IDF: Syria offers Hezbollah greater support than ever
Syria is transferring weapons to Hezbollah that it did not dare to hand over before, Senior IDF intelligence official tells Knesset committee Tuesday; PM Netanyahu: Iran creating false impression, we're not seeking confrontation with Syria
Amnon Meranda
| Published: | 03.02.10, 17:16 / Israel News |
Syria is crossing previous red lines in supplying Hezbollah with weapons, handing over arms that it never before dared transfer to the Lebanese terror group, the head of the IDF's research division of Military Intelligence says.
"Syria is handing over to Hezbollah components that it would not dare hand over before," Yossi Baidatz told the Knesset Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee Tuesday.
Addressing the Hezbollah threat, the senior IDF official said the group was facing a dilemma between its Jihadist identity and commitment to Iran on the one hand and Lebanon's domestic arena on the other hand.
"For that reason, although it has maintained the quiet and is uninterested in a clash, it attempts to carry out a revenge attack for Mugniyah's death, especially against Israeli targets abroad," Baidatz said. "Simultaneously, it continues to build up its strength for a confrontation against Israel, deploys its members broadly throughout south Lebanon but also deeper, and accumulates advanced weapons – long-range missiles, anti-aircraft missiles, and anti-tank missiles, with Iran's and Syria's assistance."
'Iranian regime won't collapse soon'
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also addressed the issue, noting that "there is a process of military buildup and very methodical provocation by Iran."
"We are not seeking any kind of confrontation with Syria. The talk about us preparing for an offensive against Syria is unfounded," the PM said. "This false impression is being created by Iran."
Baidatz added that "Iran continues to tighten its ties with the radical axis."
"Just look at the three-way meeting held in Syria," he said. "It included the commander of Iran's revolutionary forces, who are responsible on behalf of Iran for supplying weapons to all terror groups at all regions."
Also in respect to Iran, Baidatz said that hopes for an imminent collapse of the Ayatollah regime are premature.
"The potential for something taking place within the Iranian population exists, but there's a great distance between the riots we saw and the regime's collapse," he said. "The Iranian regime is not about to collapse, and those who expect that Iran will soon collapse will be gravely disappointed."
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