Iran Denies Providing Missiles to Hezbollah in South LebanonThe Iranian Embassy in Lebanon on Monday denied reports that Iran has provided Hezbollah with missiles and helped the Lebanese resistance group to set up dozens of missile positions in south Lebanon.The Iranian Embassy said in a statement that Iran has neither offered Hezbollah, or Party of God, missiles nor helped it establish missile positions along the Lebanese-Israeli border. "We support Lebanese resistance to reclaim the occupied lands, but we will not" provide Hezbollah with missiles, Lebanon's official NNA news agency quoted the statement as saying. A British newspaper said on Sunday that Iran has been providing Hezbollah with missiles and sending experts to fix mobile missile positions along the Lebanese-Israeli border. The missiles, which were called "Dawn 5," have a range of 80 kilometers and could cover northern Israel. Hezbollah had spearheaded resistance against Israeli occupation of south Lebanon before the Jewish state withdrew in May 2000, ending a 22-year occupation. However, Hezbollah vows to continue fighting against Israel as long as it occupies the Shebaa Farms, which Lebanon and Syria say belong to Lebanon. But Israel insists that it occupied the Shebaa Farms from Syria in the 1967 Middle East War and that this issue be resolved in its future negotiations with Syria. |
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