Israel Matzav

Syria gives away missiles; Lebanon complains to the UN

On Wednesday, I reported that Iran has been trying to supply Hamas in Gaza with long-range missiles that can be used to strike Tel Aviv. On Israel's northern border, Syria has given Hezbullah approximately 25% of its medium and long-range missiles for use against Israel.

Syria has supplied the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah with about a quarter of its arsenal of middle- and long-range missiles, the Kuwaiti newspaper Al Jarida on Thursday quoted Israeli security sources as saying.

According to the report, the sources said since Syria does not wish to enter into a direct conflict with Israel, it is using Hezbollah and the Palestinian militant group Hamas as proxies to harass it.

...

A senior military source said on Tuesday that Syria has made a clear strategic decision to make available to Hezbollah every type of military hardware in its arsenal.

According to Thursday's report in Al Jarida, Iranian and Syrian officers are training Hezbollah guerillas in how to fire the new missiles, and how to operate Russian- and Chinese-made early warning radar stations in Lebanon. The system has reportedly also undergone Iranian development.

And then there's another part to the story, which is really rich. You may recall that Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Gabriela Shalev filed a complaint with the United Nations over the explosion that took place at a Hezbullah ammunition dump on Monday night, saying that the dump's existence proved that Hezbullah was in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701.

Shalev's complaint was not the only one to arise out of Monday night's incident. A Lebanese member of parliament wants to file a complaint against Israel arising out of Monday night's incident.

Meanwhile, a Lebanese MP has said that the IDF video of the weapons cache is proof that Israel is still spying on his country, and constitutes a violation of the United Nations resolution that ended the war. The lawmaker called for Lebanon to submit a formal complaint on the matter to the UN.

Hezbollah has categorically denied that it removed arms from the site, and has released a video of its own that purportedly shows office equipment being moved from the building instead.

I haven't seen that Hezbullah video yet. I wonder who's doing the moving. The seven Santini brothers?

Heh.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:04 PM