JERUSALEM: Israel accused Iran and Syria Thursday of sending weapons to Lebanon’s Hezbollah in violation of a UN cease-fire after one of the militant group’s arms warehouses in south Lebanon blew up.
Lebanese officials say explosions Tuesday in a supposedly abandoned building 16 km north of the Israeli border were caused by a fire in a Hezbollah weapons storage facility.
Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said Thursday that the incident was evidence of “Iranian and Syrian efforts to continue to transfer weapons to Hezbollah in direct and flagrant violation” of the UN cease-fire that ended the war.
A senior Israeli officer told reporters Thursday the warehouse contained short-range rockets that were smuggled from Syria. The warehouse was one of dozens of similar Hezbollah arms depots across south Lebanon and part of a “buildup” of the group’s strength there, the officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity in accordance with military regulations.
The UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon Wednesday called the incident a “serious violation” of the cease-fire.
Israel has long charged that the group is rearming and preparing for another round of fighting despite the presence of the UN peacekeepers. Israel’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday it is weighing an official complaint to the UN Hezbollah won support at home and in the Arab world for its perceived stand against Israel in the 2006 war, which it sparked with a cross-border attack on an Israeli patrol. The group has not commented on the explosion.
