From Haaretz,

Iran is arming Hezbollah with missiles sent via Turkey, according to intelligence received in Israel. Turkish authorities are unaware of the arms shipments, which are in violation of Resolution 1701.

A senior Israeli government source said Tuesday that Brigadier General Yossi Beiditz, head of the IDF research department, last week told European Union ambassadors in a briefing that Iran continues to transfer arms and equipment to Hezbollah, in spite of Tehran’s denials.

Some of the weapons include long-range missiles that are being transfered through flights using Turkey’s airspace, as well as overland though Turkey, under the guise of civilian cargo. From Turkey, the missiles are transfered to Syria and then Lebanon. Turkey has not permitted the use of its territory for such transfers.

The same source said that according to Beiditz, some of the missiles Iran transfered to Hezbollah have a maximum range of 300 kilometers, “capable of reaching the Dimona area from Beirut.” According to intelligence so far available to Israel, the maximum range of missiles in Hezbollah’s arsenal had been 250 kilometers.

Hezbollah also continues its bellicose rhetoric. From the Jerusalem Post,

Hizbullah is prepared for a new war with Israel but it will not start one, its deputy leader said in remarks published Wednesday. Naim Kassem, however, warned that Israel will pay “a high price” in any future war.

His comments, published in a Beirut daily close to Hizbullah, followed last month’s threat by Hizbullah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah to retaliate with an “open war” against Israel for the assassination of terror chief Imad Mughniyeh.
….
Asked if there will be war, Kassem said: “Hizbullah cannot confirm because it does not want to initiate it.” He added: “The Israelis know they have to pay a high price in any war.”

Kassem also told Al-Akhbar daily that Hizbullah “is well-prepared to face an Israeli, American and international war.”

He was apparently referring to the recent deployment of US warships off Lebanon’s Mediterranean coast, a move the US has said was aimed at protecting its interesting in the region.

Asked if the deployment of peacekeepers and Lebanese troops will have an effect on Hizbullah’s activity, Kassem said the group “was able to adapt to the new reality and has fully rebuilt its force and it is completely ready. This new situation made it (Hizbullah) create new methods.”

On Feb 28, the UN Secretary-General reported to the Security Council on the status of the implementation of Security Council resolution 1701, which provided for a peacekeeping force (a strengthening of UNIFIL) in southern Lebanon after the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in the summer of 2006.

The report is seventeen pages long. The Secretary-General said,

This cooperation has contributed significantly to the general calm that continues to prevail in the UNIFIL area of operations. However, I am concerned by a number of serious incidents that occurred place during the reporting period and have raised the level of tension in the area.

Among those incidents,

The continuation of targeted assassinations in Lebanon has added to tensions throughout the country. The scope of targets has widened to include UNIFIL outside of its area of operations, the army, the security forces and the diplomatic community. On 12 December 2007, an explosion killed General Francois el-Hajj of the Lebanese Armed Forces along with his driver. On 25 January 2008, Major Wissam Eid, of the Internal Security Forces, was killed along with five others and 20 people were injured. On 15 January 2008, an explosion apparently targeted a vehicle of the Embassy of the United States of America in Lebanon, leaving three people dead and wounding dozens.

