Tehran Promises Military Assistance to Lebanon
The head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, who made a one-day visit to Beirut on Tuesday, said that Tehran will provide military assistance to Lebanon.
Ali Shamkhani made the announcement following talks with Prime Minister Tammam Salam at the Grand Serail.
He said the assistance includes military equipment to help Lebanon's battle against militants. He did not elaborate but told reporters that the details would be announced during an upcoming visit by Defense Minister Samir Moqbel to Tehran.
Shamkhani also visited Speaker Nabih Berri. He traveled to Syria later Tuesday.
His trip to Beirut came as an Iranian military commander reportedly claimed that Hizbullah's missile and drone capabilities have widely improved since the 2006 war with Israel.
Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, who is the commander of the Iranian army's aerospace force, said he was aware of Hizbullah's capabilities in Lebanon.
According to al-Joumhouria newspaper, Hajizadeh claimed that the Shiite party was at a certain period linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards but it developed to the extent that the country's army began benefiting from Hizbullah's capabilities.
On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Iran of mounting terrorist attacks all around the world.
Netanyahu told the U.N. General Assembly's annual ministerial meeting that the Islamic State and Hamas, as well as other movements, from al-Qaida and Nigeria's Boko Haram to Somalia's al-Shabab and Hizbullah, share the goal of imposing militant Islam on the world.
He likened them to "another fanatic ideology that swept into power eight decades ago" — Nazism.
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