Iran is sharing missile tech with Hezbollah. Iran manufactured missile. Illustrative. Former US Amb. to UN Nikki Haley showing Iranian-made weapons used in Middle East conflict. Illustrative. Photo courtesy of UNITED STATES MISSION TO THE UNITED NATIONS.
The IDF unleashed a flurry of information on Twitter on Thursday exposing an Iranian plot to produce precision-guided missiles for the Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon, just days after Israel reportedly attacked technology for developing fuel for such missiles in Lebanon. The IDF Twitter page posted multiple videos, including one comparing the precision missiles to a “missile with @waze”, referencing the popular navigational phone app.
The video post said that terrorists could use the precision-guided technology to direct a missile to “an exact address.” The video continued by noting that the IDF “won’t let Hezbollah navigate their missiles to toward Israeli homes.”
The Israeli military reportedly did just that over the weekend, as The Times in London reported that a recent drone attack in the Lebanese capital of Beirut not only was carried out by Israel, but targeted machinery that is used for “high-grade propellant” for precision-guided missiles. Israel has not officially claimed responsibility for the incident.
However, the IDF did expose on Twitter on Thursday the names of two generals and a colonel in Iran’s Quds Force special operations unit that are behind the precision-missile plot in Lebanon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quoted on spokesman Ofir Gendelman’s Twitter page that they are “determined to foil” the Iran-Hezbollah scheme.
Commenting on the declassifying of Israeli intel on the situation on Thursday, Netanyahu was quoted in a follow-up tweet as saying, “The unveiling is aimed at clarifying that we will not stand idly by and will not allow our enemies to obtain lethal weapons to be used against us. I told our enemies this week to be cautious about their actions and today I tell them: watch it!”
Meanwhile, the United States hit back at Hezbollah in a different way on Thursday, sanctioning a bank that provides the terror group financial support. A press release from the US State Department said the Jammal Trust Bank “has a longstanding relationship with a key Hezbollah financial entity and provides financial services to the Martyrs Foundation and companies controlled by Hezbollah’s Executive Council.”
The State Department said the step “reflects our determination to counter Hezbollah’s terrorist and illicit activities in Lebanon.”
Netanyahu, in comments released by his office on Thursday, applauded the move. “I commend President [Donald] Trump and the American administration for the important decision to impose sanctions on a Lebanese bank that serves as an Iranian financing arm for the Hezbollah terrorist organization,” said Netanyahu.
“This is an important step designed to put pressure on Iran and its proxies, which are acting against the State of Israel. I also call on other countries to take action against the Iranian aggression in the Middle East.”
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, August 29, 2019)