According to a European diplomat, Israel sent a message through countries with diplomatic relations with Iran, making it clear that it would not allow the establishment of factories for the Hezbollah in Lebanon, Walla reported Sunday. “The message is that the establishment of Iranian arms factories will be intolerable for Israel,” the diplomat said.
In early 2017, the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida reported that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards had already built several underground weapons production factories for Hezbollah in Lebanon, which had been running steady production lines since the fall of 2016. According to an anonymous source speaking to Al-Jarida, said weapons plants produce missiles with a range of more than 300 miles, including land-based, anti-ship, and anti-tank missiles, as well as explosives carrying drones. According to the same report, Hezbollah has successfully tested some of these weapons in the Syrian civil war.
Apparently, the Iranians decided to start producing weapons in Lebanon after Israel had bombarded their weapons factory in Sudan and their convoys that carried weapons for Hezbollah from Syria. Instead of risk exposure when transferring weapons to Lebanon, the Iranians decided to produce the weapons in Lebanon. And, to safeguard them from Israeli bombardment, they built them 150 ft underground. Al-Jarida also reported that each factory produces only specific parts, which are later assembled.
On Friday, Israel’s UN Envoy Danny Danon presented a letter to the President of the UN Security Council and the UN Secretary General, demanding a strong and appropriate response to Hezbollah’s ongoing military buildup in the guise of civilian activities in southern Lebanon, in clear violation of UNSC resolutions 1701 and 1559. Danon warned that “Hezbollah’s continued military buildup and destabilizing activities in southern Lebanon have serious repercussions on both regional stability and the ability of the Lebanese government to effectively control its country.”
Speaking at the Herzliya Conference at the Interdisciplinary Center last week, the Head of IDF Military Intelligence, Major-General Hertzi Halevy said that “the Zelzal-3 missile, which Iran deployed in Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen, today threatens more than 20 countries. Iran invests heavily in its resources to research for the benefit of terrorist organizations and distributes do-it-yourself kits to them. Since last year, Iran has been acting to establish a military industry on Lebanese and Yemeni soil, including precision surface-to-surface missile capabilities.”
Back in March, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow that Israel objects to any settlement of the Syrian civil war that left Iran or Hezbollah permanently in Syria. “I made this clear and I think the message was internalized,” Netanyahu told reporters before his plane took off from Moscow back to Israel.