Report: Hezbollah working to acquire chemical weapons

The Lebanese Hezbollah terror organization is working to stockpile chemical weapons and may have already used them against anti-Assad rebels in Syria, the London based Arabic language Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported on Thursday.

By: Atara Beck, World Israel News

The report quotes Abou Mohammed Al-Assi, a member of the Syrian Free Army’s military council, which is combating Assad’s regime, who did not rule out Hezbollah’s possession of chemical arms, because Assad’s regime is still in possession of such weapons.

“It was proved that chemical (arms) were used in some neighborhoods of Aleppo and Ghouta, areas which have a clear Hezbollah presence,” Al-Assi told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“It’s normal for the party [Hezbollah] to own chemical weapons because it is leading the battle alongside the regime in several areas,” he said.

Hezbollah, acting on orders from Iran, has been fighting a bloody war alongside Basher Al-Assad’s troops in the five-year-long civil war.

Although the Syrian regime has claimed that it has handed over all its chemical weapons, there is information that it has hidden some of the arms, and has deployed them against the opposition in the civil war waging in the country.

The report quotes unnamed military experts who said that Hezbollah’s operations in Marj Al-Tall in Syria are a clear indication that a chemical facility has been built under its management.

Whoever, the report also quotes a high-ranking Syrian opposition member raised doubts about Hezbollah’s ability to acquire chemical weapons.

Israel will not allow such arms to reach Hezbollah’s hands, he said.

Israel has repeatedly vowed to prevent the Shiite terror organization from acquiring what it categorized as “game-changing” weapons, strategic weapons that would change the balance of power between Israel and the terror organization or hinder Israeli operations to fight it in any substantial way.

The unnamed opposition member told Asharq Al-Awsat that this does not mean the party would not try to add such weapons to its arsenal.

“The party and the regime have advanced smuggling networks between Lebanon and Syria. But the question remains whether they could evade Israeli monitoring,” he said.