Iran Arms Shipments to Hezbollah Pass through Doha

Hezbollah displays an Iranian-made Fajr 5 missile at a military parade in southern Lebanon. (AFP)
Hezbollah displays an Iranian-made Fajr 5 missile at a military parade in southern Lebanon. (AFP)
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Iran Arms Shipments to Hezbollah Pass through Doha

Hezbollah displays an Iranian-made Fajr 5 missile at a military parade in southern Lebanon. (AFP)
Hezbollah displays an Iranian-made Fajr 5 missile at a military parade in southern Lebanon. (AFP)

Iran has been increasing its shipments of advanced weaponry to the Lebanese “Hezbollah” party, deliveries that now include Global Positioning System (GPS) components to make previously unguided rockets into precision guided-missiles, said American and western intelligence sources according to a Fox News report.

One of the Iranian flights arrived in Lebanon three days ago, officials tell Fox News.

Iran’s Fars Air Qeshm flight number QFZ-9950 departed Tehran International Airport on Tuesday at 9:33 am local time, and flew to an unknown destination, according to flight data obtained by Fox News.

Later in the day, the Boeing 747 jet touched down in Syria’s capital Damascus before continuing on to Beirut, arriving just past 2 pm.

On Wednesday evening, the Iranian cargo plane departed Beirut for Doha, Qatar arriving just after midnight local time, and returned to Iran’s capital Thursday at 6:31 pm.

Western intelligence sources said the Iranian cargo plane carried weapons components, including GPS devices to make precision-guided weapons in Iranian factories inside Lebanon.

The United States and Israel, as well as other western intelligence agencies, have offered evidence that Iran has operated similar weapons factories in Syria and Yemen, in addition to Lebanon, said Fox News.

Last month, at his address at the UN General Assembly in New York, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shared photos of what he said were three Hezbollah “secret sites” near Beirut’s international airport, locations where the GPS components from Tehran were being assembled to turn the rockets into precision-guided missiles capable of striking deep inside Israel “within an accuracy of 10 meters (11 yards).”

Western sources told Fox News the weapons components from this week’s chartered 747 fight from Tehran were bound for these Hezbollah secret sites near the Beirut airport to target Israel in the future.
A former head of Israeli military intelligence said Israel will not allow Iran’s weapons shipment to Lebanon and Syria to go unchecked, said Fox News.

“Israel is determined not to let it happen,” said retired Israeli Gen. Amos Yadlin. “This is a source of concern because if the Iranians, on the one hand, are determined to build this precision project with ballistic missiles, and the Israelis are determined not to let it happen—this is a recipe for collision.”

The Israeli military says it has conducted more than 200 airstrikes inside Syria since last year, targeting Iranian weapons shipments.



African Nations Seek to Connect 300 mln People to Power by 2030

Delegates attend the Africa Energy Summit in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania January 27, 2025. REUTERS/Emmanuel Herman
Delegates attend the Africa Energy Summit in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania January 27, 2025. REUTERS/Emmanuel Herman
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African Nations Seek to Connect 300 mln People to Power by 2030

Delegates attend the Africa Energy Summit in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania January 27, 2025. REUTERS/Emmanuel Herman
Delegates attend the Africa Energy Summit in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania January 27, 2025. REUTERS/Emmanuel Herman

Several African nations committed on Monday to open up their electricity sectors to attract investors and light up homes of 300 million people currently lacking power in the next six years.

The continent has the highest number of people without access to electricity globally and is racing to connect homes to power by 2030 under a plan dubbed "Mission 300" launched by the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB) in April.

The push aims to unlock at least $90 billion in capital from multilateral development banks, development agencies, finance institutions, private businesses and philanthropies, according to the Rockefeller Foundation, which is part of the initiative, Reuters reported.

"We want to expand and rehabilitate our electricity grids using the least cost possible," said Kevin Kariuki, vice president for infrastructure at the AfDB during an energy summit of African heads of state in Tanzania's commercial capital.

Nigeria, Senegal, Zambia and Tanzania were among a dozen countries that committed to reform their electricity utility companies, push renewable energy integration and raise national electricity connection targets.

Multilateral development banks and commercial banks represented at the summit will use the country's commitments to persuade their clients to invest in Africa's energy sectors, said World Bank President Ajay Banga.

Providing 300 million people with access to electricity, half of those currently without power on the continent, is a crucial building block for boosting Africa's development by creating new jobs, Banga said.

The World Bank expects to spend $30-40 billion on the plan, Banga said, while the AfDB will provide $10-15 billion, and the rest will come from private investors and other sources.

"The World Bank will pay countries as part of our support only when they make the (regulatory and policy) changes," Banga said.

Private capital has in the past blamed unfriendly regulations, red tape and currency risks for making investments in Africa's electricity sector hard.

Half of the targeted new connections will get electricity from existing national grids, the World Bank and the AfDB said, while the other half will be from renewable energy sources, including wind and solar mini-grids.