THE TELEGRAPH: Robert Gates, the US Defence Secretary, has accused Iran and Syria of arming Hizbollah with increasingly sophisticated rockets and missiles, saying the militia's arsenal undermined stability in the region.
"Syria and Iran are providing Hezbollah with rockets and missiles of ever-increasing capability," he said at a joint news conference with his Israeli counterpart, Ehud Barak.
"And we're at a point now, where Hizbollah has far more rockets and missiles than most governments in the world, and this is obviously destabilizing for the whole region and we're watching it very carefully."
Mr Gates did not say if Syria was supplying Hizbollah with Scud missiles as Israel has alleged. Mr Barak voiced serious concern over Syria's support for Hizbollah but did not repeat the allegation that it was providing Scuds to the Lebanese Shia militia. Damascus has vehemently rejected the charge.
Mr Barak said Syria was arming Hezbollah with "weapons systems that can turn or disrupt the very delicate balance in Lebanon", adding "we do not intend to provoke any kind of a major collision in Lebanon or vis-a-vis Syria". >>> Alex Spillius in Washington | Wednesday, April 28, 2010
