Report: N. Korea gave Hezbollah aid when IDF quit Lebanon in 2000
U.S. Congressional Information Center says N. Korean experts trained guerillas in building bunkers, storing supplies.
By News Agencies and Haaretz Service Tags: North Korea Hezbollah LebanonThe 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."
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An IDF soldier standing beside a Hezbollah bunker in southern Lebanon during the war last summer. (Yarom Kaminsky) |
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NATO seem to have the same problem with the black-turban and kitten-heel wearing Taleban who seem to have no problem running circles around the west's most technologically advanced armies.
what i dont understand is, how could israel, with the most advanced weaponery in the world, fail all of its objectives in 2006 to hezbollah, a ressisstance group that faught israel with only a few hundred men, in grounds completly visable to planes and satalites, that are only armed with katyushas, RPGs, and small arms. very embarassing. if the u.s supplies israel, other countries have the right to supply hezbollah. just because israel calls them a terror orginaization, doesnt mean the rest of the world has to follow.
Curious that such a report has not been posted to any of the libraries which normally carry CRS reports including the thorough UNT site (http://digital.library.unt.edu/govdocs/crs/index.tkl) or the very timely open CRS site(hhttp://www.opencrs.com/). In fact, careful attention to the wording might indicate this story has been cooked to well done, i.e. "According to the sources referenced in the congressional report." Could Haartz please post the CRS Report Record Number?
"You never thought taking other people`s home and country was going to be easy did you?!" You must read history and educate yourself. Read the Bible first and see who was first in the land of Israel. Acording to the bible the land of Israel was given to the jews. And if you are from Nicosia then you first must address the Turkish invasion of cycrus don't you? then look somwhere else.
You're clearly not American, dude, so quit claiming to be one. The only thing that went down the toilet is your brain. It looked like poop, and smelled like poop, because it was poop.
All i hear is moaning and excuses while the might IDF couldn't exterminate the tunnel rats. Blah blah blah....you'll get you A130 and before you know it you'll be bombing your own people cause eventually you'll be outnumber in your own country. You reap what you sow. You never thought taking other people's home and country was going to be easy did you?! US tax payer's money down the drain!
i used to think that the Axis of Evil was nothing but a propaganda lie. never understood why N Korea was part of an axis. yes, they are evil and despicable, but part of an axis? I guess that shows that we are not privy to intelligence.
this is wonderful news! finally things are heading towards a fair fight in this conflict which has been one sided for the past 50 years with Israel getting all the help it wants from the US and others in order to attack and terrorize the region and its neighbors! now we will see what the Israeli soldiers are really made of! oh i forgot, we already saw that a year ago against the brave hizbollah fighters!
no one likkes you israhel
Were the N. Korean subcontractors for the Iranian Ayatollahist fanatics?
Who does Israel want the West to bomb now? The United States, North Korea, Syria, Lebanon or Iran. Or prehaps even Russia who invented the Katyusha. Or is Israel going to sort it out itself by bombing Gaza? Further information required.
The U.S.Administration did advise Israel about the bunkers and tunnels. Gen.Halutz,said; Quote "we do not need your bunker busters, ours are good enough.!" Unquote. When I stated that the war was mismanaged in my last 10 posts, this was one of the many reasons.
A recent report in Jane's stated that the US will supply Israel with A130 gunships and the new small range bomber capable of carrying "carpet bombs." This will enable Israel to scatter parts of Gaza and Souther Lebanon and clear wider areas in addition to delivering bombs capable of penetrating 100 feet deep. Not good news for the tunnel rats.
unity with and among the oppressed is the most beautiful thing to see! viva these ties.... ISRAEL is the problem... it is such a beautiful thing that everyone will realize it in a few years!
the info has obviously not been passed to Israel in time.
If the U.S. congressional information center had this information about activities that have been taking place since 2000, then why did they wait so long to release it? Withholding "evidence" is a form of obstruction of justice under American law. What's behind the timing? Is this "U.S. congressional information center" and arm of the US government or is it another one of those neocon "think tank"?
North Korea has had a burrowing defensive strategy for their territory for generations. This explains the Hezbollah ability to appear and disappear in last years war. There is plenty of U.S. intel on what these defenses are about, and plenty of work-arounds to be considered.