The military branch of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorist movement, the al-Quds Brigades, revealed new, locally-made drones and rockets during a military parade in the central Gaza Strip on Wednesday.
The terrorist movement displayed three drones called “Sahab,” “Sayyad,” and “Hudhud.” The PIJ stated that the Sahab drone is meant for “reconnaissance and offensive missions,” the Sayyad is meant to target “enemy forces and vehicles,” and the Hudhud is meant for “reconnaissance, detection, and photography missions.”
During Operation Breaking Dawn in August 2022, the PIJ attempted to launch a drone toward the Tamar gas rig off the coast of southern Israel. The attempt failed.
The al-Quds Brigades also displayed what they said were new rockets that had not been used in clashes with Israel yet. One of the rockets did not have a name on the side, instead showing three question marks where the range of the rocket would usually be marked. According to the Lebanese al-Mayadeen TV, the rocket with the question marks is called “Jaafar,” although further information about it was not released.
The new rockets also include modified versions of old rockets, including a new version of the Badr 3 missile which the movement claims can now carry a 400 kg warhead, although some of these rockets were already displayed in the past.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad conducts military parade in Gaza. October 4, 2023. (Credit: Palestinian Islamic Jihad)
The PIJ said that “thousands” of members of the movement from more than 60 companies in the al-Quds Brigades took part in the parade. The movement claimed that the parade was “the first of its kind in Palestine and the history of the resistance.”
Islamic Jihad claims it has moved forward despite assassinations
The terrorist movement added that the parade showed that the al-Quds Brigades had “maintained their strength” after the assassinations of their leaders in Operation Breaking Dawn in August 2022 and in Operation Shield and Arrow in May of this year.
Akram al-Ajouri, a leader of the PIJ, spoke at the parade, saying that members of the al-Quds Brigades have “drunk the cup of death.”
“They are planning, plotting, and conspiring, while we are planning, preparing, and striking on all fronts. Their continuous plans and conspiracies targeting our people, our youth, our lives, and our future will not succeed. Their time is about to end, and the circle is getting tighter and closing in on them, and the deciding moment is coming,” said Ajouri.
In 2019, Ajouri was targeted by an alleged Israeli airstrike in Damascus at about the same time that Baha Abu al-Ata, one of the commanders of the al-Quds Brigades, was assassinated in Gaza. Ajouri survived the attempted assassination, although members of his family were killed and injured in the strike.
On Tuesday, the al-Quds Brigades held a military exercise in the northern Gaza Strip to mark the 36th anniversary of the PIJ’s launch. During the exercise, rockets were fired toward the Mediterranean Sea, with the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit saying the rocket fire triggered an alert in an open area in Israel, although no rockets entered Israeli territory.
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