Iran Steps Up Arms Shipments to Hezbollah Via Syria

Iran has stepped up arms shipments to Hizballah through Camp Zabadani, a longtime base that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard maintains in Syria near the Lebanese border, an Israeli intelligence official said. "The order to increase assistance" came "directly from Tehran with the approval of the bureau of the leader Khamenei," the official said. "The assistance mainly includes a large amount of weapons as well as ammunition, cash, and field rations," he said.

Iranian assistance could extend Hezbollah's ability to sustain the current fighting. During the last three days, Israel has detected several shipments of weapons and supplies from Iran to the Revolutionary Guard base as well as to nearby warehouses, where arms have been stockpiled in recent years, Israeli officials said. An Israeli air raid Tuesday destroyed an arms-laden convoy of trucks that had originated at Camp Zabadani, the Israeli intelligence official said. Shipments from Iran to Lebanon via Syria in the last few days included FL-10 naval missiles, Katyusha short-range artillery rockets, and Iranian-made Fajr 3 and Fajr 5 missiles.