The Iranian Revolutionary Guards have built a number of weapons production factories in Lebanon and handed them over to Hezbollah, which has been running the production lines for the past three months, Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida recently reported. The Kuwaiti newspaper quotes an anonymous source as saying that these plants can produce different types of rockets […]

Lebanon’s new Hezbollah-supported president is courting Saudi Arabia in an effort to restore billions in military aid, a delicate task as his country grows closer to Iran, the kingdom’s main rival for Middle East power. Michel Aoun’s country has for years been a political battleground in the regional struggle between Iran, the backer of the […]

The United Nations chief expressed concern to the Security Council that Iran may have violated an arms embargo by supplying weapons and missiles to Lebanese Shi’ite group Hezbollah, according to a confidential report, seen by Reuters on Sunday. The second bi-annual report, due to be discussed by the 15-member council on Jan. 18, also cites […]

While war will continue to rage in much of the region writ large, Israeli military forecasts for 2017 are cautiously optimistic that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) may get through the year that began Sunday without having to wage major combat operations. “The probability for war in 2017, generally speaking, is low,” a senior defense […]

Defense officials are looking into acquiring hundreds of missiles and precision rockets that could destroy targets during a confrontation with forces inside Lebanon. The focus of their interest is a pair of developments – IMI Systems’ Extra rocket and Israel Aerospace Industries’ LORA surface-to-surface missile. The Artillery Corps currently uses the Romach artillery rocket system, […]

The US government is refuting Israeli assessments that US-supplied troop carriers to Lebanon have made their way to Hezbollah forces operating in Syria on behalf of the Bashar Assad regime. The State Department and the Pentagon insist that Hezbollah-flagged vehicles in question – photographed last month in the Syrian city of Qusayr – did not […]

Conditions to implement a multi-billion dollar contract to supply Saudi-financed French weapons to Lebanon are now favorable after the formation of a new government in Beirut, France’s foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said on Thursday. Speaking in the Lebanese capital after meeting President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, Ayrault said it was also more […]

The Middle East regional chaos has weakened Israel’s enemies and created a low probability of war involving the country in 2017, a senior Israeli military officer said on Wednesday. The official said the army has concluded that neither Hezbollah militants in Lebanon nor Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip are interested in sparking a new […]

In the wake of the reported Israeli strike in Syria, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Wednesday Israel is making efforts to bar weapons of mass destruction from being smuggled from Syria to Hezbollah. During a meeting with the European Union envoys in Israel on Wednesday to discuss Middle Eastern affairs, Lieberman said that “we are […]

Lebanon’s Hezbollah has declared itself more than a guerilla movement after images emerged showing it staging a military parade in Syria, where it is fighting to bolster the regime. The images shared widely on social media provoked controversy in Lebanon, where the Shiite movement is a divisive force, as well as concern from Washington, which […]