Iran-Backed Terror Group Claims Half-a-Million Missiles Aimed at Israel
Regional wars open door to Iranian proliferation
Link Source 1 (Free Beacon): http://freebeacon.com/national-security/iran-backed-terror-group-claims-will-half-million-missiles-aimed-israel/
Link Source 2 (IranObserver.org):
http://www.iranobserver.org/iran-terror-group-has-500000-missiles-aimed-at-israel-it-claims/
An Iranian-backed terror group claims it will have nearly half-a-million missiles aimed at Israel within the next year amid ongoing efforts by the Islamic Republic to transfer advanced missile technology to regional hotspots such as Lebanon and Syria, which are located on Israel's borders.
Militants tied to Hezbollah, the Iranian-controlled terror group that operates along Israel's northern border in Lebanon, claim they have deployed more than 70,000 long-range missiles across Syria and Lebanon in preparation for a strike on Israel. The number of missiles could grow to nearly half-a-million within the next year, according to these militant groups.
Following an encounter between an Iranian drone and Israeli forces that set off speculation of an upcoming confrontation between these two countries, pro-Hezbollah press outlets disclosed that Iran has been moving advanced missiles across the region in order to bolster its terrorist proxies, such as Hezbollah.
The "fog of war" in the region has increased Iran's ability to secretly move weapons across the region, particularly to terrorist groups operating along Israel's borders, according to experts.
Middle Eastern experts who spoke to the
Washington Free Beacon said that Iran's strategy may be to line Israel's northern borders with advanced missiles ahead of a possible confrontation with the Jewish state.
"Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad recently rejected an Israeli demand, relayed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, to remove some 70,000 Iranian long-range missiles that Hezbollah has deployed throughout Syria and are aimed at Israel," according to recent claims made by a pro-Hezbollah outlet in Lebanon.
"Syria and Hezbollah will wage a ‘joint missile campaign' against Israel, and… Iranian experts are ready to launch missiles at Israel from every part of Lebanon and Syria," according to the pro-Hezbollah publication, a
translation of which was performed by the Middle East Media Research Institute, or MEMRI, which monitors radical communications.
The missiles "are meant to be fired into occupied Palestine from Syrian territory," according to these pro-Hezbollah sources. "They significantly complicate [the activity of] the Israeli enemy's air force, [since it] will have to bombard Hezbollah's missiles and bases in Lebanon in addition to the bases spread across Syria, which hold [these] 70,000 long-range Iranian missiles aimed at the Israeli enemy."
These Iranian-backed terror proxies claim they will be able to amass at least half-a-million rockets within the next year if Israel does not take immediate action to bomb missile caches in Syria and Lebanon.
"If the Israeli enemy remains idle and does not wage war for a year, Hezbollah will deploy half a million missiles on Syrian soil, in addition to [its missiles in] Lebanon, but especially throughout Syria, so that Israel's planes will find it difficult to target Hezbollah's bases there," according to these pro-Hezbollah sources.
Syrian President Assad is said to be complicit in these effort, which is being directed by Iran.
The latest missile disclosures are likely to fuel speculation that confrontation between Israel and these Iranian-proxies is coming to a head. Following the encounter between Israeli forces and an Iranian drone, these militant groups have increased their preparation for a coming war.
Jonathan Schanzer, a Middle East expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told the
Free Beacon that Iran is looking to "saturate Israel with rockets."
"The ability for Iran to move weaponry into Syria is only limited by Iran's transportation fleet and what they have available in their arsenal," Schanzer said, explaining that this puts Israel in a complicated position. "Iran is exploiting the fog of war and it's working."
"If this report of 70,000 rockets is accurate, it's important to note that Iran has also transferred a massive rocket arsenal of 180,000 to Hezbollah," he said. "The strategy may now be emerging: saturate Israel with rockets from two northern fronts and overwhelm their air defenses. Israel has some big decisions ahead. The longer they wait to neutralize this threat, the more nasty that two-front rocket arsenal becomes."
