Iran using European ports to hide weapons shipments to Hezbollah — report

Iran has been using European ports to help disguise weapons shipments to the Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon, the UK’s Telegraph newspaper reported on Thursday, citing unnamed sources.

According to the report, the ships unload weapons in the Syrian port of Latakia, which are then taken south into Hezbollah’s native Lebanon. From Latakia, the ships continue to ports in Italy, Spain and Belgium to help conceal the goal of the trips.

“Using Europe helps to hide the nature and the source of the shipments, switching paperwork and containers… to clean the shipments,” the paper cited a senior Israeli intelligence source as saying,

“Europe has huge ports so Iran is using that as a camouflage. It’s very easy to do manipulations in those big ports where things have to get moved quickly, rather than a small port where there will be more scrutiny.”

Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, causing loss of life and widespread damage, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war there. Border communities have been largely evacuated for long months amid the ongoing attacks.

Intelligence analyst Ronen Solomon told the Telegraph that the sea shipments were a recent occurrence from “the last month” because of “Israeli attacks on air and land infrastructure in Syria to Lebanon, so we are seeing an increase in container shipments.”

Although Israel has struck Iran-linked targets in Syria for years, including areas where Hezbollah has been active, airstrikes against Iranian arms transfers have become deadlier and more frequent since October 7, Reuters cited unnamed Syrian intelligence sources as saying in January.

File – Flames rise from burning containers at the scene of a missile attack, at the seaport of the coastal city of Latakia, Syria, December 28, 2021. (SANA via AP)

In December 2021, the Latakia port was hit twice by airstrikes targeting Iranian munitions en route to Hezbollah. Though Israel did not officially acknowledge conducting either attack, hours after the second one then-Defense Minister Benny Gantz warned Iran against sending arms to the region.

Hezbollah has named more than 240 members who have been killed by Israel since October 8. Another 40 operatives from other terror groups have also been killed in strikes on southern Lebanon, as well as a Lebanese soldier and at least 30 civilians, three of whom were journalists.

The near-daily exchanges of fire along the shared Israel-Lebanon border have caused seven civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 10 Israeli soldiers and reservists.

Mediators have thus far been unsuccessful in reaching an agreement between Israel and the Lebanese terrorist group, fueling fears of an all-out war on Israel’s northern border, and preventing the return home of the roughly 60,000 residents who have been displaced from northern Israel since October.

Israel has said it will no longer tolerate Hezbollah’s presence along its border and is demanding it be made to honor the 2006 UN resolution that ended the Second Lebanon War and withdraw to a distance of several kilometers from the border.

Emanuel Fabian and agencies contributed to this report.