Israel Matzav

How arms get from Iran to Lebanon

Speaking of how Iranian arms move around the world, France's Le Figaro exposed on Wednesday how arms get from Iran to Lebanon for use by Hezbullah (link in French). It seems that Hezbullah does its own transportation.

According to Le Figaro, Hezbollah has to date more than 10,000 fighters, and that its weapons transport system is divided into three units: Unit 108 is responsible for transferring weapons and ammunition from Damascus to Hezbollah bases on the Lebanon border and near the Syrian airport; next comes Unit 112, which transports the weapons from those bases into Lebanon; third is Unit 100, which deals with deployment and training.

Satellite photos taken in March of last year and caught earlier this month show that the Syrian army has a Scud missile base near Damascus. While the images also suggest that Hezbollah activists are being trained in the Scuds' use at the base, Syria denies reports that it has supplied the militant group with those weapons.

The photos can be seen by any web surfer on Google Earth. They show extensive construction at several military bases throughout Syria, including at one of the country's three largest missile bases, located 25 kilometers northeast of Damascus, near the city of Adra.

The base is in a deep valley surrounded by 400-meter-high mountains. Concrete tunnels lead from the base into the mountains, where the Scuds are apparently stored.

The photos show five 11-meter-long missiles (the length of both the Scud B and the Scud C ) at the Adra base. Three are on trucks in a parking lot. Two others are in a training area where 20 to 25 people can be made out along with about 20 vehicles. One of the two missiles appears to be mounted on a mobile launcher; another is on the ground.

You can bet on one thing for sure: Israel is not going to leave Syria unscathed in its next war with Hezbullah. We made that mistake four years ago. It won't happen again.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:22 PM