Syria accelerates arms deliveries to Hezb'allah
With unrest in Syria growing, Damascus has increased the level of arms shipments to the Lebanese terrorist group Hezb'allah.
Iran is bankrolling the operation and contributing expertise on missile development, according to YNet News:
With financial and political support from Iran, Damascus has also stepped up its military assistance to Hezbollah.
Sources close to Hezbollah said that the flow of weapons entering the Bekaa Valley from Syria had accelerated since March, when protests erupted against the Assad regime.
The scale of arms shipments is said to be so great that Hezbollah "doesn't know where to put it all." Another source said that the shipments were simply contingency measures and that "We can send it all back when things calm down in Syria."
Latest weapon deliveries to the Lebanon-based militant group include, according to The Australian, advanced Scud D surface-to-surface missiles, which can carry a one-ton warhead and have a range of 700km - placing all of Israel, Jordan and a large part of Turkey within Hezbollah's range and therefore at risk.
Hezbollah has also reportedly been given M600 surface-to-surface missiles, which have a range of 250km and are based on Iranian technology.
According to The Times, M600 missiles are considered "strategic weapons" and "This is the first time that a terror organization has obtained a missile of this type."
Rumors of an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities in the next few months are growing, and while we have heard them before, the closer Iran gets to having the capability to build a bomb, the more credible the rumors become. It could also be that Hezb'allah is looking to start another war with Israel to take people's minds off the political and economic problems in Lebanon.
One thing is certain; the next war between Israel and Hezb'allah will see a lot more casualties inflicted on Israeli civilians if Hezb'allah were to launch their stable of more sophisticated, longer range missiles.