ianstone
05-28-2010, 05:54 PM
'Concrete evidence' Syria arming Hizbullah
By Patrick Galey
Daily Star staff
Saturday, May 29, 2010
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/images/listen_article.gif Listen to the Article (http://voice.dixerit.com/dailystarlbdix?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailystar.com. lb%2F%2Farticle%2Easp%3Fedition%5Fid%3D1%26categ%5 Fid%3D2%26article%5Fid%3D115348)- Powered by http://www.dailystar.com.lb/images/dixerit_logo.jpg (http://www.mindzatwork.net/)
BEIRUT: The row over Hizbullah’s weapons reignited on Friday, as reports suggested concrete evidence of the group receiving illegal arms from Syria had surfaced.
The Times in London, quoting an unnamed security source, said that it had been shown satellite images of a compound northeast of Damascus, where Hizbullah members “have their own living quarters, an arms storage site and a fleet of lorries reportedly used to ferry weapons into Lebanon.”
The paper claimed that weapons were held at the depot then trucked over the border to storage facilities in the Bekaa Valley or south Lebanon.
“Hizbullah is allowed to operate this site freely,” The Times quoted the source as saying. “They often move the arms in bad weather when Israeli satellites are unable to track them.”
The allegations came as Syrian President Bashar Assad moved to distance his country from Israeli claims it was providing Hizbullah with long-range Scud missiles.
In an interview Thursday night with a US news agency, Assad called on the White House to back up Israeli charges.
“[Washington] is monitoring the Lebanese-Syrian borders around the clock, but [it] did not find any long-range missile, Scud or others,” he said. “These are Israeli allegations.”
Syria has repeatedly denied comments made by Israeli President Shimon Peres last month, in which he alleged Hizbullah had received Scuds. The accusations have been corroborated by several US defense officials.
During a visit to the United Nations and Washington as part of Lebanon’s headship of the Security Council for May, Prime Minister Saad Hariri asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to provide proof of weapons transfers.
He vowed to take action if the movement of arms was deemed irrefutable, as it would violate UN Security Council resolutions 1559 and 1701, which stipulate that weapons outside of state control are prohibited entering Lebanon.
Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has continued his party’s policy of not commenting on its weapons stockpile, which some estimates put at 40,000 rockets.
Assad stressed that Hizbullah’s arsenal “can be dealt with by [aiming to reach] peace, rather than wasting time talking about the type and number of missiles.”
The Times quoted a spokesperson for the Syrian Embassy in London, who said any weapons currently extant near Damascus “would be for the exclusive use of the Syrian Army to defend Syrian soil, and is definitely nobody’s business.”
Several officials in Lebanon, including Lebanese Army Commander Jean Kahwaji, UNIFIL Force Commander Alberto Asarta Cuevas and the head of the European Union Delegation, Patrick Laurent, have gone on record saying that there is no evidence of Scuds in the country.
UNIFIL spokesperson Neeraj Singh, in an interview with pan-Arab daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat that was published on Friday, repeated his organization’s stance that none of the missiles have been found south of the Litani River.
“UNIFIL has not seen any Scud missiles in its area of operations,” he told the paper.
The Times wrote that Hizbullah had acquired SCUD and M-600 missiles and reported on the increasingly likelihood of an Israeli strike against an arms depot or weapons convoy, in order to send a “calibrated signal” to Lebanon and Syria.
It added that two Scud missiles are possibly already stored in the northern Bekaa.
Retired Lebanese Army General Elias Hanna told The Daily Star Friday that while the paper’s report didn’t offer conclusive proof the transfer of Scuds had taken place, it demonstrates the potential for the missiles to be launched from Lebanon.
“[The reported Syrian base] does not violate 1701 or international law, but it does send a message to Israel that Syria and Hizbullah are ready,” he said.
While it was unlikely that Scuds were being held in the Bekaa, “this doesn’t mean that the infrastructure to transport these missiles doesn’t exist.
“The rocketry expertise in Hizbullah is highly valued,” Hanna added.
Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=115348#ixzz0pGOlfenF
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)
A lot of bloodshed on the way if this is true
By Patrick Galey
Daily Star staff
Saturday, May 29, 2010
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/images/listen_article.gif Listen to the Article (http://voice.dixerit.com/dailystarlbdix?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailystar.com. lb%2F%2Farticle%2Easp%3Fedition%5Fid%3D1%26categ%5 Fid%3D2%26article%5Fid%3D115348)- Powered by http://www.dailystar.com.lb/images/dixerit_logo.jpg (http://www.mindzatwork.net/)
BEIRUT: The row over Hizbullah’s weapons reignited on Friday, as reports suggested concrete evidence of the group receiving illegal arms from Syria had surfaced.
The Times in London, quoting an unnamed security source, said that it had been shown satellite images of a compound northeast of Damascus, where Hizbullah members “have their own living quarters, an arms storage site and a fleet of lorries reportedly used to ferry weapons into Lebanon.”
The paper claimed that weapons were held at the depot then trucked over the border to storage facilities in the Bekaa Valley or south Lebanon.
“Hizbullah is allowed to operate this site freely,” The Times quoted the source as saying. “They often move the arms in bad weather when Israeli satellites are unable to track them.”
The allegations came as Syrian President Bashar Assad moved to distance his country from Israeli claims it was providing Hizbullah with long-range Scud missiles.
In an interview Thursday night with a US news agency, Assad called on the White House to back up Israeli charges.
“[Washington] is monitoring the Lebanese-Syrian borders around the clock, but [it] did not find any long-range missile, Scud or others,” he said. “These are Israeli allegations.”
Syria has repeatedly denied comments made by Israeli President Shimon Peres last month, in which he alleged Hizbullah had received Scuds. The accusations have been corroborated by several US defense officials.
During a visit to the United Nations and Washington as part of Lebanon’s headship of the Security Council for May, Prime Minister Saad Hariri asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to provide proof of weapons transfers.
He vowed to take action if the movement of arms was deemed irrefutable, as it would violate UN Security Council resolutions 1559 and 1701, which stipulate that weapons outside of state control are prohibited entering Lebanon.
Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has continued his party’s policy of not commenting on its weapons stockpile, which some estimates put at 40,000 rockets.
Assad stressed that Hizbullah’s arsenal “can be dealt with by [aiming to reach] peace, rather than wasting time talking about the type and number of missiles.”
The Times quoted a spokesperson for the Syrian Embassy in London, who said any weapons currently extant near Damascus “would be for the exclusive use of the Syrian Army to defend Syrian soil, and is definitely nobody’s business.”
Several officials in Lebanon, including Lebanese Army Commander Jean Kahwaji, UNIFIL Force Commander Alberto Asarta Cuevas and the head of the European Union Delegation, Patrick Laurent, have gone on record saying that there is no evidence of Scuds in the country.
UNIFIL spokesperson Neeraj Singh, in an interview with pan-Arab daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat that was published on Friday, repeated his organization’s stance that none of the missiles have been found south of the Litani River.
“UNIFIL has not seen any Scud missiles in its area of operations,” he told the paper.
The Times wrote that Hizbullah had acquired SCUD and M-600 missiles and reported on the increasingly likelihood of an Israeli strike against an arms depot or weapons convoy, in order to send a “calibrated signal” to Lebanon and Syria.
It added that two Scud missiles are possibly already stored in the northern Bekaa.
Retired Lebanese Army General Elias Hanna told The Daily Star Friday that while the paper’s report didn’t offer conclusive proof the transfer of Scuds had taken place, it demonstrates the potential for the missiles to be launched from Lebanon.
“[The reported Syrian base] does not violate 1701 or international law, but it does send a message to Israel that Syria and Hizbullah are ready,” he said.
While it was unlikely that Scuds were being held in the Bekaa, “this doesn’t mean that the infrastructure to transport these missiles doesn’t exist.
“The rocketry expertise in Hizbullah is highly valued,” Hanna added.
Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=115348#ixzz0pGOlfenF
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)
A lot of bloodshed on the way if this is true