agency says the head of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard has disclosed his country has given fighters in Gaza the ability to produce longer-range missiles on their own, without direct shipments. 
 
 The comments by Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, quoted by the semiofficial ISNA news agency, offer some of the clearest insights on Iran's weapons support for Hamas, whose Iranian-engineered Fajr-5 missiles have struck near Tel Aviv and Jerusalem during weeklong battles with Israel. 
 
 The report Wednesday quotes Jafari as saying Iran has supplied technology to Gaza for the missiles to be produced "quickly." 
 
 Up to now, Iran denied it directly supplied Hamas with the Fajr-5. 
 
 Iran also backs the anti-Israel faction Hezbollah in Lebanon, which fired thousands of rockets into Israel during a monthlong 2006 war. 

 Text size Comments (20) this story is by Amos Harel 
 
 As Operation Pillar of Defense enters its eighth day, there is concern in Israel that Iran will try to re-arm terrorist groups in Gaza - particularly with medium-range rockets - once the current hostilities end. The Israeli intelligence community, with the assistance of Western intelligence agencies, has been investing great effort in keeping tabs on Iran's smuggling network in order to thwart it. 
 

– Iran has already sent Hamas the means to "quickly" produce long-range Fajr-5 missiles on its own, the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guard told the semi-official ISNA news agency today. These Iranian-engineered Fajr-5 rockets have produced panic in recent days by coming within range of, though not actually striking, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, the AP reports. But Hamas' supplies may be running low. Haaretz reports that Israel managed to destroy most of Hamas' stash of Fajr-5 rockets in the initial days of the conflict. Until now Iran has denied directly supplying Hamas with the missiles. But Israeli officials believe otherwise, and tell Haaretz that Iran has been smuggling Fajr-5 rockets into Gaza through Sudan, Egypt, and tunnels in Gaza for the past two years. They are concerned that once Operation Pillar of Defense is over, such smuggling will begin anew.