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.
