Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: A proposito di risoluzioni ONU: 1701

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6739175.ece
Hezbollah stockpiles 40,000 rockets near Israel border
Three years after Israel fought a bloody war in Lebanon against
Hezbollah, there are fears that hostilities could erupt again � this
time with the militant group better armed than ever.
According to Israeli, United Nations and Hezbollah officials, the Shia
Muslim militia is stronger than it was in 2006 when it took on the
Israeli army in a war that killed 1,191 Lebanese and 43 Israeli
civilians.
Hezbollah has up to 40,000 rockets and is training its forces to use
ground-to-ground missiles capable of hitting Tel Aviv, and
anti-aircraft missiles that could challenge Israel�s dominance of the
skies over Lebanon.
Brigadier-General Alon Friedman, the deputy head of the Israeli
Northern Command, told The Times from his headquarters overlooking the
Israeli-Lebanese border that the peace of the past three years could
�explode at any minute�.
Expert View
richard beeston columnist
Opening quote Israeli planners have no doubt that, should they make
the fateful decision to attack Iran, they will provoke massive
retaliation on an unprecedented scale Closing quote
Richard Beeston, Foreign Editor
    * More
    * Post a comment
Related Links
    * Iran invests heavily in Hezbollah
    * Israel threatens strike on Iran's nuclear facilities
Multimedia
    * Graphic: Hezbollah's surface-to-surface missiles 
His concerns were due partly to threats from Hezbollah�s leadership.
Last month Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, warned
that if the southern suburbs of Beirut were bombed as they were in the
last war, he would strike back against Tel Aviv, the largest Israeli
city.
�We have changed the equation that had existed previously,� he said.
�Now the southern suburbs versus Tel Aviv, and not Beirut versus Tel
Aviv.�
Hezbollah�s rearming is in the name of resistance against Israel. The
real reason, however, probably has more to do with its ally Iran. If
Israel carries out its threat to attack Iran�s nuclear facilities, the
main retaliation is likely to come from Hezbollah in Lebanon.
All sides agreed that the threat was not a bluff. Last month the scale
of the Hezbollah build-up was revealed after an explosion at an
ammunition bunker in the village of Khirbet Slim, 12 miles from the
Israeli border.
Surveillance footage obtained by The Times showed Hezbollah fighters
trying to salvage rockets and munitions from the site. Obstructions
were placed in the way of Unifil peacekeepers going to investigate.
Alain Le Roy, the head of UN peacekeeping operations, told the
Security Council last month that the explosion amounted to a serious
violation of UN Resolution 1701, which imposed a ceasefire and arms
ban after the war.
�A number of indications suggest that the depot belonged to Hezbollah
and, in contrast to previous discoveries by Unifil and the Lebanese
Armed Forces of weapons and ammunition, that it was not abandoned but,
rather, actively maintained,� he said.
Unifil�s mandate is due to be renewed by the Security Council this
month and Israel is pressing for the peacekeepers to be more robust in
stopping Hezbollah and other armed groups from infiltrating the
UN-patrolled region south of the Litani river. Hezbollah, which is
armed, trained and financed by Iran, has been engaged in a
recruitment, training and rearmament drive since the end of the 2006
war. Although basic training on firing weapons is taught at camps in
the mountains flanking the Bekaa Valley, specialised courses are
carried out in Iran. Hundreds of fighters have travelled to Iran since
2006 to learn about bomb-making, anti-tank missiles, sniping and
firing rockets.
�War will definitely come,� said Hussam, a 33-year-old fighter who
joined Hezbollah in 1987 as a scout. �Israel will never leave us
alone.�
Military sources close to Hezbollah said that the group wanted to
increase the number and effectiveness of its air defence systems.
Hezbollah is believed to have acquired large numbers of SA18
shoulder-fired missiles that could mount a challenge to Israeli
helicopters and low-flying jets. Western intelligence sources told The
Times that Hezbollah fighters were receiving training in Syria on the
SA8 system. The radar-guided SA8 missiles are launched from tracked
vehicles and have a maximum altitude of 36,000ft (11,000m), which
would pose a serious threat. Israeli jets and drones use Lebanese
airspace almost daily. Israel said that the flights were necessary for
reconnaissance purposes, although the UN considered them violations of
Resolution 1701.
Israel said that Hezbollah�s acquisition of advanced anti-aircraft
missiles could prompt a military response to destroy the systems.
Israeli warnings relayed to Syria appear to have forestalled the entry
of the SA8 system into Lebanon, the sources said.
Israel claims that Hezbollah has tripled the number of
surface-to-surface rockets since 2006, to about 40,000.
�Hezbollah has not only replaced the munitions but upgraded their
missiles,� Danny Ayalon, the Deputy Israeli Foreign Minister, said.
�They are bragging now that they can hit Tel Aviv.�
According to Western intelligence sources, Hezbollah hopes to receive
an improved version of the Iranian-manufactured Fateh-110 rocket,
which can carry a 1,100lb (500kg) warhead more than 125 miles (200km).
Hezbollah officials refused to provide details on its military
build-up but they did not deny that they were prepared for another
war.
�Hezbollah today is in a better condition than it was in July 2006,�
said Sheikh Naim Qassem, Hezbollah�s deputy leader, in an interview
with The Times. �And if the Israelis think they will cause more damage
against us, they know that we also can inflict more damage on them.� 
-- 
http://bloggoanchio.splinder.com

 Hezbollah stockpiles 40,000 rockets near Israel border
e tu voti il partito dei loro complici. Non ho parole...