Israel Matzav

Iran retains control over use of its weapons by Hezbullah

The JPost is reporting that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his senior military officers are 'directly involved' in smuggling weapons to Hezbullah. The paper did not elaborate. Yesterday, it was reported that Assad called on his army to prepare to cope with 'regional challenges.'

Israel's intelligence agencies have also concluded that Iran retains control over the use of its weapons by Hezbullah, and that Fajr-5 and Zelzal rockets have not been introduced into the conflict because Iran is not allowing Hezbullah to do so. I reported that two weeks ago.

The IDF still believes that Hezbullah has 10,000 Katyushas, while it has fired 1500 and Israel has destroyed another 1500. It also believes that it has destroyed two thirds of the Zelzal missiles in Hezbullah's inventory, and that is why Iran has not allowed Hezbullah to use the Zelzal's.

The IDF says that it has killed 200 Hezbullah terrorists (out of a believed total of 1000). I find that total difficult to swallow. Military intelligence said last week that it believed that Hezbullah had 1000 terrorists in its Katyusha unit. But Hezbullah has many more terrorists in other units.

The military also believes that Hezbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah is afraid of a massive ground invasion. It looks like that's what's happening today. More later.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:43 PM