Report: Hezbollah can intercept calls in Lebanon thanks to Iran

Haaretz ^ | 5 May 08 | Yoav Stern

[LSUfan]

An official Lebanese government report reveals that Iran is setting up an illegal telecommunication network across Lebanon, capable of intercepting all telephone conversations in the country, the Saudi-owned daily al-Sharq al-Awsat reported Sunday.

According to the report, Iran has set up this network to aid the Lebanon-based guerilla group Hezbollah.

[LSUfan]

This article and the one just below are VERY important. They demonstrate just why telecommunications infrastructure is so important in warfare and counterterrorism in particular. The first article just broke from Haaretz in Israel and details how Iran has established a telecom system in Lebanon which will allow Hezbollah to track Israeli communications traffic. The article in this comment below, from the Jerusalem Post was published on 8 April. It details how the German firm Siemens is helping Iran with its telecom infrastructure in such a way that will allow Iran to track Israeli communications.

The Center for Security Policy has an initiative called "Divest Terror" and two big telecom companies, Siemens and Alcatel are on its "Dirty Dozen" list for just these types of activities.

Oil and gas give Iran money to be sure, but telecommunications infrastructure and technology can actually directly help Iran and Jihadist terrorist organizations like Hezbollah in an operational sense.

Incidentally, this same technology can be used against US and allied interests elsewhere. As the new State Department annual report, "Country Reports on Terrorism," details, Iran is very active in training and arming insurgents in Iraq and Hezbollah has been one of the chief instruments through which Iran has done so. In fact, Hezbollah has trained insurgents both inside and outside Iraq and US forces captured a high level Hezbollah officer during 2007 (something that most people have long since forgotten). This debunks the theory promoted by some in the West that Hezbollah does not operate outside of Lebanon and "only" targets Israel.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1207649965979&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter

'German firm helps Iran monitor Israel'

Benjamin Weinthal, JPost correspondent in Berlin , THE JERUSALEM POST Apr. 8, 2008 The Munich-based energy and electrical giant Siemens has with "high likelihood" delivered sophisticated data surveillance systems to Iran, an Austrian investigative journalist disclosed in a public broadcast ORF report on Monday.

Speaking from Vienna, journalist Erich Moechel told The Jerusalem Post that he was "99 percent certain" that "Monitoring Centers," used to track mobile and land-line phone conversations, had been sent to Iran. These systems could enable the Iranian intelligence service to document conversations between Israel and Iran and "build a communication profile."

According to Moechel, the technology can show "how many telephone conversations over the last 10 years between Israel and Iran" took place, as well as the locations of the communications.

Moechel, a specialist in the field of data protection and surveillance, said that he was highly certain that the Iranian regime had purchased German-designed "Intelligence Platform" systems, which allow the Iranian secret service to monitor "financial transactions and traffic and airplane movements."

The Intelligence Platform would enable the Islamic Republic to amass complex databases showing, for example, the activities of international companies in Iran that also conduct business with Israel and other countries.

When questioned about the delivery of intelligence equipment, Wolfram Trost, a Siemens spokesman, declined to confirm the sale of the Monitoring Centers and Intelligence Platforms to Iran. Trost said Siemens "adheres to the European Union, United Nations and German guidelines" covering restricted trade with Iran.

The sale of "dual-use goods" - which can be applied for military usage and a nuclear weapons program - to Iran is unlawful under EU and UN sanctions as well as German export control regulations.

Trost referred the matter to Siemens's joint partner in the Iranian deal, Nokia Siemens Network.

Telephone calls seeking a comment from the Nokia Siemens Network in Espoo, the Finnish telecommunications partner, were not returned.

Moechel wrote in his article that the integrated intelligence devices were used against persecuted minority groups and political dissidents in Iran. He cited German and Austrian privacy experts who noted that these types of machines would not be lawful within the EU.

The public prosecutor in Munich told the Post that Siemens was the subject of an ongoing bribery scandal investigation. The company has acknowledged that it spent €19 million to bribe Iranian officials in January.

Siemens, which conducts an over-$500-million trade relationship with Iran, provides vital engineering and technological equipment for Iran's infrastructure. American and Israeli critics have urged Siemens to sever its business ties with Iran.

[Dark Wing]

FYI