Israel Concerned as Iran Provides Its Mideast Proxies With Better Weapons
Iran has recently made significant advances in the development of its weapons industry, including precision-guided rockets and missiles, cruise missiles and drones. Israeli intelligence has observed a leap in Iranian capabilities, which are now being extensively distributed to other parts of the radical axis led by Tehran in the Middle East, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Assad regime in Syria, the Shi’ite militias in Iraq and the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Intelligence officials say that for the first time, the
Iranian arms industry has become an industry encompassing the entire radical axis. One unit from the Revolutionary Guards, Unit 340 of the Quds Force, is responsible for the research and development that serves all the terrorist and guerilla organizations operating with Tehran’s patronage and financing. The knowhow gained by the Iranians is quickly and effectively relayed to their proxies throughout the region.
Tehran’s aim is to enable these organizations to achieve independent production capability in their respective countries, without being dependent upon Iranian smuggling operations, so they will be less vulnerable to Israeli strikes against the various smuggling channels. Last week, Iran
accused Israel of responsibility for a blast on an Iranian ship in the Mediterranean. This was apparently a smuggling operation that was thwarted on the way to Lebanon.
Israel is especially concerned by Hezbollah’s acceleration of its “precision project,” in which it plans to do a massive upgrade of its arsenal of rockets and missiles so they can strike within just a few meters of their targets. In recent years, in the wake of the Israeli strikes on its smuggling operations, Hezbollah has made several attempts to build facilities in Lebanon to manufacture weaponry and convert arms to precision-guided weapons. Officially, Israel talks about Hezbollah having dozens of precision rockets, but some assessments say that number has surged in the past couple of years and is now apparently in the hundreds.
Hezbollah is working on developing several types of improvements for its missiles – greater precision, greater lethal impact and ability to circumvent the active Israeli defense systems. In his speeches, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah often talks about the level of precision of his organization’s weaponry and boasts that in the event of a war, Israel will be surprised by Hezbollah’s capabilities.
Another nearby arena where similar progress has been made is the Gaza Strip. Hamas, with Iranian aid, has significantly boosted its production capacity for rockets and drones and conducts very frequent test firings that are directed westward into the Mediterranean. In the last few years, Hamas members have traveled to Iran and elsewhere for training in weapons development.
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www.haaretz.com