JERUSALEM, Aug 18: Israel wants the Turkish military to impose an air and ground embargo to prevent Iran using Turkish territory to send arms to resupply Hezbollah, a senior Israeli security source said on Thursday.
Israeli intelligence believes nearly all of the heavy weapons Iran has provided to Hezbollah passed through Turkish ground or airspace en route to Syria and then Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon, security sources said.
Israeli sources said Turkey may be key to the embargo because other shipment routes through Iraq and Jordan have been blocked.
Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Mark Regev declined to comment specifically on the role that might be played by Turkey, a NATO member which maintains good ties with both Israel and Arab states.
But Mr Regev said: “Successful implementation of the international arms embargo is the litmus test of the success of the U.N. effort in Lebanon.”
Asked whether Israel had asked Turkey to search Iranian planes, Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Namik Tan said: “Every country makes its own decisions and implements them.”
Israeli sources said two Iranian planes were forced to land in south-eastern Turkey in recent weeks after Israel told the Turkish military they suspected the planes were carrying Chinese-made missiles for Hezbollah.
The Hurriyet newspaper in Turkey said the planes were searched and no weapons were found.
“(Searching the planes) is a routine activity and there is no political problems between the two countries,” Tan said of Turkey and Iran.
LONG-RANGE ROCKETS: Israel believes arms, including long-range rockets, have travelled across Turkish territory to Syria, before being shipped by land, sea or air to Lebanon, the sources said.
“We are urging Turkey to take all possible steps to prevent the transfer of arms from Iran to Syria to resupply Hezbollah,” a senior Israeli security source said.
“The very future of the embargo rests on their (Turkey’s) shoulders.”
Amman has already barred Iranian shipments from passing through Jordanian airspace, Israeli security sources said. Western diplomats said U.S. forces are preventing Iranian shipments from passing through Iraq.
“We may be facing in the next few days a Syrian attempt to resupply Hezbollah with rockets. What do we do? If we allow it to go in, this will be a defeat for Israel,” an Israeli security source said.
Israeli officials have said the army will be entitled to use force if necessary to prevent arms convoys from entering Lebanon despite the ceasefire. Israeli officials said such operations, which could include air strikes, are ‘defensive’ and therefore permissible under the UN Security Council resolution.
Turkey is expected to commit troops to a U.N. force in Lebanon which Israel hopes will help enforce the arms embargo.
Turkey has the second biggest army in NATO and has long experience of peacekeeping from Afghanistan to Kosovo.
But Turkey relies on Iran to meet some of its natural gas and oil needs, and they have good commercial ties.
Israeli officials say between 75 per cent and 80 per cent of Hezbollah’s long-range rockets have been destroyed, though some Western diplomats said they were sceptical of those estimates. —Reuters