Lebanon has filed a complaint with the United Nations that accuses Israel of planting “spying devices” and then detonating them. Officials accused Israel of violating UN Resolution 1701, which ended the Second Lebanon War.
The complaint states that two devices exploded on Friday near the city of Tyre, on the south of Lebanon's coast. The blast lightly wounded two workers.
Hizbullah claimed that the devices were located by members of its counter-spy unit. It did not give details of the kind of devices found, or of their alleged links to Israel. Israel did not comment on the accusation.
The Lebanese army charged Israel with having planted the devices in order to carry out illegal surveillance in Hizbullah-dominated southern Lebanon. The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon said it is investigating the incident.
Lebanon is facing political turmoil over the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon's probe into the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The tribunal is thought to be preparing to implicate senior members of Hizbullah, the pro-Syrian Shiite Muslim terrorist group that is now part of the coalition government led by Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Rafik Hariri's son.
Lebanon has allowed HIzbullah to rearm to a level much greater than before the Second Lebanon War, a blatant, proven violation of UN 1701.
Perhaps this is why we have 'spying devices'
New York Times quotes Pentagon official as saying Lebanese Shiite group has 50,000 rockets and missiles, including some 40 to 50 Fatah-110 missiles, 10 Scud-D missiles; able sent by Clinton reprimands Assad for supplying arms. Egypt accuses Iran of providing $25 million a month to Hamas
WASHINGTON - US diplomats play a major role in trying to prevent arms from reaching world hotspots, but cables released to The New York Times show an uphill battle against the likes ofIran, Syria and North Korea.
In one cable given to the paper by WikiLeaks, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is reprimanded for supplying sophisticated weapons to the Shiite terror group Hezbollah one week after providing assurances he would not.
"We are aware, however, of current Syrian efforts to supply Hezbollah with ballistic missiles. I must stress that this activity is of deep concern to my government, and we strongly caution you against such a serious escalation."
A senior official at the Syrian foreign ministry rejected the allegations, but nine months on the flow is unchecked, The New York Times said, citing Pentagon officials.
The New York Times report said that according to an American cable, the Syrian official argued that Hezbollah would not take military action if not provoked and expressed surprise at the stern American protest. The complaint, he said, “shows the US has not come to a mature position (that would enable it) to differentiate between its own interests and Israel’s.”
US diplomats, the cables reveal, are constantly confronting foreign governments about shadowy front companies and banks suspected of involvement in the illegal arms market but successes are rare.
Diplomats have attempted to stop a Serbian black marketeer selling sniper rifles to Yemen, China selling missile technology to Pakistan, and India exporting chemicals that could be used to make poison gas.
They expressed repeated concern that the Palestinian terror group Hamas was receiving weapons on huge cargo planes operated by Sudan's Badr Airlines.
In another, dated April 2009, Egypt accuses Iran of providing $25 million a month to Hamas and links Tehran to a Hezbollah arms smuggling cell.
The cables shed light on how North Korea uses the Korea Mining Development Corporation as a front for its operations, relying on steel and machinery parts from China, Japan and Switzerland and Taiwan.
Diplomatic protests about North Korea's sale to Sri Lanka of rocket-propelled launchers and to Yemen of Scud missile launchers went unheeded in early 2009, cables show, according to The New York Times.
"Chinese banks have been targeted by North Korea as the main access point into the international financial system," said a July 2009 cable from senior US Treasury official Stuart Levey.
But the principal concern appeared to be Hezbollah and Syria, who President Barack Obama has sought to engage as part of his efforts to foster a wider peace in the Middle East.
"Syria's determined support of Hezbollah's military build-up, particularly the steady supply of longer-range rockets and the introduction of guided missiles could change the military balance and produce a scenario significantly more destructive than the July-August 2006 war," said a November 2009 cable from diplomatic staff in Damascus.
A particularly grave concern was that Hezbollah had been provided with sophisticated Fatah-110 missiles, which are deadly accurate and would have the capacity to strike most of Israel, including Tel Aviv.
The New York Times said that, according to a Pentagon official, Hezbollah's arsenal now includes some 50,000 rockets and missiles, including some 40 to 50 Fatah-110 missiles and 10 Scud-D missiles.
According to the New York Times, the cables note that Israeli officials told American officials in November 2009 that if war broke out, they assumed that Hezbollah would try to launch 400 to 600 rockets at day and sustain the attacks for at least two months.
"The newly fortified Hezbollah has raised fears that any future conflict with Israel could erupt into a full-scale regional war," the report said.
Perhaps this is why we have 'spying devices'
WASHINGTON - US diplomats play a major role in trying to prevent arms from reaching world hotspots, but cables released to The New York Times show an uphill battle against the likes ofIran, Syria and North Korea.
"We are aware, however, of current Syrian efforts to supply Hezbollah with ballistic missiles. I must stress that this activity is of deep concern to my government, and we strongly caution you against such a serious escalation."
'Newly fortified Hezbollah'
Despite Sudan's insistence the cargo was agricultural machinery, the United States asked other countries in the region to deny overflights but Yemen declined, according to a February 2009 cable released to The New York Times.
The New York Times said that, according to a Pentagon official, Hezbollah's arsenal now includes some 50,000 rockets and missiles, including some 40 to 50 Fatah-110 missiles and 10 Scud-D missiles.
