Tories concerned over Hizbullah UK arms find
The Conservatives have today demanded an explanation on how British-made military equipment has been found in Hizbullah bunkers in southern Lebanon.
Shadow foreign secretary William Hague said the reports about night goggles being found in the militant group’s command bunkers were “disturbing”.
There are concerns that the equipment was among a batch licensed for export to Iran – which has known links to the Hizbullah militant group – in 2003, and today Mr Hague questioned how this was possible.
“What progress has been made in establishing whether this equipment was indeed part of a shipment originally supplied to Iran?” he wrote to foreign secretary Margaret Beckett.
“And given Iran’s well-known role in supplying Hezbollah with military support, what steps were taken at the time to prevent Iran’s diversion of such equipment to military purposes other than the drugs-combating role envisaged?”
Currently, only equipment for non-military use is allowed to be exported to Iran.
In 2005, the government also agreed to license a “gift” of 50 sets of body armour to the Iranian anti-narcotics police, and today Mr Hague asks how confident the government could be that it was used for this purpose, and not diverted to Hizbullah.
“Finally, can you confirm whether any other shipments of British military equipment to Iran have taken place in the intervening period? I shall look forward to urgently receiving your response,” he says.
A Foreign Office spokesman said today that it was trying to establish who manufactured the night-vision equipment, and how it ended up in the hand of Hizbullah militants.
“The Israeli Defence Forces have confirmed to us that they have found some night vision equipment, which they believe to be British, in southern Lebanon,” he said.
“We are seeking further details of the equipment to investigate whether it is British and, if so, by whom it was made and to whom it was sold.”
