DIA Chief: "Hezbollah as a "strategic partner" of Iran & part of Syrian Defense..."

the head of the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency, Lt. Gen. Michael Maples, described Hezbollah as a "strategic partner" of Iran. In testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Maples said that the entire U.S. intelligence community believes Iran is "keeping open" the option of developing a nuclear weapon.

Damascus, Maples added, sees Hezbollah as part of Syria's defense in the event of renewed conflict with Israel and is therefore giving Hezbollah substantial aid, including antitank weapons. However, he said, the alliance between secular Syria and religious Iran is not a natural one, and might well become looser if Syria achieves significant gains in a peace deal with Israel.