Barak Says Israel Tracking Possible Transfer of Hizbullah Arms from Syria
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Tuesday that the Jewish state is taking precautions and is tracking the possible transfer of arms from Syria to Hizbullah.
Touring the Golan Heights, Barak said Israel is concerned that Hizbullah is planning to move advanced weaponry out of Syria to prevent it from being captured by opposition groups if the Assad regime collapses.
Hoping that the Lebanese-Israeli border would remain quiet, Barak said the Jewish state’s army was prepared for any development on the Syrian and Lebanese fronts.
His comments came as Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah claimed that the party’s arsenal and members are increasing in numbers.
"We are increasing in numbers and in weapons ... and for those who are betting that our arms are rusting, we say that our weapons are being renewed," Nasrallah said.
Barak said the Syrian military’s test fire of a Scud-B ballistic missile and other short range rockets on Sunday was conducted out of fear. “Assad’s regime would fall in the near future.”
“It is now quiet here but a few days ago just a few hundred kilometers northeast of here we saw the launching of different rockets,” he said on the sidelines of an exercise of the Golani Brigade which he attended together with Israeli army Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz.
He said the test-fire “is more about fear and distress than about confidence.”
"The Assad family is losing its grip and Bashar al-Assad is doomed to fall," Barak added.
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