U.S. officials said Iran has been flying weapons supplies to Hizbullah through Iraq
over the last few months. They said the flights begin in Teheran and move
through Baghdad and central Iraq, thus avoiding the no-fly zones set by
Britain and the United States.
The officials said Iran has been operating flights twice a week through
Iraq. The flights are mostly of cargo aircraft filled with rockets, mortars
and munitions for Hizbullah.
From Iraq, the Iranian aircraft arrive in Damascus where the Hizbullah
weapons are off-loaded in a heavily-restricted area. The weapons are then loaded
on trucks for an overland drive to the Bekaa Valley and southern Lebanon.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has warned Iran several times to stop
the weapons transfers and aid to Hizbullah and other insurgency groups based
in Lebanon. Rumsfeld, however, has not referred to Iraqi cooperation.
Other officials, however, said the Iraqi connection has enabled Iran to
launch a massive supply effort on behalf of Hizbullah. They said Iraq was approached
by Iran and Syria after Turkey refused to allow Iranian aircraft suspected
of containing Hizbullah weapons to fly through Turkish air space. Over the
last two years, Turkey intercepted at least two Iranian aircraft believed to
have
been loaded with weapons.
Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Bob Graham, who returned from a
Middle East tour, urged the Bush administration to consider launching U.S.
air strikes on Hizbullah camps in Lebanon. Graham said the administration
should grant Syria an opportunity to to dismantle the insurgency camps
before ordering air strikes.
"I think the international community, led by the United States, has a
priority to do so," Graham told CNN on Tuesday.
The Iranian supply effort has included thousands of long-range Katyusha rockets. They include the Fajr-5, with a range of up to
70 kilometers. The surface-to-air missile can strike targets in and around
the port city of Haifa. The officials said the weapons are being stored in the Bekaa Valley and in
southern Lebanon.
