This is not surprising, but rather is a stark reminder that the situation between Israel and Lebanon is about to escalate into a full-blown regional war. Syria has promised aid to Lebanon (in reality, to Hezbollah because Syria doesn’t care squat about the country of Lebanon itself) and Iran has pledged support to Syria if attacked by Israel. For the records, I’m putting my money on Israel. From the Associated Press:
JERUSALEM - Elite Iranian troops helped Hezbollah fire a sophisticated radar-guided missile at an Israeli warship in a surprise blow by militants who had been using only low-tech weapons, Israeli officials said Saturday.
Israel initially believed that an aerial drone armed with explosives hit the warship, but it became clear that Hezbollah had used an Iranian-made C-802 missile to strike the vessel late Friday, an Israeli intelligence official said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the information.
Tehran did not respond to the charge, which was not mentioned in Iranian media reports Saturday.
One Israeli sailor was killed and three were missing after the attack. The ship was returning to its home port in Israel, the army said.
About 100 fighters from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard helped import, equip and fire the missile at the Spear, a missile ship cruising off the coast of Lebanon, which is under an Israeli naval blockade, Israeli officials said.
Hezbollah was founded by the Revolutionary Guard during Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon. The Islamic republic’s elite corps of more than 200,000 fighters is independent of the regular armed forces and directly controlled by Iran’s supreme leader.
“We can confirm that it (the ship) was hit by an Iranian-made missile launched by Hezbollah. We see this as a very profound fingerprint of Iranian involvement in Hezbollah,” Brig. Gen. Ido Nehushtan told The Associated Press.
The Shiite militant group had been firing only highly inaccurate Katyusha rockets at Israeli targets. Israel appeared surprised that the guerrilla group had more high-tech weapons.
Israeli officials speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information said that Hezbollah also has Iranian-made drones that are more accurate than missiles, as well as longer-range projectiles that could hit Tel Aviv, Israel’s commercial hub.
