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Hezbollah members carrying mock rockets during a festival in southern Lebanon on Sunday. (Reuters)
Last update - 10:30 24/07/2007
Israel confirms Hezbollah long-range missile arsenal restored
By Avi Issacharoff and Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent

Hezbollah has restored its military capabilities, particularly its long-range missile arsenal, nearly a year following the Second Lebanon War, senior Israeli security sources confirmed Monday.

On the other hand, Hezbollah's influence on Fatah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades has been checked in recent months, Palestinian security sources said Monday.

According to Palestinian security sources, Hezbollah has not ceased its efforts to penetrate Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades cells, but its ability to do so has been seriously curtailed.
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The sources pointed to a number of reasons Hezbollah is finding it difficult to penetrate the organization and gain control of its members in order to carry out terrorist activities on its behalf against Israel.

Israel's security forces have primarily succeeded in killing or arresting many of the cells that had been under Hezbollah control, mostly in the area of Nablus and northern West Bank.

Also, the flow of cash from Hezbollah to West Bank militants who carry out attacks, has been contained. The Palestinian Authority has also made an effort to convince many of the militants not to accept funding from foreign sources.

Palestinian security sources also insist that contact between Hezbollah and the West Bank has been weakened. They say this is due to a breakdown in cooperation with Palestinians in Lebanon who collaborate with the Shi'ite group and international jihadist elements based there.

There has also been a successful takeover, Palestinian sources say, of the Brigades by centrist elements, who managed to marginalize cells that nominally identified themselves with Fatah but in practice worked for Hezbollah.

However, Israeli security sources are skeptical about the drop in Hezbollah's overall activity in the West Bank, which they said continues unabated through other Palestinian militant groups.

"It is not possible to note a change in Hezbollah activity in the territories since the war. There is neither an increase nor a drop. The Lebanese group continues to view the territories as its main area of operation against Israel, so long as the calm in Lebanon is maintained," Israeli security sources said.

Hezbollah head Hassan Nasrallah emphasized Monday the group's preoccupation with Israel in an interview on the Al-Jazeera satellite network; in the program, he boasted that Hezbollah was capable of targetting any point in Israel.

"Just like July 2006, so in July 2007, we have the capability of striking any target, on any point in occupied Palestine," Nasrallah said during yesterday's interview.

While confirming that Hezbollah had restored its abilities to fire long-range missiles against Israel, a senior Israeli security source challenged Nasrallah's assertions yesterday, saying that they could reach points in central Israel, north of the Tel Aviv region.

The same source also said that Nasrallah's visit to Damascus late last week, where he met with Syria's President Bashar Assad and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was not his first since the end of the war last year.

Syrian officials are directly involved in the transfer of missiles from Iran to Hezbollah, the senior Israeli security source said.