Regarding Hezbollah and Iran,

Israel maintains that Hizbullah is significantly rebuilding its military presence and capacity, inside the UNIFIL area of operations. At times, the Israel Defense Forces has provided UNIFIL with information about locations in the UNIFIL area of operations, in which it claims that these activities are taking place. UNIFIL, in collaboration with the Lebanese Armed Forces, immediately investigates all such claims if sufficiently specific information is received. To date, it has found no evidence of new military infrastructure in the area of operations. Israel also claims that Hizbullah has adapted its modus operandi in order to conceal its activities from UNIFIL and the Lebanese Armed Forces, and has relocated its operations mainly to urban areas. UNIFIL has observed that its operational activities are on occasion being closely monitored by unarmed civilians.
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According to the Government of Israel, Hizbullah has continued to construct new facilities and carry out training north of the Litani River and in the Bekaa valley, where the Government of Lebanon has exclusive responsibility for security. Hizbullah has not challenged allegations regarding the development of military facilities north of the Litani River and has publicly announced that it will use its arsenal against Israel if provoked.
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In my last report to the Council on the implementation of resolution 1701 (2006), I drew attention to alleged breaches of the arms embargo across the border between Lebanon and the Syrian Arab Republic and the claimed transfer of sophisticated weaponry from the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Syrian Arab Republic across this border. In its letter dated 10 December 2007 (S/2007/724), the Syrian Arab Republic countered those claims and maintained that allegations of weapons smuggling across the Syrian-Lebanese border were motivated by political rather than security considerations. However, Hizbullah, by admission of its leaders on several occasions, has replenished its military capacity since the 2006 war with Israel. I therefore remain concerned that this border remains vulnerable to such breaches, which would represent serious violations of the resolution and constitute a significant threat to the stability and security of Lebanon.

Hezbollah responded to the report this way,

Hezbollah on Wednesday lashed out at United Nations (UN) chief Ban Ki-moon after he expressed concern over threats of open war against Israel by the militant group after its top commander was killed.

In a statement, the militant Shi’a Muslim group urged Ban, who issued a new report on the situation in Lebanon this month, to “show proof of more objectivity and impartiality” when speaking about the region.

It said he had failed “to put into their proper context” threats made by Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah following the killing of top commander Imad Mughnieh in a car bombing in Syria that Hezbollah has blamed on Israel.

Keep in mind, the 2006 conflict was sparked by an incident where Hezbollah abducted two Israeli soldiers on the Israeli side of the Lebanese border. As the Secretary-General noted, those two soldiers still have not been returned.

I regret to report that there has been no progress on the humanitarian aspects of Security Council resolution 1701 (2006), specifically the issues of the abducted Israeli soldiers and Lebanese prisoners. Hizbullah continues to refuse to provide any information on the release or fate of the abducted soldiers, Udi Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, and places conditions and demands for their release that are far outside of the scope of resolution 1701 (2006).

In January, the Israeli Foreign Minister had on their website a remembrance entitled A year and a half in terrorist captivity. Part of it said,

Israel’s embassies abroad are also taking part in this effort, with emphasis on the humanitarian aspect: the families await a clear sign that their sons are alive and well. Those with influence, whether direct or indirect, on Syria and Iran are being asked to exert this influence on these countries. Thus, it is hoped, Syria and Iran, which sponsor the terrorist organizations holding the abducted soldiers, will be forced by growing international pressure to bring their influence to bear to obtain the hoped-for news and their eventual release.

Arm shipments from Iran to Hezbollah indicate how willing Iran is to “rein in” Hezbollah. No, they are preparing for yet another conflict with Israel. Always remember the Hezbollah Charter,

Let us put it truthfully: the sons of Hezbollah know who are their major enemies in the Middle East – the Phalanges, Israel, France and the US. The sons of our umma are now in a state of growing confrontation with them…

We see in Israel the vanguard of the United States in our Islamic world. It is the hated enemy that must be fought until the hated ones get what they deserve. This enemy is the greatest danger to our future generations and to the destiny of our lands, particularly as it glorifies the ideas of settlement and expansion, initiated in Palestine, and yearning outward to the extension of the Great Israel, from the Euphrates to the Nile.

Our primary assumption in our fight against Israel states that the Zionist entity is aggressive from its inception, and built on lands wrested from their owners, at the expense of the rights of the Muslim people. Therefore our struggle will end only when this entity is obliterated. We recognize no treaty with it, no cease fire, and no peace agreements, whether separate or consolidated.

We vigorously condemn all plans for negotiation with Israel, and regard all negotiators as enemies, for the reason that such negotiation is nothing but the recognition of the legitimacy of the Zionist occupation of Palestine.

(cross-posted at Peace Like A River)