Brigadier-General Yossi Baidatz, head of Israeli Military Intelligence
The smuggling of Iranian weapons of mass destruction via Syria into Lebabnon (and Gaza too), is something we’ve been covering since our inception. The practice is incontrovertible and ongoing. But there has been an escalation in recent weeks, with allegations that Syria has been allowing long range Scud missiles onto her soil for forwarding to Hizballah in Southern Lebanon.
The United States, in the Obama-led mission to marginalise Israel, is dancing around the subject – but the Israelis, quite rightly, want it on the table – as it completely changes the perceived power dynamic in the region, making it for more difficult for the worlds political élites, leftists and liberals to claim that they are the aggressors:
Head of MI research department says transfer of weapons from Syria to Shiite terror group cannot be called smuggling, as it is organized, official transfer. Brig.-Gen. Yossi Baidatz warns Hezbollah’s military capabilities developed significantly since 2006, group now has arsenal of thousands of rockets.
Israel is becoming increasingly concerned with the transfer of weapons from Syria to Hezbollah. Head of the Military Intelligence’s (MI) research department Brig.-Gen. Yossi Baidatz said on Tuesday, “Weapons are transferred to Hezbollah on a regular basis and this transfer is organized by the Syrian and Iranian regimes. Therefore, it should not be called smuggling of arms to Lebanon – it is organized and official transfer.”
He claimed that “the transfer of long-range missiles that was recently published is only the tip of the iceberg.”
Baidatz on Tuesday briefed the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on the current state of affairs and stressed that “today, Hezbollah has an arsenal of thousands of rockets of all types and ranges, including long-range solid-fuel rockets and more precise rockets.”
He added, “The long-range missiles in Hezbollah’s possession enable them to fix their launch areas deep inside Lebanon, and they cover longer, larger ranges than what we have come across in the past. Hezbollah of 2006 is different from Hezbollah of 2010 in terms its military capabilities, which have developed significantly.
“Hezbollah is in a tense spot between two different identities: Its commitment to Jihad and Iran, and on the other hand, its political considerations in Lebanon and the needs of the Shiite community. Therefore, it has quietly selected its current course of action. The MI believes it is not interested in another wide-scare confrontation with Israel, it fears it, but is preparing for it. The organization still publicly vows to carry out terror attacks against Israel.”
According to the head of the MI’s research department, “Syria continues to march to both tunes, without being forced to choose between them by the international community. On the one hand, it is improving its ties with the West, with Arab states, and with Turkey, and is also regaining influence within Lebanon, and on the other hand, it is intensifying strategic and operational cooperation with Iran, Hezbollah, and the Palestinian terror.”
There is overwhelming evidence that Syria and Iran cooperate in supplying weapons to Hizballah terrorists
According to MI estimates, in exchange for an agreement Syria is willing to alter its activity on the radical axis, but Syrian President Bashar Assad sees no change for progress with the current Israeli government, and is therefore unwilling to make any confidence-building moves.
‘Abbas not flexible’
On the Palestinian front, a day before the opening of proximity talks, the IDF has a grim estimate. “Abu Mazen (Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas) is interested in an agreement with Israel, but his range of flexibility on the core issues is limited,” the senior officer said.
“We do not recognize in Abu Mazen a true attempt for flexibility on the fundamental issues, and he is expected to come with the same position that existed in talks with the previous government. Abu Mazen is preparing the ground for these talks to fail – which will bring about the exposure of the true face of Israel.”
Baidatz emphasized that there has been relative calm on all fronts in the past year, mainly as a result of Israeli deterrence. However, he said, “Despite the calm, there is no status-quo in Israel’s strategic surroundings. While there is a possibility for political agreements with the Palestinians and the Syrians on the one hand, at the same time, the negative trends that encompass us continued to intensify. This includes Iranian nuclearization, the accelerated arming of all our enemies in a close and distant radius, and the chance of a terror attack that could lead to an escalation.”
Free tip to Israel - leaks, leaks leaks – let’s get physical evidence of the lying and Taqiyya of the Iranians and their Syrian poodles out into the public domain.
[Source: YNet News]
Posted by: May 4th, 2010 | Author: Un:dhimmi
