Smuggling attempts to Hezbollah increasing via Syria, report says
Tehran is reportedly making new efforts to arm its allies including Hezbollah across the Middle East.
Senior fellow at the Washington Institute for near east policy Michael Knights said that "Iran is rebuilding its presence in the Levant by sending missiles to Hezbollah and weapons from Iraq to Syria".
Smuggling attempts to Hezbollah are increasing via Syria, though a hostile government in Damascus has crimped the arms pipeline, said Michael Cardash, the former deputy head of the Israeli National Police Bomb Disposal Division, adding that traffickers have now to smuggle arms in small shipments instead of sending truckloads.
The Wall Street Journal said Hezbollah is now manufacturing its own drones and medium-range rockets and has somewhat rebuilt its smuggling networks. The group has managed to smuggle in some Kornet missiles and other advanced weapons, the American newspaper said.
The Israeli army meanwhile claimed that Hezbollah is attempting to rebuild its capabilities in several locations. The statement came after separate Israeli strikes on south Lebanon killed four people including a woman Thursday.
Last month, Syria's new government said it seized a number of weapons cargoes, including Grad rockets mounted on trucks along its borders with Iraq and Lebanon, while fighters allied to Yemen's exiled government had claimed Wednesday they had seized 750 tons of Iranian-supplied missiles and weaponry bound for the country's Houthi rebels.
Source: Naharnet
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