The Syrian war is too close for comfort. Photo: Signpost showing distance between Israel, Syria. Illustrative. By Joshua Spurlock
The battle between terror groups Hezbollah and ISIS continues, with the troubling prospect that Iran could increase its participation in the fight. The Lebanese Hezbollah have backed the Syrian regime in that nation’s civil war, and as a result have incurred plenty of retaliation from the various groups fighting the Syrian army.
Two of those groups, ISIS and the Nusra Front, battled with Hezbollah in a Syrian region near Lebanon on Sunday, with at least three Hezbollah fighters and 14 ISIS/Nusra fighters dying in the conflict according to The Daily Star.
With the battle between Hezbollah and ISIS and the Nusra Front in the background, Iran has promised to give the Lebanese army weapons—apparently for free.
The Fars News Agency quoted an Iranian official as saying they planned a “gift” for the Lebanese army. A separate official later said the Iranians wanted to help Lebanon in their fight with terrorism.
This is an intriguing buy pure phentermine twist, since Iran has long sponsored the Hezbollah terror group. Hezbollah has been accused of terrorism in Europe and South America, as well as the Middle East.
The US linked the two arms offerings from Iran. Spokesperson Jen Psaki said of the promise to give weapons to the Lebanese army—in comments released by the State Department—“We’re not aware of further details at this point, and we’ll continue to monitor the situation.
“This alleged offer notwithstanding, we continue to view Iran’s support for Lebanese Hezbollah, a designated foreign terrorist organization, as unacceptable. We’ll continue to work with our partners in the region to counter these destabilizing forces.”
Psaki noted that while not all the details were known at the time, there was the risk that an Iranian arms transfer to Lebanon could violate existing United Nations Security Council resolutions prohibiting Iranian weapons shipments.
“We appreciate the seriousness of the security situation in Lebanon, but Iranian arms transfers to Lebanon could be in violation of Iran’s obligation,” said Psaki.
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, October 5, 2014)