Israeli claims about busting Iranian arms smuggling into the West Bank raise suspicions : Peoples Dispatch
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Israel’s claims have been met with skepticism, especially as Syria has ceased to serve as the main weapon supply route from Iran to the rest of the region after the fall of Al-Assad.

The Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) and the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) announced on Wednesday, October 8, that they allegedly foiled an attempt at smuggling a large quantity of advanced weapons heading from Iran to the occupied West Bank.

The Israeli security services claimed that the smuggled weaponry, which included explosive devices, drones, anti-tank weapons, grenades, handguns, rifles, machine guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, were sent to the cell arrested by Israel in Ramallah three weeks ago.

Shin Bet**’s timeline of discovering the smuggling network**

The Israeli occupation authorities purported that the smuggling cell is linked to the special operation branch of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Quds Force.

Israel also said that this is not the first time that they have foiled such an Iranian smuggling attempt, two attempts were thwarted in March and November last year.

It added that it took its security apparatus months to frustrate the major smuggling operation, which began with arresting a weapons dealer near Ramallah in the central occupied West Bank.

The investigation of the dealer led the Shin Bet to a wider network of smugglers, and eventually to the latest large shipment of weapons.

Where would these weapons have been smuggled through?

For decades, Syria was reportedly the main supply line for weapon smuggling from Iran to Hezbollah, then from there to the Syrian-Jordanian border and finally to the occupied Palestinian territory.

This route has been almost blocked after the fall of former Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad, with Israel declaring a de facto occupation of the southern part of the Arab country, particularly the summit of Mount Hermon (known as Jabal al-Sheikh) in the occupied Golan Heights.

Meanwhile, the IOF is still deployed at key points in southern Lebanon and refuses to withdraw, although the Lebanese state submitted to the US-brokered plan to disarm Hezbollah.

This in turn provokes skepticism about the circumstances of the foiled smuggling operation by Israel if any. It raises speculations as well on whether Israel is intending to wage another war on Iran on the pretext of the attempted smuggled arms operation, or will its reaction be solely limited to an another large-scale military operation across the entire West Bank.

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