Bush's Shrinking Safety Zone

[Undertoad]

US prohibits flight of Iranian missiles to Syria

• July 15: Three days after the war began, a source tipped off U.S. intelligence about an imminent shipment of missiles from Iran to Hezbollah.

• July 19: A spy satellite photographed Iranian crews loading three missile launchers and eight crates, each normally used to carry a Chinese-designed C-802 Noor missile, aboard a transport plane at Mehrabad air base near Tehran. Israel says Hezbollah fired a C-802, a precision-guided anti-ship cruise missile, at an Israeli warship off Lebanon's coast on July 14.

• July 20: The Ilyushin Il-76 transport plane left for Damascus, but Iraqi air-traffic controllers denied it permission to enter Iraq's airspace. The Iranian flight crew then requested permission to fly over Turkey. Turkish controllers granted permission — but only if the plane would land for an inspection. The plane returned to Tehran, where the military cargo was unloaded.

• July 22: The plane flew humanitarian aid to Damascus after stopping for inspection in Turkey.

Originally Posted by tw

Israel expected to drive out Hezbollah in two weeks. Massive military equipment from that airport and carried south was not going to resupply Hezbollah.

Riiight, because there are no Hezbollah in Beirut, so nobody would be available to transfer the weapons to trucks.

Closer to the coastal war zone: Damascus or Beirut?

Well maybe they only had aluminum tubes in those crates.