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Mon, Sept 13, 2010 | DebkaFile

Hizballah supporter holding a sign with the portraits of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Syrian president Bashar Assad and Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah. This Iran-Syria-Hizballah bloc is a serious threat to Israel's northern border and security.

IAEA: Iran crosses critical line for nuclear-arming missiles

Iran has crossed the critical nuclear threshold taking it nearer to being able to arm ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads, weapons inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency reported last week.

When this finding failed to elicit any response from the US or Israel, debkafile’s military sources report, NATO secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen hurried over to Washington Sunday, Sept. 12 with a call to action for President Barack Obama:

“Based on their (Iranian) public statements we know that Iran already has missiles with a range sufficient to hit targets in Europe, and they don’t hide the fact that they want to further develop their capability.”

He came away with a pledge of 200 million euros as American in creating a missile shield for Europe against the Iranian threat.

While even Europe has roused itself to the menace from Iran, the fast encroaching threat to Israel remains unaddressed by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and defense minister Ehud Barak. They appear unmoved even in the face of the coming visit to Lebanon on Oct. 13-14 by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He is coming specifically to clinch Iran’s grip on Lebanon and its buildup as Iran’s forward front for retaliation should Israel venture to strike its nuclear facilities.

This buildup crossed every possible red line some time ago without an Israeli response. The Iranian president will exploit this vacuum by paying a visit to the South Lebanese-Israeli border village of Edeissa, from which on Aug. 3, Lebanese army snipers soldiers were put up by Hizballah to ambush Israeli troops and shoot dead Col. Dov Harari.

(Israel’s only response was to knock out two Lebanese APCs klling three Lebanese troops, and issuing warnings relayed by US intermediaries that the IDF would meet further incidents by wiping out the entire Lebanese military system in the space of four hours.)

Lebanese President Gen. Michel Suleiman phoned Ahmadinejad Sept. 11 to say that the Lebanese people was “eagerly awaiting” his coming and stress that henceforth the Lebanese national army would fight Israel shoulder to shoulder with its comrades in Hizballah.

Will the Lebanese president accompany Ahmadinejad’s on his symbolic visit to Edeissa? Or Lebanese army chief Gen. Jean Kahwaji? Or will Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah venture to leave his bunker-hideout to honor the guest?

This decision matters greatly. The Israeli government’s silence with regard to the provocative nature of the event matters even more.

Tehran will be using it to uphold the Lebanese army’s “heroic act” in attacking Israel. It will be welcomed as an honored member of the Iranian-Syrian-Palestinian “resistance front” against Israel alongside Hizballah.

Iran has thus gained a new strategic acquisition operating at its behest for tying Israel’s hands not only against striking Tehran but defending itself against aggressive acts by its Lebanese neighbor.

Ahmadiinejad is planning to use his visit to celebrate an Iranian-Lebanese defense pact coupled with a large-scale transaction to supply the Lebanese armed forces with the weapons needed to take on the IDF. These deals will kick off the merger and standardization of Lebanese and Hizballah weapons systems.

The next time Lebanese troops attack Israel they are likely to be using Iranian arms.