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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Iran cuts Hezbollah's military aid by 40 percent |
| 2010-12-17 |
| Iran has cut its annual budget to Hezbollah by over 40 percent, causing a crisis within the Lebanese Shiite guerrilla organization, the Jerusalem Post reported Thursday, quoting an Israeli intelligence assessment. It said that Iran had in recent years provided Hezbollah with nearly $1 billion in direct military aid but had now been forced to cut back on its funding because of the impact of international sanctions. The money is used by Hezbollah to buy weapons, train and pay its activists and maintain its military positions throughout southern Lebanon, it said. The Israeli military said in a briefing in July that it estimated Hezbollah to have some 40,000 short-, medium- and long-range missiles and about 20,000 guerrilla fighters throughout southern Lebanon. If Hezbollah were to attack and if a third Lebanon war were to break out along Israel's northern border, the movement would be capable of firing as many as 700 missiles a day at Israel, it said. I doubt it's international sanctions that did this. Either Hezbollah's "bucket" is close to full, or Iran is punishing them for not obeying (suicide) orders. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose |
| #2 Or maybe Hezbollah is making enough now on Latin American drugs trade that Iran can cut back without impacting Hezbollah's budget. |
| Posted by: crosspatch 2010-12-17 18:07 |
| #1 Or maybe the Stuxnet losses combined with ongoing domestic budgetary issues is draining Iranian credit to the point where they can't afford luxuries like speculative anti-Israel venture capital. |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2010-12-17 15:10 |