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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Lebanese civilians confirm flow of arms to Hizbullah from Syria |
| 2006-11-17 |
| Lebanese civilians close to the border with Syria told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday that weapons for Hizbullah were being brought in by the truckload at night. Lebanese Army troops on duty at the border refused to confirm the claims. This correspondent watched as a line of trucks and lorries several kilometers long built up at one crossing on the road from Lebanon into Syria. The trucks, en route from Beirut to Damascus, were laden with a mixture of goods: everything from construction materials to fruits and vegetables. But in the late afternoon wintry chill they were stationary; their drivers had disappeared and only the occasional soldier kept guard every few hundred meters. "They don't move in the day," said Yusuf Saad, a taxi driver waiting at the border crossing. Saad, who had watched this correspondent from the other side of the road for some time before signaling for me to come over, added that "It's much easier for them to drive at night." He nodded toward the distant Syrian mountain range. "There's not so much traffic on the road. And I can tell you" - his voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper - "they might be going in with produce, but they're coming out with weapons. They hide the rockets under the goods and that's how they're able to bring them into the country." No one in the Lebanese Army would confirm Saad's observations. The soldiers here don't like journalists, and reporters are warned against taking any photographs or conducting any interviews. But a young officer softened a little as the day wore on Thursday and allowed some filming to take place - but only in the direction of Syria. By then cars had piled up in both directions. A number of trucks drove past, headed for Beirut. "Journalists lie," the officer explained. "During the war they came here and told lies about the border not working. They said there was chaos. But as you can see, everything is completely under control." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #10 Next war, either use nukes or napalm, and screw either UNIFIL or any "civilians" in the free-fire zone (Lebanon south and west of the Syrian border, all of Syria, parts of Saudi Arabia and Egypt). It'll be a much shorter war, and it'll take much longer to "rebuild". |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2006-11-17 22:34 |
| #9 OS, It's documented from spy staellites that the Turks have been allowing landing rights to air transports from Iran. They may not allow truck convoys,true, but they are not our friends here by any measure. |
| Posted by: SpecOp35 2006-11-17 12:32 |
| #8 The one way the Turks might react is the way this would push them: Kurds start breaking loose, in NW Syria, the Turkish Army will roll in due to "Cross border chaos". they will establish a "peacekeeping force" that will lock down northern Syria, and will become a defacto partition. This will also play well to the Turkish public as a point of pride. And it will worry the hell out of the regional powers that remember the recent history of an Arab bugbear: the Ottoman Empire. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2006-11-17 10:50 |
| #7 iirc , there are under 20 airfields in syria that have runways long enough to support military ops .. most of those are still littered with bomb craters and are ill managed, so it wouldnt take long , maybe a 12 hour operation to disable all inbound/outbound flights from all airfields Oooh the memories ! , 6 years ago , landing at Damascus , it looked like the exterior of a violantly abused golf ball . The tarmac was poorly laid and as in any arab place in the world everythinng was shoddy and ill maintained. On arrival , i was promptly followed round by goons with fat mustaches , attitude and coms . How i chuckled to myself buying a cheap 35mill camera and snapping everything that moved , then lobbing it in the bin just before departure , watching them rifle through the bin to get it back. 101 things to do in Syria |
| Posted by: MacNails 2006-11-17 08:27 |
| #6 Hmmm... Amine Gemayel was in Kurdistan last week. |
| Posted by: mrp 2006-11-17 06:37 |
| #5 All glory to UNIFIL. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2006-11-17 06:19 |
| #4 OS: The Kurds in NW Syria. They may just be able to break away. Does Turkey lump all Kurds in the same basket? If so, it seems to me that Turkey is not going to like the idea at all and may do something to minimize the possibility of any kind of independent Kurdish state. Any ideas on what/why their reactions might be? |
| Posted by: gorb 2006-11-17 01:58 |
| #3 One other thing to consider: Israel will crater ALL the runways in the area. Iran will be unable to supply since their trucks cannot cross Iraq, and turkey will not allow them overland access to Syria (the Kurds will be more than glad to make sure that doesnt happen - and the Turks do NOT want that sort of mess on thier hands). One beneficiary of all this? The Kurds in NW Syria. They may just be able to break away. And you can bet that if the Syrians strike out at Iraq to draw the US into it, there will be some very "special" people paying the command and staff a visit. As well as a few sites that will get B2 type attention with follow ups on the ground for chemical sampling. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2006-11-17 00:52 |
| #2 Syria just made themselves part of the problem, and in an obvious way. Israel has nothing to lose going after Syria and its handpuppet in Lebanon. Me, I'd start wiht a decapitation strike out of the blue. No mobilization. Just a fast hit to kill Assad and destroy the command structure. Then suppress the air defenses and destroy the airforce, and then all military targets. After that, Lebanon will only need mop-up work. With no logistics from Syria, they cannot hold out -- hamas is structured as a supressive force, not one that can operate and sustain itself. Once the other factions in Lebanon see that Syria is out of the game and unable to resupply, they'll draw their knives and settle some very old grievances with the Syrian puppets. The hard way. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2006-11-17 00:47 |
| #1 Iff true, US INTEL i.e. SPAWAR/SATWAR should had picked up already. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2006-11-17 00:47 |