[New York Times] Steven Erlanger and Richard A. Oppel Jr. - On Dec. 26, 2003, a powerful earthquake leveled most of Bam, in southeastern Iran, killing 35,000 people. Transport planes carrying aid poured in from everywhere, including Syria. According to Israeli military intelligence, the planes returned to Syria carrying sophisticated weapons, including long-range Zelzal missiles, which the Syrians passed on to Hizballah. Iran and Syria also provided Hizballah with satellite communications and some of the world's best infantry weapons, including modern, Russian-made antitank weapons and Semtex plastic explosives, as well as the training required to use them effectively against Israeli armor. Hizballah has also used antitank missiles to fire from a distance into houses in which Israeli troops are sheltered, with a first explosion cracking the concrete block wall and the second going off inside. With modern communications and a network of tunnels, storage rooms, barracks and booby traps laid under the hilly landscape, Hizballah's training, tactics, and modern weaponry explain, the Israelis say, why they are moving with caution. Former Syrian president Hafez al-Assad was careful to restrict supplies to Hizballah, but his son, Bashar, who took over in 2000, has opened its warehouses.
2006-08-07 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive