The Jerusalem Post

‘Iran building missile site in Syria for Hezbollah’

- • Jerusalem Post Staff

Iran, Syria and Hezbollah are establishi­ng a missile factory on the outskirts of the Syrian town of Safita, Israel revealed on Thursday according to Channel 12.

Israel’s strategy, according to the report, is to make the efforts public to thwart the constructi­on and success of the factory, which is supposed to be where Iran will turn Hezbollah’s missiles into precision-guided munitions, capable of striking targets in the Jewish state with unpreceden­ted accuracy.

The Israeli report claimed that a front organizati­on named “Anas Group” was created to purchase materials from Italy, China and other Asian nations, and that the factory is currently run by Jamal Said, said to be a known figure in the field of missile production in the Middle East.

Speaking in the UN in September, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pressured the internatio­nal community to pay attention to Israel’s findings and inspect Iran’s movements in Syria. Netanyahu at the time revealed several sites in Beirut, where he said Hezbollah attempted to convert ground-to-ground missiles to precision missiles.

One of the sites, according to the prime minister, was inside a soccer stadium belonging to the Lebanese terrorist group, a second site in Hariri Internatio­nal Airport and a third 500 meters from the airport’s runway in the heart of the Ma’aganah residentia­l neighborho­od.

“Israel knows what you’re doing, and Israel knows where you’re doing it,” he said. “What Iran hides, Israel will find.”

In December, he said the sites had been closed as a result of Israel’s exposure of them at the UN.

Hezbollah’s effort to build accurate and precise missiles, facilitate­d by Iranian expertise, funding and guidance, has been targeted by Israel on numerous occasions in Syria – most recently late last year – when Israeli jets struck a military warehouse that held vehicles set to smuggle precision rocket converting systems from Syria to Lebanon.

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