Fool's Mountain: Blogging for China

While it is widely reported that Hamas have fired 122mm Grad rockets into Israel, an upgrade from the Qassam, few media have gone further and stated that the new rockets were Chinese-made.

Simple Google searches seem to suggest the reason very few media outlets have made the Chinese connection is because this is somewhat dubious:

– According to Wikipedia the Soviet designed Grad rockts have been profliferated to over 50 counntries, with over a dozon countries manufacturing them.

– None of China’s 122mm Grad rockets were ever exported according to SinoDefense.com: 1) Type 81-90 rockets were never successfuly exported and was decommissioned in the 1990’s; 2) Closest spec’ed WS rocket, WS-1E, never entered production.

So it is a mystery how did Hamas ever get their hands on supposed Chinese-made rocked when it doesn’t exist.