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Issues

Is Syria Arming Hizbollah? Missile Row Erupts

Claims that Syria is arming Hizbollah militants have resurfaced after a newspaper is shown satellite photo's of alleged secret bases.
The new satellite images show military bases in Syria where arms are stockpiled before being sent to Lebanon, The Times claims.

Hizbollah militants have been given their own living quarters, an arms storage site and a fleet of lorries to ferry the weapons to Lebanon, according to the paper.

The claims follow reports, denied by Syria, that the country has been arming the Shi'ite militant organisation with scud missiles.

Jihad Makdissi, spokesman for the Syrian Embassy in London, told Sky News all military sites were exclusively for the use of the Syrian military.

He also suggested The Times had been handed highly spurious information.

"The article is based on 'security sources'," he told Sky News.

"Why don't they state their source. There is no credit for the story. The footage is not conclusive. We have not forgotten the lessons of the Iraq War," he said.

But Israeli analysts close to the country's military say the story tallies with their information on Hizbollah.

"In the past weeks we have heard intelligence assessments from Israel regarding new advanced long range missiles that have been transferred from Syria to Hizbollah," said Jerusalem Post security analyst Yaakov Katz.

"Including the Syrian made M600 missiles, capable of carrying a half ton warhead with great accuracy striking a target within a 10 metre range of error," he added.

But evidence that scud missiles are being sent from Syria to Lebanon has not been produced by Israel.

Speaking on the 10th anniversary of Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon, Hizbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned that in any future conflict his missiles would target shipping in Israel's ports.

In 2006 Hizbollah rained 4,000 katyusha rockets on northern Israel during a 34-day war.

Israel bombarded targets in southern Lebanon and Beirut after Hizbollah kidnapped two soldiers in a cross border raid.

Under UN Resolution 1701 that ended the 2006 Labanon War, south Lebanon was supposed to be free of all arms except for those of the Lebanese Army.