The Iranian government is allegedly smuggling ballistic missile parts into Lebanon, where they are secretly stored in clandestine factories run by the Shiite militant group Hezbollah, according to a former Israeli intelligence official.
For several months, the international news agency Reuters claimed that Tehran would be transporting short-range ballistic missiles to secret bases controlled by pro-Iranian militias in Iraq. Iran's strategy was aimed at "deterring attacks on Iran's interests in the Middle East," wrote Reuters, citing "Iranian, Iraqi and Western sources." Both Iran and Iraq have denied the Reuters report.
In September, another report, citing "Western intelligence sources," reported that Iran had begun smuggling short-range ballistic missile parts into Hezbollah-controlled areas of Lebanon using commercial flights. The report indicated at least two flights suspected by Western intelligence agencies of illegally transporting precision weapon parts to Lebanon. Both flights were operated by Qeshm Fars Air, an airline believed to be also frequently used by the Guardian Corps of the Revolution (IRGC). Members of the IRGC, the most loyal branch of the Iranian military, are selected on the basis of their ideological commitment to defending the Islamic Revolution of 1979. The two identified flights departed from Tehran's commercial and military airports and landed in Lebanon. after taking "unconventional flight paths" through Syria. So Western intelligence sources reported.
On Sunday, the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth gave an interview with the former director of the Jewish state's military intelligence directorate, Major General (rit.) Amos Yadlin. Yadlin, who also served as an Israeli military attaché in Washington. Iran, the general argues, used to hide ballistic missile parts in Syria, hoping to actually establish missile bases there. However, Tehran's plan suffered a major setback last May when the Israeli air force destroyed about 50 targets inside Syria, including Iranian missile factories. Tehran has since moved its missile factories to Lebanon, believing that Israel would never attack its neighbor to the north. But Yadlin, who is a well-known supporter of center-left parties in Israel and a proponent of the two-state solution to the Palestinian problem, argues that Israel should consider attacking Iranian military factories in Lebanon. The Jewish state faces two choices, Yadlin said: "strike Lebanon, not necessarily by air," or allow Hezbollah to acquire precision missiles.