Threats are always close in the Middle East. Sign showing the distance between Jerusalem and Lebanese capital city. Illustrative. By Joshua Spurlock
The ongoing civil war in Syria continues to spill into conflict for neighboring countries, as Israel once again is reported to have hit military targets inside Syria. The Israeli Haaretz newspaper, citing a report in Al Jazeera, said the targets are believed to be military bases housing long-range missiles for the Hezbollah terror group. The bases are near the Syrian border with Lebanon—the nation headquartering Hezbollah.
Haaretz cited a Tweet from Former Syrian opposition leader Hadi al-Bahra saying one of the military brigades that was targeted launch Scud missiles. Since Syria’s civil war has erupted four years ago, the Syrian regime has reportedly tried to move advanced weapons to Hezbollah on multiple occasions, with Israel repeatedly intercepting the shipments with air strikes.
Israel has had numerous entanglements with Syria during the latter’s civil war, including scattered attacks across the border from Syria into Israel. Hezbollah has also claimed responsibility for attacking Israel during the last year.
Hezbollah, a proxy for Iran, has been assisting the Syrian regime—another Iranian ally—in the Syrian civil war for some time. This has led to the conflict spilling into Lebanon, where terror groups have launched rockets and set off bombs in response to Hezbollah involvement in Syria.
Some in Lebanon oppose Hezbollah’s influence in Lebanon, and the resulting Iranian influence that comes with it.
Once such person is former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri. Last week, in comments in a visit with US Secretary of State John Kerry released by the State Department, Hariri said, “Lebanon is living a very difficult time… The involvement of certain factions like Hezbollah in Iran also—and in Lebanon or in Syria or in Iraq or in Yemen has grown to a point that is extremely dangerous.
“We believe that Iran [is] a country that we all need to deal with, and we believe that interfering into Lebanon is not something that we would like as Lebanese people.”
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, April 26, 2015)