TEL AVIV – Iran has stepped up shipments of advanced weaponry to its Lebanese terror proxy Hezbollah that include Global Positioning System (GPS) components to make previously unguided rockets into precision-guided missiles, Fox News reported, citing American and Western intelligence sources.
Officials told Fox a flight carrying one of the shipments arrived in Lebanon three days ago.
A Fars Air Qeshm flight departed from Tehran and flew to an unknown destination, according to flight data provided by the tracking software Flightradar24. Later in the day, it landed in Damascus before proceeding to Lebanon several hours later.
On Wednesday evening, the Iranian cargo plane departed Beirut for Doha, Qatar, arriving just after midnight local time, before returning on Thursday evening, the report said.
The cargo plane carried weapons components, including GPS devices to make precision-guided missiles that were intended for targeting Israel, Western officials said.
At the UN General Assembly last month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shared photos of a secret Iranian nuclear storage facility in Tehran and hidden missiles in Beirut.
“Hezbollah is using the innocent people of Beirut as human shields,” Netanyahu said, showing an image of a missile site underneath a soccer stadium.
“I have a message for Hezbollah today: Israel knows, Israel also knows what you’re doing. Israel knows where you’re doing it. And Israel will not let you get away with it,” warned Netanyahu.
Israel’s former head of military intelligence said his country would do everything in its power to prevent such shipments from arriving at their destination.
“Israel is determined not to let it happen,” said retired Israeli Gen. Amos Yadlin. “This is a source of concern because if the Iranians, on the one hand, are determined to build this precision project with ballistic missiles, and the Israelis are determined not to let it happen — this is a recipe for collision.”
Israel has carried out more than 200 airstrikes inside Syria since last year, targeting Iranian weapons shipments.