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Last update - 20:33 02/04/2008 Israel: Iran listening in on IDF communications from Syria By News Agencies Tags: China, IAEA, Iran nuclear  Iran has set up sophisticated listening stations in Syria in recent months to intercept Israeli military communications, Israeli security officials said Tuesday. The officials offered no details on how many stations had been set up. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose information about defense operations. Military officials said the listening stations received information through powerful antennas able to pick up communications from a distance of hundreds of kilometers. The antennas are receivers and do not transmit signals, so they cannot be blocked. Advertisement The distance between Jerusalem and Syria's capital, Damascus, is 220 kilometers (135 miles). Israel is taking new precautions because of the listening stations, the officials said. Israel Defense Forces top brass won't be allowed to bring their mobile phones into rooms where classified information is being discussed, the officials said. Also, IDF generals will be assigned special areas on bases to conduct personal conversations. That way, listening stations won't be able to hear sensitive conversations that might be going on in the background while generals talk on their cellular phones, they explained. Rules governing landline conversations won't be changed because those communications are less exposed to interception. Military officials say Iran helped Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas pick up Israeli radio communications during the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Several months ago, all radio communications were ordered to be encrypted, security officials said. On Tuesday, Israeli intelligence officers told a parliamentary committee that Hezbollah was replenishing its arsenal with medium- and long-range missiles, and improving its systems. On a tour of the northern border Tuesday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak remarked that Hezbollah was growing more powerful, but warned that "Israel is the strongest country in the region, and I would not recommend that anyone on the other side of the border test us." Diplomats: China gave IAEA intelligence on Iran's nuclear activities China, an opponent of harsh United Nations Security Council sanctions against Iran, has nonetheless provided the International Atomic Energy Agency recently with intelligence linked to Tehran's alleged attempts to make nuclear arms, diplomats have told The Associated Press. Beijing, along with Moscow, has acted as a brake within the council, consistently watering down a U.S.-led push to impose severe penalties on Tehran for its nuclear defiance since the first set of sanctions was passed in late 2006. A Chinese decision to provide information for use in the UN nuclear watchdog's attempts to probe Iran's purported nuclear weapons program would appear to reflect growing international unease about how honest the Islamic republic has been in denying it ever tried to make such arms. China's venture was revealed by two senior diplomats with good contacts to the International Atomic Energy Agency, with one commenting late last week and the other Wednesday. The IAEA declined comment. The diplomats said Beijing was the most surprising entry among a fairly substantial list of nations recently forwarding information to the agency that adds to previously provided intelligence, and which could be relevant in attempts to probe Iran for past or present nuclear weapons research. But they said several other countries not normally considered to be in the anti-Iran camp had also done so in recent weeks. The diplomats - who demanded anonymity because their information was confidential - declined to name individual nations. But they attributed a generally increased flow of information to concern sparked by a multimedia presentation to the 35 IAEA board members by the agency in February of intelligence previously forwarded by member states on Iran's alleged clandestine nuclear arms program. One of the diplomats said the agency was also on the lookout for misleading information it was given either inadvertently or in attempts to falsely implicate Iran. One example, he said was a document showing experiments with implosion technology that can be used to detonate a nuclear device. While the document appeared genuine, it was unclear whether it originated from Iran, said the diplomat. Suspected weapons-related work outlined in the February presentation and IAEA reports preceding it include: * Uranium conversion linked to high explosives testing and designs of a missile re-entry vehicle, all apparently interconnected through involvement of officials and institutions * Procurement of so-called dual use equipment and experiments that also could be used in both civilian and military nuclear programs, and * Iran's possession of a 15-page document outlining how to form uranium metal into the shape of a warhead. A U.S. intelligence estimate late last year said Tehran worked on nuclear weapons programs until 2003, while Israel and other nations say such work continued past that date. Related articles: U.S.: Iran halted nuclear weapons development in 2003 PM: Israel will work to expose Iran nuclear program Study: U.S., Israel should begin planning strike on Iran nuclear sites Think tank: Israel could attack Iran's nuclear program alone Bookmark to del.icio.us   Survivors and pioneers Yad Vashem exhibit shows how Holocaust survivors helped shape Israel's identity Researching bacon Lahav's pig breeding gained widespread notoriety because of its legal loophole.   1.   Cheap Propaganda 19:26  |  Zac 02/04/08   2.   unbelieveable how dumb Israelis are! 19:46  |  eddie 02/04/08   3.   I don`t know why Iran cooperates 20:04  |  Palestinian 02/04/08   4.   I don`t mean to pooh pooh on China`s about face but I bet it has 20:12  |  neocon in straits 02/04/08   5.   So what exactly are Iran and Syria doing 20:24  |  Chris Linthwaite 02/04/08   6.   How do they understand army slang? 20:32  |  Iz Ray Leigh 02/04/08   7.   The issue is not what Barak braggs, but what Iran believes. 20:38  |  Fortuna Benmayor 02/04/08   8.   We can?t afford to wait : Time has come for action. 21:10  |  Jean Van Daem 02/04/08   9.   I stopped, Iran, I-heard, I fought! 21:35  |  Zev 02/04/08   10.   To Jean Van Daem 21:49  |  Markus 02/04/08   11.   War drums are working overtime....... 22:09  |  Joseph Levy 02/04/08   12.   I`m listening too, it`s very funny. 00:11  |  Andreas 03/04/08   13.   # 2 eddie. 01:17  |  Stephen. 03/04/08   14.   israel 02:02  |  gringo 03/04/08   15.   Listening? 02:26  |  buzer 03/04/08   16.   Study or not to study 05:21  |  Di 03/04/08   17.   But do they hear what i have to say ? If they do 05:42  |  Sal 03/04/08   18.   #1; Zac your a funny guy, even if you don`t know what your 06:09  |  Doc Holliday 03/04/08   19.   Iran listening? 07:24  |  geoff 03/04/08   20.   CIA, MOSSAD, IRAN, SYRIA 07:28  |  indrajaya 03/04/08

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