Syria re-arming Hezbollah?

[buglerbilly]

Gates: Syria, Iran Arm Hezbollah With Improved Missiles

By DAN DE LUCE Agence France-Presse

Published: 27 Apr 2010 18:10

WASHINGTON - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Tuesday accused Iran and Syria of arming Hezbollah with increasingly sophisticated rockets and missiles, saying the militia's arsenal undermined stability in the region.

"Syria and Iran are providing Hezbollah with rockets and missiles of ever-increasing capability," Gates said at a joint news conference with his Israeli counterpart, Ehud Barak.

"And we're at a point now, where Hezbollah has far more rockets and missiles than most governments in the world, and this is obviously destabilizing for the whole region and we're watching it very carefully."

Gates did not say if Syria was supplying Hezbollah with Scud missiles as Israel has alleged.

Barak voiced serious concern over Syria's support for Hezbollah but did not repeat the allegation that it was providing Scuds to the Lebanese Shiite militia.

Damascus has vehemently rejected the charge.

Barak said Syria was arming Hezbollah with "weapons systems that can turn or disrupt the very delicate balance in Lebanon."

He added: "We do not intend to provoke any kind of a major collision in Lebanon or vis-a-vis Syria."

Last week, the most senior Syrian diplomat in Washington, Deputy Chief of Mission Zouheir Jabbour, was summoned to the State Department to review what the United States called "Syria's provocative behavior concerning the potential transfer of arms to Hezbollah."

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Mouallem said it was regrettable that the United States had accepted Israel's accusations against Damascus as true.

The Scud allegations come as the United States steps up dialogue with Syria, and US lawmakers have seized upon the accusations to argue against any rapprochement between Washington and Damascus.

Both Gates and Barak said their countries agreed about the threat posed by Iran's nuclear program, with the Israeli defense minister endorsing Washington's efforts to secure fresh sanctions against Tehran.

But he said Israel wanted to see sanctions with a time limit.

"We expect the sanctions to be effective and to be limited in time so we will be able to judge ...what kind of results stem from the sanctions regime," Barack said.

Amid recent tensions between the United States and Israel, both men stressed the strength of the bond between the two allies.

Gates said "our defense relationship is stronger than ever, to the mutual benefit of both nations."

The U.S. defense secretary also sought to clarify how the American military views the effect of the stalled Middle East peace process.

Asked about recent congressional testimony from General David Petraeus, head of U.S. Central Command, Gates said the United States viewed the lack of progress in the peace process as providing "political ammunition to our adversaries in the Middle East and in the region."

He said "progress in this arena will enable us not only to perhaps get others to support the peace process, but also support us in our efforts to try and impose effective sanctions against Iran."

But he said that "General Petraeus did not say that the lack of progress in the peace process is costing American lives."

[buglerbilly]

From The Times May 28, 2010

Syria accused of arming Hezbollah from secret bases

Richard Beeston, Foreign Editor



Hezbollah is running weapons, including surface-to-surface missiles, from secret arms depots in Syria to its bases in Lebanon, according to security sources.

The Times has been shown satellite images of one of the sites, a compound near the town of Adra, northeast of Damascus, where militants have their own living quarters, an arms storage site and a fleet of lorries reportedly used to ferry weapons into Lebanon.

The military hardware is either of Syrian origin or sent from Iran by sea, via Mediterranean ports, or by air, via Damascus airport. The arms are stored at the Hezbollah depot and then trucked into Lebanon.

“Hezbollah is allowed to operate this site freely,” said a security source. “They often move the arms in bad weather when Israeli satellites are unable to track them.”

Most of the weapons are sent from depots like the one near Adra and then stored at Hezbollah bases in the Bekaa Valley or southern Lebanon.

The revelation adds to growing fears in the West that the regime of Bashar Assad, the President of Syria, is becoming increasingly close to Hezbollah and its main supporter, Iran. Syria has long backed the Lebanese militant group, but until now most of those contacts have taken place on Lebanese soil.There are fears that if Israel and Hezbollah clash again — as happened in August 2006 — Syria could become directly embroiled in the conflict.

Israel reportedly planned recently to bomb one of the arms convoys as it crossed the border into Lebanon, but the operation was called off at the last minute. Western intelligence sources say that the Israelis have yielded — for now — to American diplomatic efforts to persuade Syria to stop the arms transfers. However, the apparent lack of success is increasing the chances that Israel may send a “calibrated signal” to Hezbollah and Syria by launching an airstrike against an arms depot or weapons convoy.

Jihad Makdissi, the spokesman for the Syrian Embassy in London, insisted that all military sites in Syria were exclusive to the Syrian military.

“Syria and Israel remain in a state of war as long as Israel refuses to implement UNSC [United Nations Security Council] resolutions to end the occupation of Arab lands; therefore if these military depots really exist it would be for the exclusive use of the Syrian Army to defend Syrian soil, and it is definitely nobody’s business,” he said.

Arming Hezbollah was banned under the provisions of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which brought an end to the 2006 war. Since then, however, Hezbollah has managed to replenish its military stocks and the group is thought to have amassed more than 40,000 rockets and missiles, ranging from short-range Katyushas to medium-range M600 missiles and the Soviet-era Scud ballistic missile, which is capable of hitting most big population centres in Israel.

Yossi Baidatz, an Israeli intelligence officer, told the Knesset this month that the amount of arms being sent to Hezbollah by Syria and Iran could no longer be described as “smuggling”. He said it was an “organised and official transfer” of weapons and that the Scuds were “only the tip of the iceberg”.

Syria has denied arming Hezbollah with Scuds, but America and Israel insist they have hard intelligence to the contrary.

The Times has learnt that US and Israeli intelligence agencies suspect that two Scud missiles have entered Lebanon and could be hidden in underground arms depots in the northern Bekaa Valley. One source said there were indications that Hezbollah may even be considering returning the missiles because of the intensified scrutiny.

Western officials have repeatedly urged President Assad to halt the flow of weapons to Hezbollah. John Kerry, the head of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, visited Damascus in April and presented the Syrian President with evidence that Scuds had been transferred to Hezbollah, according to Western diplomatic sources. Mr Assad denied the allegations.

Western officials privately say that the Syrian leader is “flat out lying” about the arms transfers.