If Hamas is destroyed, an even more dangerous group – intent on obtaining biological or chemical weapons – could step in and take its place.
That was the sobering warning from General Flynn. “If Hamas were fully destroyed – and, you know, and gone – we would probably probably end up with something much worse, or the region would end up with something much worse,” he said in remarks at the Aspen Security Forum last week.
This is on the radar screen of the Israeli government as they wage war in Gaza, he added. “I think that they recognize this, you know, better than anybody.”
There is, too, the possibility that these groups could procure biological or chemical agents from depots in Syria given the chaos of war there, Flynn added, calling it “one of the most dangerous threats.”
Despite international efforts to collect and destroy them, “There are still chemical weapons or chemical capabilities in that part of the world,” he said. “And in the hands of people who I know have the intent to use them, we need to be concerned about that.”