Weapons Sent To Hezbollah And Iranian Weapons Factories

Iranian civil aviation company Qeshm Fars Air has been accused of smuggling illegal arms into Lebanon for use by the militant group Hezbollah. Other arms are said to be being directed to Iranian weapons factories.

MSN reports that western intelligence sources have noted two unusual flights from Tehran to the international airport in Beirut during the past two months.

On July 9 a Qeshm Fars Air Boeing 747 was tracked from an air force base in Tehran to a short stop at the international airport in Damascus, Syria, and then continued on an "uncharacteristic flight path" to Beirut. It passed through Lebanese airspace not commonly used by the company. An anonymous source said that the Iranians "are trying to come up with new ways and routes to smuggle weapons from Iran to its allies in the Middle East, testing and defying the West’s abilities to track them down.”

The second flight occurred August 2. It flew directly from Tehran to Beirut following a slightly irregular route north of Syria.

Qeshm Fars Air is thought to be a "pseudo-civilian" airline used for arms smuggling by Iran. It had stopped flying in 2013, citing poor management, but came back under new management in 2017. It is said to have two 747s in its fleet.

FMI: Source report