Report: IAF jets destroy weapons shipment from Syria to Hezbollah
Kuwaiti paper quotes senior Israeli official as saying Israel struck missile shipment; expert doubts truth of report.
By YASSER OKBI, THE POST CORRESPONDENT, JPOST.IAF jet 370(photo credit: REUTERS)
Israeli warplanes on Tuesday destroyed a shipment of missiles that were to be delivered to Hezbollah near the Lebanese-Syrian frontier, according to the Kuwait newspaper Al-Jarida.The paper’s story, which quotes a senior Israeli official, has not been confirmed by any other news source. There was also no word on whether the attack took place on Lebanese or Syrian soil.The report seems a bit far-fetched in that it involves a senior Israeli official leaking classified information to a Kuwaiti paper with no confirmation so far coming from the Israeli press.Amir Rapaport, a researcher at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies (BESA) and the Editor-in-Chief of the Israel Defense magazine told the The Jerusalem Post that he believes there was no attack.Israel has reportedly launched at least three attacks against convoys that were said to be delivering arms to the south Lebanon-based Shi’ite organization.The Kuwaiti daily also reported last Friday that Israel has information on the location of long-range missiles transferred from Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon and is considering taking military action to destroy the weapons.The paper, quoting an Israeli security source close to Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, reported that the remote-operated missiles, with a range of 1,500 kilometers, were made in China and further developed in Iran.According to the source, the missiles are being stored by Hezbollah in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon.The Jerusalem Post could not confirm the veracity of the report.Al-Jarida quoted the Israeli source as saying that Jerusalem views the missiles as posing a danger to the security of Israel and are therefore examining the possibility of destroying the arsenal.
Israel has said repeatedly that while it does not wish to interfere in Syria's civil war, it would act to halt the transfer of chemical arms or "game-changing" weapons to Hezbollah."Our policy is to stop, as much as possible, any leaks of advanced weaponry to Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations. We will continue to act to ensure the security interests of the citizens of Israels," Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu stressed earlier this year.According to foreign reports, Israel has struck weaponry earmarked for Hezbollah within Syria's borders on a number of occasions in the past year.Ariel Ben Solomon contributed to this report.
