Israel
Says Hezbollah Missile Buildup
Accelerating
Syria's government routinely ships
weapons
to Lebanon's Shiite militia
Hezbollah in an
operation that goes well beyond
sporadic
smuggling, a top Israeli
intelligence
officer said on Tuesday. The head of
the military
intelligence research
department,
Brigadier General Yossi Baidatz,
told a
parliamentary committee that
Hezbollah's
arsenal included thousands of
rockets of all
ranges and types, some
solid-fuelled.
Baidatz did not specifically name
the
long-range Scud
missiles which Israeli
President Shimon Peres has
accused
Hezbollah of stockpiling, but
appeared to
allude to Peres' warnings. "The
shipments of long-range missiles
which have
been reported recently are only the tip
of the iceberg," Baidatz told
the Foreign
Affairs and Defence
Committee.
"Syria has a significant role in the
growing strength of Hezbollah's
rocket
arsenal," he said. "Weapons are
sent to Hezbollah from Syria on a
regular
basis under the direction of the
Syrian and
Iranian regimes."