A Wall Street Journal report says that Iran is accelerating its efforts to rearm Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen.

According to the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, Iran has discovered a way to continue to transfer weapons to the Hezbollah terror group through Iraq and Syria. 

Instead of its past tactics of openly transferring truckfuls of weapons and missiles to Lebanon through Syria, it has recently begun using small vehicles for the same purpose and has succeeded in transferring Kornet anti-tank missiles and advanced weaponry into Lebanon.

However, not all transfer attempts were successful. According to the WSJ report, the new Syrian government has intercepted several arms shipments from Tehran to Hezbollah, including Grads rockets and other weaponry. Additionally, Lebanese armed forces have also intercepted weapons shipments, including Russian-made anti-tank missiles, through Syria.

“Iran is rebuilding its presence in the Levant by sending missiles to Hezbollah and weapons from Iraq to Syria,” said Michael Knights, a senior fellow at the U.S.-based Washington Institute for Near East Policy with expertise in Iran’s militia allies.

Iran has also attempted to transfer advanced weapons to the Houthis in Yemen. 

Only weeks after a ceasefire was announced between Iran and Israel, forces from Yemen’s internationally recognized government intercepted a massive shipment of advanced military equipment—750 tons of missiles, drone parts, and warheads sent by Tehran to the Houthis. 

The shipment, which was concealed aboard a ship called a dhow under crates of air conditioners, was intercepted by the National Resistance Force, a military coalition aligned with the Yemeni government. 

The U.S. Central Command confirmed that it was the National Resistance Force’s largest seizure of advanced Iranian conventional weapons and included Iranian-developed Qader antiship missiles and components for the Saqr air-defense system, which the Houthis have used to bring down U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drones. 

“The timing and scale of this shipment strongly suggest Iran is moving quickly to replenish Houthi stockpiles depleted by U.S. airstrikes,” said Mohammed al-Basha, founder of U.S.-based Middle East security advisory Basha Report. It shows Tehran wants to “sustain their high operational tempo targeting Israel and commercial maritime traffic,” he said.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)