Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 21
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan has dismissed the reports that Israel targeted Iranian missiles in Syria during an air strike early in December.
The existence of Iran's missile in the storage around Damascus which was attacked by Israel is not true, Dehghan said, the Islamic Republic's state Al-Alam TV reported Dec. 20.
Dehghan said that "resistance movements (Hezbollah and Hamas)" in Palestine, Lebanon and Syria benefit powerful military infrastructures and are able to carry out all processes required for their missile production.
However, he confirmed that Iran cooperates with the groups on the issue.
On Dec. 7 Israel carried out air strikes on military sites in Dimas, 25 kilometers northwest of Damascus. Some western media outlets reported that the strikes targeted shipments of Iranian-made missiles bound for the Lebanese Hezbollah group.
Earlier in November Sheikh Naim Qassem, deputy secretary general of Hezbollah, said that Iran has equipped the Lebanese group with missiles with pinpoint accuracy.
Iran not only has shipped missiles to Lebanon, but also has trained the Hezbollah forces to prepare and launch them, the Hezbollah senior official said.
Previously, Lieutenant Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force Brigadier General Seyed Majid Moussavi announced that Hezbollah and Hamas possess Fateh-class missiles which were developed by Iran a few years ago.
Fateh ballistic missiles have a range of 250-300 kilometers.
Umid Niayesh is Trend Agency's staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @UmidNiayesh