Report: U.S. Officials Say Hezbollah Has Upgraded Its Arsenal
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by JNS.org
The flag of Hezbollah flies in Syria, where Hezbollah has become an active element in a civil war that has claimed the lives of 80,000 people. Photo: Hezbollah Flag/Wikimedia Commons.
JNS.org – The Lebanese-based and Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah has been secretly upgrading its missile arsenal piece by piece, taking advantage of the coverage provided by the Syrian civil war for its next confrontation with Israel.
Over the past year, Hezbollah’s efforts have largely been hindered by at least five Israeli airstrikes on its smuggling routes. In turn, Hezbollah has now attempted to smuggle the missiles in a piecemeal fashion, overseen by Iran’s al-Quds force, to avoid Israeli detection, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Israeli and U.S. officials say that Israel’s past strikes on Hezbollah’s smuggling efforts have kept shipments of SA-17 anti-aircraft and Fateh-110 rockets out of Lebanon.
But U.S. officials believe as many as 12 advanced Russian-made anti-ship guided missile systems may now be in Hezbollah’s possession inside of Syria. The official added that they believe some components of the system may now be inside of Lebanon.
According to Israeli intelligence estimates, Hezbollah may have around 100,000 rockets.