"This is not smuggling, but the open transfer of weapons, a veritable industry," the source said.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which put in place a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah, also forbids the unauthorized transfer of arms to Hezbollah.
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  1.   The Lebanese wants to occupy Palestine 03:54  |  Tamir Palestine 24/07/07
  2.   Why is Hassan Nasrallah still alive? 04:40  |  Eli 24/07/07
  3.   Hezbollah in S. Lebanon 04:48  |  Nechama 24/07/07
  4.   Hezbollah 04:49  |  tom 24/07/07
  5.   Who wants to occupy Palestine? 05:03  |  GK 24/07/07
  6.   Hezbollah has restored its long rage arsenal 05:15  |  TonyL 24/07/07
  7.   Iran`s Factory`s need to be leveled 05:44  |  Realist 24/07/07
  8.   what an evolving story 05:55  |  Mark Lincoln 24/07/07
  9.   Aberration of their own making 06:14  |  kyot 24/07/07
  10.   Hesballah talks tough Nasrallah in hiding.Children with"missiles" 06:29  |  PETER SM 24/07/07
  11.   the hiz boys 06:29  |  Mark Katzman 24/07/07
  12.   get real... 07:13  |  ravi 24/07/07
  13.   #3 Nechama 07:22  |  maoriboy 24/07/07
  14.   HEROS of the Oppressed 07:29  |  JDross 24/07/07
  15.   MARK lincoln.Why not worry about USA/West hating Islamists 07:45  |  PETER SM 24/07/07
  16.   ravi it works this way.Those Islamist loonies openly say they are 07:56  |  PETER SM 24/07/07
  17.   MAORIBOY.When did the IDF try to obliterate ALL S Lebanon 08:07  |  PETER SM 24/07/07
  18.   Maoriboy: next time no innocent Israelis will die to save Lebanon 08:07  |  Dan 24/07/07
  19.   #14 MR DROSS HAS THE CORRECT NAME 08:15  |  paul harris 24/07/07
  20.   Suicide 08:20  |  Al 24/07/07
  21.   realist, expansionist Israel is threat to world peace 08:29  |  Rafael 24/07/07
  22.   Hassan Nasrallah will not allow israel to steal Litani river ever 09:10  |  Lina 24/07/07
  23.   Rafael 09:12  |  Hannah 24/07/07
  24.   Nasrallah - will it be worthwhile for you? 09:20  |  Mike 24/07/07
  25.   Lovely Freudian slip # 8 09:22  |  Clickfool 24/07/07
  26.   Iran-Syria continue to on their nihillistic ways 09:24  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 24/07/07
  27.   Israel`s lucky the strategists of Hezbollah have no brains 09:26  |  Clickfool 24/07/07
  28.   A GOOD CONFIRMED NEWS 09:32  |  indrajaya 24/07/07
  29.   Lebanon where are you? 09:33  |  Hannah 24/07/07
  30.   Nasrallah must really love Israel.. 09:34  |  Willy 24/07/07
  31.   #27 clickfool i think they do have brains 09:36  |  victor hardman 24/07/07
  32.   16...peter...so be it... 09:37  |  ravi 24/07/07
  33.   Careful, Rafael # 21 09:39  |  Clickfool 24/07/07
  34.   Marc Lincoln 09:45  |  Walid 24/07/07
  35.   For Victor Hardman # 31 09:48  |  Clickfool 24/07/07
  36.   Can`t Trust the World Community 09:50  |  FOX 24/07/07
  37.   #35clickfool and ignorance of war 09:58  |  victor hardman 24/07/07
  38.   Re: Dan #18 ... 10:13  |  Mohammed 24/07/07
  39.   For Victor Hardman, again # 37 10:13  |  Clickfool 24/07/07
  40.   Clickfool, take it a step further #35 10:19  |  FOX 24/07/07
  41.   Hannah 10:22  |  Walid 24/07/07
  42.   Rafael #21 why do you use a Jewish name? 10:23  |  Hastaroth 24/07/07
  43.   One more thing Nasrullah said 10:32  |  Mohammed 24/07/07
  44.   FOX 10:33  |  Walid 24/07/07
  45.   Wallid is projecting #34 10:37  |  FOX 24/07/07
  46.   Israstan and the "Ten commands" 10:40  |  Dav 24/07/07
  47.   Mohammed 10:53  |  Walid 24/07/07
  48.   Mark Katzman 10:58  |  Walid 24/07/07
  49.   # 40, FOX 10:59  |  indrajaya 24/07/07
  50.   Hezbollah 10:59  |  Steve 24/07/07
  51.   #44, Walid 10:59  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 24/07/07
  52.   Walid the clown: accusations unlimited 11:05  |  Hannah 24/07/07
  53.   #47, Walid 11:07  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 24/07/07
  54.   For Willy # 52 11:13  |  Clickfool 24/07/07
  55.   how do you know that it is restored ? 11:24  |  mehmet 24/07/07
  56.   ISRAEL SHOULD RETALIATE WITH ROCKETS. 11:26  |  M 24/07/07
  57.   FOX 11:39  |  Hannah 24/07/07
  58.   Missile war against Israel in preparation 11:42  |  Jonathan S 24/07/07
  59.   it`s a shame how media influenced most of you ppl! 11:56  |  Sam 24/07/07
  60.   #21 Rafael 11:57  |  Itsik 24/07/07
  61.   Hannah/Margie from Tel Aviv 11:59  |  Walid 24/07/07
  62.   The UNIFIL charade 11:59  |  Jonathan S 24/07/07
  63.   CFOOL. They were rocketing Haifa daily.Sussex superior arrogance 12:00  |  PETER SM 24/07/07
  64.   #22 Lina (fable hunter) 12:01  |  Itsik 24/07/07
  65.   #41 Walid 12:06  |  Itsik 24/07/07
  66.   #55-Mehmet the Great,give us your lights!! 12:06  |  Hastaroth 24/07/07
  67.   Nasrallah is no threat 12:07  |  Natallie Durson 24/07/07
  68.   So Ironic And Hypocritical 12:08  |  Dyinglikeflies 24/07/07
  69.   Steve 12:11  |  Walid 24/07/07
  70.   Walid, #44. You have Jewish friends???!!! 12:13  |  Jacques 24/07/07
  71.   NEW WEAPONS CAN FILL PARADISE AT FULL CAPACITY