Iran Sent Arms to Hizbullah on Aid Planes
January 08, 2004
The Jerusalem Post
Arieh O'Sullivan
Taking advantage of the massive airlift of humanitarian aid to earthquake victims in Iran, Syria has reportedly allowed Teheran to resume their supplies of weapons to Hizbullah through Damascus.
According to Channel 1, cargo planes filled with weapons began landing in the Syrian capital last week brimming with weapons for the Iranian-backed Hizbullah organization. It was the first time since the Syrians halted the weapons flow under American pressure prior to the invasion of Iraq a year ago.
Sources in the Defense Ministry confirmed the reports, calling it a "cynical manipulation of humanitarian aid". They said that there has always been a trickling of weapons and propaganda to the Hizbullah but that the weapons transferred recently were larger quantities than in the past.
Until then the Iranians had delivered weapons to Hizbullah through weekly flights into Damascus.
Following the deadly earthquake in the Iranian city of Bam and the subsequent worldwide airlift, the Syrians reportedly dispatched a number of cargo planes to Iran under the guise of humanitarian aid.
The planes were filled with weapons and returned to Syria, Channel 1 reported. The weapons were then loaded on to trucks and ferried to the Hizbullah. The information was relayed to the Americans, the TV reported.
Two weeks ago, a senior IDF officer revealed that Hizbullah was slowly stepping up actions on the northern border, including laying bombs near the border fence. On Thursday, army sappers detonated a string of powerful bombs near the village of Zarit.
The senior officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that they had evidence that Iranian Revolutionary Guards were training Hizbullah guerrillas and were also delivering supplies via Syria.
In early December, an Iranian minister visited the Hizbullah position immediately opposite the IDF outpost at Tziporen near Kibbutz Manara.
IDF film crews photographed the minister as he was shown the border and looked into Israel.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1073535533476&p=1008596981749Following the deadly earthquake in the Iranian city of Bam and the subsequent worldwide airlift, the Syrians reportedly dispatched a number of cargo planes to Iran under the guise of humanitarian aid.
The planes were filled with weapons and returned to Syria, Channel 1 reported. The weapons were then loaded on to trucks and ferried to the Hizbullah.
This Can't be allowed to continue. Mr.Bush Has to Do Something Soon.