Like anything that comes out of Saudi (read, Israeli) media, this 'report' is predictably manifold: Prying Damascus from Iran, Hezbollah from Syria, Hezbollah as a bargaining chip for Saudi-Syria dealings, implicates the Turks ...etc.
"...Are relations between Syria and Iran cooling off? Has Tehran overdone things in Damascus? Huda al-Husseini, a veteran Lebanese correspondent, has information in a long and detailed article published last week in the Saudi-owned and London-based newspaper Asharq Al Awsat, she explains that not only were senior Syrian officials far from enthusiastic about Hezbollah's grandiose performance for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad when the Iranian president visited Lebanon last month, but Syria also appears to have been responsible for confiscating a large shipment of explosives that Iran was planning to send to Hezbollah via Italy. According to the article, a container holding seven tons of RDX explosives was confiscated from the deck of the cargo ship Finland in an Italian port on September 22. The ship belongs to MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company, a Swiss shipping line, and was on its way from Iran to Syria. The explosives, which had been sent by Iran's Revolutionary Guards, can be used as ammunition for M-302 missiles, which have a 150-kilometer range, and M-600 missiles, which have a range of 250 kilometers and carry 500-kilogram warheads. The discovery of the explosives was published at the time in the Italian press. What is unusual about this revelation, according to Iranian opposition sources who intercepted the Revolutionary Guards' report about the confiscation, is that it was a Syrian citizen who told the Italian authorities about the illegal cargo. According to an investigation carried out on the demand of Hezbollah and the Revolutionary Guards' representatives in Lebanon, employees of the Syrian Defense Ministry were the ones to inform on Iran. It appears that this investigation and its findings were the reason for the urgent visit to Syria at that time by Haidar Moussawi, the head of Iranian intelligence........
The September incident apparently caused heavy damage to the Revolutionary Guards' efforts to send weapons and explosives from Iran to Syria, since it exposed Iranian sources in European countries and the methods Iran had been using to disguise and ship illegal cargo. One possibility is that, as the Italian authorities apparently suspect, Iran may have used close connections with the Italian mafia in the smuggling attempt. This is bolstered by the fact that it was Italy's anti-mafia unit that uncovered the cargo. The authors of the Revolutionary Guards report consequently recommended that illegal cargo no longer be sent by sea but rather on land, via Turkey, among other countries.... Syria would like to leave Hezbollah as a bargaining chip in negotiations with Saudi Arabia over the international committee looking into the murder of Rafik Hariri, the former Lebanese president assassinated in 2005, or as a reward for Israel in case of a peace agreement. But Iran has other plans. It would like Lebanon to become an Iranian protectorate, through Hezbollah..... Informing the authorities of a third country about the presence of explosive material has far-reaching implications. It indicates the extent to which Assad is prepared to tolerate the conduct of Iran, and Hezbollah. It is also a strong hint about what Assad is expecting from Iran and Hezbollah in anticipation of the indictment in the Hariri assassination affair. Hezbollah and Syria will not cooperate with the international tribunal hearing the Hariri case, but neither will Assad permit Lebanon to be shattered. The question now is whether Iran will act in line with its rational interests, or assume that it is sufficiently strong in Lebanon to twist Syria's arm. ..."
1 comment:
Asharq Al Awsat .... ;) these people and their "articles" are pure comedy gold. But please don't tell that , they tend to take themselves very seriously !
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