ZCZC
BFF-46
SYRIA-CONFLICT-LEBANON-HEZBOLLAH-ISRAEL
Hezbollah defies Israel, says has ‘precision missiles’
BEIRUT, Sept 20, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Lebanon’s Hezbollah said Thursday it
had acquired “precision missiles” despite extensive efforts by neighbour and
foe Israel to prevent the Shiite movement developing this capability.
“It has been done. The resistance now owns precision missiles” as part of
its weaponry, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised address
during the key Shiite commemoration of Ashura.
Israel this month acknowledged carrying out more than 200 strikes over
the past 18 months in war-torn Syria, where Hezbollah fights alongside
Israel’s arch-foe and Shiite powerhouse Iran in support of the Damascus
regime.
Israel has said it is working to stop both Iran and Hezbollah from
acquiring sophisticated arms.
“Attempts in Syria to block the way towards this (missile) capability”
have failed, Nasrallah said.
“If Israel imposes a war on Lebanon, it will face a fate that it never
would have expected.”
Israel has fought several conflicts against Hezbollah, the last in 2006.
The Israeli military believes Hezbollah has between 100,000 and 120,000
short-range missiles and rockets, as well as several hundred longer-range
missiles.
Late Monday, an Israeli raid hit Syria’s northwestern province of Latakia
to prevent what the Jewish state said were deliveries of advanced weaponry to
Hezbollah.
Syrian air defences downed a Russian military plane by mistake, killing
all 15 on board.
Russia also backs Syria’s government militarily and it was the worst
case of friendly fire between the two allies since Moscow intervened in the
conflict in 2015.
On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country
was “determined to stop Iranian military entrenchment in Syria, and the
attempts by Iran, which calls for the destruction of Israel, to transfer to
Hezbollah lethal weaponry (to be used) against Israel”.
Nasrallah accused the Israelis of trying to kill him “day and night”. He
has lived in a secret location for decades and rarely appears in public.
BSS/AFP/RY/1815 hrs