The Spanish submarine S-72 Siroco watched the movements of arms on the coast of Syria in the weeks before the controversy over the alleged transfer of Syrian Scud missiles to the Lebanese militia Hezbollah. The image captured, which can be seen easily dozens of military vehicles on the deck of a merchant ship was taken from near the Syrian port of Tartus on 2 March.
The Sirocco was patrolling the area under anti-terrorist operation Active Endeavour, NATO, ie, monitoring maritime traffic in search ships suspected of carrying out weapons smuggling. The Spanish navy says the merchant, photographed periscope height (from the submerged submarine) was "suspicious" by the criteria of the operation, although it claims that the information about the final destination of the cargo and the ship's flag is seen photographed classified material.
What reveals itself the image captured by the Spanish periscope, near the Syrian coast, is the obvious interest of NATO to control the movement of weapons that might be taking place at that time and in that part of the Mediterranean Sea. NATO, certainly not the shot he missed. A few weeks after the snapshot taken by the Sirocco, on 13 April, Israeli President Shimon Peres spoke of sending a dangerous missile from Syria to Hezbollah and of rapid rearmament of the Islamist militia. His message was immediately followed by another of King Abdullah of Jordan on the high risk of an imminent armed conflict in the Middle East. The controversy had begun.
Scuds and M-600
Since then, although Syria has denied it repeatedly, from Israel have continued to succeed accusations that Iran is supplying Scud missile and M-600 to Hezbollah with the complicity of Damascus. Both the Scuds as the M-600 have a power far greater than the missiles that Hezbollah has so far, using it as they have a range exceeding 600 kilometers from the Lebanese border could reach Tel Aviv or Jerusalem.
Although the United States has not officially confirmed the existence of these alleged missiles, and the UN mission in Lebanon claims to have found no evidence on the alleged shipment, there is something in which both Washington and the UN agree to publicly and unambiguously Israel: There is strong evidence that Hezbollah is increasing its arsenal.
The accusations involving Syria have been a blow to attempts by the U.S. President, Barack Obama, closer to Damascus, to which his government sees as crucial to peace efforts in the Middle East.
Satellite imagery and the large simulation
The British newspaper 'The Times' took a giant step in the controversy on Friday when he claimed to have had access to satellite imagery to show the existence of Hezbollah missiles on Syrian soil. The English newspaper, said that information gathered by American satellites shows the existence of a Lebanese militia complex located near the Syrian town of Adra, northwest of Damascus. A base which would include shelters, weapons, and a fleet of trucks for transfer.
The weapons in question would either Syrian or supplied from Iran by sea or by air. The 'Times' said that American intelligence suspected that at least two Scuds had entered Lebanon and could be hidden in underground deposits in the Bekaa Valley, north of the country. As if that were not enough elements of tension, last week, Israel carried out the largest simulation of war in its history: a period of five days' duration, designed to prepare the population for a scenario of massive attack with missiles from Syria, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip
