Syria to Provide Hizbullah with Long-Range Missiles, Report
Iran is making a huge effort to smuggle to Hamas Fajr-5 ground-to-ground rockets that bring Tel Aviv within range of the Gaza Strip, The Israeli website DEBKAfile said.
It quoted military sources as saying that Syria has also decided to transfer one-third of its missile stockpile to Hizbullah in Lebanon, topping up its arsenal with medium-range rockets that can cover central as well as northern Israel.
They said Israel”s top strategists were studying these massive missile transfers to Hamas and Hizbullah to find answers to a number of key questions:
1. Syria has destined some 250 surface missiles of its stockpile of 800 for Hizbullah. Are they Scuds B, C and D whose ranges exceed 800 kilometers or Iranian-Syrian made projectiles whose range is shorter?
2. Do the transfers mean Iran and its allies are gearing up for a major Middle East conflict in the months ahead, possibly in early 2010?
3. Will Syria hand over to Hizbullah some of its chemicals-tipped missiles?
4. Will some batteries be installed atop the mountain ranges running down central Lebanon, together with air defense systems supplied at the same time by Syria?
Israel, according to DEBKAfile, is particularly concerned over Druze leader Walid Jumblat”s policy shift against the majority March 14 coalition in favor of deals with Tehran and Damascus.
Incorporated in these under-the-counter deals are secret military clauses which permit Hizbullah to deploy its missiles on highlands of his Druze fief, the website claimed, adding that Israel would think twice at least before attacking areas populated by Druze villages.
Meanwhile, Iran”s Revolutionary Guard terrorist arm, al-Qods Brigades, is bending all its smuggling resources to getting the Fajr-5 missiles into the Gaza Strip, thereby extending Hamas” rocket range to 75 kilometers and central Israel, DEBKAfiles said.
According to the site”s intelligence sources, the rockets are traveling by sea from Iran to Hamas training bases in Sudan, dismantled into 8-10 segments, transported to the northern shores of the Gulf of Suez and unloaded in Sinai. From there the segments move through tunnels into the Gaza Strip.
Military sources wonder what the Netanyahu government is doing to halt the missile stranglehold tightening around Israel.