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Sunday, November 28, 2010

Dozens of "aid" planes filled with missiles to Hezbollah?

In the wake of the Wikileaks revelation that Iranian Red Crescent planes sent to Hezbollah during the Lebanon war were "half filled" with missiles, one may wonder how many planes are we talking about?

One hint: The war lasted from July 12 to August 14. Here is a report from Radio Free Europe from August 1:

The fifth consignment of Iranian aid destined for Lebanon arrived in Damascus on July 23, IRNA reported. The two aircraft carrying medicine and medical equipment from the Red Crescent Society came on the heels of four other aid shipments, Iranian Charge d'Affaires in Syria Ghazanfar Roknabadi said.

If there were two planeloads in each consignment, and the fifth one was on July 23rd, that averages out to roughly a planeload a day.

If half of the cargo were indeed missiles and other weapons, that means that Iran may have smuggled 16 cargo planes worth of missiles during the war via the Iranian Red Crescent - and possibly dozens more in the months following.

I don't know, but Geneva might consider this a war crime. Perhaps protocol 1, article 38?

It is prohibited to make improper use of the distinctive emblem of the red cross, red crescent or red lion and sun or of other emblems, signs or signals provided for by the Conventions or by this Protocol. It is also prohibited to misuse deliberately in an armed conflict other internationally recognized protective emblems, signs or signals, including the flag of truce, and the protective emblem of cultural property.
Can't wait for HRW and Amnesty and the UN to jump on these revelations and strongly censure Iran for this crime. Any hour now.