Israel beschuldigt Iran van wapentransporten naar Syrie/Hezbollah

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Iran: Syria did not use aid planes to send arms to Hezbollah

By Reuters

Iran on Friday denied claims by Israeli security sources that Syrian planes that flew earthquake relief aid to Iran had returned with weapons for Hezbollah guerrillas.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi called the accusation a "baseless and a sheer lie."

"After the Israelis observed the... world's solidarity with the Iranian nation they became angry and they're continuing their policy based on lies and cheating by fabricating such news," he told Reuters.

Syrian officials had no immediate comment.

The security sources said Syrian aircraft delivering aid for victims of the December 26 earthquake in the Iranian city of Bam carried missiles and other weapons for Hezbollah on the return leg to Damascus, where the arms were put on trucks to Lebanon.

"Shipments to Hezbollah had been suspended because Washington has been keeping a close eye on Syria since the war in Iraq began," one of the sources said.

The security sources said U.S. intelligence was also aware of the alleged Syrian operation.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/381409.html

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Dit komt een dag nadat het Pentagon heeft aangegeven militaire acties te willen uitvoeren in Libanon.

PENTAGON PRESSES FOR U.S. OPERATION IN LEBANON

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The U.S. Defense Department is said to be mulling a proposal to expand special operations forces and send them to destroy insurgency strongholds along the Lebanese-Syrian border.

U.S. defense sources said the proposal is being examined by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. They said the plan calls for a multi-pronged attack on insurgency strongholds in such countries as Lebanon and Somalia.

"The global war on terror is continuing, and it will for the foreseeable future," Rumsfeld, who did not cite future U.S. counter-insurgency targets, said on Tuesday. "As we prosecute the war, we'll need to continue to strengthen, improve and transform our forces; modernize and restructure programs and commands."

The London-based A-Sharq Al Awsat reported on Wednesday that the proposal submitted to Rumsfeld was the result of the secretary's decision to expand the U.S. war against Al Qaida and its allies. The Saudi-owned newspaper quoted U.S. sources as saying the first step being mulled by Rumsfeld is for a U.S. military attack on Al Qaida strongholds in Somalia as early as this month.

http://www.maroc.nl/nieuws/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=82977