Last update - 00:00 13/12/2007
Report: N. Korea gave Hezbollah aid when IDF quit Lebanon in 2000
By Haaretz Service and News Agencies
The Lebanese-based Hezbollah organization received military aid from North Korea after the Israel Defense Forces left south Lebanon in 2000, Army Radio reported on Thursday, quoting a recent report by the U.S. Congressional Research Service.
According to the sources referenced in the congressional report, North Korean experts trained guerillas from the Syrian and Iranian-backed group in building bunkers and storing weapons, food and medical supplies.
The report said the aid "significantly improved Hezbollah's ability to fight the Israelis" during the Second Lebanon War in 2006, according to the radio.
The CRS document also cited a report by a prominent South Korean academic, Moon Chung-in, that the Mossad intelligence agency believed that "vital missile components" used by Hezbollah against Israel came from North Korea.
Both Hezbollah and North Korea are reported to have military ties with Syria. During last summer's fighting in Lebanon, Hezbollah received direct intelligence support from Syria, using data collected by listening posts jointly manned by Russian and Syrian crews.
Hezbollah was also fed intelligence from new listening posts built on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, which are operated jointly with Iran.
North Korea, which has been embroiled recently in an international row over its nuclear development program, was accused by a senior U.S. official of sending secret suppliers to Syria to provide it with nuclear equipment.
In September 2007, the Israel Air Force struck a target in Syria which was later reported to have been a nuclear facility built with North Korean know-how.
The Syrian ambassador to the U.S., Imad Moustapha, vehemently denied the reports of North Korean nuclear assistance, calling them "absolutely, totally, fundamentally ridiculous and untrue."
Related articles: