The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have built a number of weapons production factories in Lebanon and handed them over to the terror group Hezbollah, which has been running the production lines for the past three months, Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida recently reported.
The factories, which have reportedly been in operation for three months, have allowed Hezbollah to prepare extensively for an attack on Israel.
The Kuwaiti newspaper quoted an anonymous Iranian source stating that the plants were built 50 metres deep, and protected by several layers of defence systems. The plants can produce different types of rockets and missiles, including those with a range of more than 500 kilometres, land-based anti-ship missiles, anti-tank missiles, armoured vehicles, and drones that can carry explosives.
The source said that Hezbollah have already successfully tested the new missiles in Syria.
The Iranian official stated the reason to manufacture long-range missiles in Lebanon was due to “Israel’s [alleged destruction] of munition factories in Sudan, as well as the damage caused to munition sources from Syria”, according to Kuwaiti newspaper ‘al-Jarida’.
Iran’s Defence Minister Hossein Dehghan recently boasted that Hezbollah was capable of manufacturing rockets that could target every area of Israel.
The facilities are reportedly staffed by IRGC advisors and Lebanese experts trained in Tehran at Imam Hossein University in rocket manufacturing techniques. There are said to be several different missile factories, with each site producing separate parts that are later assembled into rockets. The existence of the factories means that Hezbollah no longer have to rely on transfers of arms from abroad, allowing the terrorist organisation to develop bigger warheads.
Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, in February confirmed that the terror group was ready to attack the Jewish State: “I call on Israel not only to empty the ammonia tank in Haifa, but also to dismantle the nuclear reactor in Dimona. Our military capabilities will strike Israel and its settlements”.
Hezbollah’s rocket arsenal has increased by as much as ten times since the Second Lebanon War in 2006, to over 130,000 rockets.
The threat from Iran on Israel’s northern border has also been increased by the formation of a new Iraqi-Hezbollah Brigade aiming to seize the Golan Heights. Israel’s Minister of Intelligence Israel Katz said this week: “The so-called ‘Golan Liberation Brigade’ sharpens the threat posed by the presence of Iran and Hezbollah in Syria in general and on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights in particular”.
He continued: “I have been saying for a long time that if Iran is allowed to base itself in Syria it will be a threat to Israel’s national security and a constant source of regional instability and tension and friction with the Sunni majority in Syria and with the Sunni countries in the region as well”.
A spokesman for Iranian-controlled Iraqi militia ‘Harakat Hezbollah al’Nujaba’ announced last week the establishment of the ‘Golan Liberation Brigade’, the most recent Iranian proxy in Syria.
He claimed: “If the government of Syria requests, we and our allies are ready to take action to liberate Golan. We will not permit Arab and Islamic countries in the region to remain in the grasps of occupiers”.
