Israel's Peres Calls Russia Out On Hezbollah Arms
Ryan R. Jones - All Headline News Middle East Correspondent Jerusalem, Israel (AHN) - Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres said in a radio interview broadcast Wednesday that Hezbollah had without doubt made use of advanced Russian weapons during the recent Lebanon war. Most of the surface-to-surface missiles Hezbollah fired at northern Israel were either old Soviet weapons or Iranian-made rockets, but the highly-sophisticated anti-tank weapons employed by the terror group with deadly effect were said to be top-line Russian-made Kornet and Fagot systems. With these weapons Hezbollah managed to penetrate tens of Israel's vaunted Merkava main battle tanks. Following the conflict, Israel sent a high-level delegation to Moscow to complain about its weapons falling into terrorists' hands. The government of President Vladimir Putin at the time flatly denied the charges. But Peres told the Russian radio station Ekho Moskvy, "We saw these weapons, they had certain markings" that identified them as undeniably Russian. Despite Moscow's public insistence that it maintains strict controls over all weapons it sells to Syria and Iran - Hezbollah's main suppliers - Peres said Israel is aware that Russia recently pressed Damascus on the issue. "As far as we know, the Russians demanded explanations from Syria," he said.
Article © All Headline News - All Rights Reserved
|
