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.



Iran Says 5 Inmates at Evin Prison Were Killed in Israel's Airstrike on Tehran

Evin Prison (File photo: Reuters)
Evin Prison (File photo: Reuters)
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Iran Says 5 Inmates at Evin Prison Were Killed in Israel's Airstrike on Tehran

Evin Prison (File photo: Reuters)
Evin Prison (File photo: Reuters)

An Israeli airstrike on Iran's capital last month killed five inmates at Evin prison and resulted in the escape of several others, Iranian media reported Saturday.

The semi-official ILNA news agency and other Iranian media quoted a spokesman for Iran’s judiciary that the five inmates killed in the June 23 strike had been convicted on financial offences. The spokesman didn't name the victims or give any further details.

The judiciary’s own news website, Mizanonline quoted spokesman Asghar Jahangir as saying only that “small number" of inmates were killed. He added that an “insignificant number of inmates” had also escaped and that authorities would soon bring them back into custody, AFP reported.

Jahangir said no one serving time at Evin prison for working with Israel's spy agency Mossad was injured in the attack.

Iranian authorities last month put the death toll from the airstrike at 71. But Iranian media later raised that number to 80 including staff, soldiers, inmates and visiting family members.

It's unclear why Israel targeted the prison. The Israeli Defense Ministry had said on the day of the airstrikes that 50 aircraft dropped 100 munitions on military targets “based on high-quality and accurate intelligence from the Intelligence Branch.”

The New York-based Center for Human Rights had criticized Israel for striking the prison - seen as a symbol of repression of any opposition - saying it violated the principle of distinction between civilian and military targets.

The 12-day air war left more than 1,060 dead in Iran and 28 dead in Israel.