Syria: Hezbollah sets up camps near WMD facilities
Shiite terror group reportedly eyeing Bashar Assad chemical warfare arsenal; Israel fears growing chaos in war-torn country will enable Hezbollah to get hold of advanced weaponry
Hezbollah has set up several bases in Syria, near known locations where Syrian President Bashar Assad is holding parts of his chemical warfare arsenal, Ynet learned Monday.
The information came to light amid growing concerns in Israel that Assad's arsenal of unconventional weapons – considered to be the largest in the world – would fall into the hands of the Lebanon-based Shiite terror group.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently held a number of security assessments focusing on the developments in the war-torn country.
Israel's defense establishment has been holding similar assessments, focused on the potential shift in the balance of power between the IDF and Hezbollah, in the event that the latter would get hold of Assad's WMDs.
As the regime's hold on power slips further, it is becoming apparent that Hezbollah will use the chaos embroiling Syria to transfer advanced weapons system – and most likely unconventional weapons – into Lebanon.
Wary of the developments, Israel deployed two Iron Dome batteries near the northern border on Sunday.
The IDF has also stepped up work on the new border fence in the area, which is equipped with advanced surveillance systems able to provide the military with more accurate intelligence about inland Syria.
Meanwhile, fierce battles between Damascus' forces and the rebels continue in Homs, as Assad attempts to tighten his grip on the "Alawite enclave" in the province, which has become the Syrian revolution's symbol for resistance.
The Free Syrian Army claimed Sunday to have taken a major military base near Syria's international airport, as well as a political security building in Deir al-Zor, near the Syria-Iraq border and several military posts in the northwestern province of Idlib.
The UN says that so far, over 60,000 people have been killed since the revolt against Assad began, in March 2011.
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