Washington, April 21: The Lebanese group Hezbollah has most likely acquired Scud missiles and improved its rocket-firing technology, a top US senator warned Tuesday.
“I believe there is a likelihood that there are Scuds that Hezbollah has in Lebanon. A high likelihood,” Senate Intelligence Committee chair Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California, said.
“The rockets and missiles in Lebanon are substantially increased and better technologically than they were and this is a real point of danger for Israel,” Feinstein added.
“There’s only one thing that’s going to solve it, and that’s a two-state solution,” she said, referring to stalled international efforts to create an independent, viable Palestinian state living at peace with Israel.
Israeli President Shimon Peres on April 13 accused Syria of providing Hezbollah with Scud ballistic missiles, prompting Washington to warn that the trade “potentially puts Lebanon at significant risk.”
Syria has strongly denied the accusations.
The US State Department says it is yet to determine the veracity of the claims but summoned a senior Syrian diplomat Monday to demand an “immediate” end to arms transfers to Hezbollah.
Feinstein spoke after Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri likened Israel’s charges to false weapons of mass destruction claims that fed the US case for invading Iraq in 2003.
—Agencies